soil has to be prepared for it. Like a fine fruit, it will grow in one climate and not in another; at one altitude and not at another. Like all growths it will have an orderly development and mature by slow degrees."—Addresses p. 95.

CHRIST THE ALPHA AND OMEGA.

The following is a portion of a passage in “The Changed Life," which Prof. Drummond quotes with strong approval from the speech of a distinguished Christian statesman. "of one of the highest intellects this age has knowna man who shared the burdens of his country as few have done, and who, not in the shadows of old age, but in the high noon of his success, gave this confession to the world:"

"They are the words," he says,

Many men have educated themselves by reading Plutarch's Lives of the Ancient Worthies, and setting before themselves one and another of these that in different ages have achieved celebrity; and they have recognized the great power of these men on themselves. Now I do not perceive that poet, or philosopher, or reformer, or general, or any other great man, ever has dwelt in my imagination and in my thought as the simple Jesus has. For more than twenty-five years I instinctively have gone to Christ to draw a measure and a rule for everything. Whenever there

has been a necessity for it, I have sought—and at last almost spontaneously-to throw myself into the companionship of Christ; and early, by my imagination, I could see Him standing and looking quietly and lovingly upon me. There seemed almost to drop from His face an influence upon me that suggested what was the right thing in the controlling of passion, in the subduing of pride, in the overcoming of selfishness; and it is from Christ, manifested to my inward eye, that I have consciously derived more ideals, more models, more influences, than from any human character whatever.

All

"That is not all. I feel conscious that I have derived from the Lord Jesus Christ every thought that makes heaven a reality to me, and every thought that paves the road that lies between me and heaven. my conceptions of the progress of grace in the soul; all the steps by which divine life is evolved; all the ideals that overhang the blessed sphere which awaits us beyond this world-these are derived from the Saviour. The life that I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God.

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That is not all. Much as my future includes all these elements which go to make the blessed fabric of earthly life, yet, after all, what the summer is compared with all its earthly products-flowers, and leaves, and grass-that is Christ compared with all the products of Christ in my mind and in my soul. All the flowers and leaves of sympathy; all the twining joys that come from my heart as a Christian-these I take and hold in the future, but they are to me what the flowers and leaves of summer are compared with the sun that

makes the summer. Christ is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end of my better life."

"There have been times when I have had an unspeakable heart-hunger for Christ's love. My sense of sin is never strong when I think of the law; my sense of sin is strong when I think of love—if there is any difference between law and love. It is when drawing near the Lord Jesus Christ, and longing to be loved, that I have the most vivid sense of unsymmetry, of imperfection, of absolute unworthiness, and of my sinfulness. Character and conduct are never so vividly set before me as when in silence I bend in the presence of Christ, revealed not in wrath, but in love to me. I never so much long to be lovely, that I may be loved, as when I have this revelation of Christ before my mind.

"In looking back upon my experience, that part of my life which stands out, and which I remember most vividly, is just that part that has had some conscious association with Christ. All the rest is pale, and thin, and lies like clouds on the horizon. Doctrines, systems, measures, methods-what may be called the necessary mechanical and external part of worship; the part which the senses would recognize-this seems to have withered and fallen off like leaves of last summer; but that part which has taken hold of Christ abides."-Addresses p. 189.

CHAPTER VIII.

TESTIMONY OF REV. GEORGE T. FLANDERS.

OT many years ago a volume of rare interest

NOT

and ability was published by Mr. Flanders (at first anonymously) under the title of "Life's Problems, Here and Hereafter." It has had a large sale and been received with marked favor by the more advanced Christians of nearly every denomination, and produced a profound impression on many thoughtful minds. And we can easily believe the publishers when they say: "We are in constant receipt of letters from unbelievers, doubters, misbelievers, the perplexed and afflicted, testifying to the great help and comfort its perusal has afforded them. It has supplanted unbelief, doubt, and perplexity with faith, trust, and hope." And although no mention is made of Swedenborg, the volume is literally crammed full with the new truths revealed in his writings. On all the principal doctrines of the Christian religion, he is in such perfect agreement with the illustrious Swede as to warrant the belief that he had faithfully studied his writings and cordially accepted most if not all of his teachings. We could easily fill forty pages with

illustrative and confirmatory passages, but must forego that pleasure and confine ourselves to a few brief extracts. We begin with a quotation from the author's

Prelude," in which he gives us a little of his spiritual autobiography:—

DIFFICULTIES FINALLY MASTERED.

“If, indeed, man be immortal, if, essentially, man is a spirit,—what is spirit? Is it something? Or is it nothing? Is spirit a real, substantial entity, that, under certain conditions, may be seen, touched, felt, and handled? The popular idea of spirit is the exact reverse of this,—is as near the idea of nothing as well can be. But from this semi-nihilism I instinctively revolted. I could not abide the thought of my dear ones and myself,

'Made up of moon-beams floating dim,
And wreaths of misty light.'

"I was beset with multitudinous questions about Heaven, its topography, dimensions, scenery, and location in space. Does it resemble this old world of ours? Do the aged forever remain aged? Do infants forever remain infants? Is union between husband and wife perpetuated there? Of course, I was unable to answer these questions, and I dealt with them summarily I cast them out. To the really sincere inquirer I said-'Who knows? Who can know ?' I