repulsive subject, and the darkest shadow, will open out into the brightness of Eternal Truth.

There is in our nature this evil called Sin. It is silently confessed when Conscience wakes and warns the soul, and publicly confessed in the public worship of God. Are we satisfied with this occasional sense and public confession of Sin, without any inquiry into its nature and consequences? Have we asked with the earnestness of those who feel the question of the utmost importance, What is this Sin that dwelleth in me? and how can it be put away?

This question, of infinite importance to every one, is treated by many as though the less it were thought upon the better; as though to forget it would lessen responsibility on account of it. Sin dwells in the heart, and flows on in the life unquestioned; its right never disputed; until the soul and its sin depart together. Both together are hidden from earthly view; it is taken for granted that all is well with the departed; the question whether the Sin that was in it here has followed it to the World of spirits, is not considered; no disquietude is felt by those who are left; no solicitude because of their own sinful nature; they seem to expect that in some unknown way, before they quit this mortal life, the Sin that they own to will be separated from them, though now they seek no deliverance from its presence and its conse

quences.

Others appear to feel that by fulfilling every

duty in earthly relationship, by acting from right motives and principles, they do all that they can; and that any Sin of nature must be left to a merciful God to forgive. But the question returns in its searching inquiry, 'Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean ? Not one!' If the very nature we inherit be unclean by reason of the Sin that dwelleth in it, unclean in the sight of that God who is of purer eyes than to behold evil' (Hab. i. 13), then every duty it fulfils, every motive that guides and every principle that governs it, is shut out for ever from the divine acceptance or recognition; because the nature itself is sinful and Sin is the one only thing in all the Universe that God accounts 'an evil thing.' 'Know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord.' (Jer. ii. 19.) Job, as a man, the most perfect and upright, was given up to the trial of adversity under the teaching of God in the Light of the Divine Presence, until he saw and felt the indwelling Sin of his nature, and was brought to the heartfelt confession, I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.' (Job, ii. xlii.) Sin is that evil, wherever it is found and in whatever degree, on which the wrath of God must eternally fasten, God continuing Holy and Sin remaining Sinful, For our God is a consuming Fire.' (Heb. xii. 29.)

But another fact stands face to face with this evil fact of Sin in our nature; a blessed and glorious

fact; in which a state, present and eternal, is offered to man, infinitely more blessed than he knew before Sin entered; a state in which man is called to stand no longer in himself, but to seek and find in another, even in the only Begotten Son of God, infinitely more than he lost by Sin. This glorious fact is proclaimed and acknowledged in the public worship of God, but how many there are who leave it to this general acknowledgment and distant view! The Angels desire to look into these things (1 Pet. i. 12), though He took not on Him the nature of Angels; though the Angels who kept not their first estate are reserved in everlasting chains, under Darkness, to the Judgment of the Last Day (Jude, 6); but man, whose Brother, partaker of whose flesh and blood the Christ became, that man might be changed into the divine image, and called to Eternal Glory by Christ Jesus; man, sinful, and redeemed by the precious Blood of the Lord Jesus, looks coldly from a distance on this blessed Hope, expecting that in some way, before, or at the end of all things here, this almost unknown Sin will be met by this almost unknown remedy, and that then all will be well.

Is it wise to keep these all-important questions at a distance, unsettled and almost unknown, seeing that in the answer to them lies everlasting happiness, or everlasting woe? Must not the day come, we know not how soon, when the distant will draw near? It may be suddenly, when least ex

pected. • Be ye therefore ready,' is the divine warning, for the Son of Man cometh at an hour when ye think not.' (Luke, xii. 40.) If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.' (Rev. iii. 3.) Why should we not bring these questions home to our hearts now, and find, at once and for ever in our own experience, the blessed reality that Divine Truth always unfolds to the humble inquirer at her gates? Blessed is the man that heareth Me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. For whoso findeth Me, findeth Life, and shall obtain favour of the Lord. But he that sinneth against Me wrongeth his own soul; all they that hate Me love Death.' (Prov. viii.)

There are those who have thought on these things, and found the knowledge of the blessed remedy provided by God for deliverance from the condemnation of sin, and yet they cannot assure their hearts before Him. (1 John, iii. 19.) He that walketh in darkness, knoweth not whither he goeth.' (John, xii. 35.) If we walk in the Light, as He is in the Light, we have fellowship one with another (with God ?), and the Blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.' (1 John, i. 7.) And Jesus said, 'I am the Light of the World, he that followeth Me shall not walk in Darkness, but shall have the Light of Life.' (John, viii. 12.) Yet the Gospel comes not to them in much assurance. (1 Thess. i. 12.) Probably the most frequent cause of a continuance.

in this uncertain state is the partial knowledge of what Sin is. They look at Sin in its repeated acts, not in its nature as it abides in the soul. They weigh the measure of their Sin against the measure of God's mercy; they question whether their oftreturning sins will outlast the endurance of God's mercy. Could they but once see the real nature of Sin, they would give up all hope in themselves, they would by Faith go utterly out of themselves, into Christ, taking their stand before God only and entirely in JESUS, whom God hath set forth to be the Propitiation for our Sins. (Rom. iv. 25; 1 John, iv. 10.) They would learn to say, 'In the Lord have I Righteousness and strength' (Isa. xlv. 24), and with humble Hope and joyful Faith to know that they are 'complete in Him,' 'in whom dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.' (Col. ii. 9, 10.) For who shall assault the soul which has filed for refuge to the Hope that God hath set before it? Those Glad Tidings of Good freely given and freely accepted must bring everlasting Consolation and Good Hope through Grace. (2 Thess. ii. 16.)

Others accept the Hope set before them, they believe all the revelation of Divine Truth as it is in Jesus (Eph. iv. 21); but they hold it coldly. They own that it does not burn in their hearts, nor brighten on their minds, nor glow on their lips; and they sometimes fear that its Light does not shine in them; they confess this and mourn it, but are cold still. May not the cause of this coldness of heart