indited, proclaiming Jesus to be the Saviour of sinners, his righteousness to be the righteousness of God, and his glorious work the judgment of Satan.

In resisting that testimony you do not resist the thoughts of men, or the words of men, but you resis the record of God and the testimony of God; and "if he that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses, of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?"

It is the Spirit of grace who witnesses for Jesus. You remember his testimony when, as a rushing mighty wind, he came down on the day of Pentecost. Wondrous testimony, sealed by the salvation of three thousand, who a few days before had shouted, "Crucify him, crucify him, away with such a fellow from the earth." In Acts ii. 22, we read, "Ye men of Israel . . . Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you. Slain, raised, and to the right hand of God exalted, and having received the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear. Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call."

When the Lord Jesus came down to earth he asserted

who he was, and gave tokens and evidences of why and whence he came; he opened the eyes of the blind; he unstopped the ears of the deaf; he raised the dead; and so, when God the Holy Ghost came down on the day of Pentecost to bear witness to him, he, too, opened the eyes of the blind soul; he unstopped the ears of the deaf soul; he quickened with the life of God the dead soul, and every day and season in which that testimony is proclaimed, the work goes on; blind eyes are enlightened, dead souls are quickened, alienated ones are saved. Go on, blessed Comforter, till every eye sees his beauty, till every ear hears his voice, till every heart loves his name, whom thou didst come down from heaven to glorify.

"When he is come he will convince the world of sin... because they believe not on me."

Oh, brethren, am I addressing one who does not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? Perhaps you all say, and say it from your hearts too, "We do believe upon him." But, oh, do you believe upon him? Do you believe God's testimony concerning him, that he has settled the debt of sin? that God is "well pleased for his righteousness' sake?” that there is no other righteousness under the heavens required by God or needed by you? Do you believe that, and that, believing, you stand before God in him accepted and forgiven? If you do not, you do not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

"When he is come, he will convince the world of sin... because they believe not on me." Many of you think more of other sins than you do of this, which the Holy Ghost here seems to single out as the only sin worth naming—not to believe on Jesus.

"When he is come he will convince the world . . . of righteousness." Why? "Because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more." Observe the beauty of the argument. The Lord means to say, I go to my Father as your Repre

sentative: that could not be, he would not receive me if the atonement I came to make was not accepted. And ye

66

see me no more:" that would not be, if the righteousness I came to accomplish was not completed; I would come back again to fulfil that which was unfulfilled, and accomplish that which I had not accomplished, ye see me no more. 'When he is come he will convince" or convict "the world . . . of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. This judgment began when the Son of God became incarnate. The voice of the babe of Bethlehem heard in our earth was the judgment of the prince of this world. Not the earthquake; nor the storm, nor the fire, nor the stormy wind under the mountains; but the still small voice told the Lord was there again in the wilderness, unaided and alone. He baffled him who baffled our race. The Son of God was manifested to destroy the works of the Devil. The stronger than the strong man armed had come upon him, till upon the cross of Calvary, hanging in weakness, a sacrifice for sin, cast from earth and heaven, he spoiled "principalities and powers, and made a shew of them, openly triumphing over them in Himself." And then, rising again from the dead, he scattered them, as it is written: "Rise up, Lord, and let thine enemies be scattered, and let them also that hate thee flee before thee." Then, in his ascension, he triumphed over them, as we read, Eph. iv.: "When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive,”—death and hell, captives to his returning and triumphant chariot wheels. And as great conquerors in old times, when returning triumphantly to the capitol, they scattered gifts, so it is said that when the Lord Jesus had led captivity captive, he "gave gifts unto men, yea, to the rebellious also"-even to His enemies, "that

the Lord God might dwell among them." The great gift was the gift of the Holy Ghost, bestowed upon the sons of men, in consequence of the everlasting triumph of the

Lord Jesus Christ over Satan, and death, and hell. "And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers." Every messenger sent forth to proclaim the salvation of Christ is a gift of the Holy Ghost, and the Holy Ghost witnesses by the message and in the messenger, and the issue must be and shall be a savour of death unto death or of life unto life, the conviction or conversion of all mankind. The "prince of this world" is judged when God looks at his precious Christ, exalted in our nature to his right hand, our Prophet, Priest, and King. All Satan's claim over us, and all his accusations against us, are more than silenced and answered. "No weapon formed against us shall prosper, and every mouth opened against us in judgment we shall condemn; this is the heritage of the servants of the Lord." Sealed to them in him who is exalted far "above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named," and who represents them there; and securing to us, that "neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come; nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from him. The only question is, Do we believe upon him? Ah, is it possible that any of us should close our eyes to the evidence, and our hearts to the love, and our convictions to the fact, that Jesus was here because God sent him to save sinners, and that the Holy Ghost is here because he accomplished that which he was sent to perform?

My friends, may God teach you and teach me to understand and realize and live in the truth that he loved poor sinners, and gave himself for them.

We hope to consider the judgment of this world more fully next day.

A SERMON

BY

THE REV. MARCUS RAINSFORD,

Preached on Sunday Morning, May 22nd, 1870.

“Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged."-JOHN xvi. 11.

LAST Sunday we entered upon the subject of which the

text forms a part, but I was not able to finish it.

You will remember our Lord was speaking of the evidence which the presence and testimony of the Holy Ghost would afford to mankind as to Christ's person, who he was, and the consequences of his work and exaltation at the right hand of God, as head of all things to his Church. The coming of the Comforter sent by him, as the result of his death, resurrection, ascension, and coronation in glory, would, he declares, "reprove the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment ”—the three great matters which his disciples were commissioned and sent forth to proclaim to mankind; thus endorsing their message, confronting their adversaries, silencing all opposition, and convincing or converting the world. Not every sin needs the Holy Ghost to descend from Heaven to reprove us of; conscience and the light of nature are quite sufficient to reprove men concerning most things which the world calls sin. But there is one sin the greatest of all, the condemning sin, the root whence all other sins

SERM. IX.