and, secondly, because we have no right in this instance to have recourse to arguments from analogy, when we can see plainly the tendency of the thing itself, that tendency is evil, and we are not to do evil that good may come.

Tryphosa. Well, I yield, but you have not answered one or two of the minor arguments in favour of altar pictures; for instance, do you not think they serve to fix the attention?

Gaius. Yes, to fix it fatally to the picture, or if not, to divide it, half with God, half with the painting.

Tryphosa. You are most uncompromising. Yet, once more, may they not help the worshippers to realise the Being and the presence of God?

Gaius. Far from it in my opinion. The re fined and intellectual mind is disappointed because they fulfil not its conceptions. The uneducated mind is taught to form a low standard, and is encouraged to indulge too much in corporealising the Deity. "God is a Spirit," and

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we should try to think of Him, and worship Him as such, in "spirit and in truth.” you remember Hugh White's instructions how to realise the being and the nature of God when you are about to pray to Him; they are most excellent, and are very sublimely propounded.

He says, * "That you may be the more deeply impressed with holy awe in approaching the living God, familiarise your mind with those † parts of scripture where the Divine Majesty is set forth in language almost worthy (if language could be) of the magnificent theme; make such verses as the following the subject of your frequent and devout meditation; And God said, let there be light, and there was light.' 'Who is like unto Thee, oh! Lord, glorious in

6

"Meditations and Addresses" by the Rev. Hugh White. See Address VIII. on "Reverence in Prayer." I have taken the liberty here and throughout to refer to the originals from which Gaius quoted, and so have given their substance more literally than he could do from memory.

† Job; Psalms, particularly 8, 18, 19, 29, 50, 68, 77, 96, 104, 139, 148, 150; Isaiah; Habakkuk, and Revelation.

holiness, fearful in praises; doing wonders?' See now that I, even I am He! and there is no God with me! I kill and I make alive, for I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live for ever!' 'Behold the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee.' **Thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens with all their host, the earth, and all things that are therein, the sea, and all that therein is and Thou preservest them all, and the host of heaven worshippeth Thee.' 'The Lord reigneth, He is clothed with majesty, the Lord is clothed with strength wherewith he hath girded himself.' **The Lord reigneth, let the people tremble! He sitteth between the cherubim, let the earth be moved!' Thou art clothed with majesty and honour! who coverest thyself with light as with a garment, who stretchest out the heavens as a curtain,'-' who layeth the beams of His chambers in the waters; who maketh the clouds his chariot; who walketh upon the wings of the wind; who hath measured the waters in

the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span; and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure; and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance.' 'It is He that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in, even the high and lofty One, that inhabiteth eternity; whose name is Holy! the blessed and only Potentate, the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen, nor can see.' 'Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty — blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might, be unto our God, for ever and ever! Amen."" And again he goes on," Before you approach the Throne of God in prayer, pause also a little to reflect on what scripture has revealed to us of that Throne. 'I saw,' says Isaiah, 'the Lord sitting upon a

Throne, high, and lifted up, and His train filled the temple above it stood the seraphim, and one cried to another and said, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of Hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!' 'I beheld,' says Daniel, 'till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; His Throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire; a fiery stream issued forth from before Him, thousand thousands ministered unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him!' 'I was in the spirit,' says St. John, and behold a Throne was set in heaven; and One sat on the Throne, and out of the Throne proceeded lightnings, and thunderings, and voices. * And I beheld, and heard the voice of many angels round about the Throne, and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, saying, with a mighty voice ** Blessing, and honor, and glory, and