peace upon all who remember and celebrate His birth, and cling fondly to the salvation offered in His holy life and cruel death.

"Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, "goodwill toward men." We must take up the heavenly anthem, and let its music spur us on in all works of love; open hands and open hearts to day to the needy; forgiveness of injuries, obliteration of old wrongs, strength added to the bonds of pure friendship, the knitting together of families in Christian love--a love which must shine brightly around our own cherished hearth, brightly enough to let some of its light and heat fall kindly upon the world without.

But we must not forget that our Master has told us Himself how we may best celebrate His memory. He has pointed out no deed of heroic courage, no dazzling achievement as the most acceptable homage to bring to His feet. He points to the bread and wine in His own most blessed sacrament; His voice comes to us over the lapse of ages in tones that must be precious; we know the command that must not be slighted, the entreaty that it is the heart's best blessing to listen to, "This do in remembrance of me."

Welcome Him now with rapture as He comes

a lowly infant; mourn with Him in penitence as come surely on the dark shadows of His passion; go with Him to the Cross whereon He died; follow Him in prayer as His glorified body takes the royal place by His Father's side; and then, God grant it, each one of us with purified vision and ransomed souls and bodies, may behold Him as the Everlasting King in all the splendour of His Divine Beauty.

Then shall be the fullest realization of the first Christmas anthem. The redeemed bride, the holy Church, shall chant in triumph the wondrous glory of the Father; the peace shed lovingly upon human souls struggling upon earth shall be assured to the faithful as an abiding gift, never to be dimmed in its brightness, or lessened in its power to bless ; and good will and holy Christian love shall be the bond never to be broken, which shall unite all in one holy brotherhood, offering up the ceaseless worship of the eternal Sabbath.

SERMON IV.

(THE LAST SUNDAY OF THE YEAR.)

THE WISE NUMBERING OF OUR DAYS.

PSALM XC. 12.

"So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our

hearts nnto wisdom."

We have here the ardent prayer of Moses the Servant of God-the first of Israel's Prophets and Apostles-as he sadly gazed upon the vanity of human life, and saw almost every man and woman of his race and age pass to the grave, during the forty years wandering in the wilderness. The whole Psalm is a touching lament over the shortness of human life, which is compared to grass springing up and as quickly fading away; to a tale of excitement and sorrow, of mingled joys and hopes, which is briefly told, and its sound is heard no more. As he saw, one by one, those multitudes of full grown men and

women, whom he had triumphantly led over the Red Sea in spite of the hosts of Pharoah-as he saw them, one by one, slip away, claimed by the King of Terrors, denied the promised inheritance of Canaan for the spirit of guilty murmuring and discontent, his heart sought eagerly for the lesson to be taught; his prayer was uttered ardently in the true spirit of supplication, that the experience, thus dearly bought by the thousands in the wilderness, might have its due effect upon him and those committed to his care. He saw the young taking the place of the old, the children occupying the seats of the fathers, and he knew that a great and mighty destiny was in store for his own well-loved race; that kingdoms should bow before the prowess of their arms and the skill of their warriors; that Canaan, denied to him and the men of his age, was still to be the cherished possession of his nation; and, with the strong unselfish love that so often won a blessing and turned away the sharp edge of an impending curse, he prayed that the days of humanity, as they passed swiftly by, might be noted in humility by obedient and humble hearts, and the true wisdom culled from the tale they have to tell: "So teach us," he

bursts forth in enthusiastic prayer, "So teach us "to number our days, that we may apply our "hearts unto wisdom."

It would, surely, be wise of us to take up the pleading words of Moses the man of God. Humanity, unaided by the inspiring Spirit of our Father who is omnipotent, is powerless to gather up the rich harvest of learning that the lives of our brethren and ourselves can teach us. Who that has lived to the full number of threescore years and ten, can point, without help from above, to the various lessons meant to be learnt in the years so swiftly passed away, that the heart may be wise with the wisdom of Heaven! A sad and bitter lot is it for him who has come to the last opportunity of numbering his days; who feels that his days have dwindled to hours, almost to minutes; feels it surely by his failing strength aud darkened vision; a sad and bitter lot is it for him to run back, with all the mental power that is left concentrated for the effort, along a life, whereof each day and year has been passed only in the world of business and of pleasure; to behold no bright spots consecrated by Christian charity and noble effort for the good of his race; no self-sacrifice that a brother's hard