ordained that John should live till the first heresies had shaped themselves. The disciple who first came to Jesus, who followed Him most closely, who lay in His bosom, who stood by His cross, who believed when others were confounded, who saw with more penetrating eye the glory which they all beheld, was reserved to complete the written statement of the person of Christ, in a record which has been designated from ancient days as, "the Gospel according to the Spirit."

"We

As the other Gospels respectively make prominent the ideas of law, of power, and of grace, so does this present the glory of Christ. beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only-begotten of the Father." All the disciples beheld it, but there was one whose pure, lofty, and contemplative spirit fitted him to be the best recipient, and therefore the best exponent, of the sublime disclosure. To him, therefore, the office was assigned, and his Gospel is its fulfilment. He begins, not like his predecessors from an earthly startingpoint, from the birth of the son of Adam, or the son of Abraham, or the opening of the human ministry, but in the depths of unmeasured eternity and the recesses of the nature of God; and then bringing the First-begotten into the world, traces with adoring eye the course of word and deed by which He manifested forth His glory, and at last delivers his record to others, "that they may believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and that believing they may have life through His name.'

We have now seen that in the three synoptic Gospels the representation of Christ, as He lived and conversed amongst men, is carried on by three successive stages, from its first Jewish

aspect and fundamental connection with the old covenant to its most catholic character and adaptation to the Gentile mind; and that these steps correspond to and are connected with the historical stages of advance, by which the word of God passed from its first home to its destined

sphere of influence. We have seen that in the fourth Gospel we rise to a more distinct appréhension of the spiritual mystery involved in the picture which has been presented; and further that this advance also is connected with historical conditions, subsequent in time to those under which the preceding books originated. The course of teaching thus produced is according to that principle which places the earthly things as the introduction to the heavenly, and keeps everything in "its own order, first that which is natural, and afterwards that which is spiritual."

And yet these stages of progress are constituted only by differences of degree. There is nothing expanded in one book which has not been asserted in another. Take whatever may seem to you the distinguishing idea of any one of them, and you find a strong expression of it in all the others. The Judaism of St. Matthew reaches out to the calling of the Gentiles; and the catholic spirit of St. Luke falls back upon its Jewish origin. St. John, in exhibiting the divine nature of Christ, exhibits only what the others have everywhere implied and frequently affirmed. "The Johannean conception of Christ," as it has been termed by some, who would place it in opposition to preceding representations, is in fact their explication and confirmation. In the former Gospels we behold the Son of God,

proclaimed by angels, confessed by devils, acknowledged by the voice of the Father; with authority and power commanding the visible and invisible worlds, and at the central moment of the history transfigured on the holy mount before the eye-witnesses of His majesty. The first word in the Temple declares to His earthly parent His conscious relation to His Father; the last charge to the Apostles founds the Church in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; while, in the intervening period, some voice. of self-revelation more deep than usual is from time to time suffered to fall upon our ears; like that which so many commentators have noticed as a kind of anticipation of the language of St. John, "All things are delivered to me of my Father; and no man knoweth who the Son is but the Father, neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him."

On the other hand, it is in the record of St. John that we read words which, if found in another Gospel, would have been eagerly urged as antagonistic to "the Johannean conception." We can imagine what use would then have been made of the argument (John x. 34-36) founded on the text "I have said ye are gods," or of the assertions, "The words which ye hear are not mine," and "The Father is greater than I." Now standing in connection with the claim to the incommunicable Name, and with the statements, "All things that the Father hath are mine," and "I and the Father are one," that argument and those assertions cannot be mistaken; but they serve to confirm the unity of that revelation of God

manifest in the flesh of which one aspect is more fully exhibited in one part, and the other aspect in the other part of the Evangelical record.

Asserting then the peculiar development which the last Gospel gives to the doctrine of the person of Christ, we also assert that there is no variation from the original conception. The exposition is continuous; the picture is one. From the beginning of St. Matthew to the end of St. John it is one Lord Jesus Christ, as really the Son of Man in the last (Gospel as in the first, as really the Son of God in the first Gospel as in the last. Only we find, in passing under the teaching of St. John, that here the great mystery shews more vivid and mature; that the intuitions of it have become more conscious and clear, and the assertions of it more definite and indisputable; that we have advanced from the simple observation of facts to the state of retrospection and reflection, and that we have attained to the formation of a language fitted to the highest conceptions of Him, who is the Only-begotten of the Father, the Life, and the Light, and the Truth, and the Word Eternal.

the presiding mind which planned the whole, and, in qualifying and employing the chosen agents, divided to every man severally as he would? By the voice of the Church as a body, by the ever accumulating consent of her several members, an unchanging answer comes down from age to age. The Spirit of the Lord is here.

Yes! the Spirit was to testify of Jesus, and the four-fold Gospel is His permanent testimony. In it He has provided that the foundations of our faith should be laid in the region where the foundations of all human knowledge lie, namely, in the evidence of the senses, in that which "eyes have seen, ears have heard, and hands have handled of the Word of Life."

He

has provided that the object of our faith should be known to us as He was known to those who saw Him, that He should be clearly known by the simplicity, fully known by the variety, and certainly known by the unity, of the narratives which give to the world the perpetual and only representation of its Redeemer. Finally, He has provided that the representation should be completed by a progressive course of teaching, which first familiarises us with the conversation of our Lord among men in its general and ordinary aspect, and then admits us to the more concentrated study of the glory and the mystery, which had already made themselves felt at every step.

THE simple origin of the Devonport Sisterhood was related in last month's

paper. It was a household of pious women, united by mutual love, and in the community of good works. By one who knew the house well in 1848, this is said to be the basis on which the Sisterhood was founded-their one great rule:"This is my commandment, that ye love one another as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you." A lady writes:"I came to the house in 1848. When I joined, the rules were entirely different from those which were afterwards introduced. I remember one rule was, each Sister was to have three

VOL. I.-NEW SERIES.

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weeks every year to go and visit her friends. Hard work, love, and obedience were all in all. The household was the happiest, busiest, merriest, least constrained, and most united of

any I ever was in; not only unlike, but the very opposite of all it was when I left in 1855." Gradually, and almost imperceptibly, the rules were made "crushing, narrowing, freezing, producing spiritual death, and petrifaction." The conventual system was developed. The simple life of goodness was depressed into the formal 'religious' life. The simple demand of obedience to the head of the organization became a rule of 66 Holy Obedience." The rule of purity banished from the recreation room all literature, except silly Tractarian

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stories. The Sisters were forbidden to speak to any one out of the Society, except with the permission of the Superior. Almost perpetual silence became the law within the establishment. Private friendships were forbidden; so that if two Sisters were observed to be specially attached to one another, they were separated. A round of fastings, meditations, and watchings took the place of natural exercises of devotion. "Month by month, year by year, the freshness, beauty, and grace of the Sisterhood wore away, and a miserable, ghastly, lifeless skeleton remained, whose grasp was intolerable bondage."

The first departure from the original idea of the establishment seems to have been the admission into the Society of women, who, from sickness and other causes, were unable to undertake its active labours, but who wished for a life of seclusion and meditativeness. These women, numerically a small section of the community, influenced at length its whole habit their presence and example appear to have depressed the tone of the establishment.

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By 1851 the household had become settled according to a conventual model. The community consisted of one general Order-the Order of the Holy Communion-subdivided into three Orders:-the Order of the Sacred Heart, the Order of the Holy Ghost, and the Order of the Crucifixion.

The Order of the Sacred Heart was contemplative; its badge a gilt triangle, bearing as pendant a Heart pierced with an arrow. The only Sister belonging to it in 1851 never spoke, except when with the Mother, or by her direction or permission; never came into the recreation room, but spent the whole day in prayer and

meditation, in painting and illuminating services for the Superior, or such other work as she gave her.

The Order of the Holy Ghost, called the Grey Sisters, consisted of ladies living in the institution, and of those who, married or unmarried, and living in the world, belonged to the community and assisted it in various ways. While with their own families, these were directed by the Superior what to do and how to conduct themselves; they were also to render her an account of all that happened around, within and without them. The badge of this Order was the gilt triangle, with a Cross as pendant.

The Order of the Crucifixion had as badge the same triangle, with a Crucifix suspended. These were commonly called the Black Sisters; they lived in community, entirely under the direction of the Superior, who appointed them their work among the poor, in the schools, or elsewhere.

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All who joined the Society were at first admitted as Novices. Any one who seemed to the Superior to shew a decided vocation for the religious life, was privately received as a Child " into the Order the Superior appointed for her. She was invested with the badge, to be worn under her dress, and looked forward to be admitted a "Sister" of her Order. For the admission to Sisterhood, the permission of her parents was required; and she was then solemnly consecrated in the presence of an officiating priest. If a "Child" returned to her parents, she continued under the rule of the Order of the Holy Ghost.

Supreme in the house was the Mother Superior; the second in rank was the Mother Eldress, nominally the head of the house, and often called

"Miss Sellon's mouthpiece." Much of her time came to be spent with the Superior, and thus it was necessary to appoint a "Deane." To assist the Deane in upholding the rule, Eldresses were appointed. Then came the Sisters of the Society; next Children, and lastly Novices. At one time, there were two Eldresses and only one Sister. Miss Goodman says: :- "Miss Sellon is not peculiar in her love of various ranks; several Sisterhoods are terraced in the same manner. I may stop to remark, that a love of ruling-of standing a little higher than, and governing some one else being inherent in our nature, a Sisterhood will be the more likely to flourish, the more it conforms itself to this human weakness."

The seven great rules of the Devonport Sisterhood are those of Holy Obedience, of Holy Poverty, of Humility, of Purity, of Holy Communion, Self-examination, and Prayer. The three latter give directions for the performance of these religious duties. The Rule of Holy Poverty requires each Sister to renounce, on the day of her entrance into the community, "not only the possession, but the use and disposition of everything which is hers, or shall be given her." Captain Sellon affirms that this rule was only intended by his daughter to affect the annual income of the Sisters; and that they were at liberty to take with them, on leaving the community, the principal amount, or to dispose of it by will as they thought fit.

The following are extracts from the Rule of Holy Obedience :-" Ye who have offered up to God your judgment and your will, must try to preserve and grow in the submission ye have professed. Actions, in themselves indifferent, become sanctified

when done in the spirit of holy obedience; for all authority descends from God, and Superiors bear the image of the Divine power of God, which He vouchsafes to imprint upon them. And He will surely require it at your hands if ye despise His authority in them: for the powers that be are ordained of God. Ye should ever address the Spiritual Mother with honour and respect; avoid speaking of her among yourselves; cherish and obey her with holy love, without any murmur or sign of hesitation or repugnance, but simply, cordially, and promptly; obey with cheerfulness, and banish from your mind any question as to the wisdom of the command given you. If ye fail in this, ye have failed to resist a temptation of the Evil One." "Ye shall learn through daily and constant observation and practice, that through the exercise of lowly and entire obedience ye will receive the gift of the Holy Ghost."

Each Sister had a private rule book, in which the Mother wrote special directions for her work and conduct. Every morning this book was sent to the Mother, and it was usually returned to the Sister in the afternoon. It was called "The little Soul," and was to contain notes of the least fault, irregularity, or breach of rule. In it, for some time, the Sisters were bidden to write down their thoughts every day for the Mother's eye. If a Sister should discuss, either within the Society or without it, the rules of the Order, or the commands of the Superior, or should make any comment upon either, she was to make it a subject of immediate confession to the Superior, and was to "receive a penance, but no word of admonition or reproof for the same."

The supervision was so close and