matter with you?" I ask. "Oh, nothing," he says; "I am fit to go in; I am all right in every respect." "Then you can not go in," I say. "This is not the place for people with whom there is nothing the matter. It is not a tavern; it is a hospital." Now many people go to church as a rich man from the South goes to a hotel. He has his big boxes, his trunks, his wife, his children, and plenty of money, and he wants to find commodious apartments. Many people think that if they have clothes, and a good supply of money, and are well-appearing and good-paying boarders in the hotel of the Church, they are just the kind that we want. We do not want any such folks. We have too many of them already! This, in respect to a man's qualifications for entering the Church, falsifies the fundamental idea of Christianity; for we look upon men, and know that they are fallible, imperfect, and that, by the force of evil passions from within, and the pressure of temptations from without, imperfection has wrought itself into sins in innumerable instances. Habit is so powerful, sympathy is so strong, the allurements of the world are so engaging, and the Prince of the power of the air is so wise. an administrator, that we know perfectly well that every living man sins, and will sin. But ah! we have a Physician for him; and if he knows that he sins, if his heart is sick of sinning, and he despairs of getting over it, if he is penitent, and earnestly desires to enter upon a course of right living, then we will take him by the hand. Why? Because he is so good? No; because he is so bad. Do you suppose that if I were going out to teach those that needed teaching, I would go to Dr. Leiber, who knows more in his hand than I know in my whole body? I would go to some little ragamuffin that could not say his A B C, and I would go to him because he was so ignorant. His ignorance would be the ground on which I should go to him. The condition of joining a school that I should open would be that the applicants should not know too much. Ignorance is the qualification for entering a school, as sickness is the qualification for entering a hospital. And if a man comes into the Church, it is on the ground, not that he is perfect, so that we can afford to paint his portrait, and hang it up in the gallery of saints, but that he is imperfect. If a man says to me, "My self-esteem sins, my selfish propensities sin, my understanding sins, my affections sin, my moral sentiments sin-I am sick of this sinning; I am tired of the wicked life that I am leading, and I long for some help," "Ah!" I say, "behold the God that you need." Let me read this description of him again: "Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He retaineth not his anger forever, because he delighteth in mercy. He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea." Do any of you want such a God? Are there any of you that are willing, under such conditions, to live a life of righteousness? I call for scholars for the school of the Lord Jesus Christ! For there is a great school opened, and there is a great Teacher. He proposes to enlighten the understanding, to awaken the affections, and to develop the moral sentiments; and he declares that he will do it gently and with tenderness. Does any body want to go to school to Christ? I call for disciples-for the meaning of disciples is scholars -for Christ's school. Are there any that want to learn of the Savior? Hark to his invitation: "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls." GOD'S HUSBANDRY. "Ye are God's husbandry."-1 COR., iii., 9. So large and various are spiritual truths that they can not be fully expressed by any one formula of words, or by any single illustration. Repetition, in endless varieties, therefore, is the method of instruction in the Bible. One class of natural objects gives one shade of truth; another class adds to it something else; and, by continuous and varying illustration, there is some approximation to the whole truth. But, at best, it is only an approximation. An exhaustive statement of even the smallest spiritual truths can not be made in human language; and if it were, it could not be received by the human mind. All that are well instructed are obliged to say, with Paul himself, in respect to the fullest disclosures, “We know in part, and we prophesy in part." Only when that state which is perfect shall come, shall we know as we are known. In the passage which I have selected, the apostle declares that Christians are God's husbandry. He likens the work of grace carried on in the human soul by the divine love and power to the operations of the farmer. In varying my methods of instruction that you may not be weary, I have thought that I might, perhaps, to-night, without being charged with fancifulness, follow out this figure; and, if I teach no new truths, I may at least, by an extended analogy, attract attention to old ones, which is far better. 1. The first condition of the soil-its wilderness condition, |