trate and accept their hidden grace and wonderworking influence. A little water is poured on the brow of an unconscious infant in the Name of the Holy Trinity, and we believe that a mighty change passes over its sinful nature, and that it becomes a living member of the second Adam; the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper is ministered in all things that of necessity are requisite to the same, and we believe that under the outward and visible sign of bread and wine we receive the Body and Blood of our Redeemer. These things the mind of man cannot contain, his intellect cannot measure them. How speechless infants can be recipients of God's grace, how Jesus visits us under the form of bread and wine, these are great matters which are too high for the soul weaned from proud thoughts, children and childlike souls are content to believe and worship. Let us not then, brethren, be of the number of those who stagger at the promises of God through unbelief, but be strong in faith, giving glory to Him, fully persuaded that what He has promised He is able also to perform.

But secondly in the sphere of Christian practice the innocents of Bethlehem present us with a kind of parable of the true nature and perfec

tion of the spiritual life. We must be converted and become like little children, not only in faith, but also in our daily acts, words, and thoughts. A certain child-like simplicity of character, is inseparable from holiness of life. In the world qualities the very reverse of this form the object of men's praise and pursuit. The world's life is artificial and unreal in a certain degree; ulterior aims, hollow pretences of friendship, self-seeking concealed under countless disguises, a critical and suspicious spirit, an unbelief in the real existence of goodness and truth, these things, and such as these abound in her; the disciple of Jesus Christ endeavours above all things to be thoroughly sincere, to be true to himself and to others, to free himself from selfish motives, to simplify as much as possible the tangled snare of life by a direct reference of everything that he does or suffers to the glory of God and the salvation of his own soul and that of others. The worldlyminded regard his character consistently enough either as the result of an interested hypocrisy, or of a contemptible meanness of spirit; they are eager at least to depreciate what they are so unable to understand. The world places a supreme value upon endowments external to the

soul's welfare, strength of body, vigour of intellect, a high position in society, wealth with all its accompanying advantages, these are the goods on which she sets her heart, the passports to her favour, the standards by which she regulates her judgment of men and things; the Christian is content to count all these things as loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord; he bears within him the straightforwardness and the simplicity of childhood. His serious

hopes, and fears, and affections are centred on a single object, instead of being distracted and divided amid a multiplicity of aims; the accidents of his earthly lot are but as storms which agitate the surface of his life without making their way to the still depths which lie below. He is able to carry into mature age the comparative unconciousness of the child, for he knows that what men call the stern realities of life are, when viewed in the light of eternity, of no deeper value than the passing joys and sorrows of childhood. He trusts and loves largely, for he has caught from the heart of his Redeemer something of that divine charity which accounts each human soul to be of incalculable value. He endeavours to keep himself from an anxious out-looking on

the future, for he has learnt to look on God as his Father, not in word only but in deed. He lives as much as possible in the enjoyments and duties of the present, for the time is short, and the morrow is in God's hand. He is able to enter into the varied life which surrounds him on every side, for it does not so deeply engage his heart as to bring with it deep-seated care and disappointment. In short, whatever may befall him, he knows that he is the child of God, and that underneath are the everlasting arms.

And when, my brethren, we contrast all this with the spirit of the world we cease to wonder that the words of the Apostle used in the past ages of Christianity should continually find their application in the history of the church, that at least at certain times and places, "not many wise "men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many "noble are called, but God chooses the foolish

things of the world to confound the wise, and "the weak things of the world to confound the "things which are mighty." Again and again does the litle captive maid of Godly Israel point out to her masters the true source of healing; again and again does even the world take knowledge of unlearned and ignorant men that they have

been with Jesus. "I have more understanding "than my teachers," says the Psalmist, "for "Thy testimonies are my study;" and his words receive a daily fulfilment in the experience of mankind. The poor, the simple, the uneducated, are not unfrequently a standing rebuke to those who have greater light and less love; how often by the fervency of their faith, the piety and submission of their lives, their patient endurance of ills, do they point a practical and living solution of the problems which are harrassing the intellect and disquieting the heart of the learned and the noble; the sight of a little child at its prayer is an argument which finds its way where words would fail to influence, and the life of multitudes who are children not in years but in guilelessness, is a testimony to the faith of Christendom not less convincing than that supplied by volumes of controversy "Out of the mouth of babes and "sucklings God perfects praise." His kingdom is within the soul and conscience, it is independent of the outward trappings of intellect, and wealth, and power; these outward gifts too often clog and impede the free flow of grace; used aright, indeed, they throw an additional lustre over the Christian life, and hold it up to the admiration