has been moved to find Sir John Franklin, frozen and perish. ing far up among the eternal ices of the North! Four millions of money have been expended and many lives lost in the vain search. Sir John was an old man; but I suppose if it were known that he still lives, and his life could be saved and he brought back again by a ship loaded with gold, it would be raised and sent!

But who can begin to tell what a man may become and do in all the ages of eternity? When the nations of the earth have all passed away, when time shall come to an end, and there shall be no more day or night, no more earth or water, no more sun or moon, when every grave shall be openedthen the soul has just begun to live.

Suppose a man could now step out into the regions of space, and, by a word, could create a new world by his own skill and power; or, suppose he could go to the sun, and stand at the gates of light and let out the morning, and shut the gates and make the evening; or suppose he could speak to the fields, and they would yield their increase, and feed all the cattle and creatures that live on the face of the earth;—why! you would say, that man can do great things, he has wonderful power! You would like to see the man who had planned and reared a new world; you would like to talk with the man who had travelled to the sun and seen the wonders of his burning face; you would like to know the man who could make the wheat and the corn and the trees and the flowers to grow as he said and chose; but no wise man would exchange what he may be and do and enjoy, during the ages of eternity, for any such power. The soul has powers yet to be brought out. She was made to be like God, and to be with him for ever.

When two men came back to earth and met Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration, they appeared as they appear in heaven. They wore robes of light. But they had been in heaven but a few hundred years: what would they not be, when they have been there ages and thousands of ages? A man here who has spent years in the palaces of kings is supposed to be refined and appropriate in behaviour. If he has spent years with statesmen and great men, he is supposed to have great thoughts and wide views. But what would that be, compared with living and talking with a man who had lived in heaven-who had talked with Abraham there, seen Moses and David and Isaiah and Paul and the son of God himselfwho had been instructed by the angels of light, and seen all the great family of God in heaven I sometimes am called

to speak to a great assembly of children. I do not know chem by name. I never saw them before, and may never see them again. But I know that among them there will be those who will hereafter be skilful mechanics, successful merchants, physicians, lawyers, and very likely ministers of the Gospel. I cannot tell what great and good men may come out of that company. I cannot tell what good and noble women will arise from among those little girls; but I know that some of the brightest ornaments of earth may be there. I know that there may be those there who will be alive after I am dead, and that they may all this time be growing good; and I know, too, that each one may become an angel of light, and wear a crown of glory brighter than any crown that king or queen ever wore on earth-for it is the crown of life!

"Ye are of more value than many sparrows." Christ only tells us of how little value a sparrow is in the estimation of men, in order to tell us how God thinks of them, never forgetting one of them a single moment. And he tells us this in order to tell us something more, and that is, that a human soul is of more value than many such creatures. If, then, he never forgets one of them, how sure he is not to forget creatures made in his own likeness! That poor cripple that cannot walk or move, is not so, because God hath overlooked him, but because he saw it was for the best. That man lying on the bed of pain, tossing and racked, is not forgotten; that little child, too feeble to walk, so full of disease that he will never see another day of health, is not forgotten by his Heavenly Father; that old man, worn out, with blinded eyes, and deaf ears, and memory and taste gone, trembling and shaking as he tries to move, shut away from the world and cut off from all enjoyments, is not forgotten by his God! We love children, not because we hope they will always be children, but we love them for what we hope they will become. We set out the little fruit-tree, and watch it and value it, not for what it now is, but for what we hope it will become. So God values us here, not for what we now are, nor for what we can now do for him, but for what we may hereafter become. He has heard his creation as it groans under the curse of sin, but he has sent his Son to redeem no part of it but the soul and the body of man. He has sent his spirit to instruct and call and sanctify men, but nothing else. The sparrow sings to-day, and dies; but there is no hereafter for her. Christ has gone to prepare a place-not for the great elephant, the useful horse, the knowing dog, or the sweet singing-bird, but only

for his people. They, of all the earth, alone will live with him for ever.

Suppose that on one of those far distant stars that just twinkle in the arch of heaven-a thousand times further off than our sun-two angels should meet in their long flight. They meet with faces lighted up with joy and love.

"Where hast thou been?" says one.

"Do you see that little star," says he, "that hangs low, as if about to set ?"

"Yes. I see it; it must be a great way off!"

"True; but I have been there on an errand of goodness from the great Parent of all, and my errand has caused that world to thrill with joy. Where hast thou been, with thy wings soiled, and with a look of almost weariness on thy face?" "Hast thou ever heard of a world called Earth ?"

"Yes, often. It is the world where the cross was raised, and where the God-man died to redeem. I have seen many who have come from that world, and I have heard them sing and mingle with the white-robed sons of light! None seem to be so full of joy as they. How long hast thou been on the earth?"

"About fifty of their years; but that is nothing, as we reckon in heaven!"

"What was thy errand ?"

"A little child, frail as a flower, was committed to me on its creation, fifty years ago. I was to guard it, to bear it up in my arms, to keep it, to shield it, and to do all I could to fit it for heaven. When it was held in the arms at the baptismal font, I was there. When it went into the Sabbath school, I went with it. When it first lisped the name of God in prayer, I knelt down with it by the side of its little bed. When it became a youth, I kept with it, and often whispered to the conscience, and calmed the passions, and drew him back from harm. When he became a young man, and had launched his boat upon the ocean of life, I still went with him. When he sinned, I grieved and covered my face. When the time came that he was visited by the Holy Spirit, and the question was to be decided whether he should live to eternity in heaven or in hell, I hung round him with an anxiety which I cannot describe. And when I saw the first tear of penitence, and saw hope entering his heart, I hastened back to heaven and carried the tidings that another soul had received the offers of life, and I could not but shout with them, as I united in the joy of the angels in the presence of God over this sinner who had repented! I went back again

to my charge on the wing of gladness, to minister to one who, as I knew, would be an heir of salvation. He has been struggling with temptations, overcoming sins, fighting against principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness in high places; he has been sowing seed which will bear fruit or earth as long as that world lives; he has been kindling up little fires, which will burn and give out warmth and light for ages to come; he has engraven the name of Christ on many a heart that is left there, and his influence will be such, that, though dead, he shall yet speak! He has finished his course, and I am now, as you see, leading him up to his eternal home!"

"Methinks he looks feeble, and like a stranger!"

"Yes, but remember that he has been created but fifty of the little years of earth, that he has toiled in a body, and in a world of sin and of temptation, and is but just emerged from the house of clay, and the dark prison of earth. But in a little while, I shall place him at the feet of the Lamb; I shall see him fall down in unutterable joy, and cry, 'Thou art worthy.' I shall see him clothed in white, with a crown of life on his head, and a harp of gold in his hand-I shall see him passing on in the ages of eternity with no look of earth about him, except his gratitude and love and glorified body, and I shall see him become an angel, and I shall fully understand the words uttered on earth by the great Redeemer, when he said to his friends, Ye are of more value than many sparrows!""

LECTURE X.

God Rejoicing.

The Lord shall rejoice in his works.-Ps. civ. 31.

Much in little. Child's arithmetic. New watch. The flower. Seashells. Why so beautiful? Flower of the mountain. Mottled fish. Mountain eagle. The horse of the prairie. God's great works. The river of Egypt. Bruce, the traveller. The head of the Nile. Perfected works-rainbow-early morning-ocean-forest-trees. The cradle-child-the man-old man-glorified man. The mechanic and his works. Christ's work. The "Morning Star." Her mission. Morning stars in heaven. Works over which Christ will rejoice. The mother's joy-the pastor's-the missionary's. God's joy for ever.

THE Bible puts a great deal of meaning in a few words. A long sermon may be made on a short text, and yet much meaning in the text may be left out. Sometimes we meet with a new picture hanging up in the shop windows, and we have to stop and study it a long time, to see if we understand it. Sometimes it takes long and hard study to understand a very small book. The child may take up a little arithmetic, and it seems a small affair; but it takes him long days of hard study before he can understand it. He might take a bright new watch in his hand, and perhaps be able to tell the time of day by looking at the little moving hands; but it would take him a long time so to understand the watch that he could take out all the little wheels, and then put them back again, and have them all right. Some watches not only tell the hour and minute of time, but the year, the month, the day of the month, the day of the week, and the like. What a study would it be to be able to take such a watch to pieces and put it together again! Still more, to be able to make such a curious thing!

We might pluck a flower, and at a glance tell its name, the month of its blooming, the colour of its leaves, and the shape of its stalk; but how long would it take us to be able to tell how the juices are drawn up from the ground, what makes it grow, what gives its colour, what determines its shape, and how it has life! So we read over a short text and think we