every variety of proofs and illustrations. How strangely did God's providence turn the history of Abraham's life, yet how clearly is his goodness and love seen in each turn of it! Of Jacob it is truly said, God “led him about;" he was not blown about, or driven about as a plaything of circumstances, but led; God's hand was on him for good, and He "kept him as the apple of His eye." How greatly was the good patriarch mistaken, when, looking on a few single isolated events, he said, "All these things are against me!" No, they were for him, as the issue showed. God was for him, and if God be for us, who can be against us? The same may be said of Joseph, Moses, Job, David, "and what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell" of all the rest who were led up and down, to and fro, back and forth in the earth, and endured a thousand seeming single evils, but all working together "that they might obtain a better resurrection. He who

"Tempers the wind to the shorn lamb"

will not forget to regulate His providences with the greatest tenderness in reference to those whom He calls "His peculiar treasure."

Of this comforting truth every Christian may also assure himself by careful meditation upon "all that way in which the Lord hath led him.” At each turn of his life he may see God standing either tenderly to guide him, saying, "This is the way, walk in it;" or in merciful reproof to arrest him, as the angel, which stood with drawn sword before Baalam, saying, "Behold I went out to withstand thee, because thy way is perverse before me." Thus God, often with a seen, but oftener with unseen hand, directs the history of our life; and, if we suffer ourselves to be led of him, He will guide us by His counsel, and afterwards receive us into his glory.

Well then may we, in passing on in our crooked pilgrimage through the New Year, on which we now enter, trust in God, and joyfully sing,

I each event of life how clear
Thy ruling hand I see!

Each blessing to my soul most dear,
Because conferred by Thee.

In every joy that crowns my days,

In every pain I bear,

My heart shall find delight in praise,

Or seek relief in prayer.

When gladness wings the favored hour,
Thy love my thoughts shall fill;
Resigned when storms of sorrow lower,
My soul shall meet thy will.

My lifted eye, without a tear,
The gathering storm shall see;
My steadfast heart shall know no fear,
That heart will rest on Thee.

THE CHURCH YEAR-ITS IMPORT AND DIVISIONS.

From the German of G. C. Dieffenbach.

BY U. H. H.

The Christian is the property of his God and Saviour. In Holy Baptism he is consecrated to the living Triune God, into whose name he is baptized, with body, soul and spirit. In "the washing of Regeneration" he is made the child of God.

God the Father has not only given him a natural life. He sent to him and to the entire race who have fallen away from Him into sin, His dear Son, "that whosoever believeth in Him, should not perish, but have everlasting life."

God the Son, his Lord, has redeemed him, a poor, lost and condemned creature. "Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ." 1 Pet. i. 18, 19—in order that he might be His property, living under Him in His kingdom, and serving Him in everlasting righteousness, holiness and happiness.

God the Holy Ghost has revealed his power in him already in His baptism, in calling him through the Gospel, and in continuing to call him from time to time; and if he obeys Him, He will enlighten him more and more with His graces, sanctifying and maintaining him in the true faith; obtaining for him and all His people, daily and abundantly, the forgiveness of sins, and finally giving to all believers in Christ, eternal life.

Thus has the Lord his God done for him. Hence he is the property which He has purchased for Himself. Behold thyself: thou art a poor unworthy creature-a little dust and earth, helpless and miserable, laden with sin, whilst your whole being and life are ruined and fallen. And now look away from thyself to thy God and Lord, who looked upon you in so great mercy that He saves you, out of His own free grace, exalting you to His kingdom and glory. Surely here we may well fall down into the dust before our merciful God, offering up ourselves and our whole life in thankfulness to Him through whom we are what we are, and who according to His mercy has chosen us as His children. Our whole life is a holy commemoration of the unspeakable grace of our God and Saviour, until we stand with angels and saints around His throne in those everlasting and heavenly joys which "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man."

The grace of God which we have thus experienced, others have also attained. The whole Church of Christ is the property of the Lord our God.

VOL. XVI.-2

God the Father has promised His Son, and sent Him as our Redeemer, not for us only, but for all who believe in Him. The Son loved and gave Himself for the Church-Eph. v. 25. He purchased and founded His Church with His holy and precious blood. The Holy Spirit has called and gathered all Christendom, reigning in and over the Church with His enlightening, sanctifying and saving power.

For this reason the Church cannot and dare not omit to commemorate in a proper way these wonderful and merciful acts of the Triune God in the redemption of the world. Hence she is moved to offer up thanks and honors to a gracious and Triune God, whose mercy is so richly shed abroad within her, in prayers and hymns of praise, thus openly proclaiming His acts of love to a fallen humanity.

What the Church does, as the body of Jesus Christ—as His holy body -she does in holy order. Her entire life and cultus is a commemoration of the gracious manifestation of her God, in the same order as His acts in the redemption of the world appeared upon the stage of its history. Urged onward with prayers full of faith, and with soul-stirring hymns and songs of praise, the Church moves forward with holy joy from one glorious festival to another. During each annual cycle, the round of her festival and holydays attain completion and perfection. In this way there arises, corresponding with the year in the natural world, the holy year-the Church Year.

As the year in the natural world repeats and reveals anew the acts of God as Creator and Preserver, so the Church Year, in its annual return, reveals, in her holy festal days, God's acts in the redemption from sin of the world.

The import of the Church Year may then be summed up as follows:

It is a holy commemoration of the gracious manifestation and acts of the Triune God in the Redemption of the world, according to the order of these Divine acts themselves. This is the nature of the Church Year.

Threefold, in the world, is the government and activity of the Triune God for the accomplishment of its redemption.

God the Father, in the secret counsels of eternity,made provision for the salvation of fallen humanity. From the very beginning He revealed His holy designs, proclaiming them by the mouth of His holy Prophets, and preparing and training His people and the uncovenanted world for the advent of his Son, when the fulness of time had come. He permitted His only-begotten, whom He loved from eternity, to come into this poor world, as "the Son of man," making Him a Saviour for all people.

God the Son, who is one with the Father, in holy love and obedience, assumes the difficult office of Mediator. He lives in poverty and humility, teaching his covenanted people, and showing himself as their Prophet in signs and wonders. He humbles Himself in the full consciousness of His divine glory into the greatest suffering, and completes, as our eternal High Priest on the cross at Golgotha, His offering for the sins of the world. Finally, He comes forth victorious from death and the grave, as the King and Prince of life; revealing Himself to His followers in His Resurrection Glory; ascending to Heaven to sit down at the right hand of His Father upon the throne of His majesty.

God the Holy Ghost, promised by the Son, comes down upon the small community of the faithful after the Son has returned to the Father—

coming as another Comforter, in order that His own may not be orphans in the world. He begins His work on the day of Pentecost, and is active henceforth until the day of Judgment, calling, gathering, illuminating, and converting to the Lord-active in sanctifying both in faith and life, and finally in leading all believing to glorification.

According to this threefold and holy activity of the Triune God in the world's redemption, the Church Year is divided into the following three great festival cycles:

I. The Cycle of Holy Christmas-The Festival Cycle of God the Father. This cycle embraces in itself the commemoration of all the acts which God the Father has done in the world's redemption. This includes His promises and preparations for the coming of Christ, the sending of His Son, and the act of placing Him into the position of Redeemer of the world.

The cycle of Holy Christmas is again subdivided into three smaller divisions or parts:

a. The first part is called Advent. It is the time of preparation on the part of God, a time of waiting, expectation, and longing on the side of the world. It begins four weeks before Christmas day.

b. The second part is the festival of Holy Christmas. On this day we commemorate the actual coming into the flesh of Jesus Christ.

c. The third part is the Epiphany, coming on the sixth day of January. This festival commemorates the manifestation to the world of Christ as its Saviour.

II. The second great cycle is the Easter Season, the cycle of God the Son. This season commemorates all the facts in the life of Christ, which have a more direct and immediate bearing upon that which he did for the world's salvation in His Prophetical, Priestly and Kingly functions.

The Easter, like the Christmas season, is also subdivided into three parts:

a. The first part beginning with the Epiphany, and extending to Lent. During this time Christ appears as Prophet and Teacher.

b. The second part is the forty days of Lent, and is called the Lenten Season. During Lent Christ exercises His Priestly functions; we remember His fasting and temptation. In this part is included Good Friday, the day upon which He died.

c. The third part is Easter Day, the day of His triumphant Resurrection from the dead. Here Christ is King-victorious over all his and all our foes-the Prince of Life and Immortality.

III. The third and last great cycle in the Church Year, is the Pentecostal Season. It begins on the fiftieth day after the Resurrection, from which fact it derives its name. This season commemorates the outpouring and activity of the Holy Ghost in the Church in the work of Redemption. After a short time of waiting the outpouring of the Holy Ghost follows, and He immediately begins his activity in calling, gathering, illuminating, converting, sanctifying and glorifying the Church of Jesus Christ.

The Pentecostal Season is subdivided into three parts.

a. The first part, corresponding with the first part in the Christmas Season, is a time of waiting, preparation, and longing. It extends over a period of fifty days, counting from the Resurrection, or ten days from Ascension.

b. The second part is the Day of Pentecost. The day upon which the Holy Ghost is actually poured out, extending from Pentecost to Ascension. c. The third part is the Trinity Season. This season begins with Trinity Sunday. It embraces the activity of the Holy Ghost as the Spirit proceeding from the Father and the Son. It ends with the first Sunday in Advent.

The Trinity Season is again subdivided as follows:

1. The activity of the Holy Ghost in calling and gathering, (1st to 5th Sunday after Trinity.)

2. The activity of the Holy Ghost in illuminating, (6th to 10th Sunday after Trinity.)

3. The activity of the Holy Ghost in converting, (11th to 14th Sunday after Trinity.)

4. The activity of the Holy Ghost in sanctifying, (15th to 23d Sunday after Trinity.)

5. The activity of the Holy Ghost in perfecting, (24th to 27th Sunday after Trinity.)

The Christmas cycle commemorates the quiet preparation of the plan of Redemption; the Easter cycle, its glorious execution; and the Pentecostal season, the appropriation of these acts of grace on the part of the Church.

Another remarkable fact, is the somewhat singular harmony between the seasons of the natural and the Church Year. "The constitution of nature underlies and conditions the constitution of grace. Nature in this sense determines the idea of redemption." The Christmas season is for the natural world a time of quiet and mysterious preparation for the advent of a new life. The Easter season is the time when these quiet and mysterious preparations first begin to show themselves-the beginning of action in nature that life which has been preparing in secret and silence, slowly showing itself, and continually unfolding and developing itself more richly and completely until the time of Christ's ascension. At the close of the Easter season, in May, nature clothes itself in carpets of green and flowers of many and beautiful hues.

The Pentecostal season is the time during which seeds ripen and complete themselves in fruit. Sprouting and growing is past. Silent life and action reign in the natural world. The fruits ripen slowly as Autumn nears. It is the season of perfection and fruits. Autumn causes no interruption, manifesting no new works, but from Summer all gradually extends itself over into Autumn, until the glorious harvest days are reached, when the fruits of the year are gathered into barns, and the chaff is separated from the solid wheat. Then comes the time of rest-the time of silent and mysterious preparation. Thus, according to ordained laws, the threefold development of the natural year flows onward and forward, until Time melts into Eternity. The promises of a higher Life are foreshadowed in the moving and living of the natural world. "Nature in this sense determines the idea of Redemption."