deny that he even knew Jesus. He heard the denial, and he saw the remorse, when Peter outside the palace was weeping bitterly over the irreparable past.

Amid the agonies of the Crucifixion, the only ones to whom Jesus speaks are His Mother and St. John, tenderly commending them to each other in the sweet relationship of mother and son. "And from that hour that Disciple took her unto his own home."

On Easter morning it is John, and Peter, and Salome, who are at the tomb, and find it empty. And at the dawning of the Ascension day, it is of John, who is following behind them, that St. Peter asks as in our text: "Lord, and what shall this man do?" and receives the answer: "What is that to thee? What if I will that he tarry till I come? Follow thou me!" Then went this saying abroad among the brethren that that Disciple should not die, yet (says St. John himself) "Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die; but, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?"

We can see that when the Evangelist wrote these words, there was the beginning of the dim fog of legend that has enveloped his later years after we leave the canonical scriptures. We may believe that he was the Bishop of Ephesus, and that there the Virgin died in his home. That he founded and ministered to many churches. That he survived to the end of the century, and was exiled by Domitian to the island of Patmos, where he saw his Master in the clouds, and heard the voice again which had been so dear to him three score years before. "I am He that was dead, and behold, I am alive again forevermore." "Behold, I come quickly." No wonder that the aged Patriarch closes the august

record with his simple prayer: "Amen, even so, come Lord Jesus."

So, to-day, on his Festival day, the Church hears the answer to Peter's question, "Lord, and what shall this man do?" But what shall we say of his abiding words in Gospel and Epistles?

How grandly he portrays for us the life and mission of his divine Master! How he rings out the call to all men to follow Him who is the Light and Life of the world! The eagle which gazes into the fiery splendors of the sun, is the fit emblem in Christian art of this great Evangelist. Others may be content to trace the ancestry of Jesus to Abraham and to Adam; but to St. John He is the Ancient of days, who was in the beginning with God, by whom God made the world. In the Person of Jesus Christ he beholds the fulness of the Godhead, and relates with utmost simplicity the display of Christ's miraculous power. None was so near to that human sufferer and none saw so clearly that divine nature. If the Gospel is full of the truth that Jesus is the Light of the world, and that in Him was Life, so the Epistles are full of the story of His Love. "God is Love, and whosoever loveth dwelleth in God." "Brethren, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another." "If a man love not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?" "A new commandment give I unto you that ye love one another."

Think how those letters continually dwell on this theme, even as St. Paul tells us that Love is the fulfilment of the Law, and abideth forever, even when Faith and Hope have ceased to be. The last great word that the beloved Disciple has to say to us, as the lesson

taught by Him who is our Light and our Life, is that the love of God cannot be in our hearts together with hatred of our fellow man. "Whosoever saith, I love God and hateth his brother, is a liar." Strong, uncompromising words, cutting up the unreal pretensions of lip-service, and going down to the core of spiritual being.

Brethren, let us take into our hearts the deep meaning of this holy life upon which we have thought today, of his message to the world of Christ's power and love and mediatorship, and thank God for his having been; for his strong, ardent love, for his great faith, for his beautiful life, for his inspired and inspiring words.

His gentle spirit still dwells among us, and shall tarry till Christ come again. Innumerable churches bear his blessed name and revere his saintly memory. Surely, his was a happy lot.

May we have the grace to follow the same Master; to love Him as intensely; to abide with Him as the eventide falls, and the shadows gather, and at last share with him the inheritance of the saints in light.

TEXT: He goeth.

HOLY INNOCENTS' DAY.

A SERMON FOR CHILDREN.

These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever These were redeemed from among men, being the first fruits unto God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no guile; for they are without fault before the throne of God. Rev. XIV. Part of verse 4 and 5.

By the REV. E. A. BAZETT-JONES,

Rector of St. John's Church, Lexington, Ky.

HERE is a beautiful building at Florence, Italy, called

a Hospital, which was founded over seven hundred years ago, and called the Foundling Hospital, because they take care of little children who have been forsaken by their mothers. They have a church, and over the altar is a large picture. It represents the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Infant Christ on a throne of glory. All around it are those who died because they loved Jesus, and would not deny Him, and among them, more plainly seen than the others, are the Innocents: beautiful little children who are looking up into the Saviour's face, and pointing to their wounds, as if they said: "We have suffered for You, and for our sakes have pity on the little forsaken ones, who are brought here to be taken care of:" and Jesus looks at them with love.

Is is not beautiful to think that, up in Heaven, that pure place, where Jesus is, little children are praying for us, that we may always be pure? We might be very

rich and give a great deal of money to help some one, and then feel very proud when people pointed us out as the one who gave so much money; but we would not be able to see God, because the proud feeling is sin and sin in our hearts makes us impure.

Even little children are tempted; that is, they have wicked thoughts sometimes; but if they put them out of their hearts at once, and do not do what the wicked thoughts want them to do, they still are pure; it is only when they give way to them, that is, keep on thinking of them—that they become sin.

The Gospel for to-day tells us of the little children whom Herod murdered, and the Epistle tells us where they went after death. St. John the Evangelist wrote the Epistle, that tells us this, and it is called the Revelation of St. John the Divine, because it is all about what was revealed or shown to him as he looked into Heaven. He saw the Holy Innocents there and they are described in the Epistle. He tells us he saw a Lamb standing on Mount Zion. That is our Blessed Lord; He is called the Lamb of God, because He is innocent, or without sin; and with Him a great company, and all of them had God's Name on their foreheads. Then he heard them singing, and it sounded like one great voice, and the song that they sang no man could learn, it was the song of innocence, and men cannot sing that, because they are not innocent; they have sinned; and although they have been sorry for their sins and confessed them, and been forgiven, and they love God, and do a great deal for Him, and go to Heaven, they have lost their innocence, which little children, who have not sinned, and are baptized, have not lost. Then St. John tells us, this company of little children follow the Lamb whitherso