dictory to them,—they think these men are less believers in, and esteemers of, the Bible than themselves; they call them so; and, by hard names and violent assertions, they often deter timid souls from proving all things, and excite rash souls to hold fast nothing.

But the character we have described, in the hearty desire to please and be pleased, in the spirit of the poet, and with the mind of the philosopher, will find the glorious liberty of a son of God in the Bible; he will hold fast, and use for his foundation and guidance, only what he has so far proved; he will neither timidly allow himself to be forced to acknowledge what he does not yet know, or to profess what he does not yet feel; neither will he rashly permit himself to be excited to throw away whatever his mind has not yet compassed, or his heart been as yet able to feel, or even what may seem to him contradictory. He will hold fast what he has proved, and will prove more and more, and find that much that was at first dark and doubtful becomes clear by holding fast what has been already proved. And when he is reproached for this strict proving before he will hold fast, as if this were doubting God, he will answer, "The Bible has taught my heart and mind to do so." It satisfies every demand of the philosopher, poet, the gentleman, and the man of religion; and so he becomes a Christian, and grows in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. He feels and he shows the effect of that invisible, divine influence which led him into truth, and therefore into freedom-that Holy Spirit of God without which he could neither know nor be, neither have nor hold good.

PART V.

MEDITATIONS AND IDEAS.

I.

FALSE PRESUMPTION AND FALSE HUMILITY.

AMONG the many errors about presumption and humility, it is a striking one, that men will dare to decline the examination of any religious question, on the plea that it is too high, too deep, or inscrutable.

Either they should decline all attempts to understand anything about God or his word, or else they should not be so inconsistent as to decline to examine and try to understand the highest and deepest things.

To decline all attempt to understand is too manifest a defiance of God's word and of common sense.

When we speak of understanding by examination, or of finding the meaning by research, we either mean this -without divine aid, or with divine aid.

Do those who would limit our attempts in understanding to the most simple and plain truths, pretend that the most simple can be rightly understood without divine assistance?

Or do they maintain that the highest and deepest things are not to be understood with divine assistance?

The man of true humility will not fancy that, without the teaching of the Spirit, he will be able to receive the

things of the Spirit of God, even the most simple of them, so as to understand them aright.

And he will not doubt that, by that Spirit's guidance, he shall be led into all truth step by step; if he is not so presumptuous as to believe that he can, unassisted, attain to anything worth knowing.

Neither is he so presumptuous as to doubt that God, by his Spirit's teaching, will lead him into all truth, to understand all that the Spirit, working in him, would search, that is, "even the deep things of God."

Let us, then, expect an answer, when our research is accompanied with a prayer, that we may be " filled with the knowledge of God's will, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding."

GOD! BE PRESENT.

When I ask God to be present, I do not seek that God should move, to be here; nor that He should shine, to be visible; but I desire that I may be aware that He is here, and that I may see his brightness.

I am always in his presence-present to Him, for He sees me as I am.

DOUBT.

He doubts, who is afraid to try his faith. If he had no doubt, he could not fear that his foundation might be shaken.

FEELINGS.

The feelings or affections must be excited, in order to any improvement in character.

These can be partially, and for a passing time excited,

by means that do not convince the mind, and may so lead to a partial and passing improvement.

But an experienced and inspired writer tells us how and when the whole heart or affections are to be engaged in the right way:

"Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law; yea, I shall keep it with my whole heart."

UNDERSTANDING AN ARGUMENT.

Though it is not certain that, if I really wish to understand the argument, I shall be able to do so; it is at least certain, that if I wish to misunderstand an argument which opposes my present views, I shall succeed perfectly.

Alas! that any one should satisfy himself with such

a success.

A sincere desire to understand will generally enable one to understand even an ill-expressed argument; while the best expressed will be open to cavils and misconceptions, even when on the side of truth, if one is not really desirous of understanding fairly what one's opponent really intends.

SCIENCE AND ART.

Science is knowledge, and the word is generally applied and understood as meaning such knowledge as is acquired by application of the mind in study, observation, and reflection.

Art is the application of science so as to produce an effect.

Science is what truth effects in the mind.

Art is what the scientific mind produces in action.

D D

Science, falsely so called, which is a mere pretension, produces, in action, that art which is deceit; and hence the difference between an artist and an artful man. The latter is doubly hateful as a deceiver, and as throwing a false and degrading shade over true art.

TRULY RELIGIOUS.

A man is truly religious, when his desire is for himself to be good, and for his brethren to be happy, and when he sees hope of his desire, in his God.

This is but a beginning; but if real, it will have an end accordingly.

SELFISHNESS.

Selfishness in religion worships the idol of a selfish God, made by the selfish man's fancy.

And the worship of this false God leads to deeper selfishness.

DISLIKE TO SCRUTINY.

He that dislikes to scrutinize his own faith, desires that others should so scrutinize theirs as to agree with him. He will not question himself, and dislikes to be questioned. He will insist, so as often to persuade, but will never prove, so as to convince.

TRUE AND FALSE MINISTERS.

So unselfish, so devoted to serve others, is the true "Minister of the Gospel," that he feels his mission is only then fulfilled when he has led those whom he teaches, to be able to do without him.