would to God that in the ears of such an one might ring the anguish of that great and exceeding bitter cry;-might rise the vision of that strong man's agony, as he lay prostrate and sobbing amid the ruins of his life.

In conclusion, to sum up the different topics on which I have touched, suffer me to give you two short words of affectionate advice.

That

The first-and I address it with chief earnestness to that large class among you who care more for games than they do for work-the first is this-Cultivate the whole of the nature which God has given you, and in doing so, remember that the mind is of more moment than the body, and the soul than both. Royal Commission, whose labours have so lately seen the light, represents the English schoolboy as one in whom after 7 or 8 years of education, to quote their own words, "the average of classical knowledge is low; in arithmetic and in mathematics, in general information and in English, it is lower still," and they add these words-very solemn to those whom life has taught the awful value of time-"that of the time spent at school by the generality of boys, much is absolutely thrown away as regards intellectual progress." Yet this can only be true of boys whose idle

ness, and whose ignorance, is a blot on the position and character of an English gentleman, and culpable alike in the eyes of God and man. Be not deceived. To know nothing of the very things in which for years you have been instructed, is a shameful and thankless waste of opportunity and time. Let it not be true of any one of you. Choose the better, the manlier, and the wiser part. We look with confidence to those among you who are most distinguished in the games, not to lose, this term, the golden opportunity of using their influence on the side of steady diligence, manly modesty, and cheerful obedience. Set the Lord always before you; remembering that it rests in part with you to maintain the fame and the happiness of this great school now, the "ancient honours of this godly and virtuous island" hereafter.

And my second word of warning which I address to all, but more especially to the new boys, shall be very brief. It is this one word, Beware! Beware lest in a moment of weakness, and folly, and sinful forgetfulness of God, you sell your birthright, and barter your happy innocence for torment, and fear, and shame. Beware of false friends. Beware of idle moments. Beware of the beginnings of evil. Beware of

loose words. Above all, and more than all, beware lest you once admit the fatal intrusion of evil thoughts. In solemn and awful earnest I would say to you,-Watch and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.

So then, cordially and affectionately greeting you, we hope that this term may be to you, and to us all, a golden time of innocent and happy summer-days. We pray that God may keep you in His safe and holy keeping; that in the moment of temptation He may both reveal to you the terrible results, and "raise up a brighter picture out of His own precious promises;" and so preserving you uncorrupted in your youth, lead you by the hand into settled manhood, and make you men great in well-doing, honest, and pure, and truthful, and diligent,-the children of God without rebuke.

XII.

ANGELS ON THE PATH OF LIFE.

(Preached on the Anniversary at Marlborough College [St Michael and All Angels], September 29, 1864.)

Gen. xxxii. 26.-"And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me."

THE patriarch Jacob, amid the few and evil years of his earthly pilgrimage, was yet blessed with some peculiar marks of God's favour. Once in his early youth, when his lie to his father had brought its own punishment and he was forced to fly from the fury of his outraged brother, he lighted on a certain place, and pillowing his head upon the stones, he saw a ladder on which angels ascended and descended, and at whose summit was the Epiphany of God. In that place he vowed a vow that the Lord should be his God, and he never forgot the vow. And now he was

returning, not as a wayworn wanderer with a single staff, but with wives, and children, and handmaids, and all the dignity of a pastoral

prince. He had just escaped the angry pursuit of his uncle Laban, when once more, at Mahanaim "the angels of God met him." The rest of that memorable scene you learnt from this morning's lesson. Right in front of his path lay his injured brother, now grown to a powerful Emir at the head of his desert warriors. Full of terror and oppressed by a sense of former guilt, he yet took every precaution, and saw his wives, and his cattle, and his little ones, safely conducted over the deep ravine of the mountaintorrent which flowed before him. And then the day fell, and the crimson glories of sunset burned themselves away like the last watchfires of retiring angels on the western heights, and the stars came out, and the sacred darkness descended, and Jacob was left alone. Alone in doubt and terror, under the canopy of midnight, amid the silence of the hills. Doubtless it was an awful moment; doubtless the past flashed on Jacob's mind, as it will do in such crises of life, with all its follies and all its sins, its courage and endurance, its service of Mammon, and its visions of God. And then, suddenly, it became clear to him that though alone he was not alone, but ONE was with him, and until the breaking of the day he wrestled there in mysterious communion,