1 JANUARY 1870, Page 9

The enthronement of the Bishop in Exeter Cathedral took place

on Wednesday last, when Dr. Temple preached a sermon which we might fairly describe by saying that it dwelt with great force and vividness on the only articles of belief to which the present editors have ever seen their way clearly amidst the great confusion of theological tongues. He spoke of two spheres of revelation as one natural and the other spiritual,—the revelation of scientific laws

through the intellect, and the revelation of spiritual truth through

the conscience. On this occasion, he put aside the natural, to dwell solely on the spiritual revelation. He Waisted that the most striking proof that man is made in the image of God, is to be found in the conscience which enables us to discriminate absolutely between right and wrong, and that with a certainty which we know to be independent of place or time, and to be as applicable to us if we were at the other end of a universe of which we know so little, as here. He maintained the consistency of this doctrine with the gradual education of the conscience through the promise that those who obey what light they have shall have a fuller revelation. He regarded the conscience, however, as only the gateway of the spirit, the channel of communication with the highest ; and in the Bible we find a new revelation founded on conscience, but rising infinitely above mere morality, speaking of God, and filling us with an irresistible impression of real contact with Him. What the Bible is to the conscience, that part of it which reveals Christ is to the Bible. "lie first taught us what is really meant by self-surrender of the will and of the soul,—He first taught us what is meant by true humility,—Ile, who being in the form of God, took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in our likeness in order that He might set forth this truth to us." In the most touching and simple terms, Dr. Temple dwelt on the power of our Lord's passion as the one spiritual spell which has power to transform life, and finished by declaring that to it he looked to make the Church one, "in spite of everything that may tend to tear us apart." It was a singularly simple, noble, and impressive confession of faith by one with more than ordinary intensity of faith.