familiar, that perhaps it is only now and then that we try to realize what we say; "God manifest in the flesh" is a sentence soon spoken; but think it over, dwell upon it, place it before your minds, and you will find yourself lost in wonder and awed by an unsearchable truth. Here then we have a truth concerning God, a truth in its results incalculable; and yet we must say of it in the words of the Psalmist, "such knowledge is too wonderful and excellent for me. All we can do is most thankfully to accept it, to embrace it, to hold it fast; it is too marvellous to be understood. The whole view of the Gospel is as a clouded light; the truth as it is in Christ is incomprehensible; as such, it implies of course an exercise of faith. If all were easy, all clear, plain, intelligible, the acceptance of the Gospel would make no trial of faith; and all those expressions of Scripture which exalt faith to such a wondrous height, would be mere waste words. But faith is tried; we have light, light enough to guide us along the narrow way; we have mystery, and must make our reason bend to God's Word. Should we doubt because all things are not clear as crystal, because we cannot see the truth as through the clear waters of some transparent stream, because as the proverb is, it seems to lie at the bottom of a well, and we can only catch a dim, partial view of its shape and form ? Should we doubt because God, though revealed to us in His Word, cannot be fathomed, and seems to be unknown to us even in making Himself known? Nay, we should have reason to doubt if all was comprehensible; for how can man think to know God perfectly? How can our poor weak souls understand the things of heaven? Only consider how little we know of the things before our eyes and around us. Only consider what great mysteries we are to ourselves, even as we are now; our own bodily frame is a marvel to us. Take for instance the gift of sleep, can we understand what it is ? both the powers of mind and body are at work in sleep; the mind has its dreams and is oftentimes as busy as in the day; the blood still flows through the veins; the organs of the body do their parts; we are not like a clock that has run down, and the wheels of which are stopped for a time. Surely sleep is a mystery. If then the things concerning ourselves and our own natures are only partly and imperfectly known and understood, it would be madness to think to know God perfectly; we should at once dash to the ground any religious system that would bring down God to the level of our understandings; the consciousness of the littleness and feebleness of our own powers of mind would make us reject a system that had nothing in it beyond our depth, nothing mysterious and incomprehensible. It would at once bear plain marks of human authorship; it would have no sign of coming from above. And yet imperfect as is our utmost knowledge of God, the more we do His will, the more we serve the Lord Jesus with sincerity, the more we hold communion with Him in His own appointed means of grace, so much the more shall we know of Him; we shall have clearer and clearer knowledge; the shadow of the cloud will seem to get thinner; the light will increase; our souls practised in godliness will discern more and more of God. While we must be ever learning yet we shall surely advance in knowledge; God does reveal Himself to the gentle, and pure, and loving, and humble soul; light from heaven lights such souls; and though the fulness of light will not be shed on them in this world, lest they should be dazzled by its exceeding brightness they will be able to bear more of the light, the more they walk as children of the light. How much the matured disciples of Christ often seem to know of God, especially when the time of their departure is at hand! often on the sick bed there seem to come, for the comfort of the departing souls, great revelations of the Spirit, as though the veil between them and God was wearing away, and the light breaking through with greater strength. In some sort they remind us of the vision of St. Stephen who saw heaven opened. After all, our work here is to believe, to perfect holiness in the fear of God, and to seek to know God just in those ways in which He has at present revealed Himself. If we do not seek to know above that which is written, if we walk humbly with our cross, we shall hereafter know even as we are known; the light of the perfect day will break at last. In a little while the pure in heart shall see God; in a little while all mysteries will cease. In a little while the faithful ones of Christ will be raised above the misty valley of the world, and by the mighty working of Christ will be so marvellously changed as to be able to look on God and live. JOHN HENRY PARKER, OXFORD AND LONDON. Tracts for the Christian Seasons. FIRST SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. The Law and the Gospel. PROPER LESSONS: Morning, Joshua x.; Evening, Joshua xxiii. THE first lesson for this morning, taken together with the Epistle, form that kind of counterpart which we call the Law and the Gospel. Joshua is the instrument of the Law in its severest, and St. John is the teacher of love (the characteristic of the Gospel) in its tenderest form. It is the purpose of this tract to shew the nature of both, and their relation to each other Law, in its first and largest sense, is that commandment which is holy, just, and good. But it existed before ever it appeared in the form of commandment. For it is that law which is eternal, spiritual, and moral; it comprehends the very attributes of God, and its effects are seen in 3 |