!

his spirit from the visible and the sensible, from what the eyes may look upon, and the hands may handle, to what is invisible and spiritual: in a word, so to begin in time his lessons for eternity, that, when the latter shall succeed the former, he shall only be entering on a second stage of a holy existence, which, though but as a babe, he had already commenced in the body.

Feeling the force of these truths, can we consent only to know God retrospectively? Are we only to meditate upon his past acts, mighty as they are, and upon his sayings of the past, precious as they must be? Are we only to look behind us with becoming wonder, and consider that this God, with whom we have to do, has abode in his own essential blessedness from eternity, and confessing that this first announcement "passeth knowledge," are we to lay our hand upon our mouth in acknowledgment of the same, and here to pause; or from the hopeless contemplation of his nature, may we yet turn to something more, even the mighty acts of the Lord? Yes, this will be readily granted us, and we shall be permitted to consider the sublime truth, how the Antient of Days, "whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting," has become communicative of himself, and in a measure of his blessedness,

to an innumerable company of intelligent beings, whom he has called into existence; and to travel through the periods which have elapsed since time began its revolutions, since the Spirit of God brooded upon the face of the waters, and calling Light from his treasures, Light shone forth at his bidding; and commanding Order to arise upon that which was "without form and void," Order obediently arose, at which the sons of God shouted for joy; and smiling lovingly upon the renovated work of his hand, pronounced it very good, bidding man, his right noble creature, to replenish the earth and subdue it. All this will be readily granted us. But, beside this, we shall be permitted, without a word, to trace the Divine dealings through nearly six thousand years of man's misrule; and, having made our way thus far, amidst the contending elements of human passion and human power, here we are commanded to pause, on the peril of the sinful presumption of lifting up that veil which God has let fall, and of looking upon those things which, like the ark of old, could not be looked upon without transgression, or touched without the penalty of death. And here it is that we enter our solemn protest against such an injunction. Here we say, and say it advisedly, that, though the field be wide which extends over the lapse of ages through

which we have passed, and though events are bound up with it of the deepest interest to ourselves, upon which we do well to pause, and though mysteries of the highest order are there found, involving "the deep things of God," into which the angels desire to look, here we are not to pause: with what has passed we are not to be content. For that word of power, which alone can bind the spirit, and arrest the eagle wing of its speculations, has said, "Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter." And after such an invitation, shall we refuse? After such a bidding, shall we resist? When God hath spoken, man's duty is to obey. Hence, when we turn to the future, we put forth no impious hand to help, for God's own hand has rent the veil. If we look for good things to come, it is with no unholy eyes; for except God do give us eyes to see, we shall see naught; and, following the Divine command, "This one thing we do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those which are before, we press toward the mark, for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." (Phil. iii. 13, 14.) But, whilst we believe the foregoing doctrines to be true, there are objections which still cross our path, though their number be greatly diminished.

And here, an interesting and important question arises: Can it be, that a man's eyes may be so holden, that he shall not see in the word of God the truths which another sees? For, if it be so, then the difficulty which appears to surround this subject is, in a great measure, removed. That our knowledge of things spiritual, like every other kind of knowledge, is progressive, none, I think, can deny. The principle is universally true, from the Head of the Church, who "increased in wisdom and stature," to every member who is conformed to the likeness of the Head. This, then, forces us to the conclusion that, whilst one man may have reached one point on the road of knowledge, another may be behind him; the one may have discovered truths of which the other is ignorant. And will not every one confess, that it is altogether unreasonable for him who is hindmost in this race, to deny the existence of those things which the foremost has seen, but which he is not yet in a condition to see? Here, I ask, may it not be alike hazardous for any to deny the existence of our doctrines in the Scriptures, merely because they do not see them?

Let us now take a second step in our argument, and proceed from speculation to experience, in

order to ascertain whether the working of our principle correspond with our theory. I take the case of one first brought to the knowledge of himself as dead in sin, dead whilst he lived, because he lived not unto God, and who has found Christ and the knowledge of Christ to be life to his soul. Whence has he derived this knowledge? From the hearing or the reading of the Word. But he has heard the same Word continually, and that from the same lips; he has read the same Word continually, and that from the same book. How, then, has it happened that these same truths which have now enlightened his understanding were never seen by him before? Were they not in the Word?

Yes, they were they were there,

there, though he saw them not; though he heard them not; but he had no spiritual eye to see, or ear to hear "the words of this life," though they had been brought before him again and again, "line upon line, precept upon precept." But now, Christ has anointed his eyes with eye-salve, that he may see, and he sees the things before unseen which belong to his everlasting peace; now, the Holy Ghost has applied the "Ephphatha" of him who spake as never man spake, and his ears are opened that he hears effectually, and for the first time effectually,