You will remember how he holds him up once for all, "The man," as he describes him—

"Fresh from the surgery schools of France, and of other lands, Harsh, red-hair, big voice, big chest, big merciless hands: Wonderful cures he had done; oh yes; but 'twas said too of him He was happier using the knife, than in trying to save the limb."

Then our poet goes on to tell what this kind of medicineman said to the nurse at the bedside of a lad who had been fatally crushed in a mill—

"And he said to me roughly, 'The lad will need little more of your care.' 'All the more need,' I told him, 'to seek the Lord Jesus in prayer. They are all His children here, and I pray for them all as my own.' But he answered me, 'Aye, good woman, can prayer set a broken bone?' Then he muttered half to himself; but I know that I heard him say, All very well, but the good Lord Jesus has had IIis day.'

Just so; they laughed Him to scorn. takes her stand with Christ, and says

But the nurse

"Had? Has it come? It has only dawned. It will come by-and-bye; Oh how could I serve in the wards, if the hope of the world were a lie?""

They laughed Him to scorn. They do it yet: God forgive them! Oh, that we might rise in the strength of this old narrative, and say, "Miserable comforters are ye all." Send for the minister. for the spiritual man. on the right side who can possibly feel offended. I do not mean you, my brother. God bless you, are you not all ininistering spirits sent forth to be ministers to those who shall be heirs of salvation? And, like your coadjutors the angels, you do your work in many cases as gratuitously as they. The Lord will reward you: Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of the least of His brethren, ye did it unto Him." Still my point holds good. That laugh, that taunt has not died away yet. That controversy-which side do we take in

Send for the missionary. Send And there is no doctor here who is

it?—still exists, still rages round about the dead.

And still let me ask you, On which side do you stand-dead or sleeping, which? For your own soul's sake, I press the question, and for the sake of your dead-Dead or sleeping, which?

They laughed Him to scorn; and a great many to-day of our superfine unbelievers who would sneer at these very people, yet show themselves to belong to them in spirit, for they laugh at the hope of immortality and resurrection life through faith in Jesus Christ.

the

'And He entered in where the damsel was lying, took her by the hand, and said unto her, Talitha cumi; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, Arise. And straightway the damsel arose and walked; for she was of age of twelve years. And they were astonished with a great astonishment." How did He do it? What I am struck with is the mingling of infinite power with infinite tenderness and ease; the calm, quiet, and confident way in which Christ suited Himself to the whole situation. With the firm grip of His almightiness, He swept out these scorners. "He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh, the Lord shall have them in derision." He will have it out with the sneerers; don't lose sight of that. Then calmly, as though He put on another face, He unbent His brows, the look of indignation passed from His face, and He just looked the very Man needed for a time and place like that—the very God-Man. He looked so hopeful and tender that the father and mother, Peter, James, and John felt their hearts beating within them. He walked to the bed, took the damsel by the hand, that cold clay which when any doctor had felt he would have said 66 dead." Christ took her by the hand and raised her, somewhat after the fashion of your own mother when she used to say to you, "Sleeping, my little lass? It is time you were up! Maid, arise!" "And she that was dead sat up, and they were filled with a great astonishment." Those who were there

I am glad they

never forgot the word that was used. did not, for there are some folk who would forget the very words that raised the dead. They would remember any trifle, and forget "Talitha cumi." That is a word never to be forgotten. As one of our able modern expositors has said, If it were not that the question of the miraculous is involved, the dullest critic in Europe would admit that this story was a simple, natural relation of fact from beginning to end."

66

Now a word for our own dead before I let you go; physically dead. "Fear not, only believe." There is no cure but that; none is needed but that. "Comfort one another with these words." But as I indicated before, there is another meaning to the word death. This miracle becomes a spiritual parable and sermon. My father, mother, dear friend, it may be true of you, your daughter is dead in an awful and spiritual sense. What does this miracle teach? It teaches us to believe in Christ, to trust in Him--only believe in Him, only come to Him and ask Him, tell Him all about it, show Him your living sorrow and your dead sorrow, and believe! Only believe, and remember the mighty power that this Saviour hath! Think of that woman when her daughter was restored, and say to yourself, "That joy shall yet be mine," here or hereafter.

And I close by saying, all appearances to the contrary notwithstanding, "Oh fathers, oh mothers, oh Sundayschool teachers, oh you who are working among the young, you who are mourning because your sons and daughters are showing no signs of life, but of death and deepening corruption; they are not dead; it cannot be: do not believe it; do not give in. Call in Christ and pray, and pray, and pray to Him." to Him." Let us say of the worst—

"She is not dead; it cannot be,

That one who glowed with love to Thee,

Can all that's past renounce, forget.

Oh, speak, and she will hear Thee yet.

"She is not dead; Thy voice Divine
Can still revive, and seal her Thine;
And 'neath Thy wing she yet may dwell
More meek, more safe, than e'er she fell."

Lord, speak! Thy servant can do nothing; Thou hast the power. Lord, speak! and let Thy word go crashing through the blocked-up ear, the blocked-up door of death, and waken up life in the silent chamber. Lord, speak! Say, "Lazarus, come forth!" say, "Young man, arise! say gently, according to the conditions of the case, "Talitha cumi. Maid, dear maid, arise.” Amen and

amen.

Henderson & Spalding, General Printers, Marylebone Lane, London, W.

FOUND OUT.

A Sermon

DELIVERED IN REGENT SQUARE CHURCH,

BY THE

REV. JOHN MCNEILL.

Text: JOSHUA Vii.

THIS is a judgment story. I wish to use it as an illustration of the processes by which sometimes, even in this world, and certainly in that Great Day, God shall gather out of His kingdom, as Christ said, all things that offend, all things which to His own eye, secretly, were all along the explanation and the reason of the Church's slow progress, her dismal failure, when she seemed just about to wave the palm of victory. As here, so there. "From this one, learn

all."

But first of all, let us firmly believe that the day of judgment is coming. God hath appointed a day, not simply, as on this occasion, for finding out Achan and for taking away from His people that stumbling-stone over which they tripped and fell, but a day in which He shall take the whole world before him, and finally, once for all, thoroughly winnow and purge His floor, and gather the wheat into the garner, and burn the chaff with unquenchable fire. Of that No. G.