-not upon clay, for the clay which the American Indians eat is found to consist of microscopic plants with silicious envelopes, called Diatoms, containing a small portion of organic matter sufficient to sustain existence ;-no; but on dry, white, dusty ashes, utterly destitute of any nutritious element whatever, upon which no creature can live, and upon which almost no plant can grow—the refuse of everything that is good-salt that has lost its savour, and is therefore good for nothing but to be cast out and to be trodden under foot of man. Oh, could the worthlessness of the world as a portion be more graphically symbolized!

Poor worldly-minded man or woman! it is indeed a deceived heart that has turned you aside; it is indeed a deceiver that has seduced you to feed on ashes. The god of this world hath blinded you. He brings the power of the world, with all its seductiveness, to bear upon you as an antidote to the Gospel. He so dazzles your eyes with earthly glory, that you are blind to the glory of God which shines in the face of Jesus. The sentence pronounced upon the old serpent who deceived our first parents was, "Dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life." Whatever may be the literal interpretation of that sentence, it is true in a metaphorical sense that Satan feeds upon dust. All his successes, all his enjoyments, are bitter and unsatisfying, and yield him no true pleasure. His proudest victories won in the world and in the heart of man are dry as dust, and utterly barren of enjoyment. And as he is himself, he wishes to make all who are led captive by him at his will. His own food he

gives them to eat, that his own nature may be developed in them. Satan attempted to make even our blessed Lord eat this wretched food. He said to Him, when fasting forty days in the waste wilderness, "Command that these stones be made bread." Defeated by Him who had meat to eat which the world knoweth not ofwho lived not upon bread alone, but upon every word which cometh out of the mouth of God-Satan has from that time gone forth tempting poor hungry souls in the wilderness in the same way. Command that these stones of pleasure, of wealth, of fame, of success,-command that these stones be made bread, he says to every poor worldling, to every idolater. And, alas! how many obey him, and prove themselves to be of their father the devil. And so obeying him, they need not wonder that, when they ask him for bread, he should give them a stone. The pleasures he bestows are apples of Sodom-fair to the eye, but in the mouth full of dust and ashes. The honours and riches he confers are jewels of gold and silver and precious stones, very valuable and beautiful, it may be, but which have no relation whatever of nourishment to souls perishing for want of the bread of life.

Let us seek to be convinced of the folly and misery of our idolatry! Let our spiritual appetite, which has been perverted to indulge itself in earthly vanities, return to its appropriate nourishment. Why should we any longer humble ourselves to so many perishing things that are ashes, and call them bread? "Hearken diligently to me," says our Saviour, "and eat ye that which is good." He communicates the spiritual reality of which the feeding

of the body with food that perishes is a symbol. From a merciful indulgence to that tendency of our feelings to take their impressions from outward objects, which leads to idolatry, God has become man, assumed our nature, and addressed Himself personally to our affections by redemptive acts of loving kindness. And thus incarnate in our nature-living, and dying, and rising again for us— Jesus is the provision of Zion, the true bread of the soul. He is not only the possessor of the resources of the universe, but He is Himself better than all His gifts. This is the food for which our souls were created, and in which alone they can find righteousness and strength. It is admirably adapted to all the weaknesses and wants, to all the sins and sorrows, of our being. Its all-sufficiency meets our insufficiency at every point, and it never loses its relish. It endureth unto everlasting life. Feeding upon this food, there will be no pain, no wretchedness, but a peace that passeth all understanding-a joy unspeakable and full of glory-a life growing fuller, and richer, and stronger, unto the stature of a perfect man in Christ. And thus living, and moving, and having our being in our Saviour, we shall enjoy the world-so far as it is fitted to minister enjoyment-in a way that no idolater of it can ever know. It is only when the earth becomes organized by a living agency that it can nourish the body. It is only in the tissues of the plant-in the ear of corn, in the form of bread-that the earth can feed And so it is only in and through Christ, who only hath life, that we can truly enjoy the world-that all things become ours, ministering to our faith and to our

us.

growth in grace. If we go to the world first and foremost, if we seek our happiness in it directly, we must necessarily feed on ashes. We are like the man who seeks his food in the mineral contents of the earth—in its clays and sands—instead of in the corn that groweth out of the earth. But if we feed upon Christ, in the alifulness that dwelleth in Him bodily, we have stored up, and concentrated, and organized for us all that our souls need. The world, when sanctified and transformed by Him, will become a teacher of heavenly wisdom, instead of a deceiver-a rich and ever-varying banquet, instead of a heap of ashes; and all things will work together for our good.

CHAPTER VIII.

SPIRITUAL CATHARISM.

"Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in His holy place? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart.”PSALM Xxiv. 3, 4.

THIS

'HIS new term, derived from a Greek word signifying purity, has been invented by Mr. Tomlinson to distinguish between ordinary and chemical cleanliness; for the two things are not by any means the same. We imagine that our bodies, when we have thoroughly washed them, are perfectly free from all impurity; but the chemist proves to us by convincing experiments, that though we wash ourselves with snow-water, and make our hands never so clean-yea, though we wash ourselves with nitre, and take us much soap-we are still unclean. We cannot be made chemically clean by any process which would not injure or destroy us. The slightest exposure to the air the great receptacle of all impurities-covers our skin with a greasy organic film, which pollutes every substance with which we come into contact. It is well known that the process of crystallization in chemical solutions is set going by the presence of some impurity, in the shape. of motes or dust-particles, which act as nuclei around which the salts gather into crystals. But if the solution