for you." Down went Cuffey on his knees and poured out his soul in pleadings and tears until both husband and wife were converted. Neither anger nor prejudice nor infidelity could stand out against the spiritual power, the marvelous spiritual charm, that was in that old black man's soul.

Dear friends, that is what we need, and what we must have, if we are to do the work of God. Are you willing to seek it? Are you willing to receive it? Are you willing to surrender all to Christ? It can not come from any half-hearted surrender; it must be a complete surrender of the soul to God. But why should we hold back? "Nothing but sin have we to give," but everything that is beautiful and lovely and glorious shall we receive in return.

Great destiny hangs on our decision. There are within our reach scores of men and women, yes, hundreds of them, who can only be won by us when we are at white heat of devotion and clothed upon by the Spirit of God. In the condition we are in now we will not win them, but God can equip us so that they will yield to our persuasion and our influence. From many a town, and many a country place, young men and young women have flocked to this city, and are here in the midst of its temptations, running the fearful gantlet of sin on every side. They are being wounded and hurt and many are being destroyed. No lukewarm Christianity will win them; no mere formal expression of our interest in them, or our faith in Christ, will

attract their attention. But if the Holy Spirit shall dwell in us, as he did in Paul when he felt that he would rather be accursed than fail to save the people to whom he preached, or as he did in Stephen when his face shone like an angel in the presence of the men who had sworn away his life by perjured testimony, or as he inspired Peter and the hundred and twenty men and women who were with him on the day of Pentecost until three thousand were saved in one day,-if that Spirit be in us then we shall win like victories. We shall be able to attract men's attention on their downward rush toward hell. We shall be able to show them the beauty of Christ. We shall be able to reveal to them the loveliness of Christian character. In the light of the holy earnestness that will clothe our faces and our conversation, and inspire our deeds, a worldly and a sensual life will seem dull and mean to them, and they will long to know the Christ, fellowship with whom has made such a transformation in us. May God bestow on us the holy anointing!

X.

A PASSING LUST BUT AN ABIDING

SOUL.

And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof; but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.-1 John ii. 17.

EVERYTHING that belongs only to this world is very changeable and uncertain, and is rapidly passing away. Nothing is more changeable than the conditions of human life. A baby soon changes into a child, the child into a youth, the youth into the man or woman. The strength of middle life soon passes, and old age draws on apace. If I were to call upon these white-haired men and women to bear testimony, they would tell you that the most astonishing things they have known in life, even when it has stretched through fourscore years and more, have been its brevity and its changeableness. Life is like the current of a stream that swings about the point of land that cuts athwart its tide. It is ever passing-passing away to come back no more. And we are assured in our text that the world itself will soon pass away, and that if that were not so it would be all the same to us, for our passion for it would soon be gone anyway.

The lust for worldly things is a very transient passion. A man soon loses his appetite and zest

for all worldly pleasures. Take the pleasures of the athletic field, or of the chase, or all pleasures that have to do simply with physical exercise, the enjoyment of physical being-they are very transient. The passing years soon take the suppleness out of the joints, the spring out of nerve and muscle, the restless heat out of the blood; and the armchair and the quiet of the fireside appeal more strongly than the vigorous life that once gave such enjoyment. Every such life is an illustration of the truth of the text that the lust of the world soon passeth away.

"I

It is so with all worldly things. It is as true of money-making and money-spending as of anything else. One of the richest men in New York was met on the street one day and congratulated by a friend on occupying the most enviable position in the world. For, said his friend, "you have everything that heart can wish." But the rich man said: am one of the most miserable men in the world. I have a great mansion, but I can not enjoy it. I must spend my days in trying to keep from losing what I have got. I can order the best food in the world, but my health is so poor that I can scarcely eat anything that I want. I am so beset by schemers and tricksters and beggars that I scarcely ever breathe in peace without suspicion that somebody is trying to rob me. I have fast horses, and my nerves are in such a state that I am afraid to drive behind them. . I can not sleep at night. I was just thinking, when

I met you and you congratulated me, that I was the most miserable man in the city." He was an illustration of the truth of this text, that the lust of this world passeth away.

There is nothing permanent except that which is spiritual. What folly, then, to spend all the time on the body and on this earthly life, to the exclusion of the development of those noble powers of the soul that shall live forever! Mr. Ingersoll, in his printed reply to me the other day, sneers at Jesus Christ, who, he says, advised men to spend their time in this world in preparing for the next world. Well, why not? Would not Mr. Ingersoll have a baby spend its time getting strength and exercise and skill to fit it for the experiences of boyhood and girlhood? Would he not advise the boy and girl to spend their time in school, developing body and mind for the duties of manhood and womanhood? And if man is an immortal being, created for an endless life in high and lofty fellowships, what better thing can he do during the years of manhood than so to use his business ability that he shall develop the great qualities of honesty and truth; that a woman shall so use her social gifts that she shall develop the great qualities of integrity and love; that both man and woman shall so deal with this world that it shall be to them a scaffolding in which there is growing up a strong and noble character, that after a while, when the scaffolding of earth is taken down, the strong and beau