was dwarfed to one plane; it seemed too flat, too even, apparently artificial."

Page 99. "All perception of comparative altitudes of objects on or near the ground is lost-houses, trees, the undulation of the country, &c., all are reduced to one level, and even the lower detached clouds appear to rest upon the earth; everything, in fact, seems to be on the same level, and the whole has the appearance of a plane. Everything seen, looking downwards from a balloon, including the clouds, seems projected upon one visible plane beneath.

"Always, however great the height of the balloon, when I have seen the horizon it has roughly appeared to be on the level of the car... I have never seen any part of the surface of the earth other than as a plane."

Page 126.

ASCENTS OF M. CAMILLE FLAMMARION.

"The earth appeared as one immense plane richly decorated with ever-varied colours, like a beautiful miniature. The first impression which predominates is that of perfect immobility."

Page 127. Hills and valleys, &c., are all passed over without our being able to distingush any undulation in the immense plane." Page 152. "The geometrical figure taken by the earth's surface, as viewed from such a great elevation, is somewhat paradoxical. The earth being a spherical globe, it might be thought that on rising high above the surface we should see something of this spherical shape. But the contrary is experienced in reality. As we mount higher, the surface of the earth, instead of this, actually flattens out and seems to become hollow underneath us, so that we feel that we are sailing as it were between two concave glasses, the sky and the earth, which seem to be soldered together at our horizon, and the concavity of which is very considerable both above and below us."

Page 179. "The surface of the ground appeared as an immense obscure plain shaded with various dark tints."

And yet this same writer says as to ballooning, in reference to meteorology,

Page 123. "It seems most rational to 'go and see' what is being done in these higher regions, and to come face to face with the facts themselves. A long accumulation of facts and their systematic discussion will solve these problems better than any hypothesis, however ingenious."

Were this reasoning applied to astronomy or the figure of the earth, what would be the result from the above quoted "facts ?" These:1. The earth is a plane.

2. That (a) PARALLEL lines appear to meet in the distance. (b) At any height the horizon and eye-line appear to meet; therefore they are parallel. But the eye-line is horizontal; therefore the surface of the earth is horizontal.

REDEMPTION THE CLUE TO NATURE'S
PROBLEMS.

VIDENTLY, as the theatre for the display of REDEMPTION, was the earth originally prepared; and, ignoring this, all that man sees or searches into is anomaly and confusion.

What read we to this effect in the book of Job?" He putteth forth his hand upon the rock; he overturneth the mountains by the roots. He cutteth out rivers among the rocks; and his eye seeth every precious thing. He bindeth the floods from overflowing; and the thing that is hid bringeth he forth to light. But where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of understanding? Man knoweth not the price thereof; neither is it found in the land of the living. The depth saith, It is not in me; and the sea saith, It is not in me. It cannot be gotten for gold, neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof. It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx or the sapphire. The gold and the crystal cannot equal it; and the exchange of it shall not be for jewels of fine gold. No mention shall be made of coral, or of pearls ; for the price of wisdom is above rubies. The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it, neither shall it be valued with pure gold. Whence then cometh wisdom? and where is the place of understanding? Seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living, and kept close from the fowls of the air." (xxviii. 9-21.)

To these inquiries, baffling, whilst challenging all human discernment, succeeds the pregnant hint of the Spirit, " Destruction and Death say, We have heard the fame thereof with our ears." And what is this but the chanting, in undertone, of the puissant might of Him who is "the Resurrection and the Life,"-the Conqueror of Hades and the Grave ? For it is remarkable that the resurrection of our Lord is described (Rom. x.) as being from a descent into the DEEP, literally, the ABYSS, of which also, in the Apocalypse, ABADDON, here translated "Destruction," is said to be the warden angel, having the key. (Rev. ix. 1, 11.)

Thus, turning to the intimation in Job, we hear, as it were, the realms of darkness instinctively foreboding their disruption, and celebrating the profound character of that redemption which creation (with man at its head) calls for, unto its ultimate standing and abiding in blessedness. For by its self-exposure, creaturehood in all its ranks must

in some way be first defamed before installation into its ordained dignities, that "GOD MAY BE ALL IN ALL."

Hence, it is and ever will be eternal life, to know the only true God; and his full orbed display of himself centres in Jesus Christ, emphatically designated, by virtue of his atoning death and resurrection, "The wisdom of God, and the power of God."

Accordingly, saith this glorious One, "I am the first and the last; I am He that liveth and was dead; and behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen ; and have the keys of Hades and of Death." Supreme Lord over every agent! To him, in truth, as the ear of faith listens, every department of nature is heard uttering forth its note of homage; to his declaration "I AM," responding as it were with the acknowledgment "THOU ART," owning to only a seeming existence, except in relation to him, the why and the wherefore of its being !

And how adoring the contemplation that as all things were originally "created in and by and for him" (Col. i. 16), so all things shall be gathered back into visible relation to him, as rehearsed in that anticipatory song of the redeemed in the visions of the Apocalypse :-" And they sang a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof; for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; and hast made us unto our God kings and priests; and we shall reign on the earth. And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne, and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. And the four living creatures said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever." (Rev. v. 9-14).

Let the real philosopher then (the lover of wisdom) take his clue, whereby to investigate nature, from the volume of revelation, and whatever his line of exploration, be prepared to discover the footprints, not so much of the Creator as of the Redeemer" the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world," and light peradventure shall shine upon his path. The mystery of life out of death, which he reads in every stratum of our world, and in every generation of plants and animals, will not then be stumbling, but suggestive, and surely, of this, among its other lessons, that the Divine revelation, whether in the works, or in the word of God, must, to be appreciated, be approached by us as sinners, that is, that it

discloses to us physical disorder to be accounted for, and moral disorder to be atoned for.

But let another spirit prevail in our philosopher's mind, let him ignore the fact patent in and around him, that he is a fallen creature, in a fallen world, and obnoxious to eternal judgment; let him, in pursuing his investigation, incline (by way of being impartial !) to Atheism, as much as to hearing the voice of his God, and then may the issue be foreseen! He will have pretended to hold the balance of truth, while he has not weighed himself, and God will weigh him and find him wanting. In that survival of the fittest' "unto glory and honour and immortality," he will not occupy a niche in the great pyramid of saved creaturehood, but have his part in the perishing scaffolding. He will have judged himself unworthy of eternal life. Query, Is not this consideration of at length ceasing to be, after judgment, more startling to any measure of thoughtfulness, than that of unceasing torment at the hand of a God of love, which no thoughtfulness can really comprehend, and which is only assented to in fancied devoutness by those who traditionally hold it?

The constant prescription to which our God teaches us to resort, amidst the mysterious dispensations of suffering in and around us, is "Wait on me." Wait on the Lord, and this administers rest to the spirit. But with an eternity of suffering predicated of the lost (suppose it were so), what could be the solution to be waited for-what the rest of the saved whose salvation is essentially fellowship with God? PHILOLOGUS.

1.

THE AGENCY OF SIN-ITS EXHAUSTION. THE INEVITABLE RESULT-ITS ABOLITION.

BY GENERAL GOODWYN.

IN the for draw attention to the fact, narrating the object for which SIN has been permitted to come

step of its progress it has become the means of unfolding the infinite resources of the Godhead, in the manifestation of which the divine attributes and moral glories are apprehended. God is only to be known by His acts." He worketh all things according to the counsel of his own will," and creation could not have been otherwise than it is compatibly with that counsel. From the tenor of the entire word, we know that in all his ways and works God has sought to make himself known in the resplendent elements of his own being, love and light. This has been his desire, and the end is in strict harmony with that desire. Intelligent beings were created, such as should not only know the true God in his moral perfections, but be endowed with spiritual blessings such as should reflect those perfections to an adoring universe in heaven above and on earth below. But the beings whom God made were necessarily creatures with tendency to possibility of failure, thus placing them in contradistinction to the unchangeable Creator. Considering man then, as

* John xvii. 3; 1 John v. 20.

he has been created by the all-wise God, we may rest assured that he was made in the best possible way, and for the best possible object.* Of one other event we may also rest satisfied, that when that object shall be attained, the agency by which the eternal design will have been accomplished shall be for ever abolished. That agency we shall see to be SIN.

2. No sooner was the Adam created, than he was placed in the circumstances which, as head and representative of a race, were assigned to him in the divine purposes-Dominion over the creation; acknowledging the Creator to be supreme Sovereign of his universe, yet in privileged communion with him in regard to the laws of Government. This position of the Adam may therefore be assumed as foreshadowing man's ultimate destiny in resurrection. In the meantime the retention of his original exalted state was of course to depend on the proof of fitness to exercise this delegated power in righteousness: his nature and character were consequently judged with reference to this propriety of conduct, measured by the divine standard. The action of SIN therefore that occasioned the slightest flaw, determined the judgment to condemnation. He who cannot obey a law himself is not morally fit either to enforce obedience on others, or righteously to judge offenders against law.

3. Such having been the circumstances and responsibility, of this vicegerent of the Creator, and typical representative of a race, it will scarcely fail to be apparent in the course of the agency of SIN that its power has been mainly directed towards the infliction of fatal injury on man as viewed in the several heads of governmental authority that have appeared on the earth,† rendering their unfitness for empire clearly to be acknowledged. Nor is the reason of this speciality in the action of Satan difficult of comprehension; for having once possessed himself of dominion over man in his original or Adam creation, and obtained the proud appellation of God and Prince of this world ‡ or age, is most anxious to retain it. His schemes, devices, temptations, persecutions even, are consequently directed towards the complete subjection of man to SIN by enslaving his affections to the honours, pleasures, and attractions of the world he governs, that he may thereby accomplish his ends. § In

See "Twelve Discussions on the Extinction of Evil Persons and Things," by H. S. Warleigh, Rector of Ashchurch, Gloucestershire. Elliot Stock.

† Nations that compose this present world are estimated with reference to their governmental heads, whether for judgment or blessing. (John xvi. 8-11, Gen. xxii. 18, with Gal. iii. 16.)

John xvi. 11; 2 Cor. iv. 4.

In "The History of the Old Covenant," by Kurtz, it has been argued with much plausibility, in connection with Jude 6 and 2 Pet. ii. 4, that the "first estate and habitation" of Satan was as prince, and the fallen angels as subjects on this earth, previous to the creation of man. That their pride and rebellion was the cause of the ruin and devastation of the earth, as described in the first clause of the second verse of Gen. i., before the Spirit of God brooded over the face of the deep. If so, it is not difficult to understand why Satan should have sought subsequently to bring man into the same condemnation. It must have been from hatred and envy, wrath and revenge, against his favoured rival, who was in possession of the very habitation from which himself had been driven, the principality and glory which himself had lost for ever. Nay, more; it may have been the action of forlorn demoniacal hope of regaining the inheritance.