earth of thy great power and stretched-out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee. Thou showest loving kindness unto thousands, and recompensest the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them: The Great, The Mighty God, The Lord of Hosts, is his name. Great in counsel, and mighty in work: for thine eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men; to give everyone according to his ways, and according to the fruits of his doings; in which hast set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, even unto this day, and in Israel, and among other men; and hast made thee a name, as at this day; and hast brought forth thy people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and with wonders, and with a strong hand, and with a stretched-out arm, and with great terror. Then came the word of the Lord unto Jeremiah, saying, Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh; is there anything too hard for me? Therefore thus saith the Lord: Behold, I will give this city into the hands of the Chaldeans and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, and he shall take it."

The thought I want to call your attention to is in that seventeenth verse. Jeremiah had great faith in God, and his prayer took hold of God. He says: "Ah, Lord God! behold thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched-out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee." Now, I would like to give this meeting to-day for the key-note of it, just that one sentence, there is nothing too hard for God. A great many things may seem very hard for us; but let us bear in mind that nothing is too hard for God. "Oh, Lord God! behold thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched-out arm." We talk about Alexander the Great, and Frederick the Great; but what are all the men that ever lived, what is their power in comparison with God's power? Think how God created this world; think of its mighty rivers and mighty mountains, and its depths and its plains; and yet some one has said it is only a little ball thrown from the hand of the Almighty. They tell us that the sun is thirteen hundred thousand times larger than this world. Supposing that is true; then think of its mighty rivers and mighty mountains. Some one has said it is a ball of fire. Supposing that is true, what a mighty wonder it is! And we are told that there are eighty millions of other suns that have already been discovered, and two billions four hundred millions of other planets, and this is the smallest of them all; this is but a fringe about the universe, or a few outlying villages upon his great empire. And we are told that light travels at the rate of one hundred and eighty thousand miles a minute; and it takes five years for the light of the sun to reach the nearest planet. Now, if this is true, think of our great and our mighty God! Now, Jeremiah had been climbing up upon one of these mountain peaks and he said: "Oh, Lord God! behold thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy

great power and stretched-out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee." Now, if God has done all these things, how easy it is for him to convert your friends and bless them. It seems as if this very thought pleased the Lord, for here in this very verse it says: "Oh Lord God; behold thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched-out arm; and there is nothing too hard for thee." There is nothing too hard for him. Now let us lay hold of this truth, to-day. Let it sink down deep into our hearts, and as we pray for ungodly men and those who are ridiculing these efforts, and ridiculing our prayers, let us get our eyes off them and lift our eyes to him who has all power in heaven and on earth. Let us bear in mind that nothing is too hard for God; and he delights in doing hard things. Now, if we have faith, God is not going to disappoint us. We are going to see great and wonderful things; and these men who are bitterly opposed to these efforts may be here, in a little while, praising God with us. Infidels, scoffers and unbelievers, gamblers; drunkards and vagabonds, are going to be reached by the mighty power of God. While these men are scoffing let us pray God that his Spirit may fall upon them. We, perhaps, cannot reach them personally; but we can by prayer. Now, he comes to Jeremiah, in the thirty-third chapter; Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah the second time, while he was yet shut up in the court of the prison, saying, Thus saith the Lord, the maker thereof, the Lord that formed it to establish it; the Lord is his name; call unto me."

Some of you may have wondered what good it will do to make these requests for prayer. But the Lord tells us that we are to make our requests known. People say, "Does God answer prayer?" Well, he says so, and I will take his word for it. Now, my friends, let us call upon him; he has told us to do it. Let us pray for those who do not want our prayers; God is able to reach them. Let us pray for infidels and scoffers. There was a man when we were in London that got out a little paper called "The Moody and Sankey Humbug." And he used to come to the very doors of the place of meeting and sell the paper. But after a while the paper got about run out, and then he came to the meetings and made caricatures of what he saw. But he was converted, and got right up in the meeting, and confessed what he had been doing. Let us not give up a solitary man in Boston. God is able to reach these very men. A great many men who are opposed to this work are so because the Spirit of God is troubling them; they are already troubled.

CASTING OUT DEVILS.

The 9th chapter of the gospel according to Mark was read from the 14th verse: "And when he came to his disciples, he saw a great

multitude about them, and the scribes questioning with them. And straightway all the people, when they beheld him, were greatly amazed, and running to him saluted him. And he asked the scribes, What question ye with them? And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit: and wheresoever he taketh him he teareth him, and he foameth and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away; and I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out, and they could not. He answereth him and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? Bring him unto me. And they brought him unto him; and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tare him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming. And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? and he said, Of a child. And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters to destroy him; but if thou canst do anything, have compassion on us and help us. Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. And straightway the father of the child cried out and said with tears, Lord, I believe: help thou mine unbelief. saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him. And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him; and he was as one dead; insomuch that many said, He is dead. But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose. And when he was come into the house his disciples asked him privately, Why could not we cast him out? And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing but by prayer and fasting."

When Jesus

Here we find the disciples in trouble, and on the other hand the scribes, their old enemies, were of course rejoicing at their unsuccessful efforts to cast out this dumb devil; and I think that is really the state of the church now. Infidels stand outside laughing and scoffing, because the church has so little power. I have no doubt but that the disciples reasoned as a good many do now, that this case was too far gone-that it was a hopeless case. They said, Perhaps if he could only hear us-if we could only speak to him-we might do him some good; or if he had the use of his tongue, if he was not dumb, so that he could tell them how he felt, they might help him. But as he had been so from a child, they gave him up as a hopeless case, like the hundreds and thousands that are given up now, because they do not belong to the church. They think they are beyond the reach of the church, and they cannot save them. They reason from a human standpoint; they cannot believe. But when they get their eyes off their human audience, and look at him who sits on the right hand of God, and remember all the power of the heavenly Savior, it is a very easy thing to reach these men

that we look upon as hopeless cases.

How many fathers and mothers there are who have become discouraged and despondent, because they think their sons are beyond their reach, that they have passed beyond mercy, and that there is no help and no mercy for them. Let us go to fasting and prayer. Let us find out what the trouble is. If it is want of faith, let us ask God to increase our faith. Let us say: "Lord, I believe: help thou mine unbelief." When this unbelief is taken from the church, it will be full of power. I want to read with this a passage in 2d Kings, 4th chapter, 26th verse:

Run, now, I pray thee, to meet her, and say unto her, Is it well with thee? Is it well with thy husband? Is it well with the child? And she answered, It is well. And when she came to the man of God to the hill, she caught him by the feet; but Gehazi came near to thrust her away. And the man of God said: Let her alone, for her soul is vexed within her; and the Lord hath hid it from me, and hath not told me." I haven't any doubt but that this woman had been fasting; I believe she hadn't tasted a morsel since that child died. She desired a blessing. "Then," she said, "Did I desire a son of my Lord?" Did I not say, Do not deceive me? Then he said to Gehazi, Gird up thy loins, and take my staff in thy hand, and go thy way; if thou meet any man, salute him not; and if any salute thee, answer him not again; and lay my staff upon the face of the child. And the mother of the child said, As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And he arose, and he followed her. And Gehazi passed on before them, and laid the staff upon the face of the child; but there was neither voice nor hearing. Wherefore he went again to meet him, and told him, saying, The child is not awaked. And when Elisha was come into the house, behold, the child was dead, and laid upon his bed. He went in therefore and shut the door upon them twain, and prayed unto the Lord. And he went up and lay upon the child, and put his mouth upon his mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands; and he stretched himself upon the child, and the flesh of the child waxed warm. Then he returned and walked in the house to and fro; and went up, and stretched himself upon him; and the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes. And he called Gehazi, and said, Call this Shunamite. So he called her. And when she was come in unto him, he said, Take up thy son. Then she went in and fell at his feet, and bowed herself to the ground, and took up her son, and went out."

I have no doubt but that this woman had been fasting, and had not eaten a morsel since the child died and wanted laying out. There is faith, and there is faith honored. There is the answer to prayer. But the thought I want to call your attention about this Shunamite woman is, that there was one thing she would not do. She would not trust in Elisha's old staff, nor in the servant. She

got her Lord.

eyes off the staff and the servant, and placed them on the

I want to call your attention to one clause in that chapter of Mark that I read, in the 19th verse: "Bring him unto me." You have, perhaps, been bringing your sons and daughters to the church, and running after this or that man; but the Lord says, "Bring him unto me." Have faith. Let us have faith in Christ. There are some "ifs" in the Bible that are the devil's "ifs." This man in Mark put the "if" in the wrong place. But the man in the 4th chapter of Luke put it in the right place. He said, "If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean." The man in Mark got it in the wrong place; for he said "If Thou canst." Let us get the "if" out of the way"Thou canst make me clean." God can do it. My friends, may God help us to-day to put the "if" in the right place. You know there is an if in there. There are some ifs in the Bible that belong to the devil, if you will allow me to speak of them in that manner. When the Lord used them, He put them in the right place. If you read the 5th chapter of Luke, you will find that he put the if in the right place. He said, "If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean." Now, this man in the last chapter of Mark said, If thou canst do anything for us, we hope thou wilt. If He can, why we know He can. Let us say as the leper said, "Thou canst make me clean." Oh, my friends, may God help us to put the if in the right place. "If thou canst believe," all things are possible with God. It is an easy matter for God to save souls in Boston; it is an easy matter to save all the drunkards in Boston; to call back the wandering prodigals all over the country. Let us have faith in prayer. If our prayers are not answered, let us not call God to blame; let us not think He is responsible for our prayers not being answered. If we are anxious to have our sons and daughters saved, we have got to have faith. Let us begin to fast and pray; let us search our hearts, and see if there be any evil way in us. God does not regard iniquity; the Lord will not hear, much less answer him when he prays. Now let us see if fasting and praying will bring the blessing; let us see if we have faith to believe what the Lord has promised he would do. Again, let us look and see if it is in accordance with his word. The reason many of our prayers have not been answered is, because they have not been indited by the Holy Ghost. What do we want our sons and daughters converted for? Is it for his Son's glory? If it is, he will answer such prayers; for it is his delight to answer those

prayers.

Another thought about this wonderful story I have been reading here to-day is this: that the devil threw the man down as he was coming. How many have started to come to Christ, and the devil has tripped them up before they got there. A man told me, in the inquiry-room, that he went down from Boston to Philadelphia to at