seed is changed into leaves, which appear above ground, but these, in most instances, pass away soon after the plant produces its true leaves. Some of the higher orders of animals, in their early stages, strongly resemble some of the lowest in their complete development; but it is only those which have these low forms in their perfect development that can perpetuate their species in them. The frog, for instance, does not spawn in its tadpole state, nor in any stage below that of a perfect frog. Nevertheless, that which is the life of the perfect frog was the life of the spawn, and of the tadpole in all its progressive changes. In like manner a butterfly cannot lay eggs in its caterpillar or its chrysalis state, nor in any state below that of the perfected insect; but the life of the butterfly was the life of the egg from which the caterpillar sprang and of the chrysalis into which it changed before it took on its perfect butterfly condition.

As animals cannot multiply and plants cannot produce seed in any condition below that of complete development, the idea that higher types of these may have become developed, in the lapse of ages, from lower types is contrary to the evidence of all organic

allied changes, cannot be received except as mistakes or as resulting from accident or trick, being contrary to nature. Where barley was produced, barley must have been sown, even if, as in the parable of the tares or darnel and the wheat, an enemy may have done it while men slept. Seeds are often conveyed by birds and other animals, and dropped in an undigested state. I knew a practical farmer who urged that, in sowing grass, it was unnecessary to sow Poas, as they would come naturally, and he was proof against any argument referring their coming to any agency. The late Sir James E. Smith, of Norwich, once said to me, "Miss G. assured me that she planted some bulbs of Pheasant-eyed Narcissus in her garden, and they came up Daffodils. She was so positive that this was the case that I could not contradict her; but if she had said she locked up her horse in the stable at night and in the morning found it was a cow, I should just as soon have believed her. She laboured under a mistake."

creation. The facts therefore brought forward in support of such an idea must be irrelevant or fanciful, however beautifully and skilfully they may be brought together.

"Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return," was a proclamation of God made to man soon after his fall. But, though man was the only intelligent being baving an organized body who could understand this proclamation, the sentence it contained belonged also to every kind of organic being, animal and vegetable. The life in each kind which attracts to itself matter, or, to use the scripture term, dust, and organizes it so as to form its case or body, is ultimately destroyed by age, disease, or violence. And immediately on the destruction of the life, the process commences by which the body that had contained it is again reduced to dust. In many instances this process extends over a long period, and it often leaves fossil casts of the former organized bodies, both animal and vegetable.

Many of the fossil casts now found represent animals and vegetables not now to be met with in a living state on the earth, and some of them are met with in positions which prove that great changes have taken place on the face of the earth since they were deposited.

Lastly, it is most important for us to keep in mind that, while man partakes, along with other animals, of a terminable life, beyond them he possesses also a soul having immortal life. God created man in his own image, intelligent and holy, and "breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul." Upon the training of the soul in this life in the love of God depends its capacity for the enjoyment of His presence in the world to come.

When man disobeyed the commandment of God in the Garden of Eden, he died to holiness and became alive to sin, and his descendants are the heirs of a sinful propensity. But God, in His great love to man,

and in order to excite the love of man to Himself, provided the means of restoration in His Son Jesus Christ, whom in the fulness of time He sent into the world, to set mankind a perfect example and to die for their sins, and whom He raised from the dead and set at His own right hand, to be for them a Prince and a Saviour, to give them repentance and the remission of sins. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

The state of happiness in the world to come is often referred to in the Bible, as a state of life, in contradistinction from the state of misery resulting from unbelief and neglect of the love of God, and which is referred to as a state of death and interminable woe. God condescends to commune with man by His Holy Spirit. By this Spirit He reproves man for sin, causing him to feel condemned for it in himself. And if man attends to the Holy Spirit thus reproving him, he is led onward thereby to repentance and to faith in Christ; and that great change is effected which is designated "being quickened,' being quickened," "born again," "renewed in the spirit of your minds," and is spoken of in many other terms indicating a development of spiritual life and capacity. This is a state which no mere intellectual training can confer, and which can only be understood as it is experienced; but it is one in which the capacity for communion with God and Jesus Christ is continually enlarged, and in which the body, the mind, and the soul are each brought under the regulating and sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit; and life, in its highest sense, is enjoyed on earth in anticipation of its more glorious development in heaven.

JAS. BACKHOUSE, Sen.

THE SYMPATHY OF OUR LORD.

"For we have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”—HEB. iv. 15 and 16.

THERE is no more beautiful or comforting truth revealed to us than that of the sympathy of Christ; and whilst we hold firmly to the cardinal doctrines of the Gospel, the divinity of Christ, salvation by Him "whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood"—that "when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son "it is beautiful to trace the varied ways in which Jesus has "manifested forth His glory." By studying each of these distinctively, we see more fully the completeness and harmony of the whole.

This thought must be borne in mind, in reading the following remarks, which are only intended to represent one view of that marvellous display of divine grace" the redemption that is in Christ Jesus."

Not only did our Lord enter into every human condition, that He might purify and sanctify all relations of life; not only did He feel compassion when on earth for all kinds of sorrow and distress, but in the verses quoted above, we have revealed to us a still deeper result of His incarnation. By undergoing our trials and temptations, He is able to sympathise with us in them. "He is touched with the

feeling of our infirmities."

How true it is in human affairs that only those who have passed through the same course of expe

rience as ourselves can fully understand our condition.

This explains the little good that is done by mistaken though well-meant kindness, when it does not carry with it a feeling of the case it is intended to meet. On the other hand, who does not know the thrill of pleasure when we meet with a mind that has felt all that we have felt, it may be of joy or sorrow, of conflict or of doubt? How restful is such intercourse! This is sympathy.

To the heart that can truly sympathise-that can be touched with a feeling of our mental conditionthere is no need of explanation, no fear of being misunderstood. We can fully and freely open our hearts, and lay bare our inmost feelings, refreshed, if not strengthened, by the avowal.

Human sympathy, however, can at the best only alleviate, it cannot heal. What a power and efficacy does it give to the sympathy of Christ to know that He who was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin, "is able to succour them that are tempted," and ready to bestow on us that same conquering spirit with which He Himself overcame. The power to overcome can alone be given by Him

who overcame.

Again, we are told that "the Father hath committed all judgment unto the Son, because He is the Son of Man. This Divine power of sympathy enables Him to judge with mercy and uprightness. "He alone who has felt the power of temptation in its might, and come scathless through the trial, can attemper what is due to offended law, and what is due to human frailty."

And then how infinite in its variety is the sympathy of our Redeemer. Let us meditate on those words in all points. They embrace the errors and frailties of all characters and dispositions; errors of thought