capacities of all created beings. There is no field of thought which we can explore, but the light which serves to explore it must be borrowed from Him. There is no outlying and distant province of the intellectual universe, which is not surrounded and shut in by His wisdom, even as the still depths of the luminous ether shut in every distant star and nebular system of stars; or science itself would have been smitten with blindness, and could never have descried their presence in the blue firmament. "Great is our Lord, and great is His power; yea, and His wisdom is infinite.” Beyond all that has been revealed, either to men on earth, or to angels in heaven, there is a depth of understanding for ever unexplored, a fulness for ever inexhaustible. "No man knoweth the Son, but the Father." He is the Fountain of all true light; and while its streams will enlighten all the redeemed through eternity, the hidden abyss from which they flow is invisible and unfathomable, surpassing all created knowledge.

Perpetual diffusiveness is another feature of natural light, which makes it a fit emblem of our Lord, and of the higher light which He diffuses perpetually through all ranks of the intelligent creation. Let us contemplate this property in the sun, the chief source of light to our own planetary system. What a flood of splendour is streaming forth, day and night, from this one fountain, to irradiate the planets and all the depths of space! The portion of his light which falls on our earth, and kindles whole continents into beauty and life, is as nothing, compared with the whole amount. The rays which issue from him daily would be enough to light up two thousand millions of planets with a brilliance equal to that of our own world. Yet there is no exhaustion, no signs of decay and weariness in this glorious fountain.

Every part of the planetary space is now lit up with his brightness, as on the first day of creation, when his light dawned upon the wondering universe.

So it is also with our Divine Lord and Saviour. "He is the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world." The faculty of reason, the powers of fancy, the endowments of genius and lofty imagination, are all His gifts, and proceed from Him alone. If His presence were once withdrawn, a total eclipse would rest upon the whole intelligent universe. It is He "who maketh the angels spirits, and His ministers a flame of fire." Their lofty powers of spiritual discernment, their ethereal energy of thought, like the wind and the flame, are all due to His sustaining power, by whom thrones and dominions and principalities and powers were created at the first, and are still upheld in their ceaseless activity. The Sun of Righteousness must ever shine upon them, or they will be lost in darkness. The millions of immortal souls who have tabernacled on earth, for thousands of years, are only so many planets, dark in themselves, and lighted dimly, in spite of the thick and gloomy clouds of sin, by this one Fountain of all true light and heavenly wisdom. And even as the sun could enlighten thousands and millions of planets, each as large as our own, with an equal brilliance, so also the true Light shines continually on ten thousand truths, and fields of spiritual thought, where no created intelligence has ever yet placed itself to receive the blessed influence. The truths, which are still unknown to science, after all its discoveries, are ten-thousand-fold more numerous than all which it has hitherto decyphered. The mysteries of God's holy Providence are infinitely deeper and more various, than the noblest philosophy, with all the aid of revelation, has ever fully

explored. Even the word of God alone contains worlds of hidden wisdom. The soul of the Christian may there find mountain-tops more numerous than those of Zophim, from which to gaze on the wide landscape of redeeming love. All of these are lit up continually with the brightness of His presence, and the beams of His Divine wisdom; though no created thought has ever reached their summit, or gazed on this half-revealed inheritance of the children of God.

Another character of natural light, as it issues from the sun, its great fountain, is unsullied brightness. The stream is pure as well as ethereal. No stain can defile it, no pollution mingle with its immaculate beauty. It discovers every mote in the air through which it passes, and every stain where it falls, but continues free itself from all earthly defilement. He who is the true Light has the same prerogative, only in a far higher degree. His light shines perpetually amidst the darkness of a world of sin, but the darkness cannot infect it with its own obscurity and gloom. He looks upon iniquity, but only with pity and abhorrence. His love rests upon the millions of mankind in this fallen world, and all their thoughts, and plans, and counsels for long ages, enter into the vast scheme of His holy Providence; but His ways are not as their ways, nor His thoughts as their thoughts. They are all wise and good, pure and holy. No taint of sympathy with evil, of causeless anger, of impatient severity, or of a foolish and weak indulgence towards guilt, has mingled with those innumerable counsels of wisdom and love. Well may the seraphim veil their faces in the presence of His spotless purity, and say, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts -the whole earth is full of His glory!"

If we contemplate, again, the quickening power of

light, the force and beauty of the emblem is equally apparent. What would our world be without its pleasant influence? Chaos would return once more. The whole animal creation would pine away in darkness and expire. The trees would droop and wither, and every green thing that clothes the face of the earth would entirely disappear. Even seas and continents would either be confused together once more, or their separation be rendered entirely useless, when the same veil of thick darkness would be spread over them. But God has commanded the light to shine, and all creation has started at that voice, into life and beauty. The earth is clothed with verdure, and adorned with flowers; a thousand forms of animal being are sustained in life, and guided in their free activity, by the quickening beams; even the depths of ocean seem to laugh with joy, as the sunlight falls brightly upon them; and every part of creation owns the sweet and powerful influence.

Such too is the word and presence of Christ to the whole world of spiritual being. It is He alone who can fill the spirit with peace and joy, enrich it with Divine wisdom, and render it like a watered garden, fruitful in every part with the fragrance of heavenly affections, and the beauty of true holiness. Where His presence is withdrawn, all is darkness and confusion, and the reign of terror begins in the moral world. Where He returns with the beams of his grace, the valleys of quiet and domestic life are clothed with all lovely graces, and the mountain-tops of worldly power become bright with a celestial glory.

The harmony and variety of its hidden colours is another feature of the sunlight, very beautiful in itself, and very marvellous, when first detected by the research of science. Is not this also a figure of Him who is the

true Light? In His pure and perfect goodness, how many various perfections are harmonized and combined! How strict His severity against all evil; how tender and deep His compassion to the sinner! How Divine His simplicity, when He speaks a word in season to the weary, and preaches the gospel to the poor ! how profound His wisdom, when He reveals to holy prophets and apostles the deep wonders of His providence, or the higher mysteries of the heavenly world! How infinite His majesty, who telleth the number of the stars! how strange His condescension, who could wash the feet of His disciples, and counts the very steps of His children ! In Himself, pure and perfect brightness: but, as manifested in His providence on earth, the first and the last, the root and the offspring of David, the destroyer of Sodom, the pardoner of Manasseh, the King of kings, and the Man of sorrows. Surely all the variety of colour, in which the pure sunlight reveals itself, whether in the prism of science or the flowers of the field, is only a dim emblem to shew the many-varied forms of Divine love and wisdom, in which the Son of God has manifested himself to the sinners of mankind. No element is here wanting; the deeper shades of severity and holiness, the gentlest colours of compassion, tenderness, and sympathizing affection, are all mingled in full harmony, and complete the glory of His perfection, who is fairer than the children of men, and altogether lovely.

But let us view the emblem, further, under three aspects, repeatedly set before us in Scripture, and consider how it illustrates the conversion of the sinner, the sanctification of the believer, and the state of final glory.

The soul, in its fallen state, is compared to a land