which drew their childish hearts to the love of the Lord; as they review the course through which their steps, often felt to be weak and tottering, have been led and upheld; as they rejoice in the goodness which hath followed them all the days of their lives;-so let them accept the past as promise of the future, and wait in constant trust that they shall dwell in the house of the Lord for ever. Trust in him, obey his voice; he will not fail to open the heavens, to reveal his presence, his love, his peace.

Here then, and thus, do we begin our course through another department of human experience, its wants and its source of supply, the alternations through which it passes from its beginning in the mind, through its progress, not to its completion, which is reserved for an immense future, but to whatever we now know of its trials and their issues, its sorrows and their consolations. Looking on it from the higher side, we present it under this form, the sphere of spirit, embodied in Jesus Christ, reproduced in us, that with him we become sons of God. Looking on it from the lower side, we perceive it as the soul of man, rising in the strength of the Divine Spirit, through such experience as the end demands, to the life and the realm which it perceives as heavenly, wherein with the first dearly beloved it is able to pronounce God its true Father.

mean.

THE PRAYER OF THE SPIRIT.

Almighty God, open thou mine eye to perceive the manifestations and the near presence of the unseen sphere. I would never turn away from anything which thou hast made, or call it But in each and the whole I ask to behold the sight of thy being. Make the sun in the skies emblem of the fountain-light, and the skies themselves radiant with deeper heavens: make this air symbol of thy presence, which gives breath to whatever lives, and is source of all strength and action: make this earth, in all its products and changes, a voice, one amidst change, speaking of thee, proclaiming thy love, revealing thy laws: make the universe temple to every soul of the Holy dwelling in it. In O Lord, enable me to see thee, brighter than in earth and sky; above all, in the spiritual man, thine image revealed of heaven.

man,

Thou didst create man in thine image; thou didst breathe into the earthly man thy breath of life, and make him living soul. For all the powers and capacities, for all the high deeds, the faithful lives, the fair culture, of the human race through successive ages, let thy name, O Lord, be praised. For thy greater promise fulfilled, let thy name, O Lord, be praised as never hath it yet been praised. For the image in

which thou didst make man, thy divine and eternal image, bodied forth and introduced into this world; for the heavenly man, dwelling in thy bosom and walking among men; for the quickening Spirit revealed in human person, so that seeing him we see thee, Father! for this, thy dear Son, whose name is exalted above every name in heaven and on earth, - we would raise the voice of thanksgiving, we would raise our hearts in sincere and perpetual love and joy. Blessed be thou for thine unspeakable gift.

As

Make us, our God, like thy Son. As we have lived of the earth, earthly, so help us to live of the heavens, heavenly. As we have been living souls, so quicken us into the life of the spirit. As we have borne the image of the first man, so reveal in us the image of the second man. we have dwelt in this garden rich with thy gifts, so restore to us thine Eden of richer fruit, and enable us to receive its immortal life. And as we have felt our kindred to man and to nature through the earthly Adam, so teach us to perceive and to feel our kindred to the spirit in man and the spirit in nature through the Lord from heaven. Grant unto us consciousness of the birth from above, of the life from thee, the Holy Spirit coming over our souls and revealing the Christ in us, thy presence, thy power, and the fulness of thy peace. Amen.

CHAPTER II.

THE BAPTISM.

Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan, unto John, to be baptized of him. But John forbade him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? And Jesus answering, said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him. And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: and, lo, a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. — MATT. iii. 13-17.

JESUS has now lived through the several periods of infancy, of childhood, of youth, into early manhood, developing in harmony with the laws and the conditions of each age the essential elements of the nature bespeaking his intimate union with the Father. How far he may have been distinctly conscious of his life as divine, and whether doubts and perplexities concerning it had risen in his mind, we are nowhere told. The hour has come at last, however, to make the revelation clear, the consciousness full and distinct. Jesus presents himself for the consecration of baptism.

The first thing which offers itself to the thought at this point, is his earnestness to carry virtue to perfection. To the innocence and the aspirations of earlier and more retired years, he would add at their close the deed, only symbolic, it is true, yet full of significance, which should mark him as consecrated to the Truth and to God. Nothing which befitted him in the past seems to have been ever omitted; while he is looking for a new course of action, a grander development of his being, he would naturally feel the solemnity of his position, and, omitting nothing, if it be but an outward rite, which is of God, would hold himself as hallowed to the observance and completion of all right

eousness.

The second thing which we mark is the consequence of an act so simple in itself, yet in him so full of devotion. We might wonder that the heavens should open now, rather than at some greater hour; that this should be the instant of the Spirit descending upon him, of the Divine Voice sounding to him from heaven. The devotee might anticipate the vision after long fastings and watchings, meditations and prayers; the philanthropist, after great toils and struggles and sacrifices for suffering men; and so, whoever has some special theory of virtue and devotion, after a series of deeds corresponding