prevail not, and often harassing those whom they are not permitted to overcome:-the Son of God, who was also Son of man, He 'who cometh from Edom with dyed garments from Bozrah,'yielding Himself to humiliation, derision, suffering, and death; then, bursting the bonds of the tomb, triumphing not only over death, but over him that had the power of death, even the Devil.' . . Topics such as these, far from being ignoble, far from tending to contract the mind, give it an expansion of occupation and a glow of delight which no discoverer but he who has found the Pearl of great price' can ever attain." a

Therefore, "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor dust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal; for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."b

Thus far have we traced out the fulfilment of the type given in Adam. And this we find is threefold. We have sought for, and found, his

a Gregory, p. 254.

b Matt. vi. 19-21.

origin in evil; we have hailed the evidence of redeeming love in his appearance upon earth; and we have contemplated the opportunity given him in Eden of making manifest the fruitful works of the Spirit. By faith in Christ, the stain of original sin has been in each of us blotted out; a new and spiritual heart has, at our second birth, been created within us; and we are now, either for good or for evil, to offer the works done in the flesh before the judgmentseat of Mercy. "The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light." The moments fly quickly the last is present; it has passed away; and now no longer does the choice remain. Ours must now irretrievably be the language either of joyful trust or of despair. Either "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness: " or, "The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved."

C

a Rom. xiii. 12.

b

b 2 Tim. iv. 7, 8. c Jer. viii. 20.

REPEATED SEASONS OF PROBATION.

WE have been led to believe that distinct intelligent beings, whether of good or evil, whether angels of light or spirits of rebellion, are unlimited in number. But the duration of this our present time, however extended, must be insufficient for the trial of these evil beings, and we know that it is by time only that a season of probation can be given; for as time is too limited for all, so is eternity too extended even for one.

But we have seen the high probability, approaching indeed to certainty, of an infinitely repeated creation and destruction of distinct durations of time, each in itself perfected and complete.

During the continuance of our present time it is that an elected number of spiritual beings, who are in opposition to good, obtain, as the free gift of infinite mercy, and through the one great and mysterious sacrifice of Him against whom they are in a state of contradiction, the

means of conversion to holiness and reconciliation to eternal Goodness. But there yet remains another number, be it a greater or a less, in whom still dwelleth the consciousness of sin; and to them is assigned the still-continuing ever-existing eternity, the measure of punishment, as it is the duration of rebellion. Of this number, one portion harden their hearts to the commission of sin, and wilfully stifle the voice of conscience; and in their behalf reason must remain silent, for even by human justice they must be condemned. They are in the hands of Omnipotence; but it is Omnipotence in whose infinity mercy is united with justice.

There is a second portion, whose innate and original evil is too great to be expiated in this present time; they are designedly left in ignorance, and, however willing, are unable to turn from their evil ways and repent; for, whether He who is "the governor among the nations" shall have ordered their sojourning upon earth in a Christian or a heathen land, to them have the glad tidings of salvation ever been denied.

But "I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth were passed

T

away." Another and yet another time is created, another, and it may be a different, dispensation is ordained, by an Omnipotent Will, as a means by which another order of evil beings may be made partakers of the kingdom of heaven.

Those of us who shall have walked steadfastly in the faith without wavering, and shall have made ourselves meet to enter into the holy habitations of our Father, may, in another creation, be deemed worthy to be called His ministering spirits, and there to work out those high behests which are now in our human life given to the angels of heaven. "For in the resurrection we are as the angels of God in heaven." To those of us who may die in infancy or in early youth, before we can understand the promises of the Gospel, to those of us whose understandings may be ripened, but into whose hearts the knowledge of true religion can have never entered,-may there yet in infinite mercy be given another time, and thus a second season of trial be afforded.

All of us have parents, whom we delight to love, honour, and obey. Many of us have children, who are in our eyes precious "as the lily among thorns, and as the apple-tree among the trees of

a Rev. xxi. 1.

b Matt. xxii. 30. Note D.