increase their own hold upon it.  There is a joy of activity, there is a firmer faith, as new evidences of its power are presented before them.  There is the blessing that comes down upon all faithful discharge of duty; ’If the house be not worthy, your peace shall return to you.’  After all, our Empire rests on moral foundations, and if it is administered by us—­and we each have part of the responsibility for all that is done—­on the selfish ground of only seeking the advantage of ’the predominant partner,’ then our hold will be loosened.  There is no such cement of empire as a common religion.  If we desire to make these subject peoples loyal fellow-subjects, we must make them true fellow-worshippers.  The missionary holds India for England far more strongly than the soldier does.  If we apply Christian principles to our administration of our Empire, then instead of its being knit together by iron bands, it will be laced together by the intertwining tendrils of the hearts of those who are possessors of ‘like precious faith.’  Brethren, there is another saying in the Old Testament, about the dew.  ’I will be as the dew unto Israel,’ says God through the Prophet.  We must have Him as the dew for our own souls first.  Then only shall we be able to discharge the office laid upon us, to be in the midst of many peoples as ‘dew from the Lord.’  If our fleece is wet and we leave the ground dry, our fleece will soon be dry, though the ground may be bedewed.

GOD’S REQUIREMENTS AND GOD’S GIFT

     ’What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love
     mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?’—­MICAH vi. 8.

This is the Prophet’s answer to a question which he puts into the mouth of his hearers.  They had the superstitious estimate of the worth of sacrifice, which conceives that the external offering is pleasing to God, and can satisfy for sin.  Micah, like his great contemporary Isaiah, and the most of the prophets, wages war against that misconception of sacrifice, but does not thereby protest against its use.  To suppose that he does so is to misunderstand his whole argument.  Another misuse of the words of my text is by no means uncommon to-day.  One has heard people say, ’We are plain men; we do not understand your theological subtleties; we do not quite see what you mean by “Repentance toward God, and faith in Jesus Christ.”  “To do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with my God,” that is my religion, and I leave all the rest to you.’  That is our religion too, but notice that word ‘require.’  It is a harsh word, and if it is the last word to be said about God’s relation to men, then a great shadow has fallen upon life.