very nerves are restless to express their brotherly and sisterly affection, should almost forcibly withhold their hands, and turn away their faces, and pass out and separate without so much as one word or look of true communion. I know not, but God knoweth, and thou knowest, if any such are here. If there are any such present, if any one of you now hears the voice of conscience whispering, "Thou art the man," "Thou art the woman," obey the voice, resolve, and with the noblest courage, this very hour, before you repass yon entrance, wipe out the blot, and let it be a reproach no more for ever.

As to the administration of a true Christian communion in the Church, my idea would be this,though, since no man liveth to himself, and each one must in some degree recognize the forms of institutions round him, I never expect to see it realized,— but my idea of a true Christian communion would be something like this. I would divest it of every mystical and unintelligible purpose, I would remove from it every repulsive thought, and separate it from every gloomy association. Then, be it annually, or monthly, or weekly, as it might, in every assembly of Christian worshippers, I would prepare an ample literal table, with seats for all. I would garnish that table with the freshest, most beautiful, and fragrant flowers, -the poetry of God's creation, that they might enrich the air with their sweetest incense. I would fill the edifice with sounds of rich and swelling music, the very notes of heaven, bringing mortal feelings into harmony with immortal hopes. And when that music paused, I would say to every heart capable of pure affections, to every mind aspiring

toward high attainment, and to every spirit longing after holiness of life, I would say, Come with quiet joy, come with serene dignity, come with radiant countenance and hopeful heart, come the youthful beside the aged, the sons and daughters beside the fathers and the mothers. And while the simple plate of bread and cup of wine should pass from hand to hand, like the electric links of a chain of love binding them in one, I would say, Do this in remembrance of Him; and leave all to silent meditation,- to meditation on the most perfect character which has ever adorned the world, the most lofty truths ever offered to the study of man, the purest precepts ever given for the government of human action, the sublimest life and the sublimest death in the history of earth; and I would say, Study these truths, contemplate this character, till you find yourselves assimilating to that character in holy aspirations, and then rise and go forth, clothed and armed in pure and firm resolve to resist the temptations, endure the trials, enjoy the blessings, and mitigate the sorrows, of human existence.

Now, friends, if there be one, or ten, or twenty here, who, in the spirit of such a true communion, may feel a pure and serene, yet strong, impulse to express that spirit of communion, remain with us for the moments when we break this bread and taste this cup of sacred memories and sacred hopes. We ask from you no prescribed and verbal declaration of opinions, and your act is itself a sufficient declaration of your purpose and desire, - the only declaration which either the Church or the world has any right to claim from any moral being.

We would obliterate every narrow line that human intolerance may draw, we would remove every unauthorized barrier which human prejudice may erect, and, asking you to dismiss every false fear which selfishness may suggest, invite all, who feel an earnest inclination, to remain, and for a moment express with us a communion of joys and hopes, flowing, as in one unbroken stream of gratitude, to the God and Father of us all, and towards Jesus, the teacher, the friend, the example and benefactor of us all. Though you never before, by any outward act, expressed this sentiment, yet that you have experienced it, and longed for its expression, there can scarcely be a doubt. If such be your experience and inclination, at this moment, now,resist no longer. Because others round you pass forth with the words of benediction, do not feel constrained to follow, but resume your place; for once, if needful, be courageous with the truest courage. Be not governed by the low thought, "What will some one say?" but be decided by the lofty and heroic thought, "What is right for me to do, I will do"; and act, act before your good resolution trembles and faints, and before your now glowing heart is cooled again by the chilling breath of shadowy fears and false social customs. For, in view of the perpetual uncertainty of all things human, now— not next month, nor to-morrow, which may never come to you on earth - but now is the accepted time, now is the only time for duty. Those silent marble teachers without these walls recall many who, in the memory of those present, sat where you now sit, passed to each other these same plates, and tasted

from these same cups, expressed their spirit of communion, bore their testimony to their love of truth, and then passed on, as some and all of us shall soon pass on, to bear a better testimony and celebrate a loftier communion.

Come, then, to communion with your fellowworshippers of the same God, with your fellowlaborers in the same life, your fellow-inquirers after highest truth, and your fellow-heirs to an eternity of being. Then come to communion with not only Jesus, and the exalted, great, and wise and good of all past time, but also with the spirits of the humbler near and loved ones, on whose faces we have so often and affectionately looked, but who have gone from sight, and left these corruptibles to put on incorruption, and these mortals to put on immortality. Then come to communion with the boundless Presence, the Holy One who has called us into being, and crowned us, as lords of the creation, with glory and with dignity, and so let us bring our vexed and troubled finite souls into peaceful harmony with the Infinite Soul, which pervades the universe, which lives and reigns undisturbed for ever in the eternal beauty of holiness.

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DISCOURSE XXVII.

THE CHURCH OF THE FUTURE. - UNITY AND DIVERSITY. THE SPIRIT OF DENOMINATION.

As it is always pleasing, and sometimes profitable, to leave the bustling throng and narrow streets and petty cares, and inhale a purer air, and enjoy the quiet beauty of nature in the forest or on the mountain-side, in the bright sunlight or the mild radiance of a summer morn, so is it refreshing, at times, to escape from the arena of sectarian conflict and theological warfare, into a superior region of thought, where fierceness subsides into gentleness, where our human nature, perverted by contending interests, recovers its right mind, and man finds himself at some point in harmony with man, and every spirit finds itself, in recognizing some great principle, some grand and vital truth, in sympathy with every other spirit. The diversities of the material world we do not deplore. You never meet with one who laments that the world is not all a level, unbroken plane, without mountains, hills, and valleys. You hear no one sorrowing that flowers are not all of the same hue, and trees all of the same species and the same dimensions; no one regrets that the skies are variegated