inflammable, that are specially exposed to it.

On the other hand, spiritual life calms while it fills. True it is
that there are pentecostal moments when such life reaches the stage of
ecstasy. But these were given to the Church to prepare her for
suffering, to give her martyrs a glimpse of blessedness, which might
sustain them afterwards in the terrible struggles of death. True it is
that there are pentecostal hours when the soul is surrounded by a kind
of glory, and we are tempted to make tabernacles upon the Mount, as if
life were meant for rest; but out of that very cloud there comes a
voice telling of the Cross, and bidding us descend into the common
world again, to simple duties and humble life. This very principle
seems to be contained in the text. The apostle's remedy for this
artificial feeling is--"Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns,
and spiritual songs."

Strange remedy! Occupation fit for children--too simple far for men:
as astonishing as the remedy prescribed by the prophet to Naaman--to
wash in simple water, and be clean; yet therein lies a very important
truth. In ancient medical phraseology, herbs possessed of healing
natures were called simples: in God's laboratory, all things that heal
are simple--all natural enjoyments--all the deepest--are simple too.
At night, man fills his banquet-hall with the glare of splendour which
fevers as well as fires the heart; and at the very same hour, as if by
intended contrast, the quiet stars of God steal forth, shedding,
together with the deepest feeling, the profoundest sense of calm. One
from whose knowledge of the sources of natural feeling there lies
almost no appeal, has said that to him,

"The meanest flower that blows can give
Thoughts that too often lie too deep for tears."

This is exceedingly remarkable in the life of Christ. No contrast is
more striking than that presented by the thought, that that deep and
beautiful Life was spent in the midst of mad Jerusalem. Remember the
Son of man standing quietly in the porches of Bethesda, when the
streets all around were filled with the revelry of innumerable
multitudes, who had come to be present at the annual feast. Remember
Him pausing to weep over his country's doomed metropolis, unexcited,
while the giddy crowd around Him were shouting "Hosanna to the Son of
David!" Remember Him in Pilate's judgment-hall, meek, self-possessed,
standing in the serenity