to conquer and to save the world. There is a sharp antithesis between the insidious serpent whispering to Eve, and the angel of light declaring unto Mary that, after all, humanity was to be not merely like to God, knowing good and evil, but should be God Himself. John the Baptist said of himself and Christ: "My name must decrease, but His must increase." Hence, John was born at the summer solstice when Nature begins to wither and the days grow shorter, but Christ came at the winter solstice when begin to return the light and the life of the world. John's name was like a strain of music dying away in the distance, but Jesus', though its first mention was as soft and low as an angel's whisper, swelled into a grand crescendo until it filled the whole world. To Mary first, as first redeemed, that name, that tidings of great joy was first revealed, and then to all the people. Its spiritual meaning, Saviour, is kept ever to the fore, even in the Temple where, at the circumcision, it was first officially conferred, and where, for the first time, the Redeemer shed His blood. Since then the history of that name has been the history of the Saviour and of Christianity. Who shall estimate the vital factor it has been for good and sometimes alas! for evil in the affairs of men! How many a soul, amid temptations, doing battle for its life, has found that name as Solomon calls it: " a tower of strength " ! How many a soul already dead has been by it restored to life! What favors have been through it obtained, what miracles it has wrought! How many sins crying to heaven for
