tion. Christ's self-sacrifice was in some respects unique. It was not to deliver His own soul from sin, for He had none, but the souls of others. His power is in His Cross.

CONCLUSION. The text, then, has a universal application. "Without shedding of blood there is no remission of sins." Deliverance from sin, the urgent necessity of humanity, is not an easy work. Every successful effort involves bloodshedding. All efforts apart from self-denial must prove utterly and forever fruitless. "Without shedding of blood there is no remission of sin." Brothers, embody this principle in your every effort, and ring this thought into the souls of

men.

CHRISTIANS AND CHRISTIANITY.

"But if while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid!" -Gal. ii. 17.

THE text is Paul's answer to an objection which he anticipated to the position which he had previously laid down, viz., that man was to be "justified (made right) by faith" in Christ. The text suggests three facts

I. THAT CHRISTIANS ARE PROFESSEDLY ENDEAVOURING TO BE MADE RIGHT.

They "seek to be justified by Christ." First: They seek to be made right. "To be justified," means to be rectified. Men apart from

Christianity are wrong. They are wrong in character. Their moral heart, the mainspring of all their activities, is selfishness, not benevolence. They are wrong in their relations. Their relation to God is wrong. They are not His children but aliens, not His friends but foes, not His loyal subjects but rebels. "To be justified" is to be made right in our moral character and our moral relations-right within and without, right with ourselves, with God and His universe. Secondly: They seek to be made right through Christ. "Justified by Christ." Men in all ages have sought to be made right in other ways, and by other persons. Some by Moses, some by Mahomet, some by Confucius, and some by Zoroaster. But apart from Christ there is no man, no institution, no system, by which we can be made morally right. Christ is the only Moral Rectifier: His atoning love restores to man both the image and the friendship of his God. It is suggested

II. That whilst Christians are professedly endeavouring to be made right, THEY ARE LIABLE ΤΟ FALL INTO SIN: "We ourselves also are found sinners." Paul supposes that whilst seeking to be made right by Christ, there was a possibility of falling into sin. So long as Christians are in this world the most perfect of them are liable to error

both in creed and conduct. Hence the warning. "Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." But if the most perfect are liable, how much more the others! The sins into which Christians are liable to fall are of two classes. First: Those that are common to all men. Sins of carnality, avarice, pride, indulgence, envy, jealousy, &c. Secondly: Those that are peculiar to the Christian profession. What are they? (1) Intolerant doctrinalism. There has been in all ages a tendency in those who profess Christianity to regard their own creed as the very Gospel itself. He who questions any of its tenets, is an infidel; he who opposes it, is a heretic unfit for freedom, if not for life. Hence, alas! professing Christians have in all ages been amongst the most acrimonious of polemics, the most bloody of persecutors. (2) Exaggerated pietism. Professing Christians have often paid more attention to pious devotions than to moral conduct. Hence many in all ages who have been distinguished for the earnestness with which they have attended to the forms of devotion have been found sadly wanting in that straight-❘ forwardness, veracity, uprightness, and generosity which are the glory of social life, and the invariable attributes of genuine Christianity. It is suggested

III. That the sins into which Christians fall EXPOSE CHRIS

seen

TIANITY TO BLAME. "Is, therefore, Christ the minister of sin?" The question implies that the sins of Christians would by some be charged on Christ, and so they have. In all ages men have judged Christianity by its professed disciples. They have Christ only as He has appeared in the mirror of narrow creeds, arrogant churches, conflicting sects, and hollow-hearted professors. And they have said, "Christ is the minister of sin." But the blame is unjust, and the imputation is groundless. First: Because all Christ's doctrines are against sin. All the

doctrines of the Bible may be regarded as a revelation of the nature, glory, and obligation of holiness. The theology of the Gospel constitutes the means and motives to virtue. Secondly: Because all Christ's precepts are against sin. Whilst not a single precept ever fell from the lips of Christ that gave sanction to a single sin in any form, the whole current of His moral teaching was an inculcation of virtue.

He sums up all by saying, "Be ye holy, even as your Father in heaven is holy." Thirdly: Because all Christ's example is against sin. Amongst the heathen the moralists always talked much better than they lived. The Pharisees, Christ tell us, "say, and do not." But Christ embodied His precepts in His life." He was the holy, harmless, undefiled, separate

THEOLOGY AND MORALITY. "And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him."-1 John ii. 3-5.

THE text suggests two thoughts concerning morality—

I. IT IS THE ONLY PROOF OF A TRUE THEOLOGY. "Hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his command

ments." First: Obedience is the certain result of a true theology. To know God is to love Him. Indeed, John repeatedly teaches that where He is not loved, He is not known; and where He, therefore, is loved He will be obeyed. If we love Him we shall keep His commandments. (1.) Keep them heartily. It is a law of the heart to endeavour to please him we love. (2.) Keep them joyously. What we do in love we always do joyously. The labour of love is the music of life. Secondly: Disobedience is a proof of a false theology. "He that saith I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments. is a liar, and the truth is not in him." This verse represents thousands of nominal Christians. They boast in their knowledge of God, they exult in their theology. And yet in their conduct they are selfish, worldly, false, ungenerous. They are, therefore, "liars." Where there is great orthodoxy there is often great falsehood. There is another thought suggested by the text concerning morality

II. ITS SPIRIT IS THE DEVELOPMENT OF TRUE THEOLOGY.

What is the spirit of genuine morality? Love. And this love is in the obedient man. His conduct is the effect and expression of God's love, he could not obey without love. "Love is the fulfilling of the law." The love is "perfection -completed or filled up in His

"

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I. This is a RIGHTEOUS Occupation. This will appear in the following observations. First : It agrees with the profoundest instincts of our souls. My heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God." The hunger of all hungers is the hunger of the soul for God. It is the hunger of the river for the ocean-every particle heaves towards it, and rests not until it finds it. The soul wants God-nothing less. Give it the mighty universe, and it will be empty without Him. Secondly It is stimulated by the manifestations of nature. His footprints are everywhere, and they invite us to pursue His march. His voice echoes everywhere. There is no speech or language where it is not heard," and like the tones of a mother it draws us after Him. Every object in the universe is a finger-post pointing the soul to Him-every sound in nature is a note inviting to His presence. Thirdly: It is en

couraged by the declarations of the Bible. 66 Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him whilst He is near.' "Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you." Fourthly: It is aided by the manifestations of Christ." "Christ is the brightness of His Father's glory," &c. "In Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." All this shows that a search after God is a righteous occupation.

II. This is a USEFUL Occupation. First: There is no occupation so spirit-quickening. The idea of God to the soul is what the sunbeam is to nature. No other idea has such a lifegiving power. It touches all the spring of being, puts every faculty on the stretch.

Secondly: There is no occupation so spirit-humbling. Pride is one of the chief demons of the heart, and the idea of God alone can exorcise it. In the presence of God we feel our nothingness. Thirdly: There is no occupation so spiritennobling. The higher the pursuit of the man the more ennobling its influence upon his soul. He who searches after God rises infinitely superior to all mean and anxious cares concerning wealth, power, or fame. When the soul feels itself before God, the majesty of kings, and the splendour of empires are but childish toys.

III. This is an ENDLESS occupation. "Canst thou by searching find out God?"

Never fully. The finite can never comprehend the Infinite. It would be easier to put all the oceans of the world into a nutshell than for a creature to span immensity, easier to count the atoms of the globe than to count the ages of eternity. First This endless work agrees with the inexhaustible powers of our nature. We have faculties that never find a development here, not even in the case of those who have wrought most earnestly at the highest work for the longest time. Searching after anything less than the Infinite would never bring out into full and vigorous action the immeasurable potentialities within us. Secondly: This endless work agrees with the instinct of mystery within us. The soul wants mystery. Without mystery there is no inqusitiveness, no wonder, no adoration, no self-abnegation. In mystery we find the highest poetry of being, in mystery the sublimest worship. Reduce the universe to a series of intellectually appreciable propositions, bring God within the compass of our observation, and what are we then? Soulless clerks, nothing

more.

CONCLUSION.-Thank God there are some things which we can and ought to find out concerning the Infinite, even here and now. We can find out the principle that rules Him in all His operations. What is that? The moral heart of His

very Being is LOVE. We can appreciate love. "The secrets of the Lord are with them that fear Him." We can and ought to find out His FATHERHOOD. We can understand and appreciate the father. The first feelings of love felt within us were toward a father, the first name pronounced was father. God is our Father, and we may know Him as such.

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THE CHRISTIAN WARFARE.

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might," &c.—Eph. vi. 10-17. THE reason why we have to engage in this warfare, and need to maintain it, is because we are surrounded by enemies. The warfare is spiritual, and so, too, are the weapons. The figure employed is bold and striking.

I. THE WARFARE. It is not waged against man, but against the devil. It costs much to subdue our own flesh and blood; to bring every feeling and thought into obedience to Christ is a formidable task; but there is a fight beyond this. Nor is it with hostility in the world that we have to contend. These are only the outworks, or engines; the real foe is behind. He is subtle, strong, agile. He is a prince over many. They agree to hinder and harass. The fight is hot, resolute, full of direct purpose and aim"we wrestle." It is perilous,