and true whilst giving a free and pictorial expression to facts and ideas that others would relate boldly. The glowing utterances of Isaiah and St. John are not less exact than the cold, hard photographs of didactic truths and principles given by Ecclesiastes. This is equally the case with ordinary people in current intercourse. We must allow for differences of temperament and situation, and not suppose that the whole idea of truth is exhausted by a rigorous pedantry. The statue in the public square is not as measured by a foot rule true to life, yet it may most faithfully represent the ideal personality-in other words, the actuality. Not that we design in writing thus to encourage looseness of statement on one side, or a habit of exaggeration on the other; rather our purpose is to show that in the high, broad sense of Scripture truth is no mere technical matter, but a question of inward sincerity and rightness of heart, stamping all that a man is and does with the character of ingenuousness, unreservedness, and trustworthiness. To do nothing against the truth, but for the truth, implies that the spirit of truth is in our heart; that we are not governed by motive of pride or interest, but by the simple passionate love of truth itself; and that we are prepared to make every sacrifice that we may follow it in all its findings. Wide is the scope, various the subjects, and nice the application of truth alike in word and deed; and he alone is faithful to the text who lives in the fear of God, the spirit of Christ, and in the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, whose office it is to lead into the whole truth.

In our day the moral sentiment ought to be strongly reinforced by the sanction given to truthfulness both

by nature and by science, which is its interpretation. The exactness and absolute trustworthiness of nature are truisms. A recent writer thus expresses the fact: "Every distinct object is characterized by its own qualities, powers, and appearances, and by them may be distinguished from that which is characterized by different qualities, powers, and appearances. Oxygen has its signs; hydrogen, nitrogen, carbon, chlorine, iodine, and phosphorus have their signs. These signs no chemist distrusts; his science is built on them. He works in their midst with confidence; he depends upon them, and is not disappointed. From whatever distance, also, in the heavens a sign comes, it is received without distrust; unlimited faith is placed in it; its truth is never questioned; its message and interpretatation obtain a settled place among the verities of science." Such is the fundamental truth of earth and heaven. And most sincerely, sensitively, and patiently does our science study to interpret faithfully the phenomena of the world. The philosopher approaches his task with an open and inquisitive mind; his theories are drawn from observation and experiment; he works with instruments of marvellous precision; his painstaking, perseverance, and sacrifice often rise to martyrdom; his only passion is to know and exhibit the thing as it is. The veracity of modern science is a grave rebuke to all who attempt to imprint on the facts of life the characters of their own ignorance, partiality, passion and untruthfulness.

Are we not humbled when, leaving the sphere of science, we contemplate the condition of things in commerce, politics, society, and religion? What guile,

feigning, juggling, varnishing, and hypocrisy! How rare is actuality, reality, candour, the supreme love of the truth! Much as we flatter ourselves on our plain truthfulness and honest living, tried by the ideal standard we are yet barbarians. Our mind falls as far short of truth as our character does of beauty. Is there not passing occasion that we should diligently cultivate the truthful spirit and practise it in all directions? In controversy let us not strive for victory, but for illumination; let us not be dominated by party spirit, but by a sense of verity and righteousness; let us be deaf to the pleadings of interest and passion, always giving the forward place to reasonableness and conscience; let us carry into our sects and cliques love of truth that penetrates at once the sophistries and glamours of falsity and selfishness. Let us be severely true to our own selves; diligently worship God in spirit and in truth; and maintain intimate communion with Him who is the truth and the life. The highest ideal of honesty and veracity is only possible as we cultivate a spirit of meekness, unselfishness, and reverence; as we walk in the light in which there is no darkness at all; and we must refuse to count that religion which does not work out in transparency of thought and purpose, impartiality of judgment, sincerity of demeanour, conversation, and action.

XXXVI

INDIRECTION

And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt; but God led the people about, through the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea.-Exod. xiii. 17, 18.

NOR the reason stated, God did not lead His people by the nearest path to their desired

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goal, but by a circuitous route and after long delay. Does He not often act thus both with the race at large and with the individual? We may be sure that He never loses sight of the far-off event, that He never falters in His design, and that He can make no mistake as to direction, and yet by endless windings and turnings He seeks to bring His purposes to pass. What a wide sweep He took to prepare the earth for human habitation; not by the short cut of an immediate creation, but by a process of evolution stretching through measureless ages! And when He determined to vouchsafe His creatures a revelation of Himself and of the truths of the eternal universe, He did not once for all issue a direct and summary declaration of His character, laws, and purpose, but worked out the revelation through thousands of years in the crooked history of the chosen nation.

The same principle of circumlocution is being perpetually evidenced in the administration of His government. A recent traveller observes: "What a wonderful thing it is to have arrived at such a perfect knowledge of the currents of air and water, that even on these vast seas one is sure of arriving quicker at any given point, by taking the two sides of a right angle, than by taking the hypothenuse, and more sure of making out the journey to Australia in three months by following a circuitous route than of making it in five if one followed the shortest route traced on a chart." How perfectly this strategy is understood in heaven, and by what labyrinthine marches does God circumvent every opposing force, and bring His designs to fruition!

Does not this fact supply a cue to the apparent confusions of national and individual history? Events seem to lack orderly marshalling, they do not move smoothly, they apparently wander wide of the goal. Providence, if any such rule there be, wears the aspect of indecision and confusion, the action of things suggests tedious see-saw, the route seems lost, and we move as in a maze. If we could only strike "the beeline" and follow "as the crow flies," we should be delighted; but our course through life is painfully at variance with this natural simplicity. Weary of what we consider the pedantry of the Imperial Government, we contemptuously brand it as "the circumlocution office;" yet if we candidly note the cycles and fluctuations of human affairs, there is more circumlocution in the government of God than in any other government whatever.