open to the unseen and eternal. We
must have deep and personal fellowship with the Father and the Son by
the Holy Ghost. We must live at first-hand on the great essentials of
our faith. Then, as the vine-sap arises from the root, its throb and
pulse will be irresistible in our behaviour and testimony. We shall
speak true things about Jesus Christ. Our theme will be evermore the
inexhaustible one of Christ--Christ, only Christ--not primarily the
doctrine about Him, or the benefits accruing from fellowship with Him,
but Himself.

Thus, some day, at your burying, as men turn homewards from the
new-made grave, and speak those final words of the departed, which
contain the most unerring verdict and summing-up of the life, they will
say, "He will be greatly missed. He was no genius, not eloquent nor
profound; but he used to speak about Christ in such a way that he led
me to know Him for myself: I owe everything to him. He did no miracle;
but whatever he said of Jesus was true."

III. THE POWER OF POSTHUMOUS INFLUENCE.--John had been dead for many
months, but the stream he had set flowing continued to flow; the
harvests he sowed sprang into mature and abundant fruitage; the
wavelets of tremulous motion which he had started circled out and on.

How many voices are speaking still in our lives--voices from the grave!
voices from dying beds! voices from books and sermons! voices from
heaven! "Being dead, they yet speak." Let us live so that, when we
are gone, our influence shall tell, and the accents of our voice
linger. No one lives or dies to himself. Each grain on the
ocean-shore affects the position of every other. Each star is needed
for the perfect balance of the spheres. Each of us is affecting the
lives of all that are now existing with us in the world, or will exist.
To untold ages, what we have been and said will affect all other beings
for good or ill. We may be forgiven for having missed our
opportunities, or started streams of poison instead of life; but the
ill effect can never be undone.

Parents, put your hands on those young childish heads, and say pure,
sweet words of Christ, which will return to memory and heart long after
you have gone to your reward! Ministers of religion, and Sunday school
teachers, remember your tremendous responsibility to use to the
uttermost the opportunity of saying words which will never die!
Friend, be true and faithful with your friend; he may turn away in
appa