centers of life and business and distant nooks and

corners.

Teacher, do not disparage the worth of your work when you plead for souls in prayer, and when you urge them also to pray? Along those great wires of prayer reaching to Heaven's throne, what messages are winged, night and day, returning in blessing to needy souls upon the earth. You are keeping up the connection between the great source and the distant objects of blessing. Is there a break in the wires? Has any soul grown careless and ceased to pray? May you mend the break and again bind man and God together in the intimacy of spiritual communion and trust!

The Day of Prayer for SundaySchools.

Ar this writing we have not yet received the formal announcement of the programme for the Day of Prayer for Sunday-schools throughout the world, but long before this passes before the eyes of our readers they will probably have seen the notices in the various Church papers. For a number of years the third Sunday in October, and the Monday following, have been observed for special prayer in behalf of Sunday-schools. Let us remember to bring our work specially before God at this time, and to ask his blessing on our labors.

This is also, with us, GOOD TIDINGS DAY, on which collections are to be taken for the SundaySchool Union of our Church and for our Tract Society. Let it be remembered with prayers and thank-offerings.

Will-Power.

THERE is no power like will-power. What wonderful things it can dare! What mighty deeds it can accomplish! "He who is firm in will," says Goethe, "molds the world to himself;" and Confucius declares that "The general of a large army may be defeated, but you cannot defeat the determined mind of a peasant."

A determined will overcomes all obstacles, is oblivious to all hinderances, forces its way over or under barriers, and maintains its purpose in spite of all opposition.

Some people seem to possess a giant's will, while others are weak in that respect, and waver and hesitate, and have little or no decision of character.

Well-directed will-power not only establishes one's own character, but is the mighty force that moves the world. Every man or woman who starts out with a determination to do right, and to overcome wrong, feels the power for good or evil increasing until it becomes, as it were, a mighty torrent carrying all things before it.

Willfulness is unreasoning will-power, excusable in a child, but inexcusable in an intelligent grown

person. The will is a wild vine that needs training and pruning, and although coarse and unattractive when it first starts out, it will, by proper cultivation and direction, be an ornament and a support to the object to which it clings.

It is a grand sight to see will-power moving Christ-ward-not only intent on doing right, but in extending his kingdom; willing to serve him in any capacity; willing to be abased if by that means he can be exalted; willing to endure trials, and to make sacrifices, and to bear burdens,

It is a blessed thing when we can say, "God's will and ours are one." That is the height of Christian felicity.

Thorough.

In the Church we should have thorough views upon the subject of honesty, and our Sunday-school work should reflect them. People may criticise our ideas as strained, but the Church will thrive upon them. Our opinion will go out like a clean, strong wind,expelling much nonsense,routing many shams, and making it impossible that any corner of the Church shall be a hospital for hypocrites. Business dealings among those who are professedly God's people are not always up to their proper level. Shame upon any compromises with the Evil One.

They are not compromises, but his own methods adopted in a wholesale way. Certain old-fashioned ideas about honesty may make in society an excitement like dynamite, but they will explode some nonsense, and scatter still more corruption.

Methodism in the Lessons of the Fourth Quarter.

BY D. A. WHEDON, D.D.

THE Voluntariness of our Lord's surrender to his captors is the important point in Lesson I. He foresaw their coming and might have escaped; he awaited it instead. By the same unseen power with which he prostrated them he could have destroyed them; he permits them to take him instead. So was his death (Lesson IV) a voluntary one. Indeed, all the events after his Saturday-Sabbath at Bethany show him deliberately pressing on to an intentional self-sacrifice. Methodists teach that while the Father freely gave his Son for human redemption, and did not compel his work as Redeemer, the Son with equal freeness gave himself. Herein is the chief merit of his death and passion.

Notwithstanding our Lord's explicit teaching in Lesson II, all shades of premillenarians insist that he will yet set up a temporal kingdom and reign on the earth. A class of so-called Adventists tench: that when he entered upon his public ministry he intended to establish an earthly kingdom, but, seeing from the course of events that it could not be done, he abandoned the idea and went to his death; and now, what he then failed to accomplish he will do when he comes again. No; Christ's kingdom is spiritual. He is king of souls. Had he

meant an earthly kingdom he surely could have established it, though all the world opposed. And, besides, had he so meant, he would have been guilty of the treason against the Roman emperor of which the Jews accused him and Pilate acquitted him. Christ does, however, seated on his heavenly throne, rule in the realms of both providence and grace, and he will thus yet rule over all the earth through the victories of his Gospel. This is what we mean when we pray, "Thy kingdom come," and when, to help make it come, we give our money for missions, education, building churches, and the like good causes.

The narrative of Christ's death, in Lesson IV, states only the facts as men saw them. Its import we must seek elsewhere. He died, (1) on account of sin and instead of sinners; (2) as our ransom, to redeem us from the curse of the law by his blood as the price paid down; (3) as our propitiation, to present some fitting ground on which God's wrath could consistently give place to mercy; (4) as our expiation, atoning to justice by suffering all he could endure, and then giving his life; and thus, (5) he so satisfied the law that God can maintain a just and righteous government, and at the same time forgive the believing penitent; and (6) Methodists teach, without any qualification or mental reservation, that he died for all mankind without exception, that his death is a full and sufficient atonement for all the sins of all the world, and that through it power is graciously given to every man to repent and believe in Christ.

Methodism heartily accepts, with the Holy Catholic Church, the doctrine that the body of Christ, which was crucified, dead, and buried, truly rose from the dead and ascended to heaven. The proofs in Lesson V and VI are: 1. The sepulcher was empty. 2. The disciples saw and talked with him on two successive Sunday evenings and at other times. 8. Had they really seen a spirit, as they supposed they did, the new notion that the resurrection body is not a material one would have had some support. 4. It was a body that bore the marks of the nails and the spear, that was offered to the text of touch, and was made of flesh and bones; it was a body formed of the materials of the body that died. 5. It was immortal and incorruptible. It was organized with new qualities and under new laws, so that it could change its appearance, become visible or invisible at will, and go through a shut door. The resurrection of Christ was a miracle, and nothing connected with it falls within the realm of what we call natural law.

Lesson IX gives us a sight of the ascended and glorified Christ. With his risen body he remained on earth forty days, and was seen with the same body as he ascended. Methodism does not admit that that body, when beyond the clouds, was shuffled off or decomposed, for it would then, contrary to the Scriptures, have seen 66 corruption," and the immortal would have died. That body seems not to have put on its glory until after its ascension, and perhaps not until after the indement.

scene

THE APOSTLES' CREED.

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, dead, and buried; the third day he rose from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost; the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. Amen.

*Special Lessons in the Church Catechism may here

A. D. 30.]
John 18.1-14.

WITH

[Commit to memory verses 4-8.] 1 When Je'sus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the brook Ce'dron, where was a garden, into the which he entered, and his disciples.

INNOCENT BLOOD

2 And Ju'das also, which betrayed him, knew the place: for Je'sus ofttimes resorted thither with his disciples.

3 Ju'das then, having received a band of men and officers from the chief priests and Phar'i-sees, cometh thither with lanterns and torches and weapons.

4 Je'sus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him, went forth, and said unto them, Whom seek ye?

5 They answered him, Je'sus of Naz'a-reth. Jesus saith unto them, I am he. And Ju'das also, which betrayed him, stood with them.

6 As soon then as he had said unto them, I am he, they went backward and fell to the ground.

[Oct. 3.

7 Then asked he them again, Whom seek ye? And they said, Je'sus of Naz'a-reth.

8 Je'sus answered, I have told you that I am he: if therefore ye seek me, let these go their way:

9 That the saying might be fulfilled, which he spake, Of them which thou gavest me have I lost none.

10 Then Si'mon Pe'ter having a sword drew it, and smote the high-priest's servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant's name was Mal'chus.

11 Then said Je'sus unto Peter, Put up thy sword into the sheath the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?

12 Then the band and the captain and officers of the Jews took Je'sus, and bound him,

13 And led him away to An'nas first; for he was father-in-law to Ca'ia-phas, which was the high-priest that same year.

14 Now Ca'ia-phas was he, which gave counsel to the Jews, that it was expedient that one man should die for the people.

It is now midnight, perhaps a little later, after the last supper. The full moon looks down upon a eompany at the garden of Gethsemane, on the western slope of the Mount of Olives. The eleven disciples are there, just awakened from their sleep, dazed and bewildered. And the Saviour is there, with the marks of the agony through which he has just passed still lingering upon his face, though his look is calm and majestic. The battle has been fought under the olivetrees, and the Conqueror has come forth to receive his crown. There is another company near at hand, Judas and the band of enemies. Perhaps they have been watching near the garden, as a place where the traitor knew that the Master would pass by and pause on his road to Bethany; perhaps they had lurked in the shadows on Mount Zion, and had followed the Saviour and the disciples from the supper-room. Their presence is not unknown to Jesus, for in spirit he has seen every footstep. He now comes forward to the entrance of

Explanatory and

Verse 1. Had spoken these words. "These words" are the teachings contained in John 13 to 16, and the prayer in chap. 17. The full round of instruction had been given, and now Jesus was ready for his sufferings. He went forth. Out of the city, probably from Mount Zion, to go toward the Mount of Olives. The brook Cedron. Properly, "the winter-torrent Kidron;" a stream which during the rainy season runs down the valley of Jehoshaphat, on the east of Jerusalem. Where was a garden. The garden of Gethsemane, as we learn from the other gospels. It is uncertain whether the site marked by tradition is the true one or not. Into the which he entered. Here took place the agony, which belongs at this point in the history, but is not narrated by John.

2. Judas also. He had left the twelve at the suppertable some hours before, and was now approaching the garden with his band. Contrast the spirit and motive in each of those two companies! Knew the place. Knew that it was a place favored of his Master for prayer and meditation, and that he was likely to be there after the supper. Ofttimes resorted. It would appear to have been a place where Christ was wont to go for retired conversation with his disciples.

3. Having received a band. Rev. Ver., "the band of soldiers." It was a detachment from the garrison at the tower Antonia, overlooking the temple. And officers. These were the police of the temple, who were controlled by the Jewish council. Pharisees. These are named because as a party they were opposed to Jesus. Cometh thither. Perhaps they had watched near the supper-room for the coming of Jesus and the disciples, and had followed them at a distance. With lanterns and torches. Not used to light their way, as the moon was full, but to search the shrubbery

the garden, and confronts his foes. Judas the traitor comes out from the group, and with a pretended love greets him with a kiss. The Saviour turns from his perjured lips toward the band of enemies. At his look of mingled innocence and kingliness they fall back and fall down upon the ground, but after a moment they rally and again approach. Meantime the disciples in a little knot around their Master have gathered courage. Peter, ever the first to act, draws his sword, and strikes at the leader of the band, who chances to be the servant of the high-priest. Jesus gives him a gentle rebuke, and by a touch heals the wound upon his enemy's head. Even after such a sign of might and of mercy, his captors seize him, while his disciples scatter, and the unresisting Saviour is bound and carried away a prisoner. We see in the outskirts of the throng two disciples following, the faithful John near at hand, and the fickle Peter afar off.

Practical Notes.

and hiding places among the caves on the side of Mount Olivet.

4. Jesus therefore, knowing. Our trials come upon us as unknown, and are, therefore, the more easily endured. Our Saviour saw the dark cloud gathering over his head, and knew the very moment when it would break. The Rev. Ver. reads, "knowing all the things that were coming upon him" referring to his sufferings as already present. Went forth. He did not wait to be arrested in the garden, but went out of it to meet his enemies, his spirit having obtained the victory over his flesh in the agony. Said unto them. Judas sprang forward to greet him with the traitor's kiss; Jesus spoke a moment with him, and then turned to the throng. Whom seek ye? He knew them, and their leaders knew him; but he asked the question that they might declare their purpose.

5. Jesus of Nazareth. More precisely "Jesus the Nazarene," the name by which he was known, bearing with it a shade of contempt. (1) He who was once despised is now crowned with glory. I am he. There was no hesitation nor hiding. He declared himself at once to be the one for whom they were seeking, and he declared it with such majesty as to startle his enemies. And Judas also. Sixty years afterward the scene appears before John's eyes just as in that dreadful hour every actor in it stood; the group of enemies, the traitor, and the Saviour rising before them calm and

serene.

6. They went backward. The majestic appear ance, the glorious look upon his face, and the calmness of his words, made an overwhelming impression upon the band. Unconsciously each one drew back from his presence, and fell prostrate. Fell to the ground. All