ing, he witnesses scenes and hears voices which transcend the ordinary experience of mankind.

Regarding this mental vision not as as an ordinary dream, but as a divine revelation, we shall view it as an illustration of the true vision of life.

SUBJECT:-Bethel; or, the True Vision of Life.

I. IN THE TRUE VISION OF LIFE THERE IS A RECOGNITION OF OUR CONNEXION WITH OTHER WORLDS. "And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven; and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it." The patriarch discovered, in his vision, that the world in which he lived was closely related to other worlds, and that there were the constant interjourneyings of celestial beings going on between other systems and the lonely spot on which he rested his wearied frame. The Bible is full of this doctrine. The pages of scripture are almost as full of angels as those of Homer are of gods. They reveal much concerning their natures, capacities, characters, classes, numbers, ministries, and state.

Whilst there is nothing in nature, philosophy, or experience, contradictive of the doctrine that the intelligences of other worlds have a connexion with man, there is much that is confirmative. There is analogy. It would seem that the material system is everywhere related; that the members of the human body are not more inseparably connected with each other than are the most distant planets and systems of immensity. There is a "ladder”—a vinculum-connecting every atom of this little earth with every atom of the remotest world of God, and there are influences ever passing to and fro. Is it to be supposed, then, that there is no connexion between the various parts of the spiritual universe?—that there is no "ladder" of intercourse between the various parts of the mental creation? that whilst dead atoms can send their influence into worlds which no telescope can reach, living and ever-active spirits exert no influence beyond the boundary of their local home? There is general impression. Men in all ages have displayed

a tendency to believe in their connexion with super-mundane existences. Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans, believed in a mysterious connexion with invisible beings. Children indicate the tendency, so do the uncultivated everywhere. Yes, and some of the greatest philosophers of antiquity: Pythagoras, Plato, and Aristotle, held the faith. There are unaccountable impulses. Probably there are few, if any, who have not been conscious of sudden thoughts and feelings which they could trace to no cause, and explain by no known law of mind. They have not been produced, but imported; they are felt to be strangers, not offspring; we seem to be their thoroughfare, not their home;-yet they have influenced us-prompted us to take some momentous step-for nothing wields such a mastery over us as thought. May it not be that these unaccountable thoughts come from other worlds?

Regarding this biblical doctrine, then, as an indisputable fact-thus supported by a number of independent considerations-ought it not to be realized? vision of life which shuts it out?

Can that be a true view or How blind is he who lives

every moment in a kingdom of spirits, where intelligences of distant worlds are ever about his path, and yet sees nothing but earth!—lives in earth, works in earth, and dies in earth! who is "of the earth earthy."

"Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth

Unseen, both when we wake, and when we sleep:
All these with ceaseless praise his works behold,
Both night and day."

II. IN THE TRUE VISION OF LIFE THERE IS A RECOGNITION OF GOD'S RELATION TO ALL. 66 And, behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac," &c. Here the great God is presented in two aspects:-First. As the Sovereign of all. "The Lord stood above the ladder." Let that "ladder" stand as the representative of secondary causes, and then we have suggested the great truth that God is above all instrumentalities and moral agents. He was above the ladder and the angels. However

long the chain of secondary causes may be, God is over all ; there is not a link that he does not command, nor is there an

66

HE

"He

an angel"—an agent-which steps on any stair of that great ladder of instrumentalities, who is not under his control. is the Spirit in every wheel of nature's grand machine. is over all, God blessed for evermore. The other aspect in which the great God is here presented is, secondly, as the Friend of man. "The Lord God of Abraham," &c. The blessings here promised to the patriarch were, in reality, blessings for humanity. In the "seed" here promised you have the great prophets, reformers, and philanthropists of the world-the men without whom the world would have been a pandemonium; you have, in sooth, the SAVIOUR "of all men, especially of them who believe." The right idea of life, the true theory of virtue, the correct system of worship, the effectual means of spiritual quickening and developmentSALVATION—all come through the Jew. Two things show that God is the friend of man :-First. Man's continuation as a sinner in such a world as this. The transgressor of human laws is deprived of his liberty, is often bound in chains, and immured in dungeons, and denied all luxuries and comforts. But see the transgressor of divine laws. Behold the beautiful and varied blessings

world in which they live, and the rich

that fall in copious showers upon their path! This is not the treatment of justice, but of MERCY. Second. The special means introduced for his moral restoration. The mediation of Christ-the gospel ministry-the Holy Spirit.

The man, then, who has the true vision of life sees God everywhere. He does not regard the world as a huge conglomeration of blind forces acting apart from any presiding Intelligence, but as the organ of an Infinite mind-as an exquisite machine, with God's hand upon the spring of every movement. He sees God above the "ladder" directing every angel-yes, and every force-that either ascends or descends along the mystic steps. Nor does he regard man either as too mean for the Divine notice, or as bereft of Divine love-a

pitiful orphan or an adjudged reprobate-but as the special object of heavenly care and help.

III. IN THE TRUE VISION OF LIFE THERE IS THE RECOGNITION OF A DIVINE PROVIDENCE OVER INDIVIDUALS. 66 And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest," &c. I am not merely with the universe, and with humanity in general, but with THEE; and not with thee in some places and occasionally, but " in all places whither thou goest. That this is a doctrine of the Bible is too manifest to require a citation of passages in proof. This biblical doctrine agrees, first, with reason. Is it not reasonable to suppose that he who condescended to create the individual will deign to watch over him?-that he who endowed him with a soul capable of producing thoughts to shake kingdoms, form new empires, and influence generations, will superintend its operations? Is it reasonable to suppose that the infinite Father, who is the Fountain of all love, will desert his offspring? Secondly. It agrees with consciousness. The terrors of remorse, the prayers of distress, the sense of guilt, all show an underlying feeling, on man's part, that God is with him individually.

IV. IN THE TRUE VISION OF LIFE THERE IS THE RECOGNITION OF THE SOLEMNITY OF OUR EARTHLY POSITION. "How

dreadful is this place!" Feelings of reverence and awe came over him of which he had never been conscious before. What gave him this solemn feeling? The discovery that God was in the place; that he was in God's "house," and at the very gate of heaven; standing on the very boundary of the spiritual universe, at the very door through which spirits were passing to and fro. This discovery, first, introduced a new epoch into his history. "And I knew it not." I never felt that God and the spiritual universe were so contiguous before. What was now with him had always been with him. From infancy to that hour, step by step, God had been with him: the very

world in which he lived was the "house" of God, ever filled with his presence, but he did not know it until now. And thus it is with the millions of mankind: God is ever with them; in every step they take they walk in his holy house. He is with them in the market, in the field, in the chamber of repose, and in the haunts of pleasure, but they know it not. Hence their want of solemnity, their frivolity of spirit, and their wicked ways. When the conviction of God's presence penetrates them the whole aspect of life is changed: they wake up from the past life as from a dream, and exclaim, Behold, God "is in this place; and I knew it not!" This is the dawn of a new era in their experience. Henceforth they will tread the earth as the temple of God, with a serious step and a worshipping heart. The discovery, secondly, introduced a memorable epoch in his life. "And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it." This was for a memorial. This, indeed, is the most memorable crisis in a man's life. It is a birth into a new spiritual world; it is the first step in the line of endless progress. It was a wonderful event in the life of that man who was born blind, when Christ opened his eyes. Though the earth around him had always been robed in beauty, and the glorious heavens had always been pouring their radiance on his path, he had never seen earth nor sky before. With the opening of his eyes, he must have felt himself ushered into a new existence. But when God opens the moral eye of man so that he sees him everywhere, it is a far greater and sublimer change. The man will never forget this; he will rear pillars in his soul to commemorate the fact.

Such is the true vision of life. What Jacob saw in a dream every man should see in every moment of his wakeful life. Are we not as truly with God and in the spiritual world now as we shall ever be? Is there a world more truly his "house" than this? Is not this a thoroughfare of spirits? All we