nearest to Him. In His Humility, Meekness and Love, God makes Himself one with His creatures. And yet there remains, and must remain, for ever, a great gulf between Him and His highest creatures. The greatest nearness is a nearness that convinces the creature of an infinite distance. Nearness, instead of being detrimental to the spirit of worship, or the awe of worship, increaseth it. Therefore, if to eternity, our progress is to be nearer to God, and nearer still, we want no other proof that our self-abasement will deepen, and with our selfabasement, our adoration of God.

VIII.-Night, solitude, silence, sickness ;why have these a peculiar solemnity for man? Because under these circumstances the slumbering instinct, which the soul has of invisible and eternal things, awakes, and awes him with the impression of unseen company, as though something, which does not appear, were ready to appear, as though in a moment the hidden world might disclose itself. Man is related to something that he has never seen, cannot see, to something indeed that refuses to be defined. Hence his hours of reverie, hence too his passion for fiction and romance. The actual is not enough for him; it is too tame. Even children show more interest in ghost-stories,

which chill their blood and terrify them, than in any thing which you can present to their senses. The fact is, the world and all that it contains, leave the soul unexplained to herself. Though she is here, and though the endless series of sights and sounds and occupations, is strangely calculated to bury her in self-forgetfulness, there yet abides with her a certain vague, ineffaceable impression, that she belongs to altogether another sphere, and is destined to inherit it. The old Bible-narratives and Bible-visions are more homogeneous with the soul, than all the world-wonders of our century. And wherefore?-Just because those narratives represent God and man in close connection; and in those visions, still, awful eternity seems to open upon us.

IX.-The apparent man is a house of concealment for the very man. Nature is a house of concealment for God. We carry on our operations by our bodies, but all the while, we ourselves remain in secret. God works before our eyes, exposes to us His work, and hides Himself. God is Light, but the light which we see, is the thick darkness which hides Him. So hidden is He by the outer principle in which He works, that His creatures have even asked whether His work is not its own

worker? His work, which, apart from Him, is nothing, has been wondered at, studied and even worshipped; while He, Who is All, has been forgotten, and His very existence denied.

X. In a world where God is so hidden, it is not possible that Godlike souls should be at home. Their portion cannot be in that which is foreign to their deepest affections. Where God is hidden from view, there, the light, the joy, the treasure of Godlike souls must also be hidden from view. Godlike souls and their inheritance must be as distinct from the world in which they now are, as God is distinct from the solar energies, by which He quickens and preserves life in nature. Lord knoweth them that are His." And they know that their kingdom is "not of this world."

The

But the eternal fortune of Godlike souls is hidden, in the same manner as seed is hidden in the earth. It is hidden, not that it may remain hidden, but that in due time, it may shew itself. If that which is sown has life in it, it will grow, and insist upon manifestation. God has certainly sown this creation with His own seed; and the seed of God must be pregnant with Divine energy, and therefore must be effectual for its revelation, in its own time.

"Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart."

XI. By the righteous and the upright in heart, we are to understand the friends and children of God, in opposition to the friends and children of the world. "The children of the flesh, these are not the children of God." "Ye are the children of

God by faith in Christ Jesus."

He is "the Light

He is "

of the world," and all those who derive their life from Him, are "children of light" and heirs of light. Who can doubt that the whole universe is sown with light and glory, prosperity and joy, for the children of God? No one can imagine it to be otherwise. The plan and constitution of the universe must be such, that, in the end, it shall bring forth glory and pleasure to the household of God. In the meantime, He bids them, under all their sorrows, to rejoice in hope: their Harvest is When God receives His final income from this universe, (He will receive it,) then His children. will receive their fortune. God's inheritance and theirs are the same.

sure.

XII.—In order to give proof of "the faith and patience" of His children, God has appointed them, for a set time, to be tempted by the false

light, the false prosperity, and the false pleasure. The children of the world flourish like a green bay tree, while the children of faith lie under their Cross. The former have their Paradise, the latter are waiting for theirs. But as the eclipse of the sun is only for a brief space: so also, in relation to eternity, it is only for a little while, that the light and glory of the world will eclipse the Light and Glory, which are the hope of Godlike souls. Their light, their prosperity and joy, are not yet; but they are sown. And nothing is so certain to spring and thrive, as the glory and gladness of the Kindred of God. "Blessed are ye that weep now, for ye shall laugh." "Woe unto you that laugh now, for ye shall mourn and weep."

XIII.-Light and gladness are sown in God's children, and sown in the whole universe for them, as they were once sown in Christ. The True Eternal Light was sown in Him from His conception. But like sown seed, it was so hidden that no one knew Him, neither could know Him, except by express revelation from His Father, in Heaven. A few chosen witnesses were permitted once to see the Eternal Light break forth from its hiding-place and suffuse all His garments. And they saw, and bare record that the very Ground and Source of all Glory