A List of the Archbishops of Lyons in France, extracted from the work of Jacobus Severtius on the Archbishops of Lyons. See Oxlee's Sermons.

JOHN HENRY PARKER, OXFORD AND LONDON.

"EXAMINE YOURSELVES."

EVERY man needs to hold up a glass to his soul and to look at his spiritual state. And it is not enough to give a mere glance at ourselves now and then, in a loose and hasty way; but we should look closely, look deeply, look even severely into ourselves, lest we should miss any spot or sores or unclean parts, and do an imperfect slovenly work. He who is about to be tried by an earthly judge goes over his case beforehand many times with himself, puts it in every light, sees how it all looks, studies it part by part, examines the weak points and the strong, again and again turns it over in his mind, that he may not overlook a single circumstance nor forget what he really did.

Shall we do less than this or act less carefully, when we believe that we shall soon be standing before the great Judge of all mankind, soon giving strict account of all our earthly life, soon be weighed in the balance by Him who knoweth

all things, from whom no secrets are hid, who has tracked us through all our paths, and marked every passing momentary thought? Shall we, I say, rush forward into His presence without seeing what we have been about, without enquiring into our state, without stopping to note and see what manner of men we have been?

He who fails to examine, fails to know himself; and he who is ignorant of himself is wholly, utterly unfit for the judgment-seat of Christ. More sins are on the head of such an one than he supects, more sins have been gathering in his soul than he thinks himself guilty of; he is deeper in debt with God; he has a blacker account against him; as a man who never looks into his worldly affairs, he is more involved, more embarrassed than he reckons. He is farther from God, farther from the peace of God, farther from pardon; for does peace, does pardon, does God's richest and most precious gift drop into the lap of careless men who do not search into their souls, who are not anxious to see how they stand with Him, who are not on the watch to keep out sin, or quick in noting what sin they have committed?

They who desire God's forgiveness, and love to be at peace with God and know the blessed

ness and richness of that peace, have sensitive and tender consciences, are always at work to see what weeds are springing up, are continually examining with eager eyes, not merely their outward acts, but their motives, their thoughts, the hidden springs and sources of their outward life. Those who are the most diligent in the scrutiny of themselves are the first to confess that with all their watchfulness, all their keenness in self-examination, a multitude of sins, faults, errors, infirmities, escape their gaze, slip past without observation, and secretly wound the soul, like subtle poison tainting the blood without so strongly discolouring it as to catch the eye. Many thoughts, for instance, hurry too quickly through the soul and flow too quickly upon each other to be caught and marked by the most practised searcher of the soul; and the memorable exclamation of the saint of old, baffled in his endeavour to be thoroughly acquainted with his own sins, gives a humbling lesson to the best of us; "Who can tell how oft he offendeth? O cleanse Thou me from my secret faults."

If saints ever striving, ever labouring to judge themselves, that they may condemn themselves, and self-condemned may obtain a merciful judg