and his shrines. This spiritual force comprehends-Secondly, The sentiment of moral obligation. He has an inbred feeling that there is an authority over him to which he owes allegiance, that there are laws which he should recognise and obey. In fact he has a consciousness of power within him which concerns itself not merely with the truth or falsehood of propositions, the expediency or inexpediency of conduct, but with the right and wrong of actions. This spiritual force comprehends-Thirdly, The sentiment of social love. The social love is something more than gregariousness, than mere animal sympathy, which seem to belong to all sentient life. It is benevolence, a well-wishing for the race. This is in man's nature, though, alas, sadly perverted. I am speaking of these sentiments as they are in their essence, not in their use or abuse; they are the very spiritual core of humanity, the "gift of God" in a pre-eminent degree. Indeed, our life, with all its attributes, is His gift, but this spiritual force is especially so. It is bestowed upon man only; it is something greater than intellect, imagination, genius. These it works as its instruments. It is in truth the substratum of his moral being, the former of his character, the controller of his destiny. Another remark which our text suggests is: II.-THat

THE URGENT DUTY OF MAN IS TO ROUSE THIS SPIRITUAL FORCE INTO RIGHT

ACTION. "Stir up" (fan into flame) this force that is within you. This spiritual force is not always in a state of dormancy in any man. Far otherwise. But then it acts so perversely and perniciously that considered in relation to its true function it may be regarded as latent. To "stir up" into right action this spiritual force is every man's paramount self-obligation. He has to rouse up into right action the spiritual power that lies within him and which is God's greatest gift. The command implies-First: That man has the power to do so. Every righteous obligation implies the existence of adequate power of obedience. Where capacity ends, obligation ceases. But how can man do it? (1) How can he "stir up" the sentiment of worship into healthy action? By devout meditations on the moral excellencies of the one true and living God. (2) How can he "stir up" the sentiment of obligation? By contemplating the Divine will which is the supreme law of life. He who rightly studies that will, its absolute benevolence and rectitude, will come to feel that right is everything in human conduct. He will make right the guiding star of his life. (3) How can he "stir up" into right action the sentiment of holy love? By a devout study of the claims and needs of his fellow men. In this way every man can "stir up" this spiritual force, the gift of God that is within him. Observe-Secondly: On doing this depends his true

A man

dignity and bliss. Man can only become great by the right use of his great powers, by bringing out into right action all the great forces of his spiritual nature. The man who has not thus risen, has only risen as the stone has risen which has been hurled up into air, it must come down to the earth again. But he who rises by developing the spiritual forces of his nature, ascends heavenward, as the eagle that guides itself up from earth to heaven through clouds and sunshine. The greatest man in heaven has never been, and can never be, greater than himself. once, a man for ever. Greatness consists not in any additions to our nature, but in the right development of its power. CONCLUSION.-Man attend to thyself, not selfishly, and occasionally, but generously and constantly. There is an exhaustless field lying within thee fraught with countless germs of life and power. Throughout nature there are latent forces, fire mighty enough to burn up the universe sleeps in every atom of dust and drop of water. Powers sleep in the acorn sufficient to cover continents with majestic forests, and there is a spiritual force within us, rightly directed, that will build us into angels and lift us to the highest heavens of being. Let us, therefore, "stir up" this spiritual force, this "gift of God" within us.

LONDON.

DAVID THOMAS, D.D.

Paul's Psalm of Love. (6) The Tolerance of Love.

"LOVE.... BEARETH ALL THINGS" (OR COVERETH). R. V.-1 Cor. xiii. 7.

THE HIGHEST.

THERE is no doubt but that from the etymology of the word and the fact that already patience and afterwards endurance are in the context predicated of Love, the word "beareth," should be rendered "covereth." The full thought is that Love silently endures whatever it has to suffer. This attitude of Love is, I.-TO BE DISCERNED IN ALL IDEALS, ESPECIALLY IN The heroism with which great wrongs, as well as little irritations, are borne by Love, rather than the faults and failings of the beloved should be noised abroad, or rather even than the beloved, so sinning against Love, should be wounded, is proverbial. Love refusing to flinch, Love refusing to retaliate, Love refusing to publish, even by its cry of pain, the wrong done to it, is not rare. Does not Jesus "cover all things" in His extenuating prayer, "Forgive them, for they know not what they do"? And is it not God, the Infinite Love, who "

covers sin

and pardons iniquity"? This attitude of Love is, II.—TO BE EXPLAINED BY THE ESSENTIAL NATURE OF LOVE. It is because, as we have seen again and again underlying the virtues of Love this Psalm rehearses, Love is self-forgetful, cares not for itself but for the beloved, even though the beloved wrong it and wound it, that it throws the mantle of its concealment, as far as right will ever allow, over even the cruelties it has to bear.

EDITOR.

Paul's Psalm of Love. (7) The Faith of Love.

"LOVE...

BELIEVETH ALL THINGS." (R. V.)-1 Cor. xiii. 7.

ALL the features of Love in this verse are nearly related to each other, and yet have shades of difference of meaning that must not be overlooked. Thus the faith that is born of Love is something more than its power of covering up wrongs; it almost refuses to regard those wrongs at all in its full, free unsuspiciousness. For it is at the moral antipodes of the spirit that is ever surmising and suspecting that some slight was intended, some unkindness designed. Putting ever the best construction on all things, it "believeth all things." We notice, I.—THE FAITH of Love operaTES IN MANIFOLD DIRECTIONS. (1) There is a sense in which it finds exercise towards God. The heart that loves God is not tormented with the mysteries of His Providence. The lips of Love say, "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" In the midst of inscrutable events in individual or national life, the filial child of God "believeth all things" about His wisdom and love. (2) It finds frequent exercise in relation to the imperfections of friendship. Often in social life there is need for the best construction to be put upon some word, or some action. Love so believes in the beloved that it eagerly puts that construction. (3) It finds exercise in relation to mankind generally. With the true "enthusiasm of humanity," its views of men, its interpretations of men are inspired by a faith it is very unwilling to forego. And thus, as long and as far as possible, it "believeth all things." II.--The Faith of Love Is AN UNSPEAKABLE GAIN to men. For who cannot see that (1) to have unbroken repose in God's government, (2) ungrudging trust in friendship, and (3) an unfaltering belief in humanity, exerts the highest influences on (a) piety and (b) philanthropy. EDITOR.

Practical Love.

"HEREBY PERCEIVE WE THE LOVE OF GOD, BECAUSE HE LAID DOWN HIS LIFE FOR US: AND WE OUGHT TO LAY DOWN OUR LIVES FOR THE BRETHREN. BUT WHOSO HATH THIS WORLD'S GOOD, AND SEETH HIS BROTHER HAVE NEED, AND SHUTTETH UP HIS BOWELS OF COMPASSION FROM HIM, HOW DWELLETH THE LOVE OF GOD IN HIM? MY LITTLE CHILDREN, LET US NOT LOVE IN WORD, NEITHER IN TONGUE; BUT IN DEED AND IN TRUTH."-1 John iii. 16-18.

THE apostle of Love is defining and enforcing a Love that is active and real, not a thing of semblance, or simply of sentiment, but of honest, practical fact. He sets forth, I.—The SUPREME REVELATION of Practical Love. "Hereby we know Love." In many other ways, doubtless, but in no way so vividly, so emphatically, so completely. It is Love (1) embodied in a Person. (2) Manifested in the self-sacrifice of that Person. Thus as the apostle has just cited the extreme instance of hatred, he cites the extreme instance of Love. Christ is the complete antithesis of Cain. Cain sacrificed his brother's life for his own advantage, Christ sacrificed His own life for his enemy's good. II.-The ESSENTIAL OBLIGATION of Practical Love. "We ought." In Christ's sacrifice is (a) the argument, (b) the model of our Love. We ought "to lay down our life." This is a frequent expression, both in his Gospel and Epistle. It speaks of the staking of life; indicates readiness to surrender life. Every deed of true Love is a divesting of self. III.-The FLAGRANT DENIAL of Practical Love. The case he instances, similar, supposes (1) Possession of capacity to help the needy. "Whoso hath this world's good,"-i.e, the riches of wealth, station, intellect, or influenee. (2) Knowledge of the wants of the needy. "Beholdeth," ie., clearly sees. (3) Thwarting generous impulses towards the needy. "Shutteth up." (4) No continuance of Divine Love. It does not abide. IV. The EARNEST APPEAL to Practical Love. Not in word or tongue. This cannot mean that Love is to have no word, but that speech is not to be its only herald and spokesman. It is to be not of word and tongue only.

EDITOR.

Pulpit Handmaids.

The Duty of the Church with regard to the Overcrowded Dwellings of the Poor in Town and Country.

A Paper read at the Carlisle Church Congress, Sept.-Oct., 1884.

THE principles which I shall briefly advocate are these: that it is the duty of the Church (1) to influence opinion by collecting facts about the dwellings of the poor; (2) to urge its members vigorously to promote improvements in the material conditions of life among the poor; (3) to set an example, by the expenditure of capital, in ways not directly remunerative, on the improvement, where desirable, of dwellings on Church property.

It is not the custom of the Congress to pass resolutions; but my aim and methods are contained in the following recommendations, founded on these principles.

(a) That in the country sanitary associations be formed in each rural deanery, to call attention to this and cognate subjects, and to collect and diffuse information as to facts and causes and legal remedies.

(b) That in each large town a committee, not limited to professed members of the Church of England, be invited by the bishop to assist him in an enquiry into the conditions of life of the very poor.

A valuable precedent for this may be found in the city of Bristol.

(c) That a searching examination be made by the bishop in each diocese, or by some commission appointed by him, as to the condition and occupation of houses on the glebes and Church property in general.

Some precedent for this may be found, I believe, in the diocese of Lichfield.