evident, that in this way God teaches that heathen; for at every new transgression, his idea of God's mercy must be greatly enlarged, until at last it becomes completely associated with his moral nature. The willingness to do God's will, the sin against God's law, the repentance, or shame, or trouble, followed by the hope of mercy-these are a three-fold cord, which cannot easily be broken. Take away any one of the three, and there will be an end of God's dealings or teaching. Take away the first at any stage of the man's existence, and let him cease to be willing to give ear to conscience, to do God's will, and his becomes the state of a lost spirit, from which there is no recovery. Take away the second, and the man's moral nature would remain untrained and untried. Take away the third, and as in the case of the first, he becomes an impenitent and hardened spirit; the heathen in such a case sins without law, and shall perish without law; and he is as truly guilty of despising the mercy of God, as one who tramples under foot the blood of the Son of God.

The process of regeneration or reprobation has been the same in its nature in all hearts from the beginning, and will continue so until the end. The means of its accomplishment have varied according to the knowledge and the circumstances of the individuals tried; but in every case each may be said to be placed in precisely the same position that Adam was in paradise, so that in the fulness of the time, the equity and the justice of Jehovah will be revealed. Among christians the process is in no respect different from the supposed case of the heathen. In order to the regeneration or the reprobation of any man, conscience must be awakened within him; God must speak to him; the word must enter his mind.

The

The message is a very simple and intelligible one. preacher proclaims the truth, or in some other way the idea enters the man's mind that he is a sinner, and needs mercy. He is told-God will forgive you in Christ. His case is actually more favourable, and his position more advantageous than Adam's was; and what is asked is so much less as to require the aid of a moral microscope to discover any thing at all. In fact, God says, will you be saved? and when that fails, He reiterates times innumerable within the man, "As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die." (Ezekiel xxxiii. 12.) When all remonstrance fails to move the obstinate impenitent; when he has repeatedly despised the mercy of God, offered as it has been to him freely and unconditionally; before giving him up, the scene which was witnessed as Jesus came near to Jerusalem, and beheld the city, is re-enacted; and it is as if the compassionate Redeemer wept, saying, "If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes." (Luke xix. 42.) "Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come." (Matt. xii. 31, 32.) There shall be none condemned except those who commit this sin; and it is the sin of every one, Jew and Gentile, christian professor and heathen, who

despises the mercy of God, and does despite unto the Spirit of grace. From Cain, the first blasphemer against the Holy Ghost, down to the last, the spirit in each is the same if they hold the truth in their mind, it is in unrighteousness, and they love it not. So far from being penitent or asking for mercy, they peremptorily refuse it when offered to them. Theirs is the spirit of the devil; and they are said to worship the beast which Satan has set up in this world. They of their own will choose darkness rather than light; they perform an act of homage to the spirit of wickedness, and extinguish voluntarily, with premeditation, in spite of the strivings of God's Spirit in their minds, the light of life within them, which is their conscience: and from henceforth, such is their awful malignity and hatred of the light, if it shines in others around them, that like Cain, their countenances fall, and if they have the power, they possess the will to kill God's witnesses. It is not possible to renew them, and that is a strong expression; and explains how God's anxiety for their salvation is in perfect harmony with their destruction. If they could be saved, if it were possible to make them willing to accept of mercy, it would be done; or if not done, there would be something to trouble believers even in heaven. But this is the mystery of iniquity; angels and men in whom works the spirit of disobedience, not given them by another or inherited by descent, but of their own choosing, each having deliberately formed his own will in opposition to the will of God: all who have done so have committed the sin against the Holy Ghost; have sinned wilfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth; and such are in a state so terrible, that it is not possible, even with God, to renew them; even with that

God with whom nothing is impossible but two things, and these are the countenancing of evil, and the infringement of the will of any creature without destroying it. What a solemn, what an awful thought-a selfwill, an obstinate will is beyond the control of God Himself. God can restrain its visible manifestations, and He can also overrule all its acts which it does not please Him to restrain, and He makes even the volitions of wicked angels and men to praise Him; but the will itself he cannot control, for it is the spirit of the man; and if God exercised His power at all, the effect must be the annihilation of the man's will. Fallen angels and impenitent men must either be allowed to live in rebellion, under external restraint, or they must be destroyed: their doom must be either utter annihilation or endless torment. The Scriptures seem to favour both ideas, and here again the sword of truth is two-edged. They are said to go away into everlasting punishment; and they are also said to be punished with everlasting destruction from the glory of the Lord, and the presence of His power. It is said, their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched; and it is also said, they shall be burnt up. It is said, the third part of ships were destroyed, and the third part of the moon was smitten, which signifies the third of mankind; and yet it is also said, there shall be a resurrection of the just and the unjust. It is said, the rich man lifted up his eyes in hell, being in torment; and it is also written, that the Judge shall say, bring hither mine enemies which would not that I should reign over them, and slay them before me.

Godliness, although a great mystery, has a centre; the two-edged sword of truth, in relation to it, meets in Christ; and all the mystery of godliness can be

made plain when viewed in His incarnation. The great mystery of godliness is a sovereign will made a submissive will; and through that wondrous mystery is accomplished another effect, the mystery of which is equally great; rebellious wills are made sovereign wills by first becoming submissive wills. The manner of the accomplishment of this is taught in the symbols of bread and wine used in the observance of the Lord's supper; and the case of the disciples journeying towards Emmaus, when the Lord drew near and went with them, is a practical illustration of it; for although He walked with them, their eyes were holden that they should not know Him. They were able to relate all that happened unto Jesus at Jerusalem; they trusted He would have redeemed Israel, and they had actually been told that Christ was risen from the dead. Still they believed not; and beginning at Moses, and all the prophets, Jesus expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself; and as He talked with them by the way, and while He opened to them the Scriptures, their hearts did burn within them. They drew nigh unto the village, whither they went, and Jesus made as though He would have gone further. But they constrained Him, saying, Abide with us; for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And He went in to tarry with them. Now, this is a most perfect illustration of the way in which Christ presents Himself to all men. This is what is elsewhere called the knocking at the door of their hearts, the opening of their understandings, that they may understand the Scriptures. It is not the opening of the heart that Christ may enter, for that can only be done by the man himself from within; but it is the knocking at the door demanding his attention to the