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ment. At this point the nerves, quivering with news from time and eternity, take up the message and flash it on to the brain." "A wonderful instrument, surely, Mr. Hearing. We must all concede that. But you made one statement I must inquire into a little more closely. Did you not say that you hear everything there is to be heard?" "I certainly did!" “Well, now, is it not a fact, Mr. Hearing, that up to the sixteenth vibration of sound-waves per second you do not hear anything at all?" Mr. Hearing's frown betrays an ugly mood. 'That's what these fool scientists say," he roars. "Never mind about the scientists, whether they be wise or foolish," commands the Court. Answer the gentleman's question." So examination of the witness proceeds: "You know, Mr. Hearing, that 256 vibrations per second produce what musicians call the Middle C note on the piano; you know, also, that up to the nine thousandth vibration per second -or the twenty-four thousandth at the most-the ear still registers sound; now what I want to ask you, Mr. Hearing, is this: Do you, or any other mortal, know anything of the sound that goes on beyond the twenty-four thousandth sound-wave per second?" "For myself, I do not; and as for any other mortal, I dare not answer." "You have at last begun to tell the truth. Stand aside, Mr. Hearing." It is well to remember, in this connection, that Huxley held if our ears were keen enough we should be able to hear the flowers grow; while

George Eliot thought we should then die of the roar on the other side of the silence.

But the star witness for materialism must now be introduced. His name is Sight. Of all the senses, sight is supreme; and his instrument, the eye, has not a superior beneath this dome of skull and brain. Small, as compared with some of the other faculties, yet the eye, by reason of the quality, delicacy, and painstaking thought which has gone into its construction, reigns with a kind of undisputed kingliness over all of man's bodily powers. A man undertook to lower Wellington in the estimation of a private soldier because of his small stature. The soldier replied: "Wellington was biggest at the top." Similarly, if the hand or foot undertakes to bully the eye because of its small dimensions, the eye may answer: "I am biggest at the top. I am not only located near the brain, the centre of things, but I am the scout that runs everywhither, searching out both landscape and skyscape, that I may render a faithful report to my master, the mind."

But just because Sight has such a surpassing instrument, it may be conceited, vain, dogmatic, and, therefore, easily deceived. Some of the most gifted mortals are the tools of a vanity that would make a peacock forget to strut. But let the witness speak for himself. "Mr. Sight, you know Hearing and Touch, do you not?" "Well, I can't say that I know them very well; I have heard of them, but

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the fact is, they are such dull, inferior creatures that I don't like to associate with them. To be perfectly frank, they are not in my social set." "Oh, I see. You are an aristocrat, then?" "Yes; that's how I feel, whether true, or false." "What is your particular function, Mr. Sight?" "Why, to see, of course-to see everything-everythingmark you there is to be seen." Is not that a rather bold assertion, Mr. Sight?" "It might be for a lesser authority, but not for me. I am so absolutely sure of myself that it is impossible for me to be mistaken. You may recall that somebody said of Clerk-Maxwell that it was impossible for him to be mistaken in matters of physical science. I am the Clerk-Maxwell of the five senses." "But, Mr. Sight, another great scientist said: 'Show me the scientist who never made a mistake, and I will show you a scientist who never made a discovery.' Yet that is only an aside. What I want to ask you, inasmuch as you claim to see everything, is this: Did you ever see any Thought? Did you ever see any Love? Did you ever see any Hope? Did you ever see any Faith? Did you ever see any Prayer?" Well -I-or-if-and-" "Hold on: answer my question-yes or no." "No." "Then you cannot see everything there is, can you?" "No." "Now, forgetting these higher matters for a moment, and coming back to physical things, is it not a fact, Mr. Sight, that up to 458 billion vibrations per second, you can't see anything at all? And is it

not also true that light-waves have to beat in upon your eye at the rate of 727 billion vibrations per second before you see the ultra violet? Therefore, are you prepared to say what goes on beyond-on the other side of the vibrations which produce the ultra violet?" "I am not-today!" "Then

stand aside, please."

Evidently, the senses are not competent witnesses in this case. Unquestionably they may be trained until the spiritualized mind commands them to serve its interests; or they may be perverted until the degeneracy of the soul itself spreads over and through them, befouling the very windows whereby man sees the outer world. But, in either case, they are necessarily limited. My senses cannot inform me of countless physical operations going ceaselessly on, to say nothing of those spiritual realities which report themselves to the Christ-hidden spirit alone. Fortunately, I have some spiritual statesmen-expert witnesses-in my court of life. Their testi

mony, bearing upon man's relation to the World of Spirit-I mean the Personal, Holy, Wise, Loving Spirit of God in Christ Jesus-is at once commandingly authoritative, infinitely satisfying, and richly redemptive from sense and sin.

One of my statesmen is Prayer. He assures me that I may talk with that Eternal Somebody who is not so far as to be near. When we-a thousand or so of us were talking from the First Reformed

Church of Brooklyn to San Francisco a few months ago, some of us were amazed at the instant replies which came from the other side of the continent and the cities between. "Hello!" called Mr. Robb. Instantly the answer flashed back: "This is Pittsburgh, or Chicago, or Omaha, or Denver, or Salt Lake City, or San Francisco, Mr. Robb." It is the miracle of man's mastery over matter and space; but every action of the human free-will, said Lord Kelvin, is a miracle to physical and chemical and mathematical science. And Kelvin, remember, represents the highest type of physicist, combining his great mathematical powers with the inventive genius and practical skill of the experimentalist. But his glory is this: He was a man of prayer, a humble, a devout disciple of Christ, who refused to be saddled by the physical elements and ridden to a spiritual boneyard. Well, how long does it take the human voice, flying on electric wings, careering over mountains, rivers, lakes, and prairies, to reach San Francisco? The time is actually so short that it can hardly be measured-the sixteenth of a second! That is wonderful; but my statesman named Prayer does something more wonderful still. Here it is: "Before they call, I will answer: and while they are yet speaking, I will hear." After hearing me quote that passage in this sermon, Mr. Robb said: "Mr. Shannon, I will have to tell the President of the New York Telephone Company that, notwithstanding our wonderful triumphs, we