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how simple the instrument if it is Heaven's chosen w the overthrow of men's wisdom. God in us is the 'ad planation of every achievement, and a sufficient justif the highest prophecies of the sacred word.

There is hope of bad men, too, if God's quickening counted on when our most rousing words bring out toms of life. The dead in trespasses and sins may live, pour vital currents into their stagnant souls. The old give way to the forces of the new creature, if his wa may quicken into summer growth the seeds of grace buried and unawakened. It is no longer a marvel tha of sinners may be saved, and that possessed men may in their right minds.

Here, too, is the proof of the human soul's nobility. the history of Bethlehem had enriched that town so m brief sleep of the infant Messiah in the manger of inns. The glory of Solomon's temple was not in its nor its splendor. The Shekinah above the mercy sea crowning characteristic. The glory of man is not his intellect, nor his skill which puts even his weakness place of mastery, nor his great achievements of whic is the monument. The dwelling of divine forces the strongest assertion of his greatness. The weakest defiled soul is a majestic thing when the Creator's spir it for a temple sooner than it chooses the Basilica of S Carlyle voiced his sentimental pantheism when he s touches divinity who lays his finger on a human body;" Christian truth which tells us that he who unlocks a h

to the gospel builds Jehovah another sanctuary on earth. man is mean who carries such a nature; no effort wants d which would transfuse such a nature with the life of God.

So, too, this sentiment will help us rightly to interpret su Our learning may astonish, our taste purchase compliments genius startle, our gifts win homage, our logic silence oppos our eloquence magnetize, our pathos start tears, our ima tion throw splendid hues over the homeliest things and thou our fame attract crowds; and yet, if men are not made to the beating of God's heart in theirs, and their souls are quickened with the consciousness of his inspiration, we only displayed a skilful jugglery where we were set to distr life. Pretending to inspire souls, we have only pampered and amused the fancy,-deepening all the while the g slumbers we should have broken.

6. There is special need of making this sentiment real primary now.

Our general life is eminently outward and fearfully inte The gains we chiefly prize are those that can be turned into without much discount or delay. We spend our chief force u matter. Strength of muscle, the cunning of the brain, and subdual of natural powers to the service of the body,—we these up as symbols of our civilization and indices to our boas progress. Physical science is jostled by eager devotees ev where, who tease her for commissions or boast of miracles her name. The cry of the restless soul is answered by an O of new luxuries to the palate, or the display of art that sl feed the taste and so turn off the eye from the inward b renness. Men change the desert into fruitful fields, and forget to ask Heaven for daily bread. lightnings, and so lose their sense of dependence on the vine protection. They balance one selfish interest against ano er, and call it peace. They play off counter passions upon ea other in the game of life so skilfully that they forget that G only can preserve the whole mechanism of society from con sion. Charged with nervous power, men swing backward a forward without cessation, like electrical balls,-attracting a repelling, striking and rebounding,—and this they call lif

They play with

thority. The sneers at the Higher Law, in which so lic men have heretofore allowed themselves to ind us pride gone mad and self-worship which has become practical Atheism. It is perverting the public consci ing faith into mere sentiment, and robbing religion of and, besides this, it is paving the way to the very wor archy, and converting legislation into a game of skill.

The cure for all this is obvious. The consciousn in the heart of society, the perpetual conviction that is interpenetrating our life, and will let no injustice pass without notice or challenge or discipline,-this al men back to reflection, teach them dependence and and render life loyal or noble. We want more i without doubt; but still more we want that vitality of which God imparts by his contact with souls. Our our enterprise, our achievements, our increasing p matter, and our developing national forces, may be with gratitude; but even these fail of their highest we have learned to use them all under the direction of we recognize as Lawgiver and Lord.

Nor does this vital union with Christ imply or dreamy sentimentalism, which thrives in the cloister b the sun. It does not show itself chiefly in rhapsodies ish the moment hard work is to be done. It is not a ulant of imagination, while it palsies muscle and takes from volition. Rather it is the opposite of this. Its and richest products are stalwart men,-keen of eye, duty, unflinching in courage, skilful in work. Thi force of God is specially wanted that it may fill the 21*

main of life. This vital power, truly within us, comes out where ;-there is no task, however humble, but it ennobles hallows. On the high places of eminence and in the comm walks; in homes as well as in sanctuaries; in places of chandise as well as in closets,-this sacred influence works appears. "To be spiritually minded is life. Every risin of pure aspiration; every clinging to principle in the hour the tempter is nearest; every choice of abstract right above tic selfishness; every putting down of sensual passion with r ential prayer; every preference of a truth which inherits a over the lie that flatters with a promise of prosperity,—is a pable motion of God's life within the soul." Indeed, the hig developments of this divine force we have yet seen or shall appear in common life, when the daily work of men and wo all about us is undertaken with prayer, continued with true patient heroism, hallowed as though it were a holy sacrifice, ended with a hymn of thanksgiving. And some of the gra est achievements which the gospel is set to reach, will be s only when our secular pursuits shall be animated by a Chris temper, and our week-day work shall be holy like our Sabb worship. No higher tokens of God's presence among men be witnessed than will appear when labor and capital shall c fide in each other, because both shall cultivate honor and cher sympathy; when trade shall be both just and generous; wh commerce shall be beneficent by intention; when politics sh be animated by a conscience; when law shall echo the divi statutes; when statesmanship shall imply patriotism and phila throphy; when schools shall produce manhood, and honors ordered by a wise and efficient love. Over such a human sta as that, the great voice would be heard again in heaven,-not before ringing out a prophecy, but at length announcing a fact,"Behold the tabernacle of God is with men."

women.

ART. II.-WORK FOR WOMAN IN INDIA.

The saying has passed into a maxim that the prosperity of a state depends upon the moral and intellectual elevation of its The world's history is a standing proof of its truth and neither philanthropist nor philosopher has ever succeeded, who ran in the face of a law so universal and so binding as this. For many generations it has been a fundamental principle in all moral reforms that the lever to lift a community from degradation must first lift its women, and on this principle has every great enterprise proceeded, which has contemplated the amelioration of the race. The course of reasoning in the case has been simply this, that so long as the central and controlling influence of home remains corrupt, no efforts, be they never so earnest and untiring, for the good of society can be either thorough or permanent. The mother of the household must be reached, and only when her heart is converted and her mind enlightened is the way open for the proper training of the rising generation. No class of men have felt the force of the foregoing facts so deeply as Christian missionaries among the heathen. They have had to see and to study humanity in its most terrible and appalling depravity and to calmly counsel for its welfare, and they occupy a broad field for observation and effort. Those whom God has called to work among the teeming populations of Asia and Africa have from the very first recognized the principle which has been laid down, and aimed to reach the heart of the family by bringing the women under the benign influences of the gospel. In some parts of the pagan world such an aim has been easily carried out, and work for woman has been prosecuted without serious difficulty. This is true of Africa, and of several countries of Asia such as Burmah and China. In other sections all work of this kind has been beset with the sorest and stubbornest obstacles. This has been pre-eminently the case in Hindostan, where woman has been so completely secluded from society by a curious and cruel custom that knows no self-interest and respects no benevolence.

The design of this paper is to briefly illustrate the condition

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