together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den. They shall not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain." But this poetry of the millennium reaches fulfilment first in the heart of every truly converted man who follows on to complete his conversion. The human breast is a dark forest in which wild beasts roam, roar, hiss, snarl, and bite; and this confusion and demoralization within us make calm, pure, blessed life for ever impossible; but the presence of Christ converts the savage forest into a garden, and His restraining, renewing, softening, harmonizing influence constrains. the instincts and powers of our nature into the sweet service of reason and righteousness. The new life is only possible in a new heart and a right spirit, and these are attained in the faith and fellowship of our Lord.

IV

THE MORALE OF IMPERFECTION

There is none like unto Thee among the gods, O Lord; neither are there any works like unto Thy works.-Ps. lxxxvi. 8.

T

HE psalmist thus declares the incomparableness of God's perfections and the unrivalled greatness of His works. It may be thought that nothing remains except to extol the glorious works of God, to utter a paean over the wisdom, power, and goodness of the Creator. This, however, is not so. The old theologians wrote of the divine attributes with unqualified admiration and praise; but since their day marked changes have taken place in the intellectual attitude toward the constitution and working of the world: the imperfection of things is commonly insisted upon, and it is necessary, therefore, that we consider the subject from a special standpoint. That we may fully enter into the conceptions of the text, let us

note:

I. THE PERFECTION OF GOD'S WORK IN THE PHYSICAL UNIVERSE.

Any attempt to vindicate the perfection of nature

will by many be resented as being entirely superfluous; they regard nature as the sum of wisdom, the standard of beauty, the ideal thing. The text is the outburst of the unsophisticated mind in the presence of the grandeur of the universe. "Neither are there any works like unto Thy works." At glance we are conscious that such workmanship is utterly beyond our rivalry. Fiction relates that the spirits who built Aladdin's palace were disturbed, and in consequence left one window unfinished, and all the skill of the Orient failed to complete that window, so unequal is human work to supernatural artistry. But if a scrap of the sky had been missed, who would have enamelled it? if a bit of the rainbow had been unfinished, who would have coloured it? if a single stone had been left unplaced in the mighty fabric, what architect could have supplied one polished after the similitude of the rest of the palace? Such defects would have defied the genius of the race; so far is the work of man inferior to the divine creation. Yet in the present day the joy of instinctive admiration is denied us, and we are called upon to explain the imperfections of the world. Art sometimes complains of the shortcomings of nature, for whatever is to make a picture needs much idealization. Leaves and flowers demand modification and arrangement before they are fit for the show. And science continually insists upon the presence of imperfection in all spheres. A recent author* has

* Metchnikoff, The Nature of Man.

written a considerable volume designed to show that, whilst organization and life reveal many perfect harmonies, there are facts which prove the existence of incomplete harmony or even absolute disharmony. After dwelling upon disharmonies amongst beings inferior to man, he proceeds to expatiate at great length upon disharmonies in the nature of man himself-in his physical constitution, mental organization and activities, and family and social instincts. The disharmonies in our organs, senses, faculties, and instincts are remorselessly accentuated; the idea of the order of the world is forgotten in a multitude of things and relations, clumsy, irrelevant, contradictory, and grotesque.

What, then, is the true answer to this kind of criticism? Shall we attempt to save the text by flatly denying these alleged imperfections of the universe? There is a wiser way. Let us candidly allow their presence, yet be prepared to maintain that they are not really imperfections, but parts and methods of a higher, fuller perfection.

Everything is perfect in its place. When a visitor to Rome ascends into the dome of St. Peter's, he is surprised by the general coarseness of the mosaic with which it is covered-the material is rough, the inlaying without taste, the colouring devoid of delicacy or design. Yet, surveyed perhaps three hundred feet below, it is grand enough; the apparently crude and slovenly artistry becomes a vision of fair shapes and

colours. The ornamentation of the dome was designed with a view to its being seen from the floor, and its imperfection is its perfection; for had the work been smooth and delicate, it would have proved an utter failure, whereas it is the crowning glory of the shrine. The conception of the whole thing evinces on the part of the artist the fullest knowledge, the truest genius, the completest mastery of his vocation. The apparent imperfection is part of a larger perfection. This is precisely true of nature. "He has made everything beautiful in its time," place, and order; and it is essential that it be viewed from the right standpoint. When men speak depreciatingly of this thing or the other, when they stigmatize it as imperfect, it simply proves that they fail to judge it in its relation to the whole vast system of which it forms a part; they have not attained the right point of view, and miss the perspective and proportion of the solemn temple whose architect and builder is God. When that point of view is attained, the irregularity and inharmoniousness which observers suppose they have discovered in nature will resolve themselves into a finer balance and completer symmetry. Just as apparent defects, subordinated to a superlative general magnificence, specially demonstrate the mastery of the artist, so the divine intelligence and power are most impressively illustrated in those instances of organic and inorganic nature where the general harmony and beauty are secured by exceptional meagreness and incomplete