own heart is by nature full of sin, that sin is exceeding sinful, and that God is so holy, that He chargeth the holy angels with folly is true. True it is too that knowing and remembering these great truths, they may be dead in his heart; that they may seem to him as if they were of no more concern to him and his being, than any of the great truths that Science may show us deep in the earth or aloft in the sky; that he may never feel that, if sin be indeed so hateful to the source of all good, he must himself remain for ever an accursed thing, away from light, away from joy, away from God. But why do we speak of one who is alive in only half his being, who, however, acute and powerful his understanding, however well he may have trained and tutored that part of him which is alive, yet, more wretched than the hero of old, drags about with him, a dead half of himself?

But when he that sleepeth, he that hath not been taught from early youth, by God's grace speaking through the gentle parent, the steady minister, the holy church, to know the evil and danger of sin, awakes at last, when he sees how the great truth of the everlasting hatred between good and evil touches him, how full of danger it is to him, how big with misery, then indeed he begins to feel what is the burthen of unpardoned sin. Then indeed he begins to cry out, 'Oh! miserable man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death'? Then there is a hand-writing on the wall everywhere without, a doomsday sentence written on the heart1' within, a still small voice repeat

1 Cowper.

ing those awful syllables sin, death, and hell", ever heard in the chamber and at the feast, heard in the busy and the idle hour, troubling the thought by day and infesting the dream by night, taking harmony from music and joy from the feast. Then is life one long sickness in which no change of time or of place can give us rest or cheat our disease. Then we feel the same sadness everywhere, and slight the season and the scene1. That arrow of death will stick in the side that it has pierced, and how can the stricken deer chuse but go weep?

But there is now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus!' He hath taken from death its proper sting, from sin its deadly powers over man. There is the triumph, and the glory, and the victory of the cross of Christ. It was not so much to tell us of the unity of God, or of a future life, that Christ came into the world, as to do that of which no other religion ever made its boast, to preach deliverance to the captive, to the miserable trembling thrall of guilt and fear; to say to him, even him, "Go forth; for thou art free and safe."

Yes! pardoned sin is the motto of Christ's banner, pardoned sin is the joyful proclamation which he commands His ministers to make to all His people. Where that is not, of what avail is any joy? Where that is, of what concern is Will any sorrow, or any fear? you offer jewels to the heart-broken mother, to dry the tears that are falling over the death-bed of her child? Of what avail, indeed, can earthly joys and

sorrows be to the perishing unperishing soul that sees before it the second death, everlasting destruction from the presence of God?

6

But there is indeed, now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. They that travail and are heavy laden with the burthen of sin and sorrow, may go to him and find rest for their souls. Yes! believers may find rest, each to his own soul, because he may find assurance that Christ who died for all sinners, died for him. Each through God's grace may make his calling and election sure, each may get the seal and earnest of salvation, each may know the peace of conscience, each may feel the joy of the Holy Ghost"," There are no vain promises, no presuming words, for what I say, I say unto them that love Him, and keep His commandments. Hereby,' says the Apostle, 'we know that we know Him,' know Him, that is to be our Redeemer, ‘if we keep His commandments.' A holy, godly, life is the only ground for assurance, for that hope that maketh not ashamed2, but it is a ground, an anchor of the soul, stedfast and sure. By that means, the Spirit of God assures us to our comfort and joy that ours is a true and living faith, and that in the strength of that faith we may hope to see God. While there is faith and love in the heart, and while they produce their fruit in the life, we need fear nothing, no worldly foes, and no devilish foes, neither the wrath of man, nor the wiles of Satan. 'If I be of this note, said a holy servant of Christ Jesus, who shall make a separation between me and my God? I know in whom

I have trusted, I am not ignorant whose precious blood hath been shed for me, I have a Shepherd full of kindness, full of care, and full of power; unto Him I commit myself1.' Well may believers commit themselves to that Shepherd, for He is able to save to the uttermost them that come to God through Him. Well may they love Him who is not only able to save, but in the gift of His Spirit gives them an earnest of His gracious goodness. Well may they own that thus, above all, God manifests Himself to them and not to the world.

But godliness hath the promise of the life that now is, as well as of that which is to come, and God in His goodness hath prepared a rich store of joy for the hearts that love Him in the world that surrounds them. Not only is the heart to be raised from the dust by the promise of pardon and peace, but when it is so raised, behold, in this new condition of being, old things are passed away, old sorrows and old fears, and all things are become new. There are new joys, new hopes, new views. It is harder now to say where the Christian shall not find God manifesting himself than where he shall, harder now to say where there is sorrow than where there is joy.

First of all, nor first only, but first and last, and chiefest, and embracing in itself all other good,

1 Hooker.

2 I would refer the Reader, to Dugald Stewart's Philosophy of the active Powers, Vol. II. Book iii. Chap. 11. Sect. iii. Part 11, for a proof that the statement in the text is fully borne out by the judgment of those who consider the matter not in a religious, but a moral, point of view. Mr. Stewart has there shown, with great beauty, that the knowledge of God and his attributes is not forced on the thoughtless, but is reserved for the considerate and right minded.

No

is that enjoyment of God's presence, and of communion with him, which is the reward and right of the Christian. No created good ever can or ever does satisfy the mind of man. Created good is limited, and so not fit to satisfy that mind which desires after all being, and all good. If we sound creation to its deep for what will satisfy man, the deep will answer, it is not in me. But in God it is. He is the spring of everlasting blessedness, the center of everlasting rest and all the springs of our happiness are in him1. powers can go beyond their object,' as a heavenly minded writer has well said, "but their highest and last perfection is to obtain it, and exercise themselves upon it. And God being that universal good which is the natural object of the will, as it cannot be satisfied with any thing short of Him, so 'tis plain that it cannot aspire after any thing beyond Him, but, must center and rest in Him" It is St. Austin who says, "Thou hast made us for Thyself, and so our heart has no rest, till it rests on Thee.'

Hear the words of the holy psalmist, who knew if ever man knew, the joy of God's presence: 'My God, thou art my God, early will I seek Thee, my soul thirsteth for Thee, my flesh also longeth for Thee, in a dry and barren land, where no water is. Thus have I looked for Thee in holiness, that I might see Thy power and glory. For Thy loving kindness is better than the life itself, my lips shall praise Thee, My soul shall be satisfied, even as it were with marrow and fatness, when my mouth praiseth Thee with joyful lips. 1 Norris on Christian Prudence, p. 154.