saying, as he or she looks upward mid the storm-clouds and wrack of their environment, or the deep dark blackness of their night of trouble, 'There is no God!' Awful words, and awful the tempest-tossing of the poor soul that thus in agony of spirit sayeth them. Yet, O mariner on life's stormy main, take heart! The darkest hour is found full oft quite close unto the dawn! Think of Him, thy Saviour, in His agony on the cross, with the chastisement of thy peace upon Him; with the blackness and darkness of that pall of suffering, of trouble, of sorrow, and of wrath, earthly and heavenly, lying heavily around Him; with God's face hidden from Him,—His beloved Son, in so much that He (the Man of sorrows, and the One acquainted with grief) cried out, My God! My God! why hast Thou forsaken Me? Think of that, and then thou shalt feel comforted by the contemplation thereof, and wilt feel also vastly inclined to say with the centurion who stood opposite Him on that evermemorable and never-to-be-forgotten day, 'Truly, this Man was the Son of God!' Then, too, God in the person of His Son shall come to thee (like as on the Sea of Galilee He came walking on the wings of the storm), and saying to His wearied followers, 'It is I; be not afraid. O thou of little faith! wherefore didst thou doubt ?' And ye, feeling the Divine light and healing of His Presence, shalt say, as they of old, 'Of a truth, Thou art the Son of God.' Yea, who is like unto our God? He shall be our Guide for ever and ever, even unto, and past the dark valley, and river of Death.

This and the following pieces were composed at Brawby, from February, 1894, to December, 1895.

JESUS CHRIST.

I.

'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.'

You have doubtless heard this expression hundreds of times. Well, do you know what such words mean? From personal experience I may hazard a guess. It is this: That those whom you heard them from never explained them to you much further than by saying that Jesus Christ had suffered on the cross for all mankind, and that therefore all who believed this were saved from the punishment of their sins, and had a free pardon, entrance to heaven, and eternal life extended unto them. This is what the majority of people would say, and, as far as it goes, it contains certain elements of truth. It, however, displays a very crude, elementary, and selfish knowledge of the nature and work of the Saviour.

Do you not think that those who know Christ no further than such a construction implies know Him only, and believe in Him only, for the benefits which they receive thereby? To believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and to pay court to His ministers for the sake of the loaves and fishes, is a very common failing of humanity; it is, in fact, the religion of a vast multitude. But by no stretch of the imagination can it be called the religion of Christ. Don't you see, His religion is one of unselfishness, self-sacrifice, and self respect; whereas such as mentioned is a religion of selfishness, self-gratification, and ineanness.

By the reading of the Bible, and by careful and

prayerful consideration of such reading afterwards, you may come to see and to know that belief in the Lord Jesus Christ means:

First, that not only is He the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of His Father before all worlds, but that He is also God of God, Light of light, Very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance. with the Father; who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven; and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and was made Man.

We therefore believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and Man: God, of the substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds; and Man, of the substance of His Mother, born in the world; Perfect God, and Perfect Man; of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting; equal to the Father, as touching His Godhead; and inferior to the Father, as touching His Manhood. Who, although He be God and Man, yet He is not two, but one Christ. One, not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh, but by taking of the Manhood into God. One altogether, not by confusion of substance, but by unity of person. For as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man, so God and Man is one Christ.

Who suffered for our salvation; descended into hell; rose again from the dead; and ascended into heaven; and sitteth on the right hand of the Father God Almighty; from whence He shall come again with glory to judge both the quick and the dead. At whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies; and shall give account for their own works.

You will observe that the preceding three paragraphs

are taken from the Trinity of Creeds as given in the Prayer-Book of the Church of England. I have made these extracts from it, not only because I am a member of the Church of England, and believe that next to the Bible the Prayer-Book is about as perfect and good a book as imperfect humanity can put together, but because I am ever ready to acknowledge goodness and truth wherever I may find them, and I cannot think or bring forth anything so forcible or so truly representative of my belief in the Second Person of the Holy Trinity as is so clearly put and contained in the Creeds. I would that every brother and sister in Christ Jesus not only knew the three Creeds by heart, but could also explain them when called upon to do so; for not only are they an epitome of religion, but comprise within themselves the very pillars of the Christian faith.

Having travelled thus far, let us see what else is meant by believing in Jesus Christ.

Well, in the second place, I take it that belief in Him is to accept Him as our Saviour. Now, how did He save us? or, How does He save us? You are doubtless aware that sin separates the sinner from communion and fellowship with God. This much we have all learnt, I suppose, by bitter personal experience.

The first proof of it was given when Adam and Eve, conscious for the first time of sin, hid themselves from God. Again, sin bringeth death and its various attendant ills, sickness, pain, sorrow, poverty, etc., in its

train.

Now, the Triune God, looking down from heaven and regarding the children of men, saw that their hearts were set to imagine and to do evil continually, and repenting

Him that He had ever made creatures who, instead of being a source of pleasure unto Him and ministering to their own true happiness and His glory, were otherwise bent on their own destruction, and by every form of wickedness continually grieving His Holy Spirit, He resolved on their extermination; yet, full of Divine justice, wisdom, and mercy, He saved Noah and His family because He had seen righteousness in him, but the rest were all drowned and swept away by the great flood.

After such an awful and convincing lesson of the hatred and abhorrence which God has against sin, one would have thought that mankind would have walked circumspectly before their Creator; but such is their malignant nature that, as all history shows, they did not, but again and again provoked Him to anger.

The next event in this great struggle between life and death was the selection by God of a chosen people, and the delivering to them, for their guidance and conduct, the Ten Commandments. These, with the prophets sent from time to time, prepared the way of Him who was to be 'a Light to lighten the Gentiles, and to be the glory of His people Israel;' and in the fulness of time the Desire of Nations came.

We believe that He was the long-promised One, the Messiah of whom the prophets spake. The chief reasons for our belief are the following:

(a) The Old Testament Scriptures (which were jealously guarded by the Jewish people, and by that people were, and are, thoroughly believed and considered to be the revealed and inspired Word of God) fit and dovetail into the New Testament of Jesus Christ so beautifully, and