you done? You have shut in truth and virtue, domestic peace and happiness, civil and religious freedom, schools, hospitals, reformatories; in a word, civilization. And by the same token, you have shut out all the false religions and localized them in the regions of darkness and the shadow of death. The charmed circle which you have thus circumscribed is called "Christendom," because it is under the dominance of the gospel of Christ. Is it a mere coincidence that our religion has come down thus through the ages, like Milton's angel of the morning, with institutions of light and mercy springing up on every side?

It is universal.-The fourth of the great differentiating facts of Christianity is its universality. All the false religions are ethnic, intended only for certain nations and adapted only to limited classes of men.

"Christ for the world we sing;

The world to Christ we bring!"

This is the deep, ultimate meaning of the miracle of Pentecost. In an inner court of Jerusalem were come together men of all nations of the known world, "Parthians, and Medes and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, in Judæa and Cappadocia, in Pontus and Asia, in Phrygia and Pamphylia, in Egypt and the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and sojourners from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians." The world

was there that day. And, the gift of tongues having been bestowed upon the disciples, the proclamation went out: "For to you is the promise, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call unto him!"

The gospel, which had been adjusted in the beginning to the progress of coming ages, was also adjusted to the needs of all sorts and conditions of men. It is for philosophers and for simple folk as well, being within the comprehension of all. This is the innermost meaning of that acted parable of Jesus when he took a child upon his knee, saying, "Verily I say unto you, whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall in no wise enter therein."

The Church is put under commission to execute this world-wide plan. The great propaganda was inaugurated when Jesus said to his disciples on the day of his ascension, "Go ye into all the world and evangelize," even "to the uttermost parts." That commission will not be fully discharged until the gospel has been carried to the last man. We are looking for the coming of Christ to rule from the river unto the ends of the earth. Maranatha! "The Lord cometh!" Let us not forget, however, the significant sign of his coming, which he himself has given us: "This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world; and then shall the end come."

These are my reasons for affirming that our re

ligion is the only religion in the world. It is spes unica, "the only hope."

Are we to understand, then, that none of the heathen are saved? I do not say so. It may be that some are able to form a dim conception of an essential Christ from the institution of sacrifice which, for some strange reason, is universally prevalent. Blessed is every man who can interpret the parable of the blood! In one of the poems of Saadi, the Persian, occur these strange, pathetic words:

"Once, as I staggered on the brink of hell,

Above the everlasting fire-flood's awful roar,

God threw his heart before my feet; and stumbling o'er That obstacle divine, I into heaven fell!"

For my part, I am willing to leave this matter, without speculation, in the hands of a gracious God. I know that he requires no more of any man than that he shall live up to his light; but, when we consider how few there are who meet that requirement in Christian lands, how remote seems the possibility that many of the heathen are saved. We would surely not have been so urgently and imperatively enjoined to give them the message of salvation in Christ were salvation attainable in any other way.

We have Christ and his glorious gospel! And we are required to give that gospel to those who have it not. To all our questioning, not only as to the salvation of some of the heathen, but as to the

relative value of Christianity and the false religions, there is one final and conclusive answer in the words of Jesus himself: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father but by me."

THE OLD-TIME RELIGION

Passing fashions.-The religion of the ages. Four great underlying principles: A personal God, A self-respecting man, Sin, Salvation.-The old-time religion is abreast of the past, abreast of the present, abreast of the future.-A Temple of Progress. Above all others.

Passing fashions.-Paul declares that the "fashion of this world passeth away." The word here rendered "fashion" is schema, a technical term which was used in connection with the ancient drama to designate the costumes and properties. "All the world's a stage and all the men and women merely players." For a while they wear the garb of the characters they assume; then the curtain falls, the lights are extinguished and the actors are themselves again. So "the fashion of this world passeth away." There is nothing enduring but the substance of things.

It is easy to make sport of old fashion plates like those in "Godey's Lady's Book": but be it observed there are fashions in other things than dress. There is, for example, a vogue in art, an evervarying vogue that comes and goes like the quick