nation of Christ, brought down heaven to earth, and revealed invisible and divine things to men as no other event could have done. "No man

hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him." "For this end was He born, and for this cause came He into the world, that He might bear witness to the truth." There is no certain religious truth in the world which does not rest upon this foundation.-The second, again, the cross of Christ, reconciles and unites heaven and earth. It bridges the vast, dark, horrible abyss, the work of sin, that yawns between them, and opens up for men a << new and living way into the holiest of all." It rends the vail and lets down the light of heaven upon the darkness of earth. It guides be wildered reason through the mysteries of time. It is the fountain of light and life and love and glory to a dead and perishing world. Never forget the cross of Christ; never turn away from it; never cease to gaze on it and glory in it. It is "the power of God and the wisdom of God."-In the third, the exaltation of Christ, lies the permanent source of attraction and intercourse between heaven and earth. When Christ descended, He clothed himself with our

flesh that He might become one with us in our misery; when He ascended, He gave to us His Spirit that we might be one with Him in His joy and glory; and now, to all who have that Spirit, Christ exalted is a crown of rejoicing. They rejoice in Him because He, in their nature-He, their beloved and friend-is now the blessed, glorious head of the created universe; and they rejoice, also, because He is thus "head over all things for His body's sake the Church," and because He has promised that "where He is there His servants shall be," and that they "shall be like Him, seeing Him as He is." O Christians! set your affections on Christ, and on "things above, where He is, at the right hand of God." Remember His last petition for you, when in His humbled estate on earth He anticipated His own glory: "Father I will that those whom Thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which Thou hast given me." Enter into the spirit of that petition; Christ is still presenting it at his Father's right hand; join with Him in doing so; and, remembering that "without holiness no man shall see the Lord," see that ye be prepared for its fulfilment. Let the language of the saintly Owen be yours:

"Blessed Jesus! we can add nothing to Thee, nothing to Thy glory; but it is a joy of heart to us that Thou art what Thou art (where Thou art), -that Thou art so gloriously exalted at the right hand of God; and we do long more fully and clearly to behold that glory, according to Thy prayer and promise." And let your character and conversation fully correspond with this language: "Let your conversation be in heaven, from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto himself." Davidson.

SCRIPTURAL PERSECUTION.

HEY who were about Jesus in the hour when He was betrayed, felt their hearts

glow with indignation at that traitorous spirit which had thus involved Him in the midst of danger. This was right. But they wished to proceed a step further; they sought liberty to give vent to their rage, and they were

eager to spill the blood of His adversaries. This was wrong; at least it met not with the sanction of Him to whom they warmly appealed. Should Christians, then, smite with the sword when they see the infidel sneering at their faith, trying to root up its foundations, and to bring down its bulwarks to a level with the dust? Should they smite with the sword when they see him who once went with them into the tabernacle of God, and did homage to Him there in the presence of His people, turn his back upon the sanctuary, and walk no more with them into the courts of Jehovah ? Should they smite with the sword when they hear him whose tongue was once bridled, and from whose mouth proceeded nothing but words of wisdom, blaspheming his God, and profaning His titles with unhallowed lips? It is not by the sword of earthly temper that you can destroy the infidel; you may lacerate his body and deface it with many wounds, but his heart, unless it be smitten with the sword of the Spirit, will be as hardened and unbelieving as ever. It is not by the power of the magistracy that wickedness can be effectually banished from our streets, and the swearer inspired with a holy reverence. You may chain him to

dark and lonesome dungeon, and gall his limbs with heavy fetters, but his heart, unless it be broken by the power of grace, as with a hammer, in pieces, will remain irreverent and unholy still. It is not by civil disabilities that you will ever be able to extirpate Popery from our land; you may withhold from the Papist a seat in the counsels of the nation, and keep him at a distance from the person of the king, but that man of sin will walk over the earth in as hideous dimensions as ever, unless he be destroyed by the breath of Jehovah's mouth, and by the brightness of His coming. It is not, in fact, by any material strength that you can overcome the despisers of the Gospel. The material sword must sleep in its scabbard, and their persons must remain untouched. But there is an efficient species of persecution-the persecution of the Spirit; the persecution which is offered by a holy, unblamable life. If you would make the strongholds of infidelity tremble, you must earnestly and practically contend for the faith; if you would shut the mouth of the scoffer, you must remove from him every occasion to blaspheme; and if you would stifle the wickedness of men, you must throw around yourselves an atmosphere of holiness, in which