It is He that gives effect to the word preached-moves the deepest affections of the heart, destroys the iron yoke of sin, breaks to pieces the fetters of the soul, and creates the man a new creature in Christ Jesus. The agency of the Spirit is essential to our salvation. It is He that strives with man-appeals to his conscience, subdues his enmity, and gains his heart. It is the "Spirit of our God" that breathes into the soul the breath of life, and removes for ever both its guilt and pollution. Thank God for such an agency, His presence is ever in the Church; His voice, in accents of the purest love, falls on our ear; and His secret and all-powerful influence quickens and beautifies the soul.

This portion of God's word teaches the desirableness of a calm and solemn reflection. It is well sometimes to sit down and calmly review the past. Such reflection would produce in the mind, humility, gratitude, and a deep and lively sense of the sovereign mercy and grace of God. It also clearly shows the mighty power of redeeming love. Were the sinners at Corinth 'washed, sanctified, and justified? Then no sinner need despair. Untold wonders are wrought "In the name of the Lord Jesus." Brother, may you and I experience this great change. May we be assimilated to our Saviour's image,-delivered from all sin, and introduced into the society of the sinless redeemed!

J. H. HUGHES.

SUBJECT:- -On the Use of Externals in Religion.

"And, behold, there was a man named Zaccheus, which was the chief among the publicans, and he was rich," &c.—Luke xix. 2—10.

Analysis of Homily the Three Hundred and Thirty-fourth.

A RICH man, and no doubt accustomed to gratify curiosity, Zaccheus climbed up into a tree that he might not lose the great sight-the marvellous man, whom all the people followed. He "sought to see Jesus who he was "—the outer

man only. We are not told he had any desire to learn of the Great Teacher the laws of God, or the nature of His kingdom, or to beseech forgiveness. Yet Christ approved of his curiosity. He called him down, and went to his house. Zaccheus received Christ joyfully, and "salvation came to his house that very day.”

We learn from this that great and lasting spiritual benefit may be the result of an attempt to obtain even a superficial knowledge of Christ. The principle involved is that the use of the mere externals of religion is sometimes blessed by God to a spiritual end, even when that has not been the object in view. Here this principle is shown in its application to knowledge, but it is equally applicable to the emotions and the will as to the intellect.

There are things connected with religion which a man may possess or employ without a truly religious aim, which may be the means of spiritual life, but are not that life; not even positive signs of it.

The Holy

A man is

I. SOME OF THESE THINGS ARE NECESSARY. Spirit does not supersede perception and reason. not converted, nor made to grow in grace, by an immediate act of omnipotence, independent of the natural modes of reaching his perception, emotions, and will. He is not conveyed in vision into the presence of Christ, but must, like Zaccheus, climb up into a tree, or in some other ordinary way, first get a sight of the Son of Man. Hearing must go before believing-acquaintance precede love. So that a certain amount of Biblical knowledge is indispensable. So also of Criticism, either personal or by deputy, in order to a thorough appreciation of the character and teachings of Christ. Organization, too, is necessary. It has been abused, made to usurp altogether the place of individual action, but it cannot be totally dispensed with. Without it some methods of spreading Christianity would be impossible, others inefficient. Were there no visible Church there would be no public worship, no union with the brethren, no

stirring up to love and good works, and one great demonstration of the existence and vitality of Christianity would be lost. Christianity has a social object no less essential than its personal object; and were each Christian to isolate himself, all the manifold benefits ordained to result from the action and reaction of Christians on each other's hearts and minds would be rejected.

II. SOME OF THESE THINGS ARE USEFUL. Our spiritual stature is but short, and if, by "climbing up into a tree," we can supplement its deficiencies, the aid, though humble, is not to be despised. Spirit is cramped by matter, circumscribed by weakness, crippled by sin. The body and the world have just claims, and they pertinaciously urge unjust ones. It is of importance then to enlist on the spiritual side of our nature whatever can afford it help, strengthen it, or fortify it against attack. Preaching is useful in obvious ways to almost all-to the unstudious more than to others. Its benefits, when not immediate, often become apparent at a subsequent period in the facts and impressions it has conveyed. Liturgies, and the like external forms of worship, aid the devotional spirit,—may initiate it, even; in accordance with the mental fact that the outward expression of emotions by their appropriate words or gestures tends to excite those very emotions. A set form of prayer and confession-simple and comprehensive-furnishes expression to feelings, wants, and aspirations, which, lying latent in many a man's breast, he would, if unassisted, but seldom call forth. Music and Poetry are the very flame of emotion-a flame that not only enlightens but kindles. Consecrated to religion, their use is great when the chief object is to touch the heart rather than the intellect. Can an irreligious man listen altogether without a good effect? And the godly man will resort to them as the natural expression of his deepest and most hallowed feelings, and find his heart beat higher and more in unison with heaven. Painting. Let not the idolatrous abuse blind us to its use in religion. Have you

never read a grand and touching sermon on canvass? Felt tears spring to your eyes, a prayer to your lips, at the sight of matchless love and sorrow beaming from some picture of your Saviour? The religious artist and the preacher alike endeavour to form vivid conceptions of what Christ on earth must have expressed in looks and actions, and of the remarkable incidents of His career, and then strive to convey their ideas to us by pencil and by words. Both help to place us in thought, in the position of those who saw our Lord. Some great fact in His life may be more clearly and firmly impressed on the mind by one sight of a picture than by years of occasional listless reading of the Gospels;-and who shall estimate the arresting and quickening power of one such fact? Symbolism, also, may have its use, especially to imaginative and sensitive minds. There is no reason why dissenters, with their severely simple service, should deny to others-who think they benefit by them-crosses, architectural devices, priestly vestments, flowers, &c. May not sometimes the sight of a cross melt a heart to tenderness, strengthen it for action, brace it for endurance; remind us that we are made perfect through suffering? Flowers may say much to the pious mind, of God, life, death, and resurrection. Do their gentle tongues wither inside church walls, or their voices refuse to mingle with the preacher's? In short, imagination should not be shut up in a "secular" corner where some good men imprison it.

III. THE USE OF EXTERNALS IS OFTEN BLESSED BY GOD. Christ approves the attempt to get even a superficial view of Him. The unconverted man is not told it will be useless to hear or read until he knows that the Spirit is touching him. Curiosity is not only permitted-it is a duty. The mere aesthetic thirst is sometimes made the means of bringing to the feet of Jesus to "learn of him," and to true spiritual communion with Him. The character of Christ, if only in its human aspect, is powerfully attractive-it appeals to our noblest instincts. Drawn into His presence, a man is in a

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position to receive that influence of the Holy Spirit which shall lead him to "receive Him joyfully" into his heart. When the motive is to increase knowledge, love, or good works, much more may the blessing be expected. God does not demand a more purely ethereal religion than our mixed nature is capable of. "We have not an high priest which" &c. He grants us material aids to spiritual service. Let then no man judge another.

IV. WE MUST NOT STOP AT THE EXTERNAL. Zaccheus had to come down and go closer. Many a man has stopped in the tree into which he has climbed, until Jesus has passed by, never to return. Of what good is it to find a point of vantage, from which you may see Christ, Heaven, and Hell, or trace out the path of duty, if resting there you make no effort to go to your Lord, to walk in the narrow path,—to reach Heaven? Had you a fulcrum through which you might move the world, what gain if you put not forth your strength to the lever ?

Ross.

SUBJECT.-The Transcendent Worth of Christianity.

"Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? Then, Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life."-John vi. 67, 68.

Analysis of Homily the Three Hundred and Thirty-fifth.

WE take these words to illustrate the transcendent excellence of Christianity. There are three facts here suggested which indicate this :

I. IT PROVIDES FOR THE TOTALITY OF HUMAN WANTS. "Eternal life." This means not merely eternal existence; endless existence may be an endless curse. It means eternal well-being. It means eternal existence apart from evil, and