tribulation, if you be Christians, there is not one atom of wrath in the severest blow, in the sorest tribulation; it is paternal love, it is chastisement; not expiation, for there is no expiation needed, and if it were needed, you are not able to perform or present it.

If Christ obeyed the law, for us and in our stead, then my obedience to that law is not in order to earn heaven. Any man who tries to do good works, as they are called, or to give alms, in order to get a step nearer heaven, or a lift higher on the ladder that bears to heaven, mistakes altogether the nature of Christianity, and ignores the very substance of the Gospel of Christ. A Christian does what God bids him, and obeys what God prescribes, because he is God's son, and loves his Father; because he has got heaven, and out of gratitude for the gift he delights to do the will of the great and beneficent Giver. Hence the Christian's obedience to God's law, or word, or will, is an obedience springing from love; there is nothing mercenary in it; there is nothing in any sense or shape on account of which he looks for heaven from it; he does it because of instinctive love and of overflowing gratitude; and if he were to attempt to do it in order to get to heaven, he would see the absurdity of it in a moment. Heaven is given him; what is the use of paying for what you have; what would be the use of toiling for what is already possessed? You are saved by grace; and saved by grace you have nothing to do to earn what is already a free, sovereign, instant, and glorious gift.

If such be the complete Saviour here represented, who has borne my sins, and therefore I have no expiation to make, and no sins to be cursed and condemned for; and, secondly, if he has obeyed the law, and brought

in everlasting righteousness, so that I am not called upon to obey the law in order to deserve heaven,-then in Christ thus preached I am complete; I need no confessions to a priest, save the secret and silent confession of the heart to the Great High Priest that is in heaven; I need no miserable absolutions from sacerdotal hands, for I am absolved perfectly by Him who pardoneth and absolveth all them that truly repent and unfeignedly believe his holy Gospel; I need no penance performed by me, for I have nothing to expiate; Christ expiated it all.

If you grasp this great truth I have tried in simple words to express, the truth that Martin Luther justly called the article of a standing or a falling Church, you will never become victims either to Puseyite or Papist; either to St. Barnabas or to St. Peter; because you need none of their prescriptions, you want nothing of their manipulation; you have got all that you need to lift you to a throne of glory; and however much obliged for their kindly offer of good services, you beg to be excused the use and employment of them; for you have found One in whom you are completely justified, completely forgiven; and there is no spot nor blemish for these ecclesiastical expiations, even if efficacious, to wash away. Such then is Christ, whom we preach.

Let me show what is Christ's mission; but before I do so let me express what I have been trying to say in very few beautiful lines :

"If all the sins that men have done,
In will, in word, in thought, in deed,
Were laid on one poor sinner's head;
The blood of Christ, that crimson sea,
At once would cleanse the guilt away."

What, let me now ask, is Christ's mission? In other words, what has he come into the world to do? I will express it in his own words: " I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." Who are the righteous? Where to find them is another question; but who are they? Those that have loved God every second of every minute of every hour of every day of every year, without suspension, without faltering, with all their heart, and all their soul, and all their strength; and, secondly, who have loved their neighbour just as they have loved themselves. Every man loves himself intensely; and if you love your neighbour as yourself, then the righteous have laboured evermore to do their neighbour good; they have been thoughtless of their own wants, however great, and have sympathised with a brother's wants, however small; and they have loved their neighbour without one transient sensation of pride, envy, hatred, suspicion, or uncharitableness of any kind or of any degree. These are the righteous.

Now, we know there is not a righteous man within the walls of any church on earth. It is no lie, it is no calumny-it is sober Scripture truth, to tell you that there is not one living man who answers to this description. If any man thinks that he belongs to this class, we have no gospel for him; there is no Saviour for him; he has no business here. Such are healthy men in an hospital, taking medicine for which you have no use; there is no gospel, no Saviour, no salvation for such Christ says he came to call not the righteous, but sinners to repentance. But if there are none but sinners, what a glorious message have I for you, when I tell you he is come to call sinners to repentance; he is come to save sinners only; he is come to seek and

to save them that are lost. I ask not whether your sin be your misfortune or whether it be your fault; whether it be the shadow of an awful inheritance, or the deed of yesterday or of last year. I ask not whether you sway a sceptre or sweep a crossing; what you may have done or what you may have left undone : if thy heart smites thee, oh man, with conviction of sin, and thy memory, as you turn over its leaves, shows only the deepening and darkening record of many a transgression; if you have loved man more than God; if you have loved wealth more than your Saviour; if you have loved the romance that stimulates and excites, but not feeds, more than the Bible; if you have loved the opera more than the sanctuary; if you have preferred a day in the playhouse to hours in the house of God-whatever be the past-however black the catalogue of your sins, Christ has come from a height of glory to which an angel's wing never soared; and he has come to thee, and he stands at thy door, and he says, I am come to save thee; for this is a faithful saying, "Jesus Christ is come into the world to save sinners; of whom," says the apostle, “I am chief."

Who needs a physician ?-a sick man. Who needs medicine?—a man suffering under discase. Who needs food?-a hungry man. Who needs salvation?-a sinner. Who needs a Saviour?-one who sees that he is without strength, and ungodly, and can no more save himself than he can rise from the floor and seat himself upon a fixed star. But when I state that there is a Saviour for every depth of sin, and for every age of life, you begin to cavil. One says, But have you not sometimes preached that there is such a thing as election; and if

there be such a doctrine as election, is it not true that unless we be elect we cannot be saved? I fear that I am not elect, and therefore I fear that I shall not be saved. You say you believe the doctrine of election; well, on what authority do you believe it? You answer, On the authority of God's Word. Should you not also believe the doctrine of a Saviour, and on the same authority, God's Word? If therefore election be true, with all its impenetrable mystery, must you not be bound to accept, what at least is equally true-a Saviour for the very chiefest of sinners?

The truth is, it is not election that prevents you believing, but your stupid thoughts about election, a very different thing indeed. It is not a decree that keeps you from a Saviour, but it is your fear about a decree. If any one should say, I am elect, there is no Saviour for you; if any one should say, I am non-elect, there is no Saviour for you. The Saviour is for sinners, the oldest and the worst; but there is no Saviour for elect or non-elect; for we have nothing to do with that in preaching salvation. But some one will say, Oh, but I am so sinful, and so guilty, that though all this may be true, yet I fear there is no Saviour and no salvation for me. You say you are so sinful and guilty. I will tell you what it is; I believe you are ten times worse than you think yourself. Let me assure you that if you saw yourself as God sees you, you would be horrified. But grant all this: why, the worse you what is the logical inference? -the more you need to be cured; the worse and the more terrible the disease, the more speedily you should have recourse to a physician. This is common sense. Your idea seems to be that the worse you are the more dutiful it is

are