by the whole court of heaven, had cast a ray upon the frailty of man, and enabled him by that light to recognise his foulness. "Now mine eye seeth Thee; wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes."

Another remarkable feature is the stern, dogmatic expression that runs through the laudatory part of it. We feel in singing it as if we were singing our Creed. Nothing can be more simple, nothing more technical, than the enunciations of the great verities, and yet nothing more sublime. Nor is this to be wondered at; for if in the knowledge of GOD standeth our eternal life, and if that knowledge teaches us how infinitely good, and holy, and beautiful He is; then to speak of Him as He has revealed Himself to us, is to praise Him, and to confess Him is to laud Him.

The Te Deum may be divided into two portions; the first, of praise to the Almighty FATHER; the second, of praise and prayer to the co-eternal SON. At the beginning the whole Church in heaven and on earth is described as occupied in that for which all beings have been created, the service and praise of GOD. First the pure spirits of GoD which never fell, and next, the noblest members of that race, originally made a little lower than the former, and now exalted above them in the person of our adorable LORD, JESUS CHRIST, the Incarnate Word of God, are pictured in their different states and conditions, worshipping the Fountain of Love, and Light, and Joy, the FATHER everlasting. Nor are the praises confined to the unseen world; all the Church on earth, in its imperfect way, occupies itself in like manner, acknow

ledging the FATHER of an Infinite Majesty, His honourable, true, and only SON; also the HOLY GHOST the Comforter.

When this has been done, turning ourselves to our blessed LORD and SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST, we address the rest of this glorious song to Him; for the SON is GOD, and therefore prayer is due to Him; and it is in Him and from Him that all good things do come. Wherefore not only do we ask the FATHER in His Name, at which every knee in heaven and earth doth bow, but we also ask Himself; being sure that not only is He as GOD, the One that answereth prayer, but that also as man He is our Mediator and great High Priest, Whose supplication and intercession on our behalf with the FATHER is availing.

And as our chief praise of the blessed

and adorable TRINITY is to describe It as It is, so our highest laud to the eternal Son is to make mention of what He has done. For this reason, after recounting His original greatness and His essential Majesty as the King of glory and the eternal Son, we proceed to recount the unspeakable mystery of condescension, the immeasurable abasement and humiliation which out of pure love for us, His frail and sinful creatures, He endured. "Who shall relate the noble acts of our GOD, and tell forth all His greatness? for though He be so high, yet hath He respect unto the lowly. He remembered whereof we were made, and saw that we were but dust;" and to raise us to Him He came down to us, and took our dust into Himself, never to be separated again from it. But while we dwell upon the mercies purchased to us by our LORD,

for His lowliness has been our exaltation, and His death has been our life, the solemn thought comes before us that, as truly as He has come to save, so truly He shall come to judge. The judgment, in its circumstances, is as much a consequence of the Incarnation as our redemption; wherefore our praise turns into prayer, not indeed without good hope that He, the Judge, will help those whom He has redeemed. And what are the subjects of our prayer? grace here, and final beatitude hereafter; salvation and blessing; governance and everlasting uplifting. To obtain this we daily praise GOD; we ever worship Him, entreating Him this day, and every other day, to keep us from sin, and that His mercy may lighten upon us; trusting in which (and the hymn concludes with a burst of thankful gratitude for many a past