from the waters, was permanently removed to a distance from them, as the stars of heaven are raised above the dashings of the angry deep. It was still to be beaten, and sometimes in part overwhelmed, by the waves, and to be continually preserved from final submersion by His power alone, Who can say to the restless ocean, "Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further; and here shall thy proud waves be stayed'." But that power was to be exerted, and the waters were to have their bounds, which they might "not pass, neither turn again to cover the earth."

It seems almost impossible not to recognise in this, the appointed figure of the Church of God on earth, existing, either in her primæval and patriarchal rudiments, or in her more perfect state of subsequent development, from the beginning until the end. The land was sepa

1 Job xxxviii. 11.

rated from the waters, a chosen people was called of God from the beginning and to this day continues, assailed by the floods in vain. "The waves of the sea are mighty and rage horribly; but yet the Lord who dwelleth on high is mightier." "The Lord sitteth above the water-flood; and the Lord remaineth a king for ever"."

11. AND GOD SAID, LET THE EARTH BRING FORTH GRASS, THE HERB YIELDING FRUIT, AND THE FRUIT TREE YIELDING FRUIT AFTER HIS KIND, WHOSE SEED IS IN ITSELF, UPON THE EARTH; AND IT WAS SO.

12. AND THE EARTH BROUGHT FORTH GRASS, AND HERB YIELDING SEED AFTER HIS KIND, AND THE TREE YIELDING FRUIT, WHOSE SEED WAS IN ITSELF, AFTER HIS KIND; AND GOD SAW THAT IT WAS GOOD.

13. AND THE EVENING AND THE MORNING WERE THE THIRD DAY.

The Church was separated from the nations that she might be fruitful. Unlike the barren, unproductive sea, the

m Psalm xciii. 5; xxix. 9.

dry land was to bring forth its abundant vegetation, adapted to every variety of soil and situation, from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop of the wall. And as it has been beautifully said, in paraphrase of the language of Scripture,

The Saints above are stars in Heaven,

What are the Saints on earth?

Like trees they stand whom God has given,
Our Eden's happy birth".

"Blessed," saith the Psalmist, "is the man that hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners; and hath not sat in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord: and in His law will he exercise himself day and night.

:

"And he shall be like a tree planted by the water-side that will bring forth his fruit in due season. His leaf also shall not wither."

n Christian Year, Septuagesima Sunday.

Fruitfulness is indeed the condition of the Church's existence in the world. She must produce saints, or she becomes like the earth, bearing thorns and briers, which is rejected, "and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned°.'

And saints, on the other hand, can only grow while rooted in her, and while receiving from her bosom spiritual nourishment. Separated from her, they become as trees uprooted, the very emblems of lost vitality and inevitable decay.

14. AND GOD SAID, LET THERE BE LIGHTS IN THE FIRMAMENT OF THE HEAVEN TO DIVIDE THE DAY FROM THE NIGHT; AND LET THEM BE FOR SIGNS AND FOR SEASONS, AND FOR DAYS, AND YEARS:

15. AND LET THEM BE FOR LIGHTS IN THE FIRMAMENT OF THE HEAVEN TO GIVE LIGHT UPON THE EARTH AND IT WAS SO.

16. AND GOD MADE TWO

GREAT LIGHTS; THE GREATER LIGHT TO RULE THE DAY, AND THE LESSER LIGHT TO RULE THE NIGHT: HE MADE THE STARS ALSO.

o Heb. vi. 8.

17. AND GOD SET THEM IN THE FIRMAMENT OF THE HEAVEN TO GIVE LIGHT UPON THE EARTH,

18. AND TO RULE OVER THE DAY AND OVER THE NIGHT, AND TO DIVIDE THE LIGHT FROM THE DARKNESS: AND GOD SAW THAT IT WAS GOOD.

19. AND THE EVENING AND THE MORNING WERE THE FOURTH DAY.

Though it was separated by the firmament from His visible presence, God left not the lower world without witness of Him. "The invisible things of Him from the creation of the world were clearly seen, even His eternal power and Godhead;" and the firmament, as being in a sense, the medium of communication between the world above and the world below, might naturally be supposed to bear this witness in the most conspicuous manner. Above all His other works did the heavens declare the glory of God: and the firmament shew His handy work. The firmament though intercepting the rays of His own immediate glory,