There is an indefinable beauty in motion. There is something in the constitution of our minds which is always in sympathy with an everlasting- ongoing progress. Whether we look into the motion of physical things, or the expansion and advancement of the mind, or the new inventions in art and commerce, or in the spiritual world, the lifting up of a soul from sin to holiness, or the progress of a feeble believer out of weakness into the marvelous depths of holy love, there is a perpetual charm in all these kinds of ongoing advancement. Man was made to walk, not only with his body, but in his heart, his mind, his eye was made to pace the purple fields of the starry heavens, and some day, if he is true to his Maker, he will fly swift as the beams of light. Our eye is instinctively captivated by the swift express train, or the rush of a river, or the speed of a great ship. We love to watch the unfoldings of an infant's life, the acquisition of knowledge, or the display of some new invention. People will admire you if you are succeeding and getting on well. If you have seen much of life, and gone through many vicissitudes and calamities, did you notice when you had dark days that almost nobody took any interest in you, and how many people seemed to act as if you were in their way, and the world seemed to have no place in it for you, and as David said, you were "like a dead man out of mind,'' and people forgot you, and you had to be re-introduced to old acquaintances who fairly idolized you in the palmy days of the past; and in your loneliness you were like a sailor fallen overboard, or stranded on a little island, while the crowded ship had gone on, leaving you to learn the lesson that Jesus is the only one that takes a heartfelt interest in those who are poor and helpless. While the main cause arises from the heartless depravity of men, there is a secondary cause for such treatment in the fact that you were not getting along well. Oh how people do love prosperity, and because the human mind is constituted to admire progressive motion, yet sin has so blighted as well as perverted all the faculties of the human soul, that people are carried away even with vicious things just so long as their swift movements captivate the understanding. Multitudes of professing Christians are so destitute of any spiritual discernment, as to be led away into the worst of errors, and the most outlandish fanaticisms, merely because of their mushroom growth, and startling prosperity. In the eye of the common millions, anything that succeeds must surely be of God. It is the fascination of rapid motion, like the beauty of a shooting or a falling star, and Satan, we are told by our Saviour, fell like lightning from heaven. So there is an awful fascination in the swiftness of Satanic movements. The beauty that shines out in all divine progress is soothing, ennobling and untiring. We love to grow, and there is no growth so satisfying, so sweet and placid, as growth in love to God, in gentle charity for our fellows, and in the widening of our understandings to see the perfections of the ever blessed Trinity. But in order to have motion, there must be an adequate moving force. And in order to grow, there must be the conditions of growth. As the secret of a bounding ocean steamer lies in the fiery heart of power in the center of the ship, so the secret of the heavenly progress of a servant of God, is in having all the inner springs of action all aflame with the love of Jesus. As the secret of a fine field of growing corn is in a clean and well cultivated soil, so the secret of a Christian's growth in grace is in having a pure conscience, washed in the blood of the Lamb, and the affections under the constant culture of humble prayer. Let us now consider another phase of a healthy progressive soul in the sanctified state, under the emblem of another type of steamship, namely, a great ocean liner, such as ply across the Atlantic or Pacific, built both for passengers and freight, as well as the maximum of speed and safety.

1. In addition to the general remarks previously made on steam craft in general, one of the first things that strikes our attention about a great steel built ocean steamer, is its amazing capacity. There is no telling whereunto the building of these great ships will grow, for what was considered a monster of a ship fifty years ago, is now regarded as a small affair. A m^an unacquainted with the subject could hardly imagine the manifold capacities of an ocean liner. And we may remark in passing that a person who is unrenewed in his natural mind, can form no conception of the moral and spiritual capacities of an ordinary human soul under the full baptism of the Holy Ghost. There is something almost terrific in the possible spiritual grandeurs of the soul, when freed from sin and self, and united to Christ; and history has glittering samples of feeble old men, and delicate women, and little children, who under the sway of the Holy Spirit, have exhibited such towering faith, such humble resignation, such unselfish benevolence, such heroic martyrdoms, as to surpass the comprehension of ordinary mortals as much as the capacity of a twenty thousand tons ship surpasses the thought of a backwoodsman, who never saw a vessel mast before. What a marvel it was when men first found that iron could be made to swim, and not only swim, but carry thousands of tons along with it, and do it with more safety than if made of wood. That the heavy metal of iron can be constructed to float like a cork, is an illustration of how the omnipotent Jesus, through the shedding of His blood, and the action of the Holy Spirit, can take a sinful soul, more prone to sink in the depths of hell than iron is to sink in water, and so purge and reconstruct it, as to make it float in the very justice and love of God, with security and joy. These ships are so built as to lie deep in the water, and their depth of draught measures their capacity for cargo, and also for safety in heavy storms at sea, which illustrates the fact that those spiritual lives of the ocean steamship class, must not only be sanctified, that is run by fire at the heart, but so built on a pattern of depth in secret prayer, and a hidden life in God, that lies out of sight of all their ordinary acquaintances. It is this depth of draught in a life of secret prayer, that measures the carrying capacity of a soul, and also its security in times of calamity. It is a fact, that iron which is one of the heaviest substances, not only is so constructed in ships as to make it float, but to float more securely and more permanently, and then be so constructed that its safety depends on the depth to which it sinks in the sea. All of these considerations are wonderfully brought out in the supernatural life which Christ imparts to the perfect believer, for divine grace changes man's fallen nature, and renders it possible for the soul to be and do just the opposite of sinful nature. The Apostle Paul says that ''what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us; and that the law of the Spirit of life, had made him free from the law of sin and death." Rom. 8:2-4. This is the miracle of making the iron to swim, and making the moral character exactly the opposite of its natural state.

Another great capacity in a steamship is its speed. The first steamships occupied nearly a month in crossing the Atlantic. It was considered an amazing triumph of engineering when they were built to cross in two weeks. And then for many years the time was cut to one week, and now at this writing many ships make the three thousand mile run in less than a week, and it is prophesied that by applying the turbine principle in engineering, they will build ships to cross that great ocean in four days or less. Only think of a floating mountain of steel, six hundred feet long or more, and from seventy to ninety feet wide, five and six stories high, speeding through the ocean against enormous winds and waves, at a rate of from twenty-four to thirty miles an hour, without stopping a moment for three thousand miles, surpassing the flight of the express trains of a few years ago. This great speed has its counterpart in the progress and tireless zeal in those great souls that are filled with the truth and the love of God, and who push their way against incalculable difficulties, ever growing in grace, at a speed never dreamed of by the mere moralist, or one who thinks of advancement by slow evolution, instead of the active steps of faith. But the secret of this great speed in steamships is at an enormous cost of fuel and engine building inside the ship. Oftentimes it requires from thirty to fifty stokers constantly shoveling in the coal in the great furnaces, and a ton of coal is consumed every few moments to produce the great speed, and very few of the passengers have any knowledge of the vast world of work that is being carried on down at the bottom of the ship. In like manner the aggressiveness that bears onward a devoted saint in a life of steady, constant love and service, is not produced by cheap resolutions, or fanatical vows, but at a cost of the whole soul being yielded to God, and all the inward fountains of the will and spirit being fed with ceaseless vigilance on God's word in prayer and watchfulness. There is just as much difference of growth in grace between various Christians, as between the speed of various vessels, from the little skiff that makes four miles an hour, to the ocean liner that makes thirty miles an hour. There are certain lessons that every real Christian has to learn sooner or later, and some believers in a few months, or a few years after their conversion, will pass through the different stages of experience and knowledge that others will not know for a score of years. This progress depends partly on the natural gifts of the soul, but mainly on how much the secret furnaces of the soul are kept supplied with the fuel of God's word and prayer.

Another surprise that comes to us, is the capacity in these great ships for cargo. In addition to hundreds of passengers, some of them will carry several thousand tons of dead weight cargo. I had occasion some years ago in preaching in a small inland town, to illustrate some Gospel truth by the capacity of a great ship, and many of the people thought I was telling a huge fairy Story. Think of a vessel that could take on board a whole town with a thousand population, all the people, houses, furniture and fences, or the lumber sufficient to build them, and carry the whole across the sea. But if we could see things as the angels do, and look at the souls of great and humble saints, we would witness a spiritual capacity for carrying burdens, and performing labors, and lifting responsibilities, and enduring trials, and achieving results in the spiritual world, far greater, and extending over a wider range of life, and running on into future ages, that would more amaze us than anything in the giant ocean craft of commerce. The capacity of the soul in spiritual things cannot be known or measured in our present state, because we have no gauges by which to measure Divine things. Just as our world has three parts, the earth, the sea, and the air, so man has a body, a soul, and a spirit; and we can measure the earth easier than we can measure the sea, and we can measure the sea a great deal easier than we can measure the air; in fact, the altitude of the air, and some other things about it, have never yet been measured. In like manner men can easily estimate the human body; size, weight, running speed, and longevity. They can also measure the soul or natural mind as manifest in war, poetry, music, art, and mathematics, and similar things. But man's spiritual nature, like the atmosphere, runs up out of sight, and extends beyond the knowledge of the carnal man, and has capacities in the realm of faith, of love, of suffering, of sacrifice, of joy, of illumination, of tireless perseverance, beyond the imagination of most men.

2. These great ships that lie deep in the water, are so constructed as to be in a sense on friendly terms with the sea, and to overcome many of the difficulties that hinder the sail ships. For instance, sail ships are subject to calms, in which for hours or days they can make but little headway, but the steamship driven by a force in its interior depths, is not the least hindered by a dead calm. This illustrates how the believer, when purified in heart, and filled with the motive power of the Holy Spirit, is taken into a deep acquaintance with the Divine life, and on friendly terms with the perfections of God, and is not effected by those outward superficial feelings of the soul, as was the case before the work of sanctification. There are spiritual calms in religious life as in the physical world, and most Christians seem perfectly helpless in their devotion when overtaken by a dead calm. At such times faith is languid, prayer is dull, views of Scripture are dim, and a strange apathy settles down on the soul, rendering it like a helpless becalmed sail ship at sea. Under the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the spiritual life becomes more interior and concentrated, and is a matter of pure faith, in which the emotions are very little relied upon, and like the steamship, it goes right on regardless of emotional calms. Again, the great steamer just about as regardless of a heavy storm as of a dead calm, for such a large proportion of it is under the water, and being built with double bottoms, and double decks, and such ribs of steel as to be as much as possible impervious to winds and waves, it goes right on in the teeth of a gale almost as fast as in calm weather. On the other hand the sail ship that is crippled with a calm is also crippled with too much wind, and subject to far more dangers in having sails and spars blown away. This same principle applies in spiritual life, for a soul walking in victorious fellowship with Christ by the indwelling Comforter, owing to its depth in humility, and the iron-like strength of its consecration, with the flame of love in the inner will, goes right on through storms of trial, temptation, poverty, hard work, loneliness, and driving mists of mental perplexities and difficulties, just the same, if not a little better than when outward things seem favorable; for engineers tell us that the engines will make steam faster in a head wind than in a calm. And the same Christian who is yet in the sail ship class, and liable to be hindered by calms, is on the other hand in times of storm either shattered or torn to pieces in their emotions; and the same people that wait for a good breeze of feeling, are the very ones that cannot stand an excess of feeling without capsizing, or running on the rocks of wild fascinations. The same Christian that never waits for the play of good feelings, is the very one that can endure the strongest emotions without losing his balance, just as the ship that does not wait on the wind can stand more wind than other kind of vessel. Another feature showing the steamship to be victorious over surface difficulties is, it does not have to tack against a head wind, but goes straight on, which illustrates the spiritual advantage in a life of pure faith, enabling the believer to go straight ahead without turning right or left, and being influenced by so many great people, and big preachers, and dear friends, and human reasonings, and financial considerations, and fleshly prudence, and such things as are constantly twisting most Christians in a zigzag course. Another feature of the steamship is, it can be steered with such precision across the sea. Lying so deep in the water, and built with double keels to prevent drifting, with an enormous rudder, which is moved by steam, with the finest machinery, a beardless lad will stand in the wheel house, and with the touch of his finger guide the iron leviathan through the great waves day after day, holding the prow to a given point on the compass, and when the distant shore is sighted, the bow of the ship will not vary but a few feet from the aim that the helmsman took when he started. In like manner the more advanced a believer is in the life of Christ, the more thoroughly he is let down into humility and divine union, the more easily he can be guided, the more gently he can be steered by God's wisdom, to the exact destination mapped out for him on the inspired chart. The Holy Ghost tells us of two ways God has in guiding the soul; one is to be guided by the Lord's eye, the other is to be guided with bit and bridle, like the horse or the mule. The greatest steamship on earth can be steered easier than a canoe, and this principle is true in grace, that the holiest souls can be the most easily led by the touches of God's hand.

Another beautiful feature about these great ships is the quiet, decorous order with which the work is all done. As a general thing the smaller the boat the greater the fuss and confusion in managing it, which is true of souls as well as ships. Walking the deck of a giant ocean liner day after day you would hardly know that there were any officers or crew except as you see them dressed in uniform, or quietly and promptly attending to their work. The commands are given in signals, or in a moderate tone of voice, for the authority is undisputed and without bluster; the very opposite of the rough, loud-mouthed and harsh words on smaller boats of the oldtime class. A fussy, boisterous mannered soul, always bespeaks its littleness and shallowness in grace. A soul that is filled with God, takes on the manners of the heavenly world, and imitates the meek, quiet majesty of the divine mind, and at a mere hint of the authority of Jesus, the soul moves softly and promptly to do His will. In this stage of the spiritual life, the soul lays aside the spirit of bragging, of self-praise, of exaggeration, of efficiency, of human noise, and goes onward in a thoughtful, quiet order, covered all over with the unquestioned mandates of the great Captain of salvation.

3. It is a general principle in the construction of ocean steamers, that the greater and finer they are, the more precautions are taken to insure safety. These great ships are built with double bottoms, so that if one is partly broken away by a rock or a collision, there is another one in reserve. They are also built in water-tight sections, so if a collision should break a hole in one side only a small section of the vessel would be flooded with water. Some years ago an accident happened to one of these ships, but it went steaming into harbor with nearly a thousand tons of water on board without harm to the passengers or to much of the freight. The spiritual life has been so fashioned by Him who made the worlds, and planned all the various ages, that the farther the life of faith advances the greater is its security. There are Christians who cannot endure the strain of great calamities any more than a ferryboat could weather a cyclone in mid ocean; and there are other believers, who though subjected to calamities and various sorts and degrees of disaster, by virtue of the principle of faith and consecration, have a reserve force to pull through, and make the harbor without sinking at sea. This feature of security is manifest in the length of time these steel ships can be in service. Wooden ships have been known to last from thirty to well nigh fifty years, but iron ships are of such recent invention no one knows how long they will last, though it is evident they may be used with occasional repairs two or three times longer than vessels of wood. This illustrates the marvelous perseverance which enters into the spiritual life, when it is not only sanctified, but established in fixed fervor.

Thus we see that in all things as the principles of steam-going craft are brought to their highest forms in the ocean steamship, so all the principles of grace are brought to their strongest manifestation in those believers "who are strengthened with all might by the Holy Spirit in the inner man."