supply of students for the ministry. The secular press has also commented on the apparent indifference of the brighter young men of these years to the work of the Christian ministry. It has been said that the same influences have reached our ranks, and that Seventh-day Baptist young men were turning away from this highest calling. Attention has been called to the fact that ordinations have become rare occurrences with us, and that Bro. Loofboro is the only Seventhday Baptist who has graduated from a theological school in the past seven years. We are told that the men who do enter the ministry are mostly from the small churches of the West. Many reasons are assigned for this condition of affairs, but the most common and probably the true reason is the general decline in spirituality. Some are bold enough to say that our larger and more wealthy churches are worldly and unspiritual, and that the standard of religious life is low. They tell us that from Rhode Island to California our so-called strong churches are in reality our weak churches; that the spiritual life of a church is almost sure to be in inverse proportion to the salary that is paid its pastor. Do not understand me to say that these things are so, or that

they are not so. It is true that they are said, and that often by our most able and best informed men. The Corresponding Secretary of the Missionary Society makes no secret of his opinion, based on observation, that our bright young men, especially in our larger churches, and especially in our Eastern churches, are most generally not spiritual, and that quite often the fault lies in the spiritual atmosphere of the home and the church. I have not called attention to these unpleasant things for the purpose of denying them, nor yet of pleading guilty to the charge. But the indictment brought against pastors and people is most serious, and demands attention. To-morrow morning Bro. Loofboro will wake to find himself the ordained minister of Jesus Christ, who is in charge of the important church which is not only the keystone of the Eastern Association, but is also the working center of many denominational enterprises of importance. The measure of success which this man will have the measure of success which this church has in store for itself-will depend, not so much on education, not so much on money or numbers or organization, as upon that quality of heart and life which is suggested by the text

which I am about to announce, Gal. 2: 20, "Christ liveth in me."

I shall assume to-day, what comes near the fact, that those who hear me are Christians. If you are not followers of Christ then you ought to be, and possibly hope and expect to be. It will also be assumed that we are all sorry for our weakness and sin, and that we would be glad to be better. This is saying that we wish to be more spiritual. This brings us to a very large subject, which will be briefly outlined in three sections.

I. What is spirituality?

II. What are the results of spirituality?
III. How is spirituality attained?

In each one of these divisions there is material for a volume, and the very superficial way in which it is necessary for them to be treated today is as unsatisfactory to the speaker as it could well be to any hearer. The subject will also be treated from a practical rather than from a theological point of view. Not that theology is unimportant, but it does not seem best to pause in the practical discussion of a subject to split all the theological hairs that are found. For example, from the text, "Christ liveth in me," we

do not propose to try to show where, in the spiritual life, the work of the Lord Jesus Christ ends and the work of the Holy Spirit begins. I. What is spirituality?

What is it to be spiritual? To be spiritually minded? We read in the Scriptures of spiritual gifts, spiritual life, spiritual blessing, spiritual sacrifices, spiritual songs, and many such expressions. What do we mean when in these days we speak of one person living on a different plane of spiritual life from another?

First of all let us notice that this spiritual life is a new life that begins at conversion. It is something that the unregenerate person never has, and never understands. Jesus said to Nicodemus, "except a man be born again he can not see the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. . . The wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the sound thereof, and canst not tell whence it cometh or whither it goeth, so is every one that is born of the Spirit." Language could not well be clearer than these words of the Lord Jesus. We must not confuse the manifestations of the Spirit with the fact of having been

born of the Spirit. Neither should we confound the babe in Christ with the full-grown man.

Equally disastrous and disappointing will be an effort to comprehend in all its details this truth that the Saviour implied was not to be comprehended by the human mind. We can understand the mystery of the origin of our own life. Why then should we stumble because we do not understand all about the origin of the spiritual life. The important truth is that God gives us upon simple conditions this new life.

The conditions are repentance and faith in Christ. If you have honestly repented of your sins and looked in faith to Christ for salvation, then you may have the assurance that you have the new spiritual life within you. This, I believe, is the gift of the Holy Spirit. When Peter on the day of Pentecost was full of the Holy Spirit, he said to the anxious multitude inquiring what they should do to be saved, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." Many who magnify the experience of the apostles in relation to the Holy Spirit often ignore the same apostles' teaching concerning Him. You