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The Christian is absolutely the freest and most untrammelled man in the world. I am a freer man, a richer man, a blither man, a stronger man, a hopefuller man, because I am a Christian. He has "set me in a large place."

I. I HAVE A GRAND, BROAD CREED.

1. First, a God whose love is universal; who is pledged to every soul to whom He has given being; to whom every soul is as dear as every other, and who works to realize the meet perfect blessedness of all.

2. A creed which makes its best possible for everybody. You can be a hero anywhere; you can be a saint anywhere; you may win your place in God's "legion of honour" anywhere. "Cribb'd, cabined, confined?" Nay! God has "set me in a large place."

3. A creed which invites me to examine and explore it, which courts criticism, which positively invites men to do what many imagine it forbids. One of its proudest mottoes is, "I speak as unto wise men; judge ye what I say." The Gospel invites you to explore all its territories, to dig for its hidden treasures; indeed, will only give itself to him who will question, think, search.

II. A BROAD, ROUNDED, HEALTHFUL LIFE. A life that includes every sweet and noble thing.

1. Every bright and healthful pleasure. All natural pleasures are mine. Mirth which is medicine and food is mine. All intellectual feasts are mine. Oh magic books which I love, in which I delight to dig!

2. A life that is to attain its blessedness, the ideal aimed at, not by prohibitions, but by growth. The way to kill the bad life in you — "the old man," as Paul calls it — is by filling yourself with the rich graces of life as seen in Christ Jesus. Courage and sweet help for those who need it, the brave love that can bear any cross — the life of Jesus, — there is room in that; it is "a large place." Live it, and you will grow in God's own bliss.

III. THE NOBLEST ENTERPRISES, THE MOST ROYAL WORK, THE GRANDEST AIMS, FOR THE BETTERMENT OF THE WORLD. Broaden the soul! Nothing broadens the soul like work for the wants and woes of men, and nothing inspires men to work like the dreams, the hopes, and promises of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We have caught a vision of the world as He saw it, yearned for it, died for it. We also carry this world in our heart; the African, the Hindoo, the South Sea Islander, are also children of God, and we will toil for their redemption.

IV. I HAVE NOBLE AND INSPIRING HOPES. Rich indeed are the hopes which the Gospel gives me; immortality is a grand word. I find "a large place" for myself under the broad skies of "eternal life." Man, according to the Gospel, has room to grow and time to grow. Over-hurry spoils the best work. Few of us have the courage of Browning's grammarian, who refused to hurry; who never dreamt that he could finish his studies here, but was sure that he should be allowed to finish them yonder. Let us also be a little wiser; we will not get scared and spoil cur work by over-hurry. Eternity is ours. Give me room; plant me with the noble sky of immortality over me; I will grow into my full stature then. Set me where God set me — in "a large place."

(J. Morlais Jones.)

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KJV: I called upon the LORD in distress: the LORD answered me, and set me in a large place.

WEB: Out of my distress, I called on Yah. Yah answered me with freedom.