level of our lowliness, and expressing himself wooingly to our thrilled hearts in the soft whisper of humanity—the trials he has appointed and measured for us, whereby our spiritual self-action is resisted, and forced to gather itself up for more concentrated effort, and to strain itself to its utmost in order to the removal of the temporary impediment-the powerful and inexplicable influence of mind upon mind, so that wherever they come in contact, each to the extent of what is common to both, enlarges itself by union with the other-these are but few of the general exemplifications, every one of them, however, comprehending an immense variety of particulars, showing the importance, as estimated by the Father of spirits, attaching to the exercise of spiritual life, in order to the evolution and growth of its power. All the arrangements, all the mutual dependencies and influences, of things and events, seem to have been ordered by Divine Wisdom, with a view to call out into activity, and invigorate and expand by exertion, and nourish by progressive communications, the vital principle which assimilates to itself the manifested mind of God. And as in the physical economy, so here, the principle evolves its powers by exertion. The germ expands, as the result of the action of its own life upon surrounding and kindred materials. All that is peculiar to it thus develops itself. Every effort it makes, is a pressure from its own centre upon

the limits by which it is encircled. Every movement from within does something to widen the range of its acquaintance and sympathy with what I would term Godhood without. Thus, each spiritual being, each intelligence into which has been breathed the breath of spiritual life, finds itself placed in a world of existences, laws, rela- . tionships, facts, proceedings, and displays, exterior to itself, all of which have been so disposed by the Supreme Governor, as to necessitate the action, and minister to the growth, of the powers with which it is endowed.

Let us next take a cursory glance at the mode in which God's plan of administration effects the education of this life-the sharpening of its sensesthe refinement of its tastes-the gradual ripening of its capacity to discriminate-the training up of its judgment from the feebleness and helplessness of infancy, to the robust and unwavering decision of full manhood. What is it we see? To the eye of a novice, all is chaos-truth and error intermingled -good and evil-wholesome nutriment for the soul, and virulent poison. And it is worthy of remark that oftentimes underneath the broad, outspreading, and attractive leaves of what is noxious to the religious life, grow hidden, and till diligently searched for, unseen, modest verities of rare virtue in sustaining or reviving it-and that in the immediate neighbourhood of what is most precious we may

commonly look with certainty for what is most vile. Nothing in this apparent jumble of contrarieties is labelled. It is only to experience that external form, colour, or texture, are indicative of the internal qualities which they enclose. That which marks mischief is not seldom superficially tempting -that which imparts strength, repulsive. And with what at first sight presents itself as an indescribable confusion, there is no subsequent arbitrary meddling. The root which, just turned up from the earth, is about to parch up the entrails of him seeking sustenance from it, is not plucked from his fatal grasp by a hand from heaven. The path into which the traveller turns in his pursuit of happiness, and which leads to death, is not barred across by insuperable obstacles, nor are its dangers advertised by large-lettered cautions along the road. Many a sentiment has been nursed in the bosom of the Church with more than a mother's fondness, which when full grown has turned out an implacable foe to her peace. Into this world of differing and even conflicting elements, where what is true and divine is mingled with so many false principles, erroneous standards of judgment, deleterious sentiments, vicious and corrupt imaginations, the soul is bidden to go forth in search of spiritual aliment. But although God has not written upon the surface of things, a description of the nature and uses of each, but has devolved upon the spiritual life itself

the duty of discrimination, he has not left it without sufficient guidance. It starts in its career, with unerring instincts and sensitive sympathies which when allowed uninterrupted play, can distinguish in broad and simple cases between the precious and the vile. These are rendered more acute by cultivation and when promptly obeyed, and conscientiously trained, impart a power of moral insight which it is difficult to deceive even by the most specious appearances. Experience gradually follows to correct the mistakes inseparable from first impressions and each spiritual sense does its part in modifying and rendering more exact the conclusions drawn from the testimony of the others. Like, as in the natural world, all things appear to the eye of infancy in immediate contact with the visual organ, and neither distance nor form are indicated by the disposition of light and shade, until after touch has combined its perceptions with those of sight, so here, a full and accurate acquaintance with the true must be the united result of many spiritual exercises-a spontaneous generalization of the repeated depositions of all. To multiply illustrations, however, although easy to the writer, might be wearisome to the reader, and, perhaps, superfluous. The point upon which it is desired to fix attention is, that expertness to "distinguish things that differ," is made conditional by the arrangements of Supreme Wisdom, chiefly upon the proper

use of those powers with which spiritual life is endowed. The rules of guidance are to be sought, not in the first utterances of the objects without us, but in the monitions of the life within us. Not so much to impart instruction, which supposes the transmission of knowledge from the object to the subject, as to nourish intuition, which implies the extraction of knowledge by the subject from the object, are outward things arranged in relation to the religious life. The character of the climate is not ordered with a view to the constitution, but the constitution braced with a view to the climate. How we are environed seems to be a secondary matter in the Divine judgment, the most elaborate care being bestowed upon what we possess within us. Our Lord prayed for his disciples "not that they might be taken out of the world, but that they might be kept from the evil thereof." There is a close analogy in this respect between God's proceedings and our own. Observation and experience may have convinced us, how much nobler, and in the main, how much more successful is the effort, to fit the child for his sphere, than to construct a sphere for the child to train him so that he may go anywhere, rather than to find or make a somewhere into which he may safely go. In short, if we are wise in our educational plans, we shall evince our anxiety very little in shaping exterior circumstances, and very mainly in inducing and strength