so unconscious of your one great aim, and so in harmony with this earthly state, that the higher tone seems to be artificial, and the lower to be your true tendency and character.

Now to this it may be said, Take courage. The true self of sincere minds is that which speaks and aspires in their better moments. The lower level on which they move at other times is the way of their infirmity. As the resistance of the atmosphere stays the keenest arrow's flight, and bends it to the earth again, so the purest and directest intention is slackened by the gross thick airs of our daily life. Not to sink into a slower, earthlier motion is the portion of those who are lifted into a higher and heavenlier sphere, where the actings of the soul have nothing to resist them. In heaven "they rest not day nor night;" but on earth the most unresting intention is overcome by weakness and weariness at last. It cannot always be conscious and actual; but that does not take away its true and habitual reality.

Let this, then, be your continual endeavour, to uphold and to prolong these higher intentions. He who inspired them will sustain them. These heavenward aspirations are not the emotions of nature, but the stirrings of grace, which, as it descended from heaven, so always strives to ascend to heaven again. Quicken and strengthen

these desires by a life of prayer, by meditation, by habitual communion, by self-examination, by confession; by exercises of the heart, and by acts of faith, hope, and love. A soul united to God is endowed with the gift of perseverance; a will restored to its true freedom, hating sin, and delighting in the presence of Christ, shall be steadfast eternally; a heart kindled by the Holy Spirit is "sealed unto the day of redemption."

Every day this work is advancing, and the impression of the saving sign sinks deeper and deeper in those who serve Him. It matters not where or what we are, so we be His servants. They are happy who have a wide field and great strength to fulfil His missions of compassion; and they too are blessed who, in sheltered homes and narrow ways of duty, wait upon Him in lowly services of love. Wise or simple, gifted or slender in knowledge, in the world's gaze or in hidden paths, high or low, encompassed by affections and joys of home or lonely and content in God alone, what matters, so that they bear the seal of the living God? Blessed company, unknown to each other, unknowing even themselves; not daring to believe what they would die to gain; hoping against hope; hopeless in themselves; hopeful ever, because their Lord is patience, pity, and love. Blessed and numberless fellowship, from Abel until now; some in the

world unseen, already sealed and sure; some yet scattered in all lands, of every tribe and tongue, most diverse and manifold in state, lot, and trial, yet all of one character, one stamp, one seal,-the image of the Son of God. In a little while, a few short years, it may be, and all will be over. We shall then know what now we hardly dare to hope. Our election will be revealed, the mystery of God's elect accomplished, the world tried out in patience and long-suffering, in love and justice. Then cometh the end, when the angel of grace shall no longer stay the judgment of the earth. In that hour, before the face of the Lamb, who shall be able to stand? Be we among the quick or dead, may we "find mercy of the Lord in that day."

A

LL the titles of our Lord are names of

power.

They express His nature, perfection, or prerogatives; what they declare, He is. They are shadows of a divine substance. He who is Very Life raised Himself from the dead: "I am the Resurrection." So He had declared before: "I give My life for the sheep.. from Me. . . . . I have power to

...

I have power to take it again."

No man taketh it

lay it down, and After His week

of passion, He lay down to rest, having taken both sin and death in their own snare. Sin crucified Him, and death received Him into the grave. By His death He destroyed sin; by His rising again He abolished death; breaking up the snares

1 St. John x. 15, 18.

in which He had given Himself to be entangled. His resurrection reveals the mystery of His Godhead and of His Incarnation. From the hour of the Annunciation, Godhead and manhood were in Him eternally united. When He gave up the ghost upon the cross, His human soul and His human body were parted asunder, as in the common death of man; but both soul and body were still united with His Godhead. His human soul went down into the abode of departed spirits. All who, from righteous Abel until that day, had waited for the revelation of the Redeemer-patriarchs, who waited for His coming, and prophets who foretold it-then at last beheld Him. Abraham, who afar off saw His day, and was glad, then saw His very presence. All His saints of old, with the penitent absolved upon the cross, beheld the divine seed of the woman, and entered with Him into the paradise of God. Meanwhile His sacred body, lying in the grave, pure and incorruptible, united still with His Godhead, waited the appointed hour. On the first day of the week His glorious soul returned to His pure flesh, and His manhood, whole and perfect, through the power of His Godhead, arose of His own will. He woke up as from rest in sleep; He came back the very same, and yet the same no more. The dishonour of His holy passion had passed away,

but