a fitness and grace so wondrous, that the fairest of earth's landscapes can afford only a faint type and an inadequate symbol.

The doctrines of Christianity are not all of the same significance and value, even those which we term fundamental. One truth differeth from another in glory. One has for us more practical instruction than another. Some lie nearer the centre than others. Some rest on the written word alone; others are presupposed and anticipated in the earlier revelations. This doctrine is attended with greater difficulties than that. The nearer, therefore, we approach to the centre of the system, the more commanding the position we attain, the closer we stand to the cross of Jesus,thicker clustering around us will be the proofs of Divine wisdom, the more rapidly will difficulties disappear, the more will all the parts become adjusted and in harmony, the more luminous and enlivening will be the beams that shall fall upon us. In these heavenly places, the great Apostle seems almost uniformly to have stood, his mind crowded with thoughts, his heart overflowing with admiration, as he tried to make his readers comprehend with him something of the riches of the glory of the mysteries which were unfolding before him.

This leads me to remark, in the fifth place, that, advancing in the knowledge of God, through his grace attaining one elevated point after another, we shall not only discover truth in its masses, in its outlines and larger forms, but the more capable shall we be to see it in its nicer shades, in those delicate lineaments which shrink from the vulgar gaze, those refined and almost invisible harmonies which connect what we sometimes imagine to be the isolated facts of re

demption. Studying profoundly, and with that true humility and that unceasing practical aim which can alone insure success, our moral vision will become pure and far-sighted, and our moral sensibilities will become so chastened and delicate, that we may be able to see in the works of God, and in the system of redemption, the little filaments as it were, the most attenuated threads, those lines of exquisite slenderness and grace, which are the most convincing proofs of the skill of Him, who clothes all nature and all truth with ten thousand nameless beauties, and interweaves within them ten thousand harmonies and fitnesses. Thus a part of our present reward, in studying the scheme of redemption, is not merely the sight of truth in its grander forms and in its united and imposing effects, but in its minute subdivisions, in its numberless small ramifications and delicate shadings, which, like the colors of the rainbow, seem to run into each other, but which are really separable and distinct. We can comprehend even now small portions at least of the great scheme of redemption, but we are destitute, for the most part, of those finer feelings, those delicate spiritual apprehensions, which we suppose the angels in light possess. Too often we resemble a company of children, running over a field, in which are scattered pieces of gold and precious stones. We see and carry off the larger and apparently the richer fragments, but our steps are too hurried and our vision is too dull, to permit us to see the little, half-concealed gems that are of untold value.

In the last place, it should seem that a common feeling of gratitude would lead us to leave the principles of the Gospel of Christ, the suburbs of the city of God, and penetrate to the nobler views that shall greet our vision within.

It is a great privilege to ascend some of earth's mountain-tops, and gaze on the outspread bosom of the earth, till the finite seems to be almost lost in the infinite. For these faint reflections from God's face, one cannot be too grateful.

It is a high privilege to look through the astronomer's glass. One would think that the heart would overflow with emotion, and words of gratitude would constantly tremble on the lips, as one leaf after another of that sublime theology is unrolled before us.

Greater still, if possible, is the privilege of gazing at the other extreme of God's works; of beholding, through the medium of science, the wonders on wonders, which a small worm, a dry leaf, a little flintstone, a minute coral of the ocean, reveal. How can one hesitate, living in such mysteries, to bow down in grateful praise and lowly adoration! But what are all these in comparison with the truths of redemption, with the grace of the Redeemer, the love of the Holy Spirit, the mystery of godliness, the themes in which we have the angels for fellow-students, our Lord as the omniscient instructor, our own endless well-being as both the immediate and the ultimate aim! Common thankfulness, it should seem, would lead us never to tire in plucking these medicinal leaves, these immortal fruits, which grow for our especial benefit. By remembering what God has done for us, we should be impelled to make the utmost practical use of all those regenerating truths which lie within our possible grasp. Or rather, we should need no external inducement, no pressing invitation, no suggestion of conscience or of gratitude. We could not stay away from this royal table. We should throng around these wells of living water. So ennobling is Divine truth, so healing to the

broken spirit, so precisely does it meet the craving wants of a corrupt nature, so fully does it respond to the yearnings of the immortal spirit, so efficacious is it in all the exigencies of our being, in life and in death, that we should feel a kind of insatiable covetousness till we have sounded its depths, and climbed its heights, and made trial of its last possible powers of help and restoration, and given to our Redeemer that tribute of love, of honor, of thankfulness, as great and as trustful as the limits of a finite capacity will permit.

COLLATERAL SIGNS OF HUMAN DEPRAVITY.

A PROFOUND and practical belief of the depravity of man, the depravity of man as such, is of the greatest importance in several respects. Without it, we are liable to judge of human character and of all moral subjects very superficially. We look only on the surface of things, not penetrating to the depths of the soul, where virtue and vice have their origin, where alone the color and complexion of motives can be ascertained. Without this belief, we are not in a position to estimate any moral subject aright, but shall certainly form erroneous or inadequate views. Our own personal character, too, will be laid on an insufficient basis. A thorough conviction of the sins and imperfections which characterize man, all men, ourselves as individuals, forms the only true foundation of character. Genuine humility, or what the Scriptures denominate brokenness of heart, is an indispensable element in human character. If we cherish only faint impressions of our sinfulness, the Gospel of Christ will be an insolvable riddle, will be robbed of its chief worth and significance. It is a remedial system, an extraordinary provision of grace, only to those who are convinced of their personal and urgent necessities. It is not