away, and I found that dark places of my life were being illumined, and the joys of heaven had taken those places which had been given up to sorrow, care and anxiety. I was no longer a child of sorrow, burning in the midst of trial and tribulation. The benignant face of my Father shone forth on my face, and his loving-kindness wiped off the tears from my cheeks, and I felt happy. My days were pleasant. My nights were no longer nights of unrest and trouble, but nights of serenity, peace, and joy. My Divinity, the Theist's Divinity, I disentangled altogether from the meshes of theology and metaphysics, and placed Him before the eye of faith as a plain real fact for my daily guidance. All my prayers were addressed to Him, and all my knowledge derived from Him, and not from books. Some men think I am wise, but they are mistaken. Some men think I am rich; they too, are mistaken. They are surely and decidedly misinformed. I am not rich, I am not learned, and I have already told you, I am not holy. None of these three things have I. My poverty, and so also my ignorance, is concealed in the midst of the comforts and luxuries and honors of this world. These do not appertain to me, or rather they hide my true self. My cottage is in the midst of a splendid habitation, though I may have to live from hand to mouth. Perhaps my appearance is that of one of the wealthiest and richest men in the world. My true self must not be identified with outward appearances, which are only the result of shifting circumstances. Whatever the Lord gives to me I am bound to accept. Be it riches or penury, I must submit to all the ordinances and dispensations of God. If fortune and friends desert me, and leave me ragged and penniless, I must bear my lot with patience.

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If it be His pleasure that thousands of His valiant soldiers should gather around me, I shall joyfully lead them on as their captain, in spite of the flash of cannons, to achieve victories in the cause of truth' and righteousness. What the Lord wills that shall be done. I care not whether I am poor or rich. I am neither poor nor rich. I am not a wise man. How can he who scarcely reads two books in three hundred and sixty-five days be reckoned a wise or a learned man? Yet am I studious. It is true I study not the books of the west, nor the books of the east; but a volume far more edifying and valuable than all the books of the world, is ever before me→→→ the vast volume of human nature. It is a most profitable and agreeable study. Chapter after chapter have I read, but the inexhaustible work of God is not finished yet, and is as replete with interest I still go ever. on pondering over the chapters of the sacred volume, and the Lord of Heaven, my Master and Teacher, who is with me every day, explains verse after verse, phrase after phrase, word after word, syllable after syllable. Therefore am I wise. Yet I am not wise. Am I eloquent ? I never learnt elocution. I have a wild uncultured sort of eloquence, which means only emotion. If I am excited, I can speak. If I am not, there is neither grammar nor sense in what I say, and you will be struck with the poverty of language. I am sure to break down hopelessly if I attempt to speak when my feelings are not properly roused. I am all impulse. When I am once excited, you will hear burning words. I will then speak with power, and I will certainly crush into atoms the most impregnable strongholds of error. Because it is not my force, my power, which then makes me speak, but the Lord's. If the

burning words of truth I speak are words of mine, I am an impostor. If the Lord chooses to speak through my tongue, to Him must I give all honor and glory. Then I am all fire, and I can speak not only eloquently, but I can speak the words of pure wisdom and truth. Leave me to myself and my own resources, and in a moment the scene changes. I would falter and stammer, nay speak untruth and falsehood, and all that is abominable. This man, two minutes ago, was speaking the words of God with power and authority. But now he is weak, heartless, and miserable-he is dumb and speechless. Believe me, so it is. I tell you the truth; nothing but the truth. My father's eloquence makes me eloquent, and yet I am not eloquent. When I am not in my element, I falter even when I am indulging in conversation with friends. I cannot even write my letters with ease. But give unto me the light and inspiration of Heaven, and I will speak with power, which this world cannot conquer. What is concealed from the wise is revealed unto a babe. Therefore, would I trust Him and resign myself to Him with child-like simplicity, and I would be wise in His wisdom. I am not holy, I am not rich, I am not learned. Yet have I the

one thing needful. I have faith. And what sort of faith? That which can be converted into bread and water-into philosophy, wisdom, and joy. Before the wisdom of faith, the wisest of men must hide their faces in very shame. It is such faith as this which sees God everywhere, and evolves truth and purity even out of this world of impurity. How this Town Hall is illuminated just now! Yet in each of those lights, one may trace the resplendent presence of the Lord. It is only because we close our eyes that we see not this light. Faith

can see the Lord immanent in all things and pervading the whole universe. Am I a Pantheist ? I am in spirit a pantheist, though I hate the errors of pantheism. I wish to encourage this spirit of pantheism in India. 1 wish to see all men and women in this country learn to perceive God in all objects. Sweet Prahlád, that child of devotion, said, pointing to a pillar,-" My Living God dwelleth in this," and as the sword of his unbelieving father cut the pillar into two, the Almighty, it is said, came out of the pillar. This is mythology, but this is theology, too. For verily the Lord dwelleth in every object. If He dwelleth not in all space, then we live in vain in this world. Of what good is religion if it does not teach us to believe in a Deity ever near to us? If God is, I should like to see Him just here. No joke, no dream, no sophistry will help us. The True God of heaven and earth Himself must be seen as a Present Reality. If He is not found here, then the downtrodden sinner perishes at once, lost in despair. Shall I go to the clouds and search my God there? Shall I go to the height of the Himalayas to understand and find Him? It is impossible for a poor sinner to achieve these impracticable feats. My God must Himself come into the sinner's cottage and save him. He goes forth not only to save, but to seek and save the sinner. The Omnipresent Lord is here and everywhere, and I have faith in that fact, and therefore I must not only believe, but I must see my God. Am I not justified in trying to see an Omnipresent Deity? If philosophers and theologians, clergymen and missionaries say,-He is everywhere; if all agree in unanimously speaking of an Omnipresent God, why shall we not see Him? Perish these eyes if they cannot see my God in this hall, and upon this

very table. I do not believe in an absentee Lord. God is unto us all an Ever-present Deity. As I saw my God, I naturally asked Him where I should go to find means of subsistence and satisfy my hunger and thirst. To the bank? To a mercantile office? No. The Lord told me, in plain and unmistakable language, to give up secular work altogether. But I said, "Lord, will not my family starve if all means of subsistence are thus deliberately cut off?” "Talk not as an infidel," was the reply. I was ashamed of my scepticism. I was assured that "All things shall be added unto you.' Great stress was laid on the word "shall," implying that the promise was sure to be redeemed. A solemn assurance conveyed in such language, and thus attested, who can set aside as untrustworthy? There it is, and I have seen every word of it proved and demonstrated. I accept no truth unless it be such as can be demonstrated. Thus I am a positivist in spirit, though I am opposed to Positivism. I am fond of demonstration. Religion must have as strong and sound a basis of evidence as Euclid and mathematics; otherwise it cannot be acceptable. It must prove that my God is here, and that He speaks to me. My positivist spirit cannot believe unless it sees and hears. The eye and the ear must bear witness unto the Lord, and then only can I believe. In my creed all precepts begin with a "Thus saith the Lord." There is no moral injunction for me, but what He hath Himself said to me. But how do I know His voice? There is a ring, a peculiar intonation, in the spirit-voice of the Lord. Those who have heard it often can recognise it at once. Six, eight, ten times have I heard it, so that when I hear my Lord say, "Thou shalt say the truth to all men,'