they could be answered, the problems which arise from inequalities of state and condition. Gentle Charity has

made the rich poor; lofty virtue has dignified and ennobled poverty; she has fused and melted into one brotherhood learned and ignorant, great and humble, king and peasant. The hands, unused to toil, of high-born women, have carefully tended the sick and wounded and miserable. In short, beyond all differences of color, and race, and circumstance, and condition, has been the union and brotherbood which men have had in the Church of God, in the Body of Christ. It has overleaped every barrier which man or nature has made, and those whom no tie, or kindred, or nation, or language has bound together, have been one in the blessed bond which, in uniting them to Christ, united them to one another.

"No distance breaks the tie of blood;
Brothers are brothers evermore;
Nor wrong, nor wrath of deadliest mood,
That magic may o'erpower;

"Oft, ere the common source be known,
The kindred drops will claim their own,
And throbbing pulses silently
Move heart toward heart by sympathy.

"So is it with true Christian hearts;
Their mutual share in Jesus' blood
An everlasting bond imparts

Of holiest brotherhood."

Ah, my brethren, you say, What a beautiful picture! You look around on the Christianity of the present age, and you ask, Is it now realized? You look about on that

branch of the Church of which we are members, and you inquire, Do we show that this mutual share in the Blood of Jesus is our own blessed heritage? Brethren, it forms no part of my purpose this evening to enter into the question of the reasons why the progress of the Church of God has been checked, until scoffers and unbelievers have dared to deny her divine mission.

Consider one thing only: never was the world so sunk in wickedness, never had the law of God so perished among men, as when the shepherds watched their flocks on the hills of Bethlehem, and the angels sang, "Glory to God in the Highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." Unseen to mortal eye, unknown even to the very actors, a mighty preparation had been going on for ages, for the fullness of the times; and when the hour had come, when a weary world was stretching out its hands in agony, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.

So, now there is a preparation going on. The watchful eye can detect it, the watchful ear can hear it. Louder than the din of war, clearer than the clash of gold, there is a stir, a movement, a going in the tops of the trees; there are streaks of light in the distant east, and rosy hues begin to glow on the summits of mountains, and the faroff cock-crow heralds the approaching morning.

But, my brethren, I do not wish to deal in vague generalities. What kind of religion would to-day satisfy the wants and spiritual needs of American men and American women? Our people are not an irreligious people; they do not take naturally to scoffing and unbelief; they are ready to hear and attend to anything which claims to give a message from God; they not only desire to learn the

way of salvation, but rush hither and thither in search of it.

First of all, the Church which would claim the obedience of the American people must be an historical church. It must be able to prove its lineage, and trace its connection with the Apostolic Church. It must be no upstart, scarcely older than the nation it seeks to convert. The American mind may believe in a self-made man, but never in a self-made Church.

Next it must have a Creed, at once positive and definite, and broad and comprehensive. It must teach with definiteness and positiveness what it does teach, and require exact belief in the faith which it lays down; while, at the same time, this faith must be as broad and liberal as exact compliance with the never-changing truth of God will permit. It must dare to overleap the gloomy and dreary controversies of the past three hundred years. It must cut itself loose from German, or Anglican, or French Reformation tradition, and dare to hold, one and undefiled, the faith of the primitive Church of Christ. In short, it must be not only American, but catholic; not only of the nineteenth century, but of the first; and bind our young and new-born people, with a mighty bond, to the ages that have gone and the ages that are to be. It must have not a ministry merely dependent on the people, driven about by vestries, hired for so much a year, who reflect every tone and impulse and change of the reople of to-day; but a divinely sent priesthood, who shall guide the weary soul nearer and nearer to the feet of Jesus.

It must be a practical Church; it must be prepared, beyond all things else, to care for sick, and poor, and desolate, and wounded, and dying. It must be ready for

every emergency and contingency of the national life. It must have its orders of men and women. It must be ready for war and pestilence, and not, when the hour of danger comes, gaze in feeble and helpless apathy on agony and misery it is unable to help. It must be strong and mighty and vigorous. It must burn and glow with everrenewed life. In short, it must be the Body of Christ, the Church of the Living God, the pillar and ground of the faith, the fullness of Him which filleth all in all.

Brethren, I ask you, is there a possibility of such a Church? I ask you, not as people prejudiced by the notions of this or that sect, this or that school of Churchmanship, but in the face of problems, and cries, and pleadings, and distresses, which rend the heart, and fill the soul with agony.

I believe, beloved, it is to be. I see the far-off morning, I catch a glimpse of the rosy light, and I strain the weary eye, and lift the entreating prayer, for the better day which is to dawn!

VI.

CHRISTIAN EDUCATION.

(Preached at Convocation, held in St. James's Church, Milwaukee, April, 1866.)

"Feed my Lambs."-ST. JOHN xxi., part of v. 15.

THERE is no question which, at the present time, more demands and deserves the attention of the earnest and thoughtful, than the grave question of Christian education. It involves, however, so many points, each of which deserves the most careful and minute consideration, that I can do no more than briefly state the most of them, and give to one alone the full consideration it needs.

A host of problems straightway present themselves for solution. Has the State the right, and is it its duty, to educate the people? Has the Church the same right and duty? In countries like our own, where Church and State are not united, if the State does educate, what is the duty of the Church with respect to State education? Ought it in

any sense to try and mold and leaven the State education of the country? If it seeks to, can it possibly do so? If it can not do so now, is there any hope that it may do so by and by, and is it best to wait for this time?