corrupted Court. One hundred years ago there sprang into the arena of Europe the dazzling genius of Napoleon. In the western world his like had not been seen before. The world idea was in his brain and the thunderbolts of Jove were in his hand. At the close of his first Italian campaigns, the greatest military marvel of history, he was only twentyeight years of age. “At that time," he said afterward, "I saw what I might become. I already saw the world beneath me as if I were being carried through the air." But the star of Napoleon set and his restless and ambitious spirit chafed itself away on the lonely rock of St. Helena.

And now in our own day that dream of world power has again mounted to the brain. of one man and one nation. There is evidence enough to be had, if evidence were needed, that the consuming passion of Prussia is to control the world. It is not many years ago that the German Kaiser at a national anniversary declared, "that henceforth nothing must be settled in this world without the intervention of Germany and the German Emperor." Prof. Treitschke, the German his

torian, says that "the sceptre of the universe will belong to the Germans, who will impose their will upon the decadent and enfeebled people round about." A German writer of note has observed "that true history will begin from the moment that the German, with a mighty hand, seizes the inheritance of antiquity." General von Bernhardi in his notable book on "Germany and the Next War," has a chapter that bears the title "World Power or Downfall," and the refrain sounds through his volume again and again, “It is all or nothing; it is now or never." I pass no judgment on these statements for the moment. I merely quote them to show how that idea of world power is not dead, even in the twentieth century, how the fatal fire may burn in the brain of one man and one nation, how these dangerous ambitions have jeopardized the freedom of mankind, and how the whole continent of Europe-and indeed the whole civilized world -feels that the threatened liberties and the sacred pledges of honorable nations must be defended at any cost against the merciless aggressions of a strong and unscrupulous foe,

THE CLAIMS OF WORLD EMPIRE BY CHRIST

And now, against the background of all these foolish world dreams that have been entertained in turn by Roman and Norman, Spanish and British, French and German, let me fling up this great truth, the assertion which I have been preparing to make from the beginning. It is this-that there is not, and never has been, and never shall be, any single individual except One who has the right or the qualification to aspire to world power, and there is not, and never has been, and never shall be, any nation or society or people in the world, except one, that has the right or the resources to carry such claims to a glorious and successful issue. You ask me who that individual is, and I answer you in the words of our scripture to-night, "Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him and given Him a name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father." You ask me who that people, that

society, may be, and I answer you again in the words of scripture, "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvellous light.'

It is a long time since these great claims were made for Christ and His people. It is a long time since John in apocalyptic vision lifted one corner of the veil and showed us that "the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ." It is a long time since Paul, surveying the battlefield where Christ had met His enemies, declared "that He must reign until He hath put all his enemies under His feet." It is longer still since the Psalmist in his inspired moment heard Jehovah breathe this promise to His Son, "Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee: ask of me and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession." It is a long time, too, since Isaiah with seraphic vision saw Him coming up from the carnage of His last victory: "He that cometh forth from Edom with dyed garments from

Bozrah, this that is glorious in His apparel, striding along in the greatness of His strength." These are great claims, but there is not one prophecy concerning Christ that shall not be fulfilled, and there is not one claim for His people that shall not be made effective when by His power in them they shall impose their spirit and His spirit upon all peoples and kindreds and nations and tongues.

It may be said that this is but an empty claim, with no more promise of fulfillment than another. But it is not so. It is supported from every side-intellectual, spiritual, philosophical, ethnological. In general terms it may be said that the claims for world power with any aspiring nation or ruler rest upon three conditions: first, the personality that rules must have a universal appeal; second, the conquest he makes must be a spiritual conquest; third, the end he secures must be the highest good of all.

1. The world ruler must have in him the element of universal appeal. By which I mean that his nature must be so full and perfect, so many-sided and all-sided, so comprehensive and responsive, that the genius and tempera