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Rh friend, a brother, "touched with a sense of our infirmities," touching men ever with the subduing touch of kindness, and with a healing power.

5. And this feature of Christ's miraculous power, it should be remembered, is the one which all the ages through, and now, in our own day, still remains an unfailing inheritance in Christ's church and to Christ's people, aye, and even to a heedless world. The age of miracles has gone; but it may well be doubted whether, since Jesus came into this world, any distinct power or influence He once exerted, has ever departed, entirely and in every way, from among men. After the birth in Bethlehem, Jesus is ever present in this world;—His presence is never again to depart from it, until the consummation of all things. His glorified body is indeed in Heaven; but He is with His Church always, even unto the end of the world. And, being present, those wondrous powers, and that mighty energy, which He wrought among men, in the days of His manifestation, are likewise ever present, and never shall depart. There is not one of us here to-day, but who believes in Jesus' personal presence in this church. We all have a firm faith that He is really and undoubtedly with his ministry and people, in all their work and service in His behalf on earth. We are fully convinced, that in prayers, and preaching, and sacraments, He is not a far-off, but an ever-present Lord. But where is the warrant for the dubitating thought, that this presence is vouchsafed only to those offices which are called distinctively religious, and which pertain exclusively to the soul? Where is the ground for supposing that 9*