mony is consistent, and is sincere. All circumstances have witnessed it, and in all scenes alike, of human gladness and of human sorrow, the witness of God's faithful people has gone upwards to the skies.

An Appeal to the Blind.

How is it with you to-night, brethren? Do you say, "We see," and therefore your sin remaineth? Are you anointing your eyes with other eye-salve than that spiritual, which alone can make you see? Born blind as you are, are you resorting to the treatment of empiricism? Born blind as you are, are you going to earthly healers, to physicians of no possible value? What is your state to-night? Oh, it is sad to think that after the gleams of light and beauty that you have had in connexion with this moral change to-night, that some of you may continue just as before, sighing over the ruins of departed privilege, of departed sight, and departed opportunity, just as the wind sighs mournfully through the corridors and aisles of some roofless and deserted

temple; and you may go on, stricken spirits, knowing nothing, caring nothing, enjoying nothing of God or His service, moaning helplessly in your travail, nothing but "blind, blind, blind."

Oh, is it so with you? I came to proclaim the giving of sight to the blind. The Saviour passes by! He passes by to-night! It was on His way from the temple that He met the man that was born blind. What a glorious thing if He were to meet you on your way from the temple, and just as He goes from the temple, where a crowd of worshippers have been gathered, He meets with a man that has been born blind and heals him! Now, if you are conscious of your state and of your peril, lift up your plaint to Him. "Command me to be brought to thee, and say, 'Sinner, receive thy sight.'" Surely you will pray, and your prayer will be heard. It shall be so. May God grant it for the Redeemer's sake. Amen.

The First Moment after Death.

What must be the feelings of the ran

somed soul just the first moment after death -the first moment when it is about to penetrate into those mysterious secrets which no one who has ever known them has come back to unravel? The first moment after deaththe spirit freed from the trammel of this tabernacle of clay, clogged no longer by the bond that has held it down to earth-oh, in what rapture must it catch the first burst of heaven's melody! oh, in what rapture must the first glimpse of the beatific vision dawn upon its eye, now purified from the film and from the shadow! and then an eternity, an eternity without an interval and without an end, for they shall be "for ever with the Lord." Believer, wherever thou art, in whatever corner thou hast ensconced thyself, though thou art ragged and homely, though thou hast few friends, though nothing but the green turf shall cover thy clay, though there shall not be a friend to follow or to mourn thee, and though, when thou standest at the right-hand company, there may not be one of thy fellows there that shall be able to recollect thy name, this is thy portion if thou art in Christ; the word of the Lord has spoken it, and "that word endureth for ever."

"I ask you to pursue the analogy in a converse way, and to think for a moment what must be the feelings of the impenitent and unransomed soul the first moment after death. The first moment after death! no confusion of intellectual belief then-all made terribly clear by the startling revealer that has separated the soul from the body-dread reflections on a misspent life—the awful accusations of an aroused conscience-terrible anticipations of a coming judgment—the angry glances of the Judge's eye-the unknown torments of an unfathomable hell. Oh, drop the curtain, we cannot bear it. Whither would it lead us if we pursued the analogy further? whither, but into deeper, darker, profounder regions of unknown and of unimagined horror? Sinner, sinner! oh for a tone of tenderness and power that should reach thy heart to-night; this is thy portion, however thou mayest have joined hand in hand, and made potent alliances, and rejoiced thyself in the things of this world; this is thy portion-the word of the Lord hath spoken it, and “that word endureth for ever!"

E

The Efficacy of the Gospel.

When it first appeared in the world, it appeared as a universal remedy, and a universal remedy it proved itself. Sinners were converted, believers were edified and confirmed. Wherever it went it spread its divine and blessed influence, and its reputation became established as a message from God. It is as searching in its nature as ever, however potent may be the principle of evil; however, like the fabled chameleon, it can shape itself to circumstances, it cannot twist itself into any shape in which Christ cannot find it, and follow it, and overthrow it. The gospel is the only system for man-for man always, for man everywhere; man in the infancy of the world, man in its maturer years, man in the depths of barbarism, man in the heights of refinement-for man a profligate sinner, for man a regenerated saint, for man on earth—ay, and for man even in heaven, for into it thousands of the spirits of the just made perfect still desire to look. And it has lost none of its power, moreover, by the lapse of time. The sun, after it has shone for a thousand years with unabated