'Time, like an ever-rolling stream,

Bears all its sons away;
They fly forgotten as a dream

Dies at the opening day.'

Since I was here last, a man who belonged to the committee of our club has been taken from us suddenly. Since I last spoke to you, a little child who attended these schools, the child of parents whom many of us know and respect, has been called away; and one of the greatest of our London clergymen, Dean Stanley, whose face was familiar to many of you, has been taken to his rest, with only a few days' warning. Let us ask ourselves, 'If our turn should be next, could we truly say that we were at peace with God?' My friends, this missionroom is open to make you at peace with God, and we are working here to make peace between God and man. Our only object is to bring you nearer to God, through the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ.

If, then, you have not made your peace with God, make it now. If you are walking with God, ask God to help you to walk closer to Him; and when the end comes you will be able to feel that you are going to no strange country, but that you will be as one of the hymns tells us, 'Safe in the arms of Jesus.' Kneel down, if you have not made your peace with God, and ask Him to put away from you whatever separates you from Him. It can only be sin, and that must be given up, cost

you what it may if it is the right hand or the arm, cut it off; if it is the eye, pluck it out. It is better to go into life with the loss of a member, than to death though we are perfect.

Oh, my friends, do not put the question off. Two cannot walk together unless they agree, and if you would walk with God it must be by living as He would have you live. Pray for grace. Pray for strength. Go to our Lord Jesus Christ and ask pardon for your sins, knowing that He will abundantly give it to you; and then you need not fear, because all will be well with you if you only live for Christ.

One of our poets, who was a man troubled sometimes with miserable feelings, and who sometimes was unable to realise how good God was to him, poured out his soul in words familiar to many of us, and which we may all do well to use :

'Oh, for a closer walk with God,
A calm and heavenly frame,
A light to shine upon the road
That leads me to the Lamb!

Return, O Holy Dove! return!
Sweet messenger of rest!

I hate the sins that made Thee mourn,
And drove Thee from my breast.

The dearest idol I have known,

Whate'er that idol be,

Help me to tear it from Thy Throne,
And worship only Thee.'

And let me read you an extract from another great poet, because words like these must remind you of the truth I have been trying to teach you to-night. They are the words of one of whom most of you have heard-the poet Milton. Michael the

Archangel is supposed to have been speaking to
Adam, and this is Adam's reply :-

'Henceforth I learn that to obey is best,
And love with fear the only God; to walk
As in His Presence; ever to observe
His Providence; and on Him sole depend,
Merciful over all His works, with good
Still overcoming evil, and by small

Accomplishing great things, by things deemed weak
Subverting worldly strong, and worldly wise
By simply meek; that suffering for truth's sake
Is fortitude to highest victory,

And to the faithful, death the gate of life.
Taught this by His example, Whom I now
Acknowledge my Redeemer ever bless'd.'

In other words, if we walk with God we have a paradise within us, because we have the source of perfect happiness here and the certainty of eternal bliss hereafter.

VIII.

'Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.'-1 Cor. x. 12.

HIS word, 'Wherefore,' means a great deal.

THIS

If you look at the first part of the chapter from which this text is taken you will see that it refers, in a kind of brief summary, to the history of God's chosen people, the children of Israel. It tells us how, notwithstanding all the special advantages they had enjoyed; notwithstanding the personal leading of God Himself; notwithstanding a succession of prophets, priests, and kings, all appointed by God to speak in God's name; notwithstanding the visible presence of God in the Holy of Holies, which they carried about with them in their Tabernacle, and which was afterwards placed in the Temple; notwithstanding all these things they committed grievous sins against God.

If they, with their many advantages, with all the blessings which they received, with all the warnings they had, and with the repeated acts of God's mercy towards them, drawing them, as it were, out of their misdeeds when they fell back into them; if, notwithstanding all these things, still they sinned so

grievously against God; then, says the Apostle, it behoves us when we think we are standing to take heed lest we fall.

Yes, my friends, these are solemn words. They occur, as you know, in the Epistle for this morning, and they are read to us once in every year also in one of the Second Lessons of our Service; but as many of us here do not attend church in the morning, it will be well for us to listen to them, because words like these come home, not merely to the careless, not merely to the thoughtless, not merely to those who have not made up their minds whether they will serve God or the devil, but they come home to every one, and most closely, most deeply, most truly, to those who have made their 'choice,' and who, by trying to walk with God, and to serve God, and to do good to their fellow-creatures, know how hard it is to keep steadfast, and how often they need to be reminded of the danger of falling back. There are still slippery places ahead, precipices still to be guarded against, and therefore, as they go onward and upward, they need the warning voice: Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.'

When these words were written, as I have said, the Apostle began with a summary of the history of the children of Israel; but if, instead of looking at their history in the mass, we take one or two single instances, we shall see still more clearly how important this warning is. Remember I have said,