you if you grow up with that God-
given strength of character and purpose which can treat all traditions,
and all usages, or fashions, or customs as things that should be
subordinated, and should not rule us, as things to be used by us if they
help us to a better life, but to be flung aside and rejected, if they
contradict the voice of God in our hearts.

V. VAIN HOPES.

"And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the
dead, they will repent. But he said, If they hear not Moses and the
prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the
dead."--ST. LUKE xvi. 30, 31.

It is by no means uncommon for any one who is living a life which does
not satisfy his own conscience to console himself with the fancy that if
only such and such things were different around him he would be a new
man, filled with a new spirit, and exhibiting a new character. But is it
so very certain that this would be the case?

Such persons are apt to dream of some goodness or some virtue which under
other circumstances they would make their own; and there are, in fact,
few conditions more dangerous than that of this class of dreamers,
whether among boys or men. To all who may be tempted in this way, our
Lord's words in the parable come with a very significant warning: "Nay,
father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will
repent. But he said, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither
will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead."

When insidious and delusive hope would draw us on and beguile us in any
sinful way, whispering that God will some day send special gifts and
messengers of grace to inspire us with new life, this is his plain
answer: "If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be
persuaded, though one rose from the dead."

And hardly any one can say that he is altogether free from this tendency
to lean upon the future with vain hopes, and is in no need of the warning
which this text conveys to us.

In serious moments, when the mind is calm, and neither passion nor
appetite is stirring, we feel how good a thing it is to have crucified
the flesh and to be living close to Christ; but when we are within the
fiery circle of trial or temptation, when sinful desires arise, or
passions are strong, or solicitations to evil are subtle and enticing,
then we are only too ready to catch at any hopes about the vague future.
To the unstable