the minister closed with, "The Lord bless thee and keep thee; the Lord make His face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee; the Lord lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace." Then we might use Eph. vi. 23," Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ;" or Heb. xiii. 20 and 21, “Now the God of peace, who brought again from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep with the blood of the eternal covenant, even our Lord Jesus, make you perfect in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is well-pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever." The introduction of the “Te Deum" into the service of song in all our churches is much to be desired, whether it be sung or chanted, and when chanted our own Psalter would then be available. The "Te Deum" is at once a hymn, a creed, and a prayer, or rather it is a creed taking wing and soaring heavenward; it is faith seized with a sudden joy as she counts her treasures, laying them at the feet of Jesus in a song; it is the incense of prayer rising so near the rainbow round the hrone as to catch its light and so become radiant as well as fragrant, a cloud of incense illumined into a cloud of glory. The congregation is sometimes distracted by an unsuitable voluntary at the close of the service. The solemn discourse is followed by lively not to say noisy playing, as if the organist had pulled out all his stops. A pious, judicious organist will always study adaptation, and will select such music as shall express and deepen the feeling already awakened. In public worship the music that makes you think of the man is faulty; it should call up such aspirations as can be satisfied only in God. Although some objections may be raised against voluntaries, there is much to be said in their favour. Many little distractions arising from the noise of the congregation assembling or dispersing are much modified by the music. Often is the minister's mind calmed and braced for the service by some sweet voluntary at the commencement, as, "O Rest in the Lord," "Comfort ye My People." The organist, like the leader of the singing, must be able to perform his part not only correctly, but feelingly. Some churches publish the hymns and tunes for the following Sunday, others even have a congregational practice at the close of the week-night service. Much can be said to recommend both plans. If our families would only practise the tunes for the following Sunday, the advantages would be great. Let the family choir be formed. Both young men and maidens, old men and children, let them praise the name of the Lord. A word about attitude. Standing or kneeling was the attitude of the primitive worshippers, and who does not feel that except in cases of bodily infirmity sitting is not appropriate to prayer, much less the lounging posture? What subject presenting a petition to an earthly monarch would sit in his presence? Even the Saviour Himself "kneeled down and prayed, saying, Father;" and the Psalmist invites us to "kneel before the Lord, our Maker." We ask, then, for no religious sentimentalism, no sensation service. It is easy to make some people weep during our worship, but only like children who cannot tell why they cry. Our worship must have intellect and heart. The true worshipper worships God in spirit and truth, and has no confidence in mere forms. Still, the affections and even the imagination must not be overlooked. Worship is the homage given by our entire nature. Man is a harp, not of one but of many strings, and all the chords of his spiritual nature must be touched and made to vibrate, if the music of the soul is to be felt and heard. An organist is either indolent or ignorant who only uses one stop of his magnificent instrument. We must have our penitential confession; our cheerful thanksgiving; our lofty praise. We want not the worshippers to crawl like worms cleaving to the dust, nor to rise with broken pinions; but to soar into high heaven our devotion must have wings, not folded, but outspread for flight. Let us in our services aim to bring out the true meaning of worship, so that our people may not say, "Come, let us go and hear the preacher," but, "Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker: for He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand." J. S. HYMN. Composed for the Opening Services of South Street Chapel, Sheffi ld, BY JAMES MONTGOMERY. Nor here, as to the prophet's eye, 'Holy thrice holy!" in our ears. Yet God is present in this place, Nor, as He in the Temple taught, Is Christ beneath this roof revealed, Yet here, when two or three shall meet, All may sit down at Jesu's feet, And learn from Him the joyful sound. Send forth the seraphim, O Lord! To touch Thy servants' lips with fire; POPPIES AMONG THE CORN. IT had been a hot August day. During most of its hours I had been travelling on the Cambrian Railway through Mid-Wales. The rate was leisurely, and there was plenty of time to look about. We had called at villages with unpronounceable names, crept through passes of indescribable beauty, looked longingly at shady troutstreams, and listened to the music of tumbling waters. Once a valley had widened out, and on a hill-side near we saw a yellow harvest, just waiting for the reaper's blade. But what struck our notice more was the number of poppies growing among the corn. They were in all parts of the field. Here, thinly; there in such profusion as to make the field one blazing mass of red. The sight of this field had been lingering in my thought all the way home; and, after getting to rest, the mind would still wander to this poppy-bright corn-field. I fancied it was evening, and I was standing by the field I had seen during the day. I was pitying the farmer who had so many gay weeds in his land, when a sound of sweet, light singing fell upon my ears. It seemed to arise from all over the field. Looking, I saw that troops of gay, bright fairies had come upon the scene, and the sweet sounds were theirs. But what amazed me most was the fact that they were going to these poppies one by one, singing all the time, and stroking them gently again and again, transforming each poppy into a full, heavy ear of corn. They worked and sang, and sang and worked, passing lightly between the stalks, beating nothing down, but quickly changing the noxious weeds into golden grain, until, at the last, every poppy changed, they vanished with a burst of song as mysteriously as they had appeared. I woke, wondering what my dream could mean. A sentence from an old book I had often read gave me a clue. "The field is the world." And I thought, how like that field is the world. Good grain is growing on every side. But the poppies are among the corn-gaudy, loud, poisonous; and there are more poppies than grain stalks on the field. We cannot get them out, for in plucking up poppies we should trample down corn. But while we cannot pluck up these weeds, we can work like the fairies, and seek to transform. There was no If we do this, we must go to them one by one. stretching of the magic wand over the field, accompanied by a cry: "Ye poppies, become corn;" but each was gone to separately. So we need to do with men. To seek them at their homes, to join them in their times of quiet, to talk with them about their childhood's innocence and hopes, to urge them to seek a nobler life-this is what we need. We shall find that the deliberate despisers of religion are not many. Let a good Christian go amongst those who are living a prayerless and fruitless life, and he will find that most will welcome him. Let these "poppies" on the world's field only feel the touch of a sympathetic hand on them, and know that it is for their personal good we seek, and we shall discover that many for whom we scarcely dared to hope are the subjects of the Spirit's operations, and would fain become new creatures in Christ Jesus. "Down in the human heart, crushed by the tempter, In this work we want lightness. We must not only seek to do good, but to do it in the best way. Rough blundering, however well intentioned, will fail. It will tread the poppies under its clumsy feet, instead of changing them into grain fit for the Master's garner. We need sanctified tact, that we may get to men the right way; take hold of them, without breaking them; speak to them, without chilling them into sullen silence; and, by gentle heart-force, lead them to a higher life. My dream reminded me of the importance of going brightly to work. The fairies worked to music, singing all the time. We must not go sighing, if we would save souls; but we must live in the sunlight, and drink in its brightness, until "the joy of the Lord is our strength." When we can make melody in our hearts unto the Lord, we are in the condition in which He can use us best. There are well-meaning Christians who seem as though they loved the gloom. They would have their rooms on the shady side of the road; they would have yew-trees or weeping willows in their gardens; they always select minor tunes; and their experience from month to month might be summed up in the words, "My leanness! my leanness!" What hearts do these men turn to the Lord? Who could wish to have a religion like theirs? Let Lynch's strain be ours: "In the fellowship of song Let us worship happily; Fly before bright harmony. Into hearts sweet music sinks Like the rain-drops from the sky, Singing, too, some truth of love, Song, like storm, can shake the heart, All its feelings change and clear, Bid the stagnant glooms depart That oppress life's atmosphere." E. F. D. MOTIVES TO CHRISTIAN SERVICE. MAN'S MORAL AGENCY CLAIMS IT. MAN is related and responsible to God. His responsibility lies in his moral nature, and what he does with it. To each man is given, in virtue of his moral agency, some measure of power over the circumstances in which he is placed, and for this use of his power he is unmistakably responsible. He is not responsible for differing from other people, nor for having one, or it may be ten, talents, but he is accountable for the use of talent or talents. He is responsible for what he has received, and for what he is capable of doing with it. Talent is trust. Distribution is Heaven's law. Life is a loan from God to be repaid with interest. Man is not the proprietor, but the steward or trustee. Wealth, power, intellect are not given to lie dormant, or to be employed according to individual will or pleasure, but according to the will of God. Providence variously distributes His gifts. To some are given ten, to some five, and to others one talent. The variety of distribution is to be referred to the sovereign will of God, the variety of employment to the free will of man. Man's conduct is not inevitable necessity, but deliberate choice, voluntary action. The measure of obligation is the amount of receipts. Men of wealth are responsible for all that gold can do. Those blessed with genius, learning, eloquence, are responsible for the influence these gifts are capable of exerting. The use of the one talent is required as really as if it were a thousand times the amount. Are we not responsible for that necessary element of power which belongs to us all, influence? Influence! Who can describe it? It is a tremendous power, involving corresponding responsibility! It clings to us, we cannot shake it off. It is born with us; it has grown with our growth, and strengthened with our strength. It is felt in every glance of the eye, in every word of the lips, and in every act of the life. This endowment, this influence invests life with untold possibilities for good or evil. Every human being has character, and all character has influence. The most solitary and selfish exert some kind of influence. "None of us liveth to himself." Consciously or unconsciously, we mould character by making impressions upon immortal natures which shall never be wholly blotted out. We transmit influence through different means to the latest posterity, however entangled may appear to us the dependencies and relationships through which that |