adjustment to our surroundings, or of human ignorance and sin;-why, then it is most reasonable to suppose that that which has been so long regarded as the greatest evil of all-even the last and worst enemy of our race is really no evil, no enemy at all, but a kind and, when properly understood, most welcome friend. Indeed, we are already told by those who study the science of life, that the lowest form of living matter has never died since it first came into existence, and that it is only when living things become sufficiently developed to be endowed with organs that must of necessity wear out like any other sort of machinery, that death steps in to prevent the degeneracy of the race, and to hand on its life in strong and vigorous organizations. If this be so, then it is evident that the last instruction of science comes to confirm the faith of a Christian, that that which seems the most terrible thing of all is just no evil, but, like everything else in the universe, a means of ever-increasing good.

Well, then, if we know for a fact that the universe has been growing and unfolding itself for untold millions of years until it has culminated, so far as our earth is concerned, in the life of a being like man, who is able to live in conscious union with God, where is the sense and meaning of it all, if, after a life of self-discipline and faith, each individual soul is to be snuffed out of existence as though it had never been?

1

Again, if the spirits of men or higher beings could have been created out of hand in a moment of time, without all these years of progress and development, where would be the sense or meaning of all the past geological history of our globe? Surely, the only reasonable conclusion is, that just as the organic had to grow out of the inorganic, so the spiritual man had to grow out of the animal man, by learning to subdue his lower nature to the higher by contact with difficulty and suffering, because it was the only way in which he could grow up to the stature of the perfect man, and acquire the character which delights to say, "Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God."

Now, if we can only realize that the great object of creation is the development of a being like man, who shall be in possession of a character that is fit to live throughout eternity in conscious union with God, then we can easily understand why it is that the good should so often have to suffer in this world, and why the Saviour of mankind should say, "Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” If the swift and the strong, the wise and the prudent, were not to be allowed their due measure of success, irrespective of their moral desert, and the good things of this world were always to be given as the reward of spiritual progress, the world would soon be peopled with a feeble, nerveless race, that would probably die out. 1 Vide Le Conte, from whom I got this idea.

When, however, a man's spiritual nature has sufficiently grown to be ready for the lessons which teach him to press onwards towards the mark for the prize of his high calling, then it is quite conceivable that it may be good for him to be afflicted, that he may be forced to pray, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me," until, by obedience to the suggestions of the indwelling Christ, he is at last able to embrace and hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life. So that if we look at the matter aright, what we are witnessing is not so much the affliction of the good, but the disciplinary process by which God teaches men to be good, and partake of His own righteousness.

But, as I have said before, each man must be the architect of his own faith and hope; for just as it was by the sin and disobedience of man that death came to appear so terrible, so it is only by the obedience of man to the teaching of his higher nature that he can learn to embrace and hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, and have no doubt that faith is more reasonable than unbelief. For Christ, the Prince and Leader of our salvation, can only abolish death for us each individually, so as to make it seem merely a phase, in an endless existence, when we are willing to follow Him and live in His filial Spirit, and it is those who accept His good news of the Fatherhood of God who are able to see that life and immortality have been by Him really brought to light.

If a man will not be true to his higher instincts, by obedience to which our ancestors emerged out of barbarism and learned to live the life of children of God, he must not be surprised if the faith in a life to come fades away in his soul. But let him fight a good fight as a true soldier of the Cross, and it will be strange indeed if, when his days are drawing to a close, he is unable to say with the shepherd-king of old, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me."

XI.

The Christ Who was crucified,

"But we preach Christ crucified.”—1 COR. i. 23.

It is probable that many persons read this verse as if the Apostle meant to say, "But we preach the crucifixion of Jesus Christ," for we sometimes hear people speak as if they considered that the very essence of the Christian faith lay in a belief in the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ. But it is necessary to remember that the word "Christ" is not the name of a person, but of an office, and that what the Apostle meant when he said, "But we preach Christ crucified," was not the same as if he had said, "We preach the crucifixion of Jesus Christ." "But we preach a Christ who was crucified," in opposition to the Jewish idea that the Christ, when He came, must be a triumphant Prince, for it seemed to them ridiculous to suppose that the Almighty would allow His anointed Servant to be put to death; and that if a Deliverer were really sent by Him, it would be more reasonable to picture Him riding forth conquering