Above all, let us pray for more grace. We must never read the story of old times and say, "What a splendid denomination ours has been, can we not rest on our laurels ?" Impossible. You must_win fresh ones. Napoleon used to say, "Conquest has made me what I am, and conquest. must maintain me"; and it is so with Christians. You must advance; you must outdo the exploits of the past, and eclipse the deeds of your sires, or you will show yourselves unworthy of them. The battle thickens, and how shall we meet the growing demands upon us except by seeking for sevenfold grace? Our spiritual stamina needs to be increased. If we were to collect a number of men all wheezing and coughing, and only fit for the Consumption Hospital, and set them to work upon a railway, we might commend them for their diligence, but they would never accomplish much. On the other hand, gather together a company of burly, brawny men, and they will say, "Who art thou, O strong mountain ?" and, before it can answer, it will be turned to a plain! See how they use the pick and the shovel! Vital strength is their motive force. Ŏ God, strengthen us! We are willing, some of us, but our strokes are feeble! Grant us, we beseech thee, more of thy Holy Spirit, and we shall accomplish great things. Strength delights in work, feebleness is afraid of it. Spiritual strength will produce universal spiritual service for the Lord Jesus Christ. I have done when I have looked into the future for a moment. If it should ever come to pass that the minister and all his people went forth to the war for King Jesus, what would happen? I seem to be in paradise when I think of it! If all, without exception, who name the name of Jesus, went earnestly into his vineyard, what life there would be, and what unity in all the churches! There would be no longer a name to live, but real living! There would be no divisions if all were alike zealous for the glory of the common Master. You would not hear of church meetings which are scenes of disturbance, and churches where pastors are unhappy; such things would be regarded as extinct animals. of the ages gone by. Then we should hear no complaints of our not being strong enough to do the work of our great cities and scattered hamlets. The very feeblest church, if every one did his share, would be strong enough for its position. Moreover, there would be no lack of funds for any holy enterprise. Ah, if God's treasure received from all as it receives from some, we should almost have to tell the people to stay their hands, because we should scarcely know how to use all their gifts. But the wealth which belongs to Christ and the service kept back from him canker in men's coffers, and the amount of which the Lord is robbed is almost beyond computation. The missionary societies, very well sustained on the whole, do not receive more than a tenth or a hundredth part of what God's people ought to give to so divine a work. If the merchant prince who contributes what is thought to be a handsome. sum to Christ, only gave in the same proportion as many a pious girl who has to earn her living at so many stitches for a penny, and if all gave as the few are giving, we should soon supply all nations with missionaries. And if this were the case, what enterprises would be undertaken? What overflowings of Christian zeal should we perceive? We should be sending out messengers to discover every region which remained unsubdued, and we should at once be up and doing. Then the mission field would be strong with men of noblest fitness. I do not know how you think about it, but it does seem strange to me that we here in this little island are so close packed together, and yet a few scores or hundreds only go into the mission field. "Some of us have large spheres here, and we cannot be expected to go, can we ?" I answer, the ablest preacher that ever lived is not too good for missionary work; the most useful man at home is probably the fittest for the foreign field. Let us each question his own heart as to the claims of the heathen for my own part, I dare not sleep till I have honestly considered whether I ought to go or not. We tell our young men in the College that they must prove that they have not to go, or else their duty is clear. If some of the men of Israel had said to Joshua, "We cannot go to Ai," Joshua would have replied, "You must prove that you cannot go or you may not be excused." All other things being equal, ministers should take it for granted that it is their duty to invade new territory unless they can prove to the contrary. When I think of the number of young men who are well educated, and can read a capital paper at the Mechanics' Institution, and profess to be regenerated by the Holy Spirit, it grieves me to see their talents dedicated so largely to meaner ends. Oh, bleeding Lamb, it does seem strange that we have a greater passion for literature than for thee! more care for fleeting than for enduring things! See France is wanting the gospel. See what one beloved brother in Paris has been able to do,-are there none who can do the like for other cities in that neighbour country? Here and there a good man can say, “I have made a competency "-why not live and employ it where you can lay it out personally for the spread of the Redeemer's kingdom? Such a thing is being done by a few, it is not therefore impossible, and you who follow the grand example shall have your reward. what Pastor Harms did in the village of Hermansburg, how he stirred up all the people until they gave themselves and their property to the Lord, and built a ship for the mission and went forth in it to Africa, company after company, to evangelize. Should it not be the ambition of a minister to feel that if he stays at home he will at least, by the Holy Spirit's help, produce missionaries by scores in the village where he labours. I wot the day cometh that he will be thought most happy who suffered and laboured most for Christ. When this great fight is over he who is most scarred will be most honoured, and he who dwelt at home at ease will think himself but sparsely blest because he put not in for his share of the war. Let us be all at work for Christ and his redeemed church! All at work, at all times, and in all ways for Christ! It is for that I plead; and then we will take another motto and say-the world for Christ, and Christ for every nation under heaven! This will be accomplished when the Spirit has aroused us all. O blessed Spirit, convert the church and it will convert the world! HAPPINESS: THE PRIVILEGE AND DUTY OF A $ermon DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, JUNE 10TH, 1877, BY AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. "Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord, the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thy excellency! and thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee; and thou shalt tread upon their high places."— Deuteronomy xxxiii. 29. THESE are the last recorded words of Moses, and they are significant, for they show us that he found comfort in his dying moments in considering the happiness of the people for whom he had laboured all his life. From the day when, by God's power, he led them up out of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness they had never ceased to lie near his heart. They had been a very heavy burden to him at times, but with marvellous meekness and patience he had borne with their many rebellious provocations, and only once spoken bitterly of them. Oftentimes had he stood in the gap and made intercession for them, when otherwise they would have been destroyed. He had for their sakes given up the most glorious prospect that was ever proposed to the mind of man, for the Lord had said to him in secret, "Let me alone, that I may destroy them; and I will make of thee a greater nation." But no, even such a proposal could not divert him from his patriotic zeal for his people he loved Israel, erring Israel, ungrateful Israel, as a mother loves her child, and family aggrandizement was relinquished for love of the nation. Still he continued to instruct, and lead, and guide the stiffnecked race, having no thought but God's glory in the midst of Israel, and no ambition but to see the tribes brought at length into the promised land. When about to die the ruling passion is strong upon him, and from it he draws his consolation. He seems to say to himself, "I can no more go out and come in: also the Lord hath said unto me, Thou shalt not go over this Jordan, but though I must leave the beloved nation, yet they are a happy people, and are safe in Jehovah's hands." He looks with sparkling eye at the privileges with which God No. 1,359. had enriched them, and he feels that he may quietly go up to the mountain and fall asleep, for they would be blessed when he was gone, and gaved of the Lord. Ah, my dear young friends, you who are children of godly families, you cannot tell what joy you will give to your parents if you are converted to God; for when they come to die they will find it one of their sweetest consolations to see their children walking in the truth. They have loved you dearly, and they will feel a pang in leaving you; but if they can feel that God has blessed you, and saved you, they will die in peace. I have heard saints when dying say, "There is but one thing that I want, and for which I could wish to be spared a little longer. could wish to live to see all my family believing in the Lord. O that all my offspring were lovers of Jesus." I have heard dying saints express themselves in language somewhat similar to that of David: "The Lord hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure, although my house be not so with God as I could desire.' That "although my house be not so with God" has been a thorn in their pillow, and they have felt it painful to quit their household while yet their children were so unhappy as to be out of Christ and unreconciled to God. Think of this, dear young people, I pray you, and perhaps natural affection may be blessed in the hand of God to lead you to seek after eternal salvation. Thus you see how Moses consoled himself; but why was not this expression of the great lawgiver left as a soliloquy unrecorded? Moses had cheered himself with this reflection, "Happy art thou, O Israel," what need to write it down, or to utter it before the people? It is frequently an unwise thing to tell a man of his propitious surroundings, for he may become vain of them. You may commend a man's estate until he foolishly dreams that you are commending him. When you praise a man's position, it is the next thing to flattering the man himself, for the most of men do not divide between themselves and their condition, but read a commendation of their condition as a commendation of themselves, though it be not so. Hence one has sometimes to be very chary of calling men happy; and all the more so because we cannot generally be sure that they are happy; external circumstances being but a poor means of judgment. The fairest apple may be rotten at the core, the finest linen may be a coverlet for a corpse. Moreover, according to the truthful rule of the ancients, no man is to be counted happy till he is dead, seeing that you do not know the whole of his life, and it may happen that the circumstances which now appear to be the foundation of a happy life may turn out to be a preparation for increased bitterness in the after part of existence. Yet Moses speaks thus openly to Israel without a word of qualification or caution: "Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee !" Now, we are quite certain that Moses did not err in this; it would be great self-conceit to imagine such a thing. We may confide in the clearness of his judgment, in the maturity of his experience, and in the fidelity of his spirit. We are sure that he did not speak with rashness, for he was of a meek and gentle disposition, and somewhat slow in speech, and not likely, therefore, to warm into unreasonable enthusiasm and go beyond the sober truth. Above all, the Holy Ghost has adopted the lawgiver's words, for he had himself inspired them, and we have them here in the infallible Word of God, so that it is quite certain that Israel was happy, even as our text declares. The people were favoured, and it was right for them to be told so, a wise design led to their being reminded of the blessed fact. I think that Moses thus eulogized the nation by way of consoling them for his departure. He did as much as say, "I climb the mount to go away to God, but happy art thou, O Israel: whether Moses be with thee or not, God is with thee." No doubt many would say as the great lawgiver departed, "My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof"; but Moses reminds them that the shield of their help and the sword of their excellency would still be with them, and they would still be a people saved of the Lord. What better comfort can be offered to bereaved hearts? I think also that he had in his mind's eye the fact that they were now about to face new difficulties. Under Joshua they were to cross the Jordan and fight the Canaanites. They had known occasional brushes in the wilderness with Amalek and Bashan, but for the most part they had led peaceable lives; now, however, each man was to be a soldier. From the day in which his foot pressed the promised land each man was to contend for the mastery, and therefore Moses sustains them with rich and nourishing meat to strengthen them for the new service. "Happy art thou, O Israel; thou art about to throw thyself into the midst of ferocious tribes, who will all conspire to cut thee off; but thou art a people saved of the Lord; thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee, and thou shalt tread upon their high places." 66 My never-ceasing songs shall show "The sacred truths his lips pronounce "How long the grace of David held "His seed for ever shall possess A throne above the skies; The meanest subject of his grace So then I gather from the example of Moses that to commend a man's condition, if you have a wise motive for it, and can either console him under trouble or inspire him for future service, is a right thing to do. This morning we are going to repeat the experiment. Whatever was said about the happy condition of the natural Israel is emphatically true of the spiritual Israel. The tribes were our types, and what was true of them is true of us. Without any sort of wresting of the text, we shall this morning apply to all believers, to all who rest in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh, the words of Moses to the |