e life perseveringly devoted
to high ideals of self-culture and human service, and thereby lifting
our souls to thoughts of that fair world of the Ideal in which such
conceptions are eternally realised. Likewise the _readings_ set before
us the burning words of first one and then another prophetical soul to
deepen in our own the conviction of the seriousness of life, its
far-reaching responsibilities, the realisation of the boundless
capacities for good or evil which man has within him, and the utter
worthlessness of all things on this earth compared with character,
integrity, the perfection of the will by conformity with the moral law.

In the midst of such influences by which we are surrounded during the
hour, all too brief, which we devote to the world of the Ideal on one
day out of seven,[2] it is hoped that thoughts will sometimes burn in
many hearts, that reverence, awe, fear, regrets for the past, fervent
resolutions for the future, hope, aspiration, and love; in a word, all
the sanctified emotions of the human heart, which together melt into
the supreme emotion of religion, will sometimes arise to sternly rebuke
the selfish life, shame us out of our moral lethargy, and comfort those
whose one solace is that their honour is intact, though misfortune has
stricken them in mind or body, or robbed them of the goods of earth, or
the cheer and comfort of friendship and of love. It is hoped that the
influence of what is said and done then will endure beyond the hour of
our meeting, and fill some other moments of our lives when we are, as
we should be, at seasons, alone--alone with ourselves, and _therefore_
alone with God, in solemn communion with the Soul who is the soul in
us, and who asks for no articulate voice of prayer, but only that our
life in every word and deed should be worthy of our exalted nature.
Life is prayer. Conduct is sacrifice. Morality is religion.

When I am stretched beneath the pines,
When the evening star so holy shines,
I laugh at the lore and the pride of man,
At the sophist schools and the learned clan;
For what are they all in their high conceit,
When man in the bush with God may meet?
--EMERSON.

[1] See the concluding words of Emerson's essay on "Self-Reliance".

[2] The Ethical Religion Society meets weekly on Sunday mornings.

IX.

THE ETHICAL ASPECT OF DEATH.

There is a common but none the less erroneous impression amongst those
who walk an