A  PRESENT  HE  A  YEN.  61

lay  hold  upon  God's  strength,  and  act,  and  pray,
and  prevail.  For  in  each  event  of  our  Saviour's
life  upon  earth  —  that  lively  Parable,  in  which
the  Almighty,  no  longer  speaking  to  His  people
by  words,  has  seen  fit  to  act  out  His  good  will
and  pleasure  concerning  them  —  they  discern
at  once  the  token,  accomplishment,  and  seal  of
some  peculiar  purpose  of  God,  and  as  such  they
accept,  feed  upon,  and  rest  in  it.  We  must  enter
as  deeply  as  they  do  into  the  profound  and  mys
terious  connection  which  exists  between  the
natural  and  visible  life  of  Christ  upon  earth,  and
the  spiritual  and  hidden  life  which  the  faithful
soul  enjoys  with  Him  in  God,  before  we  can
understand  the  tenacity  with  which  they  fasten
upon  every  fact  of  our  Lord's  history,  and
lay  upon  each  event  and  incident  of  His  life  a
detaining  grasp,  that  will  not  let  it  go  until  it
has  blessed  them.  We  never  find  them  contem
plating  the  mystery  of  Redemption  as  an  exhibi
tion  of  God's  power  and  mercy,  to  be  gazed  into
as  by  the  angels  with  delighted  wonder.  This,
they  say,  hath  God  done,  and  for  us.  They
acknowledge  it  to  be  His  work,  a  work  wrought
for  and  in  them,  perfect,  complete,  and  lacking
nothing.  As  all  that  they  desire  is  to  be  found
in  Christ,  "  in  whom  are  all  things,  and  by  whom
all  things  consist"  (or  hold  together),  we  never


62  A  PRESENT  HEAVEN.
