1. The mercies of His Providence include life, health, home, food, raiment, friends, peace, with all the provision which is made for our support and comfort in the present world. We never appreciate those favours as we ought; we enjoy them as a matter of course, and being of daily occurrence, we think little or nothing of them. Were we cast on a barren shore, houseless, friendless, foodless, clotheless, how different would be our feelings in respect to what we now call common necessaries? If we were even for a day exposed to the scorching rays of a tropical sun, or to the piercing cold of a frigid winter without shade or shelter, how we should then value a comfortable home, and a cheering fireside. If we were subjected for a few days without an atom of food or a particle of water, how we should value a well-spread table and a clear fountain stream. If our country were subjected to the devastations of an invading army, our homes ransacked, our property destroyed, and ourselves and families in momentary danger of death, how we should value the blessings of peace and quietness. If God were pleased to deprive us of health, and we were called upon to spend week after week and month after month in pining sickness, how we should then value the precious boon which we now so often neglect. Or if we were driven to dwell in a solitary cave far from the society of man, how we should then value the sympathy of our friends. God studies our comforts and "giveth us richly all things to enjoy." These are some of the providential" mercies of God."

2. The greatest of His mercies are those of His grace, beginning with the "unspeakable gift" of His only begotten Son, and continuing to dispense with His spiritual favours to each individual child as his necessities may require. The storehouse of His mercies is always full. In Christ "all fulness dwells," and "we are complete in him." It is to those spiritual mercies the apostle refers more especially in our text; for in the preceding chapter he speaks of the gracious provision which God has made through His Son, and declared by the Gospel to both Jews and Gentiles. Though the Jews

were for a time excluded because of unbelief, but "blindness in part (only) is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in." "For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance;" He giveth liberally to all" and upbraideth not." Contemplating the boundless wealth of His favours, St. Paul exclaims, "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!" Then he comes to the conclusion: "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God," if any thing can induce you to "present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God," this must. When you think of the sacrifice which He has made in the gift of His only begotten Son; when you think that for His sake He gives you His Spirit, accompanied with every necessary blessing to promote your strength, and consolation through life; when you think that He will be your Friend in death, and after that introduce you to eternal glory; what stronger inducements can you receive to dedicate yourselves unto Him in return? "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service."

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The Third Sunday after the Epiphany.

MORNING SERVICE.-Second Lesson: Matt. xix.

Verse 26.-" But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible."

GOD and man are infinitely apart from each other. When we consider the essence of each, the nature of each, the attributes of each, we may justly ask the question, "How is it possible that parties so distant should see and act alike?" This distance consists both in knowledge and in power of acting. God is supremely wise, having all the sources for treasures of wisdom concentrated in Himself. Man, with all his boasted knowledge and intellectual powers, is shortsighted and deplorably ignorant. God is Almighty, having all power and authority in His own hand. Man is a feeble and helpless creature, having no power to save either himself or others. How can he, therefore, presume to be equal with God?

You perceive that the text was spoken by our Saviour in connexion with a conversation which He had just held with a young man who asked Him, "What good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?" It was a prudent question, one of vital importance, and one which we should all ask. This young man possessed a good moral character; Christ is said to have loved him; but he was notwithstanding totally destitute of faith in God. He had kept the commandments (at least according to his notion of keeping them) from his youth up; but when he was told to sell his possessions and give to the poor, that he might have treasure in heaven, he was touched in his weakest point. His covetous heart could not submit to dispense with the riches and grandeur of this world for the sake of unknown wealth and an unseen heaven.

To be the follower of the poor, homeless Jesus of Nazareth, was too much for his pride to endure. He wished to obtain heaven, but it must be in conjunction with reserving his heart's idol. He could not take up his cross and deny himself; he could not make any sacrifice of worldly riches; they were too dear to his mind. "He went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions." This drew forth the remark from our Saviour, "Verily I say unto you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven." Then, to explain His meaning more fully, He employs a simile: "And again I say unto you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." The camel being the largest animal with which they were acquainted in Judea, its name became proverbial for denoting anything large, and a camel passing through a needle's eye came to express a thing apparently impossible. Our Lord does not mean to say that it is impossible for a rich man to enter heaven, for in St. Mark's Gospel the expression is qualified: "How hard it is for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God." It is not the possession of riches, but the love of riches that shuts out of heaven. The disciples, being astonished at this difficulty, asked the question, "Who then can be saved?" If there be so many difficulties in the way of the rich, who possess so many advantages, what shall become of the poor, who have to contend with so many obstacles? "Who then can be saved?" The reply is our text. "But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With man this is impossible; but with God all things are possible."

There are two things suggested in this reply. First, man's impossibilities, and why? Secondly, God's possibilities, and why?

I. Man's impossibilities, and why?

Man's impossibilities are here mentioned in particular, whilst God's possibilities are mentioned in general. Our Lord does not refer to man's inability to enter fully into the

mysterious nature of things generally; that is a self-evident fact. He refers to his special inability to comprehend the way of salvation as represented by the Gospel. The disciples, confused by the declaration of the difficulties in the way of a man to enter the kingdom of God possessing such an unimpeachable moral character as the one standing before them, asked the question, "Who then can be saved?" It was in answer to this question He said, "With men this is impossible." There is nothing so hard to the carnal mind as to understand how a sinner can be saved according to the Gospel plan; and, hard as it is to understand, it is harder still to submit to. It requires too little by way of human merit, and too much by way of human trust. All men entertain some opinion of the way of salvation. It is a subject which universally occupies the human mind. There are but few men indifferent to it among either civilized or barbarian nations. But their notions are as contending as their religions are various. The Brahmin and Buddhist think that it may be procured by a diligent attention to the rites of their religion. All heathen nations hope to be saved by meritorious offerings to their respective deities. The Mohammedan is confident of obtaining it by a strict adherence to the regulations of his prophet. Even Christian nations form notions of entering the kingdom of heaven far different from what we are taught in the records of the Gospel. We find one class of persons teaching that salvation is to be obtained by the observance of ceremonial rites, and a due regard to the external forms of the religion which they profess. We find another class of persons forming a ladder to heaven by meritorious acts of charity and almsgiving. We find another class of persons sinking into the labyrinths of rationalism, whose votaries think that if they follow the dictates of reason they must be on the right road, and God will not punish them at last for what they affirm they cannot help. A spirit of opposition to the truth has always been the character of the world. Mankind wish to enjoy their errors and crimes in tranquillity; and as that false tranquillity cannot be preserved but by