rate, we cannot hallow this ground. The
brave men who struggled here have consecrated it far beyond our power
to add or detract. It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated to
the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly
advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task
remaining before us, that from these honored dead we take increased
devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of
devotion; and that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not
have died in vain."

These noble words, when we have made the needful alterations and
adaptations, are most applicable to our present point. Let us dedicate
ourselves to the great task before us, and to which Jesus has pledged
us. Let us devote ourselves to this great cause for which Jesus died.
Let us highly resolve that He shall not have died in vain. Let us
offer and present ourselves, our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable,
holy, and living sacrifice unto God, that His will might be done
through us, as it is done in heaven.

"My Master, lead me to Thy door;
Pierce this now willing ear once more;
Thy bonds are freedom, let me stay
With Thee, to toil, endure, obey.

"Yes; ear and hand, and thought and will!
Use all in Thy dear slavery still!
Self's weary liberties I cast
Beneath Thy feet; there keep them fast."

XXII

The Lord's Prayer for His People's Oneness

"That they may all be one. . . . One in us. . . . That they may be
one, even as we are one. . . . Perfect in one."--JOHN xvii. 21-23.

Thus our High Priest pleaded, and thus He pleads. In all the power of
His endless life, He ever liveth to bear this great petition on His
heart: and as the weight of the jewelled breast-plate lay heavy on the
heart of the high priests of old, so does it press on Him, as the ages
slowly pass by in their never-ceasing progress toward the consummation
of all things. Listen to that voice, sweet and full as the distant
rush of many waters, as it pleads in the midst of eternity that those
which believe in Him may be one.

Nor is it true that this prayer awaits an answer indefinitely future.
There seems good reason to believe, as we shall see, that in these
words our Lord was making a request, which began to be fulfilled on the
Day of Pentecost: and is being fulfilled continually, although the
oneness which is being realized is still, like His kingdom, in mystery,