to stand for Him among a sinful, backslidden
people.

Isaiah was already supposed to fill that position--at any rate, on
special occasions; but he was so much like the people themselves that
in the ordinary way his religion had little weight with them. No doubt
he felt the honour and privilege of being a prophet when a special
message had to be sent, but he hardly realized the high purpose of his
mission, and maybe his cry, 'Here am I; send me', was a pleading for
another chance to better represent His Lord.

The same appeal, 'Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?' is
sounded in our ears to-day. There are certain aspects which I would
like you to note. _It was an appeal based upon a great need._ Then,
as now, the people were without God; indifferent to His claims, few
of them with any experimental knowledge of His Salvation, and,
consequently, having no hope in the world. And in these respects God
wanted a man who would arouse the people, assert His claims, and lead
them back to His service.

Believe me, the world's need to-day is a deep and terrible one. I need
hardly enlarge upon it. You know it, because samples of it are at your
door and around you. But do not forget that the deepest need of the
people lies in their lack of knowledge of God and that Salvation which,
after all, is the panacea for human woe.

We live in days when the practical aspects of religion are most
emphasized. The social conditions and physical needs of the poor people
are regarded as affording a sphere for Christ-like effort quite as much
as is the preaching of the Gospel. Bread, not creed; relief as well as
pity; material improvements in place of missions and Gospel addresses
and such-like are demanded on every hand. God forbid, however, that the
doing of these things should be regarded as quite sufficient.

There are humanitarian considerations, and we must not ignore them.
Squalor, poverty, debauchery, harlotry, oppression, war, and ignorance
are existing evils which must have attention. We must not be so taken
up with the souls as to neglect the temporal, social, and physical
needs of our fellows. But the deepest wail of want and woe which comes
from the world is not to be met by bread, or sovereigns, or sanitation,
or education, or more equal conditions of life. It is the absence of
God and eternal hope which gives the deepest and most sorrowful tone to
the world's bitter cry.

This was also _an appeal for human help_. I do no