transitory life on earth, is equally true with regard to his moral wants, and in the higher and the more enduring state of being-beyond the grave. For these necessities also, ample provision has been made. How far back in the ages of eternity this provision has been anticipated, is beyond the range of human enquiry. It were worse than foolish to attempt to speculate upon what has never been revealed. But, we do know, that, in the love and providence of God, at least four thousand years, according to the ordinary reckoning, before the appearance of "the Second Man, the Lord from Heaven," it was provided and predicted, that in the fulness of time "the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head." Accordingly we see in the inspired history of religion, ever since, a succession of ages, or, dispensations, gradually preparing the way for the advent of the Messiah. Each dispensation had its special end, which, when it was accomplished, was superseded by another, until the birth of Jesus Christ. Now, what the ages of Nature are to the first Adam, and the physical world, the ages, or, dispensations of religion are to the second Adam, and the moral world. As Geology reveals a succession of changes which the earth has undergone, so the Bible places before us a succession of dispensations which the Church has undergone. Geology presents to us in its medals and models of creation, the successive types of animals which have

passed away, after having served the purposes for which they were created, so, in like manner, the Bible reveals to us, the types and symbols of the successive dispensations which have been preparing the way for "better things to come," and having fulfilled their appointed ends, they in their turn became extinct. Thus, as in the Kingdon of Nature, we have the reign of fishes, reptiles, mammals, and, last of all, Man; so, in the Kingdom of Grace, we have the reign of Patriarchs, Priests, Prophets, and last of all, the Man Christ Jesus.

In the age of the Patriarchs, the Church was in its infancy. In the age of the Priests, under the Mosaic ritual, it advanced into childhood. But under the dispensation of the Gospel, it attained its majority. And, as we look back upon the geological period of extinct species, and admire the skill and wisdom of our Almighty Maker, so, we turn to the successive dispensations of religion in the Old Testament, which, we are told, were "types for the time then present,” and only preparing the way for the "time of reforination," when Christ should appear "an High Priest of good things to come." What the fossil remains of extinct animals are to the student of Geology, so, the Patriarchal and the Levitical "petrifactions," so to speak, are to the student of the New Testament. These systems have had their day. They all have "perished with the using," and have prepared

the way for the present dispensation. The analogy holds good in another respect. "The recognition (says

Professor Owen) of an ideal exemplar in the vertebrated animals, proves that the knowledge of such a being as Man must have existed before Man appeared; for the Divine Mind which planned the Archetype, also foreknew all its modifications." It has been already stated that the animals of the vertebrate type which preceded Man, were SO many previous indications of the future model after which, by anticipation, they were formed. So, in the same way the Church of the New Testament had its anticipations, under the types and symbols of the Mosaic economy. There is hardly a doctrine, under the present spiritual reign of the Church of Christ, that had not its types "in the letter" under the previous administrations. For example, the Scape Goat-the Brazen Serpent-the slaying of the Birds in an earthen vessel over running water,* are each clearly symbolical of Him who "His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree." That exhaustive Atonement was the Archetype, after which, by anticipation, the types under the Old Testament had been formed. Our Blessed Lord's allusion to Himself in the third chapter of St. John's Gospel, leaves no room for conjecture with regard to the Brazen Serpent. Thus

Leviticus xiv. 5.

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we see that in Creation, as in Redemption, there is a unity of plan, and a variety of form, or, in the words of our Redeemer, "My Father worketh hitherto and I work."

Now, if we apply these principles to the so-called Catholic revival of the Church in these days, it will appear evident, that we are going back instead of going forward. In point of fact, instead of becoming more and more spiritual, the Church, in certain quarters, is becoming more and more carnal. And, if things continue in that direction, when our Blessed Lord returns to the earth, He will find His Church lapsed into the Reign of Judaism, with all its "weak and beggarly elements" of symbols, and shadows. This would present an anomaly quite as great in Religion, as if Science were to go back to the Reign of Fishes, or, of Reptiles, to illustrate the progress of the Divine workmanship in Nature.

If it be assumed that the Church is a Divine institution, it may reasonably be supposed, that it would be in unison with all the other works of God. Are we to suppose that the Church of Christ, is the solitary exception to the general law, throughout the whole framework of Creation? Has our All Wise, and All Merciful Maker enriched the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, with that exquisite and endless variety

which constitutes its chief beauty, and inflicted upon the noblest of all His works the dull routine of artificial uniformity? The rainbow presents, perhaps, the loveliest picture of unity, and yet, the variety of its colours constitute its peculiar charm. What should we think of a man who conceived the idea of reducing it to a uniform whiteness, and of decomposing, if such were possible, "the crescent of hope," by some chemical process, until colour after colour were abstracted? The result would be that the bow itself would disappear, leaving the zealous advocate of uniformity to gaze only on the dark cloud on whose bosom it rested. The Church is privileged to claim God for its author. And, therefore, it is only natural to expect that the footprints of the Divine Creator should, in this instance, correspond with all His other handywork. Hence we have "different administrations but the same Lord." The varied tints of the external machinery of the Church of God are, as it were, so many complimentary colours which harmonise with each other and the whole. An original standard, with many modifications, but all presenting a family likeness, is manifestly the great law of Creation.

The truth is, that just as in Nature so in Grace, the Lord Almighty has mercifully provided for variety without discord, difference without opposition, shades of opinion without diversity of sentiment. If it were