all his dreams and desires, and turning all his holy prayers into visible and enrapturing answers? It would seem, indeed, as if one or two Christs had actually been painted under the direct inspiration of the Holy Ghost, and yet as if the hand of the painter had failed the Inspirer himself. And as if the painter too had reeled just as he was about to add the touch that would have shown divinity. There is a better Christ in every broken heart than can be found amongst the artistic treasures of men,— a Christ full of sympathy, very pitiful and gracious stooping with infinite condescension, and counting no service mean. Who would have only a portrait of Christ when he can have in his heart the Son of God Himself?

This is the point towards which we have been moving throughout these collateral reflections. How needful soever to escape the perils of bodily manifestation (a need whose importance cannot be exaggerated), yet the comfort of divine personality, as distinguished from abstract infinitude, must be secured. In his highest aspirations man requires, and indeed demands, distinct, individual, companionable life, he must have pathos as well as augustness, or he will be overpowered and discouraged; his progress will be an advancement into solitude, and loneliness will kill him. We have now to find out, by an honest exposition of scripture and a fair interpretation of human consciousness, how far this necessity is provided for in the revelation of the Holy Ghost. That is precisely our work in this

argument. Is the Holy Ghost a person? Is it true that he can be the Guest of the heart, the Teacher of the understanding, the Revealer of Christ? Is the Holy Ghost a Comforter, and as such will He come to the bruised and aching heart with solaces not earthly but heavenly? These inquiries are of some consequence to men who already see the coming sunset, having first felt the disappointment and bitterness of life. One word may be a key to our reasoning, viz., God is a spirit, -so is man. Man has a body, but he is a spirit.

II.

THE HISTORIC MOVEMENT TOWARDS

SPIRITUALITY.

THE succession which is indicated by the wordsFather, Son, and Holy Ghost, is neither nominal nor accidental, it is a philosophical progress and culmination. Any transposition of this order would be felt to be irregular and impossible,-violent, unnatural, and self-destructive. When we think ourselves back towards the origin of things, we are conscious of the keenest dissatisfaction with all mere terms that get no farther than the approbation of the strictly critical faculty; we want something more; something for which we cannot hit the exact word, but for want of which the heart often aches and cries. Then is suggested the biblical word, Father, and with it comes at least a promise of satisfaction; it is felt to be the true start-point, having difficulties of its own no doubt, but difficulties that may be overcome. The Fatherhood is not emotional, but causative and sovereign paternity. Logic can do but little towards its explanation; the mind must accept this idea of fatherhood as the mind accepts itself, a mystery certainly, but not greater except in degree than the silent, invisible, spiritual life that is in every man. But fatherhood is a plural or inclusive term: immediately it sug

gests the idea of childhood, and childhood is realised most conspicuously and impressively in the sonship of Jesus Christ; but sonship such as this, involving manifestation or visible expression, is, as we have just urged, beset with peculiar risks; provided, therefore, that it go barely far enough to establish itself as an indisputable fact in human history, the sooner it is withdrawn from ocular criticism, the less will the world be tantalised and distracted by the exercise of its own imperfect physical senses. This manifestation and withdrawment are exclusively characteristic of Jesus Christ. He was here long enough to remove all doubt as to His personal identity, yet He withdrew Himself immediately that He had secured for His personality an unquestioned place in human history. Nothing more was to be gained by His visible continuance on earth; His bodily mission had been wholly fulfilled, and therefore He "vanished out of the sight" of men. But what of the future of His work? Then, according to Christian teaching, was to come manifestation without visibility; instead of bodily presence, there was to be a new experience of life, spirituality, insight, sensibility, and sympathy almost infallible in holy instinct. In one word, the Holy Man was to be followed by the Holy Ghost.

This idea of a philosophical rather than a merely arbitrary succession, is strictly consistent with the fact that the whole movement of history, in all that is vital and permanent, is a movement from the outward

and visible to the inward and spiritual: this we claim to be true of all history, not merely of any particular section or bias,-it is true of civilization in all its enduring elements. A brief indication of facts will make this clear.

1. The order of Creation, as detailed in the account given in Genesis, is a movement towards the spiritual. The succession runs thus: Light, firmament, dry land, seas, the fruit-tree yielding fruit, sun, moon, and stars, the moving creature that hath life, and fowl flying in the open firmament of heaven, cattle, creeping thing, and beast of the earth; if we pause here we shall be dissatisfied, because of a sense of incompleteness: there has, indeed, been an onward movement, but expectation will be mortified if the scene close at this point. We know the rest: "God said, Let us make MAN in our image and in our likeness," that was the highest point of spirituality attainable within the first idea of creation; yet it was but a promise.

2. The biblical order of human recovery (apart altogether from any theological construction of it) is also a movement towards spirituality. Beginning with the Levitical ritual, what could be more objec- ( tive, or more thoroughly penetrated with all the elements of the most violent tragedy? Exaction follows exaction, as if the uttermost farthing alone would mitigate the severity of the inexorable demand. The sin-offering, the trespass-offering, the burnt-offering, the peace-offering; the baptisms, the incenses, and the eternal flow of blood, represent