and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him: and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon:" Isa. lv, 7.

To return to God, as we are, for deliverance, is the action that must follow our resolution, if we would not have it fall abortive on to the pavement of hell! Perhaps some among you would ask, with real desire to know the way, 'How are we to return to God?' To such I would answer, You must return to Him by giv. ing up all that is not according to His will, and doing all that is His will. To return to God is not a single act; it is "ceasing to do evil, and learning to do well;" it is a constant living in His presence, a constant appealing to Him by prayer for guidance, and wisdom, and strength, and grace. Oh! all you who feel yourselves to be far from God, I beseech you, return to Him now; return by earnest prayer; by a look to Jesus, whose love invites you, and who promises that God will receive you. Do not stay where you

are, you will die! "I perish with hunger," the prodigal exclaimed. You will find in Jesus the bread and the water of life; comfort in this troubled world, and hope and joy in looking forward to the world that is to come.

Oh that God may give us grace-to us who have all been prodigals, who all have wandered more or less from our Father's home-may He give us grace to return to God now; to find His arms and His heart open to receive us for all eternity!

V.

JOHN XVII. 20-26.

20. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;

21. That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.

22. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one :

23. I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.

24. Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.

25. O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.

26. And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.

THE Lord Jesus prays for the unity of His

people, but by unity, He does not mean uniformity. We become one with another person, not by our intellect, not by conformity of thought, but by our hearts, by the power of love. There is a church that insists on unity among its members, and declares that out of it there is no salvation.

But how is this unity obtained?

By turning out those who do not agree with it, and retaining within its pale only such persons as adhere to its rules and doctrines, or else submit in silence. This is the only way in which such unity can be procured.

But is this the unity which the Lord desires to see among His disciples? Surely not. The unity He prays the Father to give, is not uniformity of practice, not even entire unity of thought, it is the unity of love. "That the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them."

It is those who are thus united in His love, and by that love devoted to His service, who

form His Church. By His Church, I do not mean this church or that, as we designate a church-the Protestant, Romish, or Greek church,—but those who in each or all churches and sects love Christ. These form His true Church. Above all other churches stands this Church-His Church-in which, in spite of differences of forms and practice and thought, there is true unity, and out of which there is no salvation. The unity of this Church consists in the love borne by all its members to their great Head, and, for His sake, to each other. That out of this there is no salvation St. Paul tells us, when he says, "If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha:" 1 Cor. xvi, 22.

Surely the Lord never intended that there should be complete uniformity in His Church on earth. As the human mind is constituted this is simply impossible. If I said the same thing to ten different people, of different ages and professions and modes of education, would