God's love for those who are scattered and lost is intenser and deeper than the love even of a mother; and if there be in this congregation any one who is conscious of guilt, and who wants to come back to innocency; if there be one who is lost in the woods, and does not know how to find his way out, God longs to bring you home more than you long to get there. He has been calling, calling, calling, and listening for your answer. And when you are found, and you lay your head on the bosom of Jesus, and you are at rest, you will not be so glad as He will be who declared that, like a shepherd, he had joy over one sinner that repented more than over ninety and nine just persons that needed no repentance.

And So, I call you to yourselves. I call you back to your own nature. I call you to your better selves.

I call to that God from whom you sprang, and to whom you go again. I call you to the life of duty, the life of liberty, the life of purity, the life of joy, and the life of immortality.

PRAYER BEFORE THE SERMON.

We rejoice, our Father, that thou hast made it possible for us to commune with thee; that thou dost reach down thy thoughts unto ours, which could not rise unto thee. Thou art so much above us, thou art so lifted up into an air where we cannot dwell except when thou dost give us thine own life, and quicken ours, that we never should find our way home, and never should know our Father, and never should have that great love by which we shall overcome life and death, and conquer immortality, but for the graciousness of thy condescension. We thank thee that thou hast permitted us so many times to come, and made the way now a way of flowers. We have gone through the wilderness to thee; but coming back it was a paradise. We have gone bearing burdens, and knew not what became of them. Thy very look had turned them all to lightness. We have gone with disappointments, only to have them interpreted into mercies. We have gone with sorrow and confusion; but behold, while yet we were confessing, the greatness of thy forgiving love broke out upon us, as the sun breaks through the storm-clouds, and all the terror was gone. We have come to thee often and often, weary and heavy-laden, and we have taken thy yoke, and it was no yoke; and thy burden, and it was not burdensome. O Lord our God, we thank thee for the past experience, and that out of it we derive all argument of hope. Not because of what thy word hath said, but because of what thou hast said in us, and a hundred times fulfiled, we believe in thee. And we rejoice that we may thus increase our faith from day to day. And as we go onward; as we draw near to thee; as we become riper for the heavenly land; as we have the intimations of truth; as we work out the spirit of love more and more perfectly, we hope yet to be in that state by which it will be possible for us to discern the invisible, and to live as seeing Him who is invisible.

We pray that thou wilt, to-night, forgive us our sins. Wash out, we beseech of thee, every stain and spot, that we may be white as snow. Not only

grant to us the forgiveness of our sins, but heal us in those fountains which sin brings. Purify our motives, and search our hiddenmost life. By thy Spirit, as with a glowing light, illumine, and, as with a living fire cleanse us, that all dross may be taken away. And we pray that thou wilt prepare us for all the duties of life. Prepare us for its disappointments; for its sorrows; for whatever is in reserve for us. And may we not shrink who are the followers of the Sufferer. Grant that we may be willing to bear our cross, as thou didst bear thine. We that are sin-laden-should we not suffer, when thou the sinless One made an offering for our sins? May we not count ourselves better than the Master; and may we rejoice from day-today that we are permitted to suffer for Christ's sake, and be only anxious that suffering shall do its perfect work, and make us patient and gentle, and make us more and more reverential, and truthful, and hopeful, that the work of God may be perfectly done in us. And as we do not doubt our friends who are kind to us, so may we never doubt thee, the best of all friends. Grant that our trust in thee may be more confiding, and that it may have more comfort in it. And in dark hours, and days of discouragement, whatever else fails us, oh! let not the sweet face of Jesus, looking upon us, full of forgiveness, and love, and mercy, fail us. And may thy countenance, by night and by day, at home and abroad, and everywhere, be our Comfort and our Guiding Star.

We pray that thou wilt grant thy blessing to rest upon us now assembled, pastor and people, for the last time for the space of weeks-it may be for the last time. Grant, we pray thee, that we may separate, commending each other to God. Grant that in a holy hope, and in the firm faith of thy truth, we may go on our several ways. In trouble, when anxious with forebodings, grant that we may leave everything in thine hands. Thou wilt do better for us than we can do for ourselves. Living or dying may we be the Lord's. And whether or not we see each other again in the flesh, grant that that we may have the hope burning brighter as the days grow darker, that we shall meet in heaven. We pray that none of us may be wrecked by the way; that all of us may be saved, and that we may all meet together a rejoicing household to be forever in the presence of our Father.

And to thy name shall be the praise, Father, Son and Spirit. Amen.

PRAYER AFTER THE SERMON.

Our Father, we beseech of thee that thou wilt bless the word of truth spoken, and grant that it may do good to every one. May it remove impressions and mistakes that are hindering any. May it quicken some that need quickening. May it encourage some who are on the way toward thee. Stretch out thine hands again to those who have refused thy message to come. Call again to those who have refused to hear. O Lord Jesus! bring back the wandering, and forgive them all their sins, and all their mistakes. Overlook them, and sanctify them, and save them with an everlasting salvation.

And to thy name shall be the praise, Father, Son and Spirit. Amen.

FIERY DARTS.

"Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked."-Eğш., VI., 16.

Instead of "above all," it would be better if it were rendered over all; for the figure is one drawn from the great Roman shield-not from a buckler, but from the great shield by which the whole person was protected. This is a part of a beautiful military figure. It is drawn with singular skill through almost all parts of the armor known and used in the old Roman warfare. The apostle's eye was caught, evidently, with the military organization of the Romans. The Jews were essentially a brave and military people. We have, therefore, in the writings of the apostle, frequent references to military affairs.

He also employs illustrations drawn from architecture; but always in reference to its uses, and never in reference to its beauty. Although Grecian literature and the Grecian language at this time predominated throughout the East, and although this was the spoken language, probably-at any rate by the commerce of Palestine, and mostly by the educated classes in the cities of Palestine; and although Palestine itself was filled-particularly in the North, and over the Jordan on the other side-with villages and with cities which were built by Greek architects; and although the Grecians had then the same relation to commerce which now the Jews themselves have, in all the world, and the Greek was the merchant of the world; yet, Paul never seems to have caught one single ray of the light of art. Nor do I recollect a solitary instance in which picture, or statue, or temple, was used by him on account of its beauty. Nor do I recollect one single passage in the New Testament which distinctively recognizes what we should call the aesthetic, or the science of beauty, which constituted not only a large part, but which, in connection with philosophy, was the characteristic element of the civilization of the Grecian worldwhich world had overspread Palestine. And it seems very strange that the Jews should have caught so little of the spirit of the Greeks. It is a testimony to what you might call thorough-breeding. For, in order to maintain spirituality, the Jew was forbidden utterly to make

SUNDAY MORNING, July 31, 1870. LESSON: EPII. VL HYMNS (Plymouth Collection) Nos. 23, 888, Shining Shore."

any image of God out of anything above, or out of anything below, or out of anything upon the earth, or to liken God to anything, and was to maintain inviolate an ideal and spiritual conception of Jehovah. This primary, and always observed command, wrought in the nation an indisposition to represent anything.. They never became artists, and never studied human life, nor the human form, with reference to art. So that side of the nature of man was never developed among them. And for thousands of years, even after they came under the influence of such elements, in their most imposing forms, they still resisted and threw off the aesthetic element.

But the moment the Jew was brought into the neighborhood of commerce, he showed aptitudes. The moment architecture, in its industrial and economic relations, was brought before the apostle's mind, he saw the elements of it. The moment the courts, or the administration of Roman government in the shape of a military force, the moment camps and armed soldiers were brought before him, he saw illustrations and analogies enough that might be drawn from them. And this is the most masterly of them:

"Take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day [that is, in the great battle-day], and having done all [or rather having overcome all] to stand -as Grant did in the Wilderness, and as other generals did not, who always hauled off to repair after a battle, and so never gained anything. The apostle says, "Fight your battle through, and hold your ground after you have fought it. Make use of your victory." There are a great many who fight a battle, and then run, and lose the advantage. "Stand, therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked."

Not to pursue the figure further, as this is the theme which I shall discuss, I will speak upon it.

What are these "fiery darts"? Was it the glitter of the arrow that he had in his imagination, as it flies through the air? In the first place, it is very doubtful if one sees the glitter of arrows under such circumstances, unless we believe in enormous deliveries. The ancients had what might be called the bombs of the bow. As we, with artillery, throw explosive shot that not only destroy by their fragments, but set on fire and burn; so the prototypes of these were arrows, the ends of which were bound up with inflammable material; this was ignited, and the arrows were delivered into the face of the enemy, or into his ships; or, if it was a siege, into the midst of his city. These flaming darts, these missiles that carried fire in every direction,

are "the fiery darts" of which the apostle speaks. And t likened to temptations. That is, there are temptations which a these fire-carrying arrows. Inflammatory temptations there are, which, as it were, set men on fire.

There are a great many temptations that men experience which are slow. They are comparatively imperceptible. Their access is not discerned. Their process of working is not at the time understood. We rather see them in their effects than in their actual presence.

There are many temptations which are derived from selfishness; that are insidious; that are so closely allied to duty that we do not distinguish the one from the other.

There are many temptations which spring from pride; which are cold; which incline us to wrong by negative elements, rather than by positive. There are many temptations which come from conservative elements in the soul. All that great round and realm of wrong which consists in not doing, is silent, unconscious, slow, and oftentimes even frigid.

Besides these, there are temptations which rush, and which make themselves apparent in the beginning, and all the way through. And a very large class there is of them. The genus is large; the species are many. They may, in some sense, be said always to agitate, and often to inflame, and actually set on fire the soul. And it is tempta tions of this kind that the apostle represents as being thrown by the great adversary, the general of evil, the devil, who lays siege to man as to a city; or makes war upon him as one warrior makes war upon another; and assaults him in one way and another, but, especially by the use of these fiery arrows; or, in other words, by assaults which raise up those great, powerful basilar passions which are so indispensable to the mechanism of life, but which are by irregularity and misuse rendered so full of mischief, and the causes of such immense and desolating sins.

Of these temptations I shall speak more in the sequel. I only mention them now for the sake of clearing and setting before you precisely the subject of the text, and dwelling upon them thus far.

Now, against all these temptations which come to our lower nature, and which are in their character inflammatory; or which, if we may change the figure, act like a ferment; or which, changing the figure again, are like a smouldering fire, which sometimes breaks out in blisters, and sometimes burns silently, like a fire in a partition, without air, and will not come out-against all these temptations the apostle does not say, "Oppose the sword or the spear-they can not be fought with good chances of success." You are not to use the sandals to get out of the way with,-they are not to be run away from. You are to oppose to these "darts" the great "shield of faith."