evidently with Franklin, he acknowledges that Fox moved the world, and Franklin did not. Now all this is clear enough to men who believe in God, the spiritual world, the power of the Holy Spirit, and the efficacy of faith and prayer. If Fox had not an original thought, with what did he move the world? A spiritual thought. The world is not moved with nothing; and he who greatly moves it knows a deep secret. Benjamin Franklin is famous because whilst flying a kite he drew the electric fire from the clouds. George Fox established a connection with the higher sky, and tapped the fire of Heaven at its fount.

The Church must vigilantly guard its spiritual power. Do not certain things indicate that in these days it is not sufficiently alive to this matter? We have already spoken of the mummy flowers in the dried-up torrent-beds of the desert; and it sometimes looks as though the character of the professed disciples of our Lord were not so distinctly vigorous and impressive as we have right to expect. The explanation of this must be sought in diminished spirituality. If the torrent-beds of Zion suffer desiccation, the heavenly plants that once throve and bloomed become sadly faint and fading. The forms and tints of the virtues survive, but they are no longer spontaneous and charming. The righteousness of the saints becomes formal; and when the righteousness of religious people savours of artifice, it is specially unsatisfactory. Of all artificial things nothing is so entirely intolera

ble as artificial flowers; and the formal righteousness of the saints is virtue in her most disappointing phase. And have we not reason to think that the work of the Church is often strangely lacking in inspiration and enthusiasm? If the river which makes glad the city of God dries up, everything languishes within our borders. Our creeds, polity, and ritual are aqueducts which more or less retain and convey the vital elements; but when the fresh, full, flowing tide is no longer with us, movements are languid, difficulties are magnified, and devotion dies. It is exceedingly deplorable that whilst modern science is retiring from the materialistic and mechanic point of view, and daily inclining more and more to a spiritual view of the universe, the Church of God should be moving in exactly the opposite direction, and, distrusting her spiritual calling, concentrate herself on secular methods and appeals. This unhappy policy is telling, and must tell, disastrously on her real strength and efficacy. We shall save the Church by seeking afresh the throne whence the living waters flow. If the things ready to die are to revive and to be clothed upon with primitive energy and virtue, the fountains must be unsealed. Only the spiritual power that created the Church can keep her alive.

Everything that concerns the strength and progress of the nation or the larger interest of mankind depends upon the measure of spiritual power possessed by the Church. Numerous methods are recommended

for the improvement of society. It is proposed to marry us scientifically, so that in process of time our cities will be peopled with athletes and beauties; others hope to create a new earth by purely intellectual discipline; whilst perhaps the majority expect everything from more skilful political adjustments: but whatever may be effected in these directions, at last all economical and political problems will be solved in personal regeneration—that is, in a higher moral type; and there is no name given under heaven by which men can be saved but by the name of Christ. The purification of the world, the bringing in of the golden age, is delightfully simple and absolutely certain. Statesmen and philosophers elaborate profound schemes with the view of introducing universal contentment and harmony; yet nothing is more transparently simple. Good fathers, pure mothers, obedient children, just masters, honest servants, and-the New Jerusalem! We have reminded ourselves of what was accomplished in the past by intensely spiritual men and movements, and similar causes will again be equal to similar effects. The eighteenth century witnessed a gracious revival of personal spiritual religion; and in the nineteenth followed a revival in learning, commerce, wealth, art, science, literature, political liberty, and national greatness. Let a revival of genuine godliness distinguish the twentieth century, and the twenty-first may prove the golden age. Magical is the power of water! "For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will

sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease. Though the root thereof wax old in the earth and the stock thereof die in the ground; yet through the scent of water it will bud, and put forth boughs like a plant." The "scent" is enough-the delicate spray, the elusive vapour, dew-drops, a sprinkle of the shower, effect surprising resurrections and transfigurations. So everything lives whither the spiritual river streams-its very "scent" vivifies art, philosophy, industry, poetry, and whatever else goes to the making of civilization.

IX

THE SCHOOL OF CHARACTER

Blessed is the man that endureth temptation; for when he hath been approved, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord promised to them that love Him.-JAs. i. 12.

WR

E are agreed that life is full of difficulty. The school is not without a playground, the strenuousness is relieved, we enjoy intervals of rest and refreshment; yet trial and discipline are the great features of the present time. A representative schoolmaster contends that every boy ought to have at least one thing to do that he heartily dislikes; and it is the rule in some ecclesiastical colleges that each student shall have special duties assigned which are known to be peculiarly distasteful to him. This arrangement is liberally carried out in the curriculum of human life. The things of trial constitute the very body of duty. Our calling and experience are full of what is uncongenial, irritating, irksome, and painful. How inevitable these trials are! They are not accidents, exceptions, surprises; they arise out of the very constitution of things-we are born to trouble as the sparks fly upward. How manifold these trials are! They spring from different