site for success in his calling. This writer said that there are three things necessary: talent, training—but these two would not accomplish much; there must also be what was called "inspiration." I said, “Saul also is among the prophets." If to personate somebody else; if to go through an hour's mimicry for the entertainment of a throng; if to amuse without much prospect of improving; if this demands more than talent and more than training, even a spirit within, then to be real men and to do a real work which shall make the streets safer, which shall make life happier, which shall bring the kingdom of God nearer, this demands more than might the might of human strength; more than power-the power of a trained will. It demands "My spirit, saith the Lord of hosts." I suppose that we get as much return from life as we have any right to expect. Our might can only repeat the poverty of the recompense, till our failing breath shall say, "Vanity of vanities." Where is our wisdom to-day, but in opening our hearts to the strength which never fails; to the incoming of the life which is the beginning of immortality! Then shall we reign; then shall we do our daily work in the power and glory of it. Then shall man be served, and God be glorified.

it is this which the

It is this-let me say again world needs. They tell us the Church has lost its

power in the world.

It is not true.

But the

Church will enlarge its influence when it has enlarged its spirit. The greatest gift which you can give to your profession, to your house, to the community, is the gift of a man who lives by the power of God's Spirit teaching him, directing him, employing him, and who shall carry down into all the sordidness and earthiness of the world a spiritual character, spiritual utterances, spiritual vision; a life that is made up by the power of the endless years.

I turn from this subject with regret. As I stand with you to-day and see how life promises to repeat its inefficiency, and that many of us are likely to lie down at last defeated, and perhaps in the grave of the wicked, I cannot cease from saying to you and to myself, that there is but one thing which can save us; but one way in which we can glorify God in our heart and our life; and that is, not by simply trying to be good; not by working hard to do good; it is by receiving the Spirit into our spirit; praying God to come to us and take us; to teach us, to guide us, to use us. Then God's success shall be our success; life shall be glorified, and God shall be honored.

There stands the organ, as it has stood through these minutes in which I have been speaking to you. Unless it falls in pieces, it may stand there for many years, silent as at this moment. There is no voice in its pipes; no

sound issues

from it. It is dumb; it is dead. If the skilled

hands of the player touch the keys, you will hear the rattle, but there will be no music. Handel himself might come and lay his fingers, heavy with melody, upon the keys; there would be the same. rattle which a boy could make. Dumb organ,

dead, let the sexton bury it out of our sight. There is only one thing which can save it: a breath from without; a spirit which shall come as the wind comes. The air which is in this great outer world must be breathed into its pipes, and answer to the hands of a man, pouring out its obedient harmony. It will wake to music, and to thought, and life, and worship, only as the breath of the living God moves through its silence. If it be true of an organ, it is true of a man. Only as God breathes through our reason and conscience; breathes through these lips and out of this life of ours, only then shall we utter the melody which will enlarge the harmony of the world and blend with the eternal minstrelsy of the supernal courts.

Come, Holy Spirit, heavenly dove,

With all thy quickening powers.

Brethren, it is your last hope. But it is a hope.

VIII.

GRIEVING THE HOLY SPIRIT.

SCRIPTURE LESSON: Romans viii: 14-39.

TEXT: Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God. Eph. iv: 30.

HIS brings the Holy Spirit very near to us.

THI

We must be in intimate relations with him, if we can grieve him. He is no longer afar off; he is not indifferent to our words or our will; he is close to us, tenderly regarding us, intimately interested in us, if what we can do can grieve the Spirit of God, who is the spirit of blessedness.

We are reminded again by this teaching of the personality of the Spirit. You cannot grieve a thing; you cannot grieve an influence; nothing can be grieved but that which has a heart, and a will, and a life-a person. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God; God is spirit; God is the Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit is God.

It is clear that it is a matter of extreme concern that, if God be so near to us, we who would receive his blessing should be submissive to his will; should be governed by his guidance; should

let him pour upon us the riches of his grace. It must be a sad thing if one, for any reason, shuts himself out from the blessing and grace of God; if he grieves God so that he withdraws his presence and the man fails of those things which the lavish mercy would bestow upon him- the exceeding richness of his grace.

The Spirit coming into the world to bless us does not come on an independent mission. Let us notice, first of all, the precise position of the work of the Spirit of God. "God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." The Son of God so loved the world that he gave himself, that men might have everlasting life. The Father and the Son so loved the world that they gave the Holy Spirit, that men might have everlasting life. Between the love which is in the heart of God and that love possessing the heart of a man, ruling it and blessing it, stands the cross of Christ who is the incarnate and crucified love of God. The work of the Holy Spirit is to bring this love which is in God's heart, and which works so wondrously and graciously in the cross of the Son of God, into our lives, to make it effective there, that the highest purpose of God may be accomplished; that the greatest thought of the love of God may fulfil itself within the lives of men. This is the work of the Spirit of God which we are to recognize and to think