object and see nothing in it—and then all at once the truth of it flashes upon him, and he is astonished that he never saw it before. You know, too, that a cold or indifferent, is as bad as a bigoted or prejudiced observer in discovering the fact. For instance, here is before me a son or daughter who has at home a father or mother; or a parent who has a child. Do they not see under the outward decaying form the inward and eternal spirit-that which is beautiful and immutable-which eyes less anxious and affectionate than their own cannot discern? Does not the poet, the man of genius, the true man, be he where he may, see beneath the besmirched and fading forms of humanity around him, the truth and beauty and goodness which others cannot? Not because he has put it there; not because it has no other existence than his own fancy; but because he has the power, partly natural, partly acquired, of seeing more deeply than other men into the inner life of things about him. That is why I say, that when you have the facts which history furnishes, there is yet something more required-a power of insight into these facts and their meanings, which, if not native, is only to be acquired by patient and humble study.

Now I have already pointed out to you the danger in this, as in all other pursuits, of substituting opinions about facts for the facts themselves; of setting up the idols of a man's own mind in the place of those truths and realities which lie around him. You will ask me, then-How are you to set to work? How are you to fix your eyes on these facts and try to interpret them ? And how can you be sure that after all you are not falling into this mistake? I answer, that probably you will, and that very often; for no man comes into the clear light of any truth without falling often, and making many mistakes. But as when a man falls into moral untruths and into temptations, he must not lie

there in his untruth and his sin, but get upon his legs again and press forward to the truth-be he dirty or clean -so is it here. He must never lose sight of the facts; he must keep up the intercourse between his mind and them; he must keep walking up and down in them, always bearing this truth about in his thoughts-that he has not exhausted and cannot exhaust them; that let him live as long as he will, they will always have something to tell him, if he is humble and thoughtful; and be he the wisest philosopher that ever lived, some one will come after him to whom it will be granted to see in them what he could not, and that too without a tithe of his abilities.

Besides, however, this general caution, there are some few practical rules suggested by it. As the characters and principles of men would give us the closest insight into their actions, so it is with History;-national characteristics are the best interpreters of national history. It is important therefore to remember that English history is one thing and French history is another; and therefore to understand them aright, you must shift your point of view accordingly. Plain as this truth is, it is very often neglected; men are accustomed to carry their own principles and notions with them, and apply them indifferently to all history alike. But this observation is valuable not only as furnishing us with a clue to the interpretation of history, but as enabling us to divide history into portions, to study each of them by themselves, and then in their relations to each other. In modern history it is the only method which can prevent us from falling into confusion. Let me apply this to the subject so far as the limits of a lecture will allow, and you will clearly perceive its value.

History is divided into two great portions, ancient and modern. Ancient history has no other difficulties than those which are presented by its remoteness from present

times, and our consequent inability of adequately representing to ourselves the thoughts and feelings of people living in a state so very different from our own. Christianity, new races, a new world, great inventions, have been moulding for many centuries all our notions, pursuits, manners, speculations. It is hard for us to divest ourselves of these influences and to go back to a simpler and less complex period, when one division only of the globe, one race, or one nation only challenges consideration. But Ancient History has this advantage over Modern, that it does not distract us with a multiplicity of details, or bring at the same time a number of different nations and actors on the stage, each of whom is demanding and distracting our attention, each of whom has something to say which must not be disregarded. On the contrary, Ancient History goes on in one simple and uniform tenor; either presenting to our view one country, one people, one literature, exclusively and successively, or if it brings forward other nations at the same time, it is only in reference, and in subordination, to a single people which is predominant at the time. In the History of the Hebrews we hear of Egypt, in the History of Greece of the Persians, but instead of confusing our views, these occasional glimpses assist in bringing out more clearly the condition of the chosen nation with whom they are brought into connection. Thus Ancient History has a unity in it denied apparently to Modern History. It requires no arbitrary divisions of our own invention; we have but to follow the law thus clearly marked out, and consider each epoch successively. So Ancient History falls into a series of easy and natural divisions. First the Hebrew, then the Greek, and then the Roman; and each of these people, though engaged in numerous wars, exposed to various temptations, and exemplifying a vast diversity of actions in their career, have in them a unity of character; are penetrated by one strong and pre

CC

dominant principle of action, which serves as a light—a clear and steady one-to interpret the most obscure passages in their history.

But you will also remember

Take the Hebrew, for instance, with which we are all familiar. Here we have one people with whom is connected the earliest records of the world; there is but one book in which their history is contained, and in it we are made to feel how strong is that unity of the Jewish people, and upon what truth that unity is based. Now what is that Book? We call it the Bible-that is the Book of all nations; as it is; but we call it also a Revelation-the Word of God. And so it is. that it is the book which contains the national annals of the Jews-that is, of God's people.' But it is not less God's word, not less His revelation of Himself to them, as the Jews, as the nation. Whatever else this Jewish history may contain, it contains these facts-these which lie at the foundation of their national life. First, that God was revealing Himself to them more clearly than he did to any other people; that that revelation brought them nearer to Him than any other people; that it made Him the Ruler of the nation, and them His people, in a sense such as no others enjoyed; and that on the recognition of this truth, that they were His people-nation and rulers, prophets and workmen— their happiness and their welfare as a nation depended. They might forget that truth, and they did over and over again. The people might think that they had a right to take their own way without consulting His will. The prophet might prophesy in his own name, and turn his gifts to his own interest and aggrandisement; the king might rule as of his own authority, forgetting whose minister he was. But they were made to feel the consequences of these transgressions, not only in themselves but in the sufferings and distractions which they entailed upon their nation. This

then is the principle of the Jewish life, whatever else may be--individual and national-that the people are in covenant with God. He is their ruler, they are His servants.

I have not time to extend this to all its various ramifications; nor yet to show you how it must never be forgotten in interpreting the history of this people. Let me show you in passing how it throws light on the history of those nations with whom this people are brought into connection, and with whom they have been of late not wisely confounded. Two of these are the Assyrian and the Egyptian, for whom, as you know, modern history has done so much, and of whom such wonderful records are preserved in the British Museum. You have seen these records. What are they? Winged bulls and lions, memorials of conquest, types of the power of the great king. Nebuchadnezzar brings their meaning home to us: the man whose pride was exalted, who set himself up above the stars of heaven. In him are united the temporal and spiritual authority, a danger into which the East is continually falling. The Egyptian, on the other hand, is ruled by his priests; he deals in magic, and uses the mysterious. powers of nature to secure his authority over the people. In one the ruler, in the other the priest, are forgetting the Jewish principle that they are God's ministers, and that their gifts are to be exercised for Him. Each found their representative in the Jewish nation; and each, we know too well, led that people into their own peculiar temptation.

We pass to the next people of the old world-these are the Greeks. They are in many respects the very opposites of the Jews; the Jew permitted no representations to be made of the Unseen God-the Greek delighted in them. Everywhere he multiplied these representations, everywhere he tried to reduce to sight spiritual things by shadowing them forth in the likeness of men. Nay, the more Greek he was the more he essayed to do this. If he thought of wisdom it

CC 2