Behold the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him, God is present in all places, at all times—but is present according to His true promise wheresoever two or three are gathered together in His name, gathered together to worship Him, to pray to Him, to praise Him, to give Him thanks, to glorify His Name-hence the high dignity of such holy buildings as this in which we are assembled. God is in this place. Here God hearkeneth to the prayer of His people, all such as wait upon Him faithfully. Hither you come in a reverent temper, that you

"May hear of Heaven,

And learn the way."

Oh that this was more remembered! O that we valued more the means of grace, the help and aids towards heaven which are open to us, without money and without price, in the services of our parish church-God's own house of prayer by His merciful providence still standing in every parish throughout the length and breadth of England, pointing with silent finger upwards, standing there to be a witness to our children after us, that the Lord He is God: a great God, a merciful God, and a God that will not allow iniquity, a punisher of them that disobey Him.

Many reproaches are cast upon this age for its ungodliness. We are asked by some of the more religious amongst us to humble ourselves for our

national sins-for the want of devotion to God, for the dishonour done to God's Name and His Word. For the neglect of His holy day, perhaps some remedy may be found. O ye who live in this place, as ye look day by day at this grey tower, rising upwards amid the summer trees, would that ye might consider the purpose for which it was built, Whose house this is, of Whom it speaks, and Who has promised to meet us here, for then surely out of our lips and out of our hearts would come unprompted the longing wish which breathes in these holy words of the Psalmist, "I was glad when they said unto me, we will go into the house of the Lord." "O send out Thy light and Thy truth, that they may lead me to Thy holy hill, and to Thy dwelling."

SERMON XVIII.

THE CHRISTIAN LIFE.

ACTS II. 41, 42.

"Then they that gladly received his word were baptized

and the

same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. And they continued steadfastly in the Apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayer."

THIS is the result of the first Christian sermon, delivered by St. Peter on the day of Pentecost. He had stirred the hearts of his vast audience in the Temple by his address to them; they were greatly agitated by his words, "they were pricked in their hearts, and said unto Peter, and to the rest of the Apostles, "Men and brethren, what shall we do "? To that anxious enquiry, Peter made answer, Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the

Name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call."

Then they that gladly received his words were baptised, and the same day were added unto themadded to the hundred and twenty, who already formed the nucleus of the Christian Church-about three thousand souls. "And they (the three thousand) continued steadfastly in the Apostles' doctrine, and in breaking of bread, and in prayer."

That was, and continued to be, the regular practice of those early converts to Christianity. Once admitted into the fold, their life henceforth was a life fed and sustained by the means of grace provided for them by the Great Shepherd of the Sheep, they continued in the Apostles' doctrine, and in the Apostles' fellowship, and in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. There we have a true picture of what the Church of Christ was at its beginning. There we may see how the members of that Church maintained their spiritual life.

Let us consider it well, we shall find in it a standard by which to try and examine our own life and practice-by which we may ascertain whether we who call ourselves by the honoured name of

Christians, are at all like, or wholly unlike, those who first bore that name.

There are four points in the text, four particulars of the life of the early Christians, every one of which is of the greatest interest. I will take them one by one, and I will ask you, as we go on to consider, how far we ourselves have attained, how far we resemble our forefathers in the faith, or how far we fall short of their practice.

First. Then "they continued steadfastly in the Apostles' doctrine," or rather as it might be translated, and is translated in the Revised Version," they continued steadfastly in the Apostles' teaching." They had just joined the Church, they had much to learn, both of doctrine and practice, and so they sat as it were at the Apostles' feet, and drank in instruction at their lips. There was as yet no written book, no printed creed, no Common Prayer Book. The first Christians learnt their religion by hearing sermons, by listening to the discourses of the Apostles. When they came together they gave, we may be sure, all their attention to the word preached, and when they went back to their several homes, they thought over what they had heard, and did not let the good seed perish out of their hearts, they continued steadfastly in the Apostles' teaching, persevered in listening to their words, and thus by little and little they were established in their faith. Thus they came to know Christ-to know all