sight of the fearful wrecks cast upon the shore of time, do we not need to know and trust One who can explain this history, satisfy this want, tell what the heaving breakers mean, and pointing to those wrecks declare, there is no life lost. Oh, must there not be at the world's heart, at my heart, some One who can solve the mystery of being, and reveal life in us? And if One appears and declares Himself to be the Light of the World, the Life of Man, does it become any to pass Him by? Is it rational not to examine His claims, not to listen to His voice, not to answer His question, "Whom say ye that I am?"

When the Lord Jesus with His own human voice put this question to those who professed to be His, He was beginning His last brief period of life before His final suffering and death. He with His disciples had come to the extreme north-east of Palestine near a place at the foot of Mount Lebanon, where the river Jordan takes its rise. This town Cæsarea Philippi, was originally called Paneas, after a cavern in its neighbourhood dedicated to the god Pan. Philip the Tetrarch, the only good son of Herod the Great, in whose dominion Paneas lay, having beautified and enlarged it, changed its name to Cæsarea in honour of the Roman Emperor, and added Philippi, after his own name, and to distinguish it from the other Cæsarea, on the north-east coast of the Mediterranean. This quiet and distant retreat Jesus sought, that undisturbed

He might talk over with His disciples the fruit of His past labours, and break to them the sad intelligence of His approaching death. First, He asks them as to public opinion concerning Himself. Whom do men say that I the Son of Man am? Christ knew what men thought of Him, as He knew what these disciples thought of Him, yet He wished to make them for their own sake speak their thoughts to Him, that He might impress upon them the importance of having a right opinion. Men must have some opinion about Christ. He cannot be as nothing to any one. Having had Him pass by their doors, having heard Him speak, having seen Him healing the sick, might seem a matter of small moment to those people of Galilee or Judea, but it was not really so. They could not be as they had been. It is a solemn thing to hear the Christ speak, to know Him; our opinion of Him is shaping our characters, forming our lives, fixing our destiny. Is our opinion of Christ akin to that formed by many who saw Him in the days of His flesh? Is He no more to us than one of the prophets? Are we thinking of Him as one of the wonders of life—a grand man whose sublime sentiments, pure and noble life, beneficent deeds, and marvellous self-sacrifice, raise Him above ordinary men, and thus we are led to adore His memory, admire His life, and seek to imitate Him. Is Christ to us merely historical, the greatest personage in history, whose coming marked

an era in the world's history, whose spirit is still felt in the laws and institutions of the universal empire?

The Lord Jesus is now addressing this great decisive question to the world, yes, to each. But whom say ye that I am? This is a question that we must answer, in fact we are daily answering it. What in the secrecy of our own heart are we saying? Can we with Simon Peter say, "Thou art the Son of the living God." If so, what does such a belief involve? It cannot be inert, it cannot be merely latent, it is power, the power of God; it is wisdom, the wisdom of God; it is life, the life of God. With plants, the greatest force is that within; the soil may be poor, the situation bad, the outward influences at their worst, yet let that plant be alive and the inner force will conquer the outward disadvantages. What we believe is what we live. If I am believing in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God, I possess life, and that inner force will exercise itself, will work in me mightily, so that I cannot be the slave of the outward, the creature of circumstances; the inner faith will conquer self, overcome the world, and land me safe and blessed in heaven. To believe this is not to believe in a dead abstraction, that may be put upon the shelf as an unused book. No, this is the central fact and truth of all that is spiritually important to me as a religious and immortal being. This belief will govern my affections and be my very life. It is this, that will illumine,

sustain, and transform my being, giving a new and deeper motive for every action, and irradiating my every thought. If Jesus be God, fresh life will be imparted to all I hear and. see, the universe itself will become a new universe. How strong am I, for if Christ be mine, God is mine; if I am in Christ, I am in God; then what height of holy contemplation is not accessible, what revelation of love is shut out, what attainment in holiness is impossible? This belief brings unspeakable comfort, for with me is the Personal Father. I feel that I am not in a world governed by impersonal law, that my life is not the result of fate, but the Lord God omnipotent reigneth, and close to me I can feel His infinite heart, and in the solitude of my own spirit I feel that heart beats for me. There are moments when the dearest friend cannot awaken music from me, but there is never a time when God's hand touching the strings of my spirit cannot bring out heavenly harmony. Be it yours, reader, to cling to this glorious truth, that the Christ is the Son of the living God. Life's bitterness, this will sweeten, a never-failing strength and solace will it be amidst the disappointments of life. When the unrest around disturbs, this will give you eternal rest, and in view of change and death this blessed faith will make you victorious.

This is the faith that has our Saviour's blessing— "Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona, for flesh and blood

hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven." Peter hath yielded to the drawing of the Father, he had learned to trust Christ for His own sake, and not as many then and many now for the sake of the miracles, or any revelation of flesh and blood. Some had left Jesus because of the failure of their faith, they had been following Him because they did eat of the bread that perished, but Peter had said, “Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life, and we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God." Not as a son of Jonas had he learned thus to trust, but as Peter. To each must there be a personal, special revelation of spiritual truth, and it is not by human might nor by strength, but by God's Spirit in man's spirit, that we, like Peter, must learn to know and feel Jesus to be the Christ, the Son of the Living God. We must isolate ourselves and know the Lord as our own personal Christ and Son of the Living God-and if we do not thus realize, let us not for one moment think that there is any indisposition on the part of the Lord to reveal Himself to and in us. Jesus would gladly bless all as He blessed Peter, and promise to each as He did to Peter, "That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."

The different meanings put upon this verse may be summed up as follows. I. That which takes Christ