upon his fellow-thief as a tool to his own end; the lover of pleasure treats his companions in riot as the instruments of his own entertainment.

And hence the hour of adversity parts these seeming friends; the lover of pleasure who had plenty to feast with him in his prosperous days, finds his companions tail off when it comes to a time of trial; they will not sit round his sick bed; and they count it but dreary work to visit him in his distress; nay, he himself, when true sorrow seizes on him, wishes not to surround himself with his former friends; he at once feels the vanity of the friendship, and his own heart recoils from the companions of his gay and foolish days, when he is bowed to the dust by the chastening hand of God.

When indeed the world shall have passed away, and all the crowds of unrepenting sinners shall be cast into hell-fire, it will be seen that though they will be linked together in one place, they will not be of one mind; there will be no concord, no union, no friendship between the lost; it will be a crowd of enmities, a home of divisions, a family of haters, soul against soul, heart against heart; no love will be there, no oneness except in suffering; they will be together, yet apart; nay perhaps they may be mutual tormentors;

each lost soul will indeed be alone in the midst of crowds, with none to care for him, none to love or pity him, none to feel for him, the rest being wrapt up in their own sufferings.

O most woeful home, where there is no love, where there are no mercies and loving-kindnesses, no pity, no sympathy, no agreement one with another, no peace!

Shall we not be at pains to learn to love one another, to become of one mind, and to learn the mind of Christ? Shall we not strive to conquer our selfishness, to care for others, to do kind deeds, to bear wrongs, to be patient and forbearing, to forgive injuries, to unite with good men, to seek good companions, to make good friendships, to struggle against feelings of jealousy and dislike? This is the way to prepare ourselves for heaven, for in gaining heavenly tempers and heavenly affections, we are advancing towards godly fitness for Christ's day; we are winding our way upwards towards Christ; we are copying in our faint way the life of Christ in the flesh; we are bringing forth the true fruit of faith; we are giving notes and proofs of the reality of our membership with Christ; we shew that we are of His body, and are one in Him, though we be many members. In the Apostle's words, then,

again I charge you, "Be ye all of one mind," of one mind now, that you may be of one mind for ever, and know each other in the presence of God, being drawn up thither by Him who once prayed that we might be one, even as He and the Father are one.

We cannot indeed gaze at the aspect of the various branches of the Church at the present time, or at the internal condition of any single branch, without being sorrowfully impressed with the absence of that oneness of mind which the Apostle bids us to attain. We are torn asunder, alas, branch from branch; we are alienated and estranged; we are parted asunder, and we are weakened by this estrangement; and what single branch of the Catholic Church is there which is united within itself, which is free from inward divisions, inward debates, and controversies within itself? Where are we to look for unity? Where the boast of it is made, it is not to be found; and we know that we must not, in an impatience for unity, sacrifice the truth.

There may be more inward spiritual unity than we dream of; this must be our hope; hearts may be inwardly united though we cannot see the hidden bonds; there may be much inward concord where through human infirmity outward

concord may have ceased or have been greatly broken. Minds now apparently apart in some respects may be drawn together before the throne of God, and looking up to their Father may be united before Him.

At any rate let us look up to God more and more, with sincere, loving hearts; let us seek to know Him more and more, to love Him more warmly, more stedfastly, and then shall we learn from our communion with God, to be more of one mind among ourselves. All true unity is from God; it is His gift; we must seek it from Him in the Name of His dear Son.

JOHN HENRY PARKER, OXFORD AND LONDON.

Sermons for the Christian Seasons.

ST. BARNABAS' DAY.

CHRISTIAN SYMPATHY.

ACTS iv. 36. The son of consolation.

THE craft and subtilty of the devil would fain persuade us that apostolic holiness departed with the Apostles from the world, and that with the primitive Christians primitive piety was for ever lost. The doctrine and the fellowship we may still retain; but of the practice, he tempts each of us to believe, “It is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it ;" and he would have us to regard the " pure religion, and undefiled," of those first followers of Christ, their self-denial, and "singleness of heart," as a picture of such exalted beauty, that we may admire, but cannot copy it.

A subtle and successful snare! The world echoes the words of the tempter, and the flesh lends a willing ear. We are told, and we listen eagerly, that the face of society, the minds and manners of men, have passed through a mighty