io8 METAPHYSICS 



obtained ere he can afford to say that the u whole plan " 

 occupies the position described in the sublime words : " It 

 is written that man shall not live by bread alone, but by 

 every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." 



Natural designs, works, laws, and order, are they not 

 the articulate expressions of divine speech, yea, the very 

 words of God ? which have been heard ringing throughout 

 space and time from their beginning, but audible " from 

 eternity to eternity/' overspreading these temporary barriers 

 and making the universe one and indivisible, without be- 

 ginning and without end, in which, whether we wish or 

 will it or not, our being cannot do otherwise than be 

 subservient to eternal ends and purposes, a natural denoue- 

 ment attestable by reason and abundantly visible to and 

 supported by the eye of faith a faith resting alike on the 

 foundations of human knowledge and that divine teaching 

 which has so wonderfully and succinctly drifted down 

 through the ages to the present generation of men, and 

 which still maintains a hold on human belief which no 

 influence however strong has done more than produce a 

 mere temporary arrestment of its all-powerful influence 

 on human progress, and the ultimate unquestioned reign 

 of true religion. 



What matter material matters when we individually 

 approach " the valley of the shadow of death " ? only 

 "the shadow," be it marked. At that supreme juncture, 

 all material and sensual appetites having ceased, all over- 

 whelming material interests slipped away, all hold on 

 earth gone, we resign ourselves to the dominion of the 

 inexorable law of death with what intelligent or blank 

 concern we can command, and with what strength of 

 expectancy we are able to exercise. 



Who that has been brought into frequent contact with 

 the dying but has not been struck with the variety of 

 emotions elicited by nearness to the end of life ? and 

 who that has had the opportunity of studying the life and 

 character of those who lie dying but has not been impressed 

 with the truth of the saying that, "as a man liveth, , 

 so he dieth ? " proving even here, that there is a continuity 

 of development in life and death characterised by con- 

 sistency of quality and texture, regulating the whole 



