long-departed wife came nightly to him in his little study in an evening, laden with comfort and blessing. Oberlin only expressed plainly what has been the sentiment, more or less avowed, of all those humble and earnest souls, in all ages, of all varieties of faith, who have refused to be limited by the mean necessities of this mortal coil, and whose spirits have felt the nearness of the great Hereafter.

(To be continued.)

THE DIVINE PRESENCE.

ADAM, where art thou?"

These Divine words associated with the

Garden of Eden, the symbol of the Most Ancient Church, are spoken alike now by our heavenly Father to all His children. "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock." Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is ever waiting to be the Guest and Friend of His unworthy creatures. Let us ask, Who can stand in the presence of God, and above all be partakers in the pleasures at His right hand for evermore?

The Scriptures tell us that regeneration is the only means by which man can be ushered into the presence of the Divine Being-to be born again, or from above to be baptized with the Holy Spirit and with fire. In this great work of regeneration how often is the spirit willing and the flesh weak! The first resolve to amend, to plant the foot firmly on the first step of the ladder, is the difficulty to the merely natural man. The world and its pleasures seem ever at hand to destroy each new resolution to walk in the right path. belief can breathe its pernicious doubts into the mind with its persuasions to recede from the upward path of self-denial, which the Word of God enjoins, and even to break the only link as yet between heaven and the soul, the belief in a God.

Here un

Let us for a moment consider this important first step in the Christian career, and draw aside the curtain to view this instructive picture on the canvas of Time. There we behold some falling, some struggling, others triumphant in the battle of life. Around those who try to take this first step temptations press heavily. Take, for instance, the trials attending commercial life, in which there are so many inducements to seeming instead of being strictly honest and sincere, and to forget the great law of equity, with respect both to those we serve and to those who serve us, to do to others as we would that others should do to us.

There is in these days less friendly intercourse between the capitalist

H

and the labourer than there was in olden times. There is therefore less influence exerted by those in a higher over those in a lower position. How often would a kind word of advice and encouragement from an employer strengthen the germs of honesty and truth in the younger men; especially if, by example as well as precept, they encouraged them to cling to the Word of God, as the only holdfast to steady the first tottering steps in the regenerate life. As the artist, poet, and musician lean on the patron and critic to reach the threshold of fame, according to the French, "Le premier pas qui coûte;” so the Christian must seek the Divine favour to secure a crown of glory, knowing at the same time that success both in temporal and spiritual life cannot be attained without persevering labour.

In order to prepare for the Divine presence we must think of the Lord as the Physician of the sick, the Father of His people, the Husband of His Church.

During the first state of regeneration at the pool of Bethesda are the blind, halt, withered, waiting for the descent of the angel to move the waters. In the first state are also those who wait at the foot of Jacob's ladder, on the sacred steps of which are the heavenly messengers of mercy continually ascending and descending, to strengthen the faint-hearted, raise the fallen, and seek the lost. Angels present the healing balm of mercy for the cure of the wounds and bruises and putrefying sores produced by the depraved inclinations of the human heart. To the weak they bring to remembrance the words, "Thou strengthenest me with strength in my soul;" to the distrustful and anxious, "I am not afraid of evil tidings, my heart is fixed in the Lord;" to the impure, "Those are Christ's that have crucified the flesh with its lusts and affections;" to the avaricious and covetous, "It is more blessed to give than to receive;" to the faithless, "If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?" to the intemperate, 'Whether ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God."

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Upon this battle-field we must face the foes of our own household, the evils of our selfhood. Hence the necessity of fervent and constant prayer, as one great means of conjoining us with our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

On one occasion I remember a young lady who was in deep domestic affliction being absent from the family gathering. On being asked the cause she replied, "I was praying for strength.'

As the sunshine revives the fair and beautiful flowers, beaten down by the storm, so the healing rays of the Sun of Righteousness soothe and cheer the stricken heart. "When I cried unto Thee, Thou

answeredst me, and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul." "Blessed be God, which hath not turned away my prayer, nor His mercy from me."

In order to be admitted into the Divine presence, are we preparing to breathe that holy atmosphere around the throne by the daily, almost hourly, exercise of prayer? During devout prayer the external functions of the body of sin become quiescent, and the door is closed against evil influences from without, while the spirit soars on high to behold Jesus in the midst. He is our Father, who is, and who seeth in secret, and who rewards openly those who earnestly pray to Him. A worthy pastor has remarked that the Christian race should be run on the knees. The neglect of prayer chains the soul to earth; when at the last, instead of a glorious resurrection, there will be dead men's bones and all uncleanness.

man.

It is during this first stage of regeneration that the Lord appears as the Physician, to cure those spiritual diseases that afflict the natural Here war must be waged against the world, the flesh, and the devil. Before this great battle there is but little peace for man; he must be the soldier before he can be the faithful servant of the Lord. The tidal waves of ambition, the love of self and the world, are constantly rising to sweep their victim into the abyss of materialism. Here the Christian soldier must be willing to lay down his life of evil affection, to gain laurels in the land of the blest.

This warfare accomplished, and the victory gained, a higher degree is secured in man's regeneration. He sees the Lord as a Father. He has become spiritual. The Spirit has moved on the face of the waters, the diseased has bathed in the sacred pool, and is healed. The enemy is vanquished, peace is restored. The Lord, as the heavenly Father, is leading His people by a new and living way to a higher sphere of thought and affection. "When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men unto Me." The pilgrim Zionward has entered upon a new state. He exclaims with the Psalmist, "In the multitude of my thoughts within me, Thy comforts delight my soul." "For Thou, Lord, wilt bless the righteous, with favour wilt Thou compass him, as with a shield." Man, now become spiritual, is more immediately present with his Maker.

Still the persevering Christian is anxious that the truth he has acquired may become good. He is yet pressing forward to gain that haven of rest, the celestial state, the Sabbath of settled peace.

This advanced state in the regenerate life, when man is prepared to meet his Maker, is beautifully described in the passage, "Jehovah came to them from Sinai, and arose to them from Seir; He shone forth

from Mount Paran, and came out of the myriads of sanctity;" the shining forth from Mount Seir being typical of celestial love, and Mount Paran of spiritual love.

Swedenborg says the celestial are engaged in no combats.

them all this preliminary work has been accomplished. The Lord is present, "their angels do always behold His face." Here the Divine Human reigns supreme. In this holy atmosphere ascend the prayers of the saints, and of those "who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." This blessed state contains within it the purest joys of heaven. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself bestows the precious gift: "These things have I spoken unto you that thy joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full." Here Mary sits at the feet of Jesus. The disciples are gathered together; the union of faith, love, and good works. All strife is ended. "Great peace have they that love Thy law, and nothing shall offend them." "And they shall be Mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up My jewels." "Thy gentleness hath made me great."

It should ever be remembered that since the Incarnation the Lord is immediately present with us in His Divine Humanity, waiting for the salvation of our souls; the Husband and Bridegroom of His Church.

When we are delivered from the evils of our unregenerate nature, and prepared for enjoying the Divine presence, triumphant indeed will be the song of the heavenly host; for there is joy in heaven over every sinner that repenteth. And when the heavenly marriage of goodness and truth, or of love and faith, is perfected within us, then shall we realize that happy state, of which it is said, "As the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee."

H. S.

SYMBOLISM AND THE RASCOLNIK.

His tomb repre

"LAZARUS signifies the soul of man, and his death sin. His sisters Martha and Mary are the body and the soul. sents the sorrows and cares of life; his resurrection, conversion or regeneration."

These words are quoted by M. Anatole Leroy-Beaulieu in his work,

"L'Empire des Tsars et les Russe," which appeared some years ago; and are given, we believe, from the writings of Dimitri de Rostif, a Russian archbishop of the eighteenth century, who states that certain sects in Russia believed that the resurrection of Lazarus was but a parable. M. Leroy-Beaulieu goes fully into the causes which gave rise to this belief; and throws a rather new and curious light on some of the customs and superstitions of the 'Rascol' or dissenting portion of the Russian Church.

He ingeniously enough compares Russian dissent with the Protestantism of Germany and other countries; but says, there was this wide difference between them, that whereas the separation and revolt against the mother Church, in the Protestant rose from a love of liberty, a strong spirit of investigation, and the predominance of interior over exterior religious feeling; that of the Rascolnik was born of the pig-headedness of ignorance, and the very worship of form, ceremony, and ritual.

He next gives an interesting account of the revolution caused in the Church by the Patriarch Nicon's revision of the liturgy, and says, "C'est là le point de départ du schism du rascol qui déchire encore l'église russe." Dogma to the Rascolnik was a mere lifeless skeleton without its outward symbols; and this belief was carried to the extreme of thinking it sacrilege to change a word or even gesture in the services of the Church.

They would rather be burned alive than cross themselves in any but the old Armenian fashion, that is to say, with two fingers; and would sooner have their tongues pulled out than utter the three Alleluias prescribed by the Church after Nicon's time. M. Leroy-Beaulieu, after dilating at some length on this feature of Russian dissent, goes on to give some of the reasons for the excessive love of ritual of the old believers, as they were sometimes called.

Their religion, he says, was to them a perfectly finished figure; the representation of the spiritual world; in every word of the Bible and rite of the Church they tried to discover a hidden meaning; and their heresy might be called the heresy of symbolism!

This explanation makes one understand why the Russian ritualist looked on the miracle of the raising of Lazarus as a type; and it also invests their belief with a certain spirituality, "spiritualité grossière," M. Leroy-Beaulieu calls it, which inspires a feeling of respect, to say the least.

As Chrysostom says, "The Divine Scripture declares nothing vaguely or without intention, but every syllable and every point has some mystery hidden in it," and the Rascolnik seemed dimly and un