His love casts out self and takes possession of the soul.

Some speak of a future dispensation of higher duties and privileges than the present. I confess I can conceive of nothing beyond those which are our present inheritance. No morality can ever transcend that demanded by the Sermon on the Mount; no laws can be more searching than those which Christ has given to love God with all our heart and our neighbour as ourselves; we can have no Guide, Teacher, Comforter, like that blessed Spirit whom He has given to abide with us for ever; the human mind can conceive of nothing so pure, so high, so to be loved and adored, as the life and character of our Lord and Saviour; and He has set before us, as the goal of our race, the glory of perfect union with God in Him.

But we have wandered from our subject. Let us return, and see what lessons may be gathered from these discursive thoughts. Is it that we are to be perfectly satisfied to hold our opinions and let our neighbours hold theirs, even if we think them in error? I do not think so. Our Saviour said that He came into the world "to bear witness to the truth," and it should be the aim of every Christian, and of every Christian Church, to bear witness to what they believe to be truth, having honestly and conscientiously sought it; but to do so in a spirit of love and humility.

Then, I think, we should pray to have our minds enlarged, and our eyes opened to see how various are the developments that spring from the root of Truth, and to be saved from the sin of loving a doctrine, not because it is true but because we hold it ourselves. We should thus, I believe, be enabled to lay down much of the burden of our unhappiness on account of others differing from us in opinion. Let us seek to

cling very loyally to Truth, and follow her wherever she may lead, be she in her rags or her silken sandals, and so, by witnessing how the shining of her "angel's face

"Can make a sunshine in a shady place,"

we shall come to believe in her so utterly as to fear no onslaught from any foe, assured that out of every combat she must come victorious, because her strength is the strength of the Omnipotent.

With regard to one of these seeming conflicts of our day, let us hold to the faith of one whom we have already quoted.* He says, "We often hear of the reconciliation of theology to science. The phrase is well intended, but does not exactly describe the case. What we need is the recognition that, so far as they meet, theology and science are one and indivisible. Whatever is bad theology is also bad science; whatever is good science is good theology." Let us beware of the habit of destructive criticism, so desolating alike to individuals and to communities. It was an old superstition that every scrap of paper should be treasured because it might by chance be inscribed with the name of God. So let us despise no teaching however humble, lest we throw away a crumb of the daily bread which Christ Himself has broken and blessed, and given to some lowly disciple to offer

to us.

Let us be very careful lest we "quench the smoking flax" by expressing grief or horror when we see a brother or a sister in the very agonies of doubt and unbelief. Let us rather give our sympathy and help to the utmost, for the earnest questioner often becomes the firmest believer. It was the doubting Thomas who first ventured to utter the words, "My Lord and

* Dean Stanley.

my God." And, finally, the great and blessed lesson to be learned is that contained in the last verse of the thirteenth chapter of 1st Corinthians :

"And now abideth Faith, Hope, Charity, these three; but the greatest of these is Charity."

HANNAH MARIA WIGHAM.

"IN HIM WAS LIFE, AND THE LIFE WAS THE LIGHT OF MEN."-JOHN I. 4.

"LIGHT, give us light!" is still the eager cry.

From creed and system, with their forms unblest,

Men turn uncomforted, return to try,

With search and question, baffled, not at rest.

Self-titled guides, with lamp in hand, will come,
Eager to lead, nor seeing dangers nigh.

Lights which they hold, but denser show the gloom.
Truth as they preach it, more than half a lie.

Shall evil conquer, must the wrong prevail;

Will the day dawn, and Truth at last shine out?
Men say that faith is easy, but we fail,

Guided by human light to solve our doubt.

Great Galilean Teacher, we, perplext,

Weary of wilful gloss, and added line,

Turn to the written record, and the text

Shows love in every deed and word of Thine.

Love in Thy purpose, love, its working out,

Love deathless as divine, and strong in right
Shines over man-made darkness, breaks thro' doubt,
And in Thy Life we see the longed-for Light.

In Thee, O Jesus, dwelt the Life complete,

By deed and word alike made plain, and then
For all laid down; and sitting at Thy feet
We see revealed Thy Life, the Light of men.

C.

AMERICA AND THE AMERICANS.

BEFORE leaving England to visit some parts of the United States, a few questions were presented to me for investigation, and thinking that it may not be altogether without interest to the readers of the Examiner, I venture to transmit a little of the information I have been able to obtain, though sensible of the difficulty of the problems proposed, and of my own incompetency to solve them fully. At the outset let it be borne in mind that it is not easy to look at things with other people's eyes, or for one nation to judge impartially of the position of another, and therefore it becomes us to be very tolerant to those who, in the largest sense of the word, are our neighbours, whilst we gather from what may appear to us their errors, lessons of instruction to ourselves. Youth has not the experience of age, and we deal leniently with its mistakes, whilst our own failing vigour is unconsciously revived by contact with its energy and freshness.

Thus we may give and take; the Old World from the New, and the New from the Old, but it would be as incongruous to attempt to lay down the same line of action for each nation as to put an old head on young shoulders.

Experience must be bought nationally as well as individually, and that often at a dear price; time alone, in the political as well as in the natural world, can bring to ripeness and maturity. It is therefore with the desire to treat the subjects before me in a candid and impartial spirit that I proceed to the consideration of the following questions, subject to

correction from those who may be better informed on these points than myself.

1st. What is the reason that the best men in America, to so large an extent, hold themselves aloof from taking a direct part in the government of their country, and leave it in the hands of a lower-minded set of selfish partisans?

2nd. How can the low standard of honour which prevails in mercantile transactions be reconciled with the spirit of revivalism which has run through the length and breadth of the land?

3rd. What is the explanation of the extraordinary development of the Society of Friends on the Western Continent during the last ten or fifteen years?

With regard to the first point, it appears that there is a strong jealousy on the part of those interested in the Government, lest any sectarian interest should prevail in its counsels, and especially lest the Roman Catholics, who are a large body in the country, should gain too much influence. This caution has led in its results to another extreme; the strong non-sectarian feeling has led to the return of non-religionists. And this again acts and re-acts; for pure-minded, earnest, Christian men, naturally shrink from coalition with those who are known to be either sceptics or designing characters, who may be bought and sold at the highest market, and to whom the general good and progress of their country is secondary to their individual interests. The upright and truly patriotic are so greatly in the minority amidst the mass of those who have selfish ends to promote, that it seems hopeless to attempt to use counteracting influence, and they feel as though there was a greater probability of being swamped themselves in the mire than of being able to succeed in bridging it. Accordingly, with rare yet noble exceptions, the great minds of America leave the blind to lead the blind as far as open part in