attended the whole three, as the services took place at different hours of the day. One of the French Protestant churches is very large, will hold easily 1500 hearers; the other would be filled by half that number.

All the Protestant ministers preach extemporaneously, and many of them are not only fluent, but eloquent; and they anticipate, when perfect liberty is enjoyed, that circumstance will tell much in their favour. In Roman Catholic countries there is comparatively little preaching, and what there is often is little more than a glorification of the saint to whom their church is dedicated, or of the Virgin, or of something with which the Divine Word has scarcely any concern.

The Protestant cause is the cause of the Bible, of spiritual enlightenment, and of regeneration by the Word; we must therefore heartily wish them success.

Often on the front of the temple, as on that of Bayonne, you see the OPEN BIBLE sculptured. Speak to the Protestants, and you will find them rejoicing in the spread of the Bible, perhaps the Bible in their possession for private reading; hear them preach, and it is to the Scriptures they refer their success is therefore the success of Divine Truth, with all its blessings.

The road between Bordeaux and Bayonne is interesting and beautiful now, a large part occupied with millions of fir-trees, each of which has a can, holding from a pint to a quart, attached to its side, into which the sap flows, to be used in the making of candles.

The country was once so marshy that the farmer went about in it on stilts, but now, by judicious drainage, the wet muddy fields have been changed into land fertile and healthy; and vast and valuable forests yield wealth and abundance, where formerly there reigned sterility and desolation. No more signal triumph of mind over matter exists than is visible in the transformed waste between Bordeaux and Bayonne. J. B.

SERMON.

"The Lord maketh poor, and maketh rich: He bringeth low, and lifteth up.”

-1 SAMUEL ii. 7.

THESE words form a part of the song of thanksgiving which Hannah sang in glorification of the Lord because He had given her a son in answer to her prayer. But as every portion of the Divine Word

contains an internal sense which treats solely of spiritual subjectsof the Lord, of heaven, of the Church, and of the regeneration of man —this song, in its internal sense, expresses the thanksgivings which proceed from a regenerate man's mind for the many blessings the Lord has conferred upon him in answer to his spiritual prayers. We may say of a regenerate man, that he daily walks in the stream of Divine Providence, and daily receives good from the Lord; for his spiritual condition is such that his mind is open towards the Lord and heaven, and the Lord flows in, teaching him what he ought to pray for, and bestowing upon him every spiritual grace he is capable of receiving. Thus he has constantly fresh reasons given him to exalt the name of the Lord, and to adore Him for His loving-kindness and good providence, in spiritual songs of praise.

Most encouraging and consolatory to the sincere Christian is the doctrine of an overruling Providence as it is taught in the Scriptures. By it he learns that whatever may be the circumstances in which he is placed, or however great may be the difficulties he has to contend against, he is never for a single moment left alone, uncared and unprovided for, because the Lord is with him, and will by His omnipotence so overrule all the events of his life as to make them tend to promote his eternal good, and enable him to overcome all the difficulties which lie in the way of his attaining that perfection of character which will fit him, when he leaves this world, to inhabit one of the delightful mansions of heaven. Thus he learns that if his lot in this life be to suffer privation, bodily affliction, or mental distress, it is because the Lord in His wisdom sees that it is necessary for him to pass through the furnace of affliction, trial, and temptation before he can be purified from the evils which defile his heart and life, or before he can acquire that state of heavenly humility without which he cannot receive spiritual good from the Lord, or experience the felicities of angelic life.

But when we are meditating upon the Lord's providential dealings towards us and all mankind, we should carefully distinguish between what He actually wills, and what He only permits to come to pass; for if we do not, we shall be liable to fall into many grievous errors with respect to His government and conduct. Now the Lord is love itself, and it is the nature of love to will the good and happiness of all, and to unceasingly endeavour to lead all into the way of peace. Hence as the Lord is love itself, He wills that all should receive good from Him, and so far as is consistent with His own Divine laws of

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order He does bestow upon all, not only the good things of this life, but also the graces, privileges, and beatitudes of His spiritual and celestial kingdoms. And however difficult it may be for us to perceive the goodness of God in some of the dispensations of His Providence, we may be certain that what He wills is, that good and not evil should befall us, and that if all men in the exercise of their freedom would but obey His laws and live in a state of order, they would receive from Him, as the bountiful Giver of all good, an abundance of natural and spiritual blessings, and that then affliction, poverty, and wretchedness would be unknown, because all would receive the inflowings of Divine love and wisdom from the Lord in their true order, and consequently enjoy life, and pass out of time into eternity in peace, prepared to do angelic works.

Evils of all kinds are but permissions of Divine Providence, and the reason they are permitted is, the Lord desires that man should be free, and will on no account violate his freedom by forcing him to act contrary to his own inclinations. The dignity of man consists in his freedom. It is this which distinguishes him from the brutes, for were it taken away from him he would be no longer a man, possessing intellectual and moral delights, or the ability to perform rational works. He would have no conscience, no sense of duty, no love of the beautiful and good, nor would he be capable of experiencing those interior joys which spring up in the soul from a consciousness of having acted uprightly, justly, and lovingly. The choicest and most noble gift, therefore, the Lord has bestowed upon man is his freedom, and it must be preserved, or the great end for which he was created can never be realized, which end was none other than that he might, by a proper use of his freedom, enter into a reciprocal conjunction with the Author of all good, and experience the joys which flow from rationally perceiving the truth and lovingly obeying it. The Lord, therefore, in all His providential dealings towards man, never interferes with his freedom in such a way as to prevent him from exercising it. He rather encourages him to use it, and He instructs him that his future happiness entirely depends upon how he uses it. He shows him what good is, and what evil is, and tells him to make his choice; and if in the exercise of his freedom he chooses what the Lord desires he should, he places himself in the stream of the Lord's Providence, and is blessed; but if he does not, he takes himself out of it, and must suffer the consequences of the wrong choice he has freely made. What the Lord does is, He permits man to abuse his freedom,

He allows him to sin, and to suffer the penalties of his disorderly conduct.

Whilst, however, the Lord sometimes permits evil to come upon us, He does so in order to prevent a greater calamity befalling us, and also that He may by it open our eyes to the fact that we have been walking out of the path of life, and thus to lead us to see that we must return to it in order to be free from pain. Hence when any real evil comes upon us, it becomes our duty to endeavour to discover the reason the Lord permitted it, and when we have discovered it to diligently strive to remove whatever we have found is contrary to order in ourselves. If we do this, we shall learn many lessons of wisdom concerning the permissions of Providence, and often be able to say with the Psalmist, "It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn Thy statutes. Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now have I kept Thy word." But suppose we are unable to discover why some particular evil has happened to us, should we conclude that it came upon us by chance, and that the permission of Providence had nothing whatever to do with it? By no means. We ought rather to think that it is a permission of our heavenly Father for some wise purpose which we cannot now see, but which we may perhaps see at some future time, that is, when we have realized the end for which it was permitted.

Now when it is said "that the Lord maketh poor, and maketh rich He bringeth low, and lifteth up," the general truth is expressed, that the Lord by His Providence so overrules all the circumstances of human life as to make them all tend to promote man's eternal good, and that nothing can possibly transpire which He does not either will or permit. And though we find it very difficult at times to reconcile some of the permissions of His Providence with the laws of goodness, equity, and justice, this is entirely owing to the fact that we cannot look into the future, or see as the Lord sees. If we could, we should undoubtedly be able to say that the Lord always acts lovingly and wisely whenever He permits us to suffer, or in any way to be afflicted.

But whilst the Lord does not actually will that any should be poor in the natural sense of the word, He does will that all should be poor in the spiritual sense of the term, for such only can be blessed by Him, and made eternally happy. Therefore He said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." And all who from the heart believe and acknowledge that they are nothing but evil, and of themselves are ignorant and powerless to do good, and that all knowledge, understanding, wisdom, and goodness come rom th Lord, are those who are meant by the poor in spirit. The

reason all such are blessed with saving knowledge, wisdom, and understanding, and with the ability to do good, is, because they do not trust in themselves, but in the wisdom, goodness, and power of the Lord, and because they are in the spiritual affection of the truth. To them the treasures of Divine knowledge are always open, whilst to the "wise and prudent" (that is, to those who are so in their own eyes) they are closed. Hence nothing so effectually prevents man from receiving spiritual instruction, or heavenly blessings from the Lord, as spiritual pride. It leads man to rest satisfied with his present acquirements and to think that he is rich and needs nothing, and therefore it closes his mind against the benign and life-giving influences which descend from the Lord out of heaven to save man. It produces spiritual apathy, decay, and death, for the spiritual life in the soul can only be maintained by receiving continually fresh supplies of spiritual nourishment from the Lord, which can only be obtained as man feels he needs it. Even the angels cannot receive a fresh supply of heavenly food unless they feel need of it, and implore the Lord to grant it unto them, and in humility of heart acknowledge their dependence upon the Lord; and how much more must this be the case with men on earth, who have not yet attained unto the perfection of the angelic state? Certain it is, that if we are not sensible of our weakness, ignorance, and poverty, we shall never be made powerful, wise, and rich in the Lord. Blessed then are the "poor in spirit," for they cultivate the heavenly grace of humility, and are ever ready to receive instruction from the Lord. Into their minds the Lord can flow with good, for they are always open to receive Him, and the riches of His kingdom. And the Lord declares, "When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the Lord will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them. I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water." Here by the poor and needy are not meant those who are poor and needy with respect to the things of this world, but those who are poor and needy with respect to the things of heaven, that is, those who feel their ignorance and desire to have their minds replenished with the knowledges of good and truth. The water they seek after is the water of life, which flows from the glorified humanity of the Lord, and which He abundantly bestows upon all who believe in Him, and as they drink of it are they made rich in heavenly knowledge.

The Word abounds with expressions which in their literal signification appear to mean nearly the same thing; such as "high and