CoNCL-c;sroN. Here, then, in the unities of Christianity are the bonds of true union amongst men. Notwithstanding all the discords and conflicts that rage and revel through the world, there lies deep down in the heart of humanity an ineradicable desire J.-,,. ura ity. The greatest e-v-ents that have marked and helped the progress of the human nee are the outcomes of this desire. l\Jankind have tried for this unity in many different ways. They ha.e tried by: 1. Politicn.l means. In ancient times kings and warriors ~ndea¥oured to bring men toget~er ?Jlder one iron sceptre. The Assyrian, ohe Pe=, the Greek, the Roman, each m his turn made the desperate endeavour. In modern times Spain and France and Russia have tried and failed. Far enough are we from denouncing or even depreciating such a grand political purpose. For our own pa.rt, we should like to see what we think will one day appear on this earth-one great cosmopolitan government-a government embracing within its majestic arms of righteous and sanitary law all· the children of men the world over. '.!.'he fact that England now sways her sceptre over India and Australia. shows that neither diversities of race, language, colour, religion, habit, nor rer:µoteness of position from the central power are necessary obstructions to the establishment of such. a 11).le. With such a. government immense and manifold would be the advantages. The liberties of all wonld be secured. The spirit of nationality, the prolific parent .of desolating wars, would find no place. All would be fellow-citizens of one state. All the tyrannies and rivalries of little despots would be played out. The age or standing armies would be over. The markets of the world be open e.like to all. Such a government, I believe, will come. The gradual absorption of the smaller into the larger states, the ever- mnltiplying facilities of intercourse between the remotest parts of the globe and diven.ified races of mankind, and the ever-advancing intellectual, moral, numerical, and colonizing superiority of the .Anglo-Saxon race charm my poor soul at times with the belief that such an empire is in the tenor of things inevitable. But let it come. The real unity for which th6 human soul craves will not be met. Law cannot create love. 2. &cksiastirol means. Religion has made one great attempt to bind the human race into one grand confederation. The Church of Rome sets up one head to which all souls must bow, prescribes one ritual through which all souls must move, proponnds one creed to which all souls must adhere. The object is a noble one; our hearts go with it. But the means, involving priestly assumptions and .the .infringement of the rights of conscience, a.re amongst the worst damnabilities of history. Jlence it has failed in its object. Aiming at unity, it has led to endless divisions. Many 11, peace-loving soul, pained with the controversies .of the sects, has sought refuge in Rome, but has found it a stormy as well as perilous port. 3. Commercial means. Merchandise in this acre 0 is preached as the uniting power. Self-interest fa to be the golden chain to bind all men together. Nothing is more unphilosophic than this. Self-interest is not a uniting but an insulating power. The battles of the market, if not as bloody, are as base and as heartless as those of the field and the ocean. The true principles of union are in the text.. For universal union there TI?ust be universal love, for universal love there must be universal excellence, and for um versa! excellence there must be the universal recognition of the one body, the one Spirit, the one heaven, the o:ie Master, the one creed, the one cleansing, the one God and Father of all.-D. T.
T'ers. 'i-16.-Redemptive influenre tl,e gift of ahrirl: "But unto every one of ua is gi n,n'"= according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore he saith, When l:.e =n<it:d 1.!p on high, he led captivity captive, and gave_gifts unto men. (Now that he ascen<ic:<l, what is it but that he also descended fir6t rnto the lower parts of the earth? H0 tnat de.o;cc,n<led is the same also that ascend(,'(] up far above all heavens, that he llli~l1t fill all thiugs.) AnJ he gave i;ome, apo5tles; and some, prophets; and b•.>llic, eYau;;c:libts; and 6omc, 1,aswrs and teachers; for the 1>crfocling of the saints, for CII, IV. 1-32.] THE EPISTLE TO T.Em EPHESIA"N'S. 195