Lastly. We say again, Herein is love.' Again, we point to the unsought mercy of Him who so loved the world that He gave His Son, his only Son, to be the propitiation for our sins; and "We love Him because He first loved us." And more than this, when we tell you that He says, 'Herein is love!' we tell you that He says, to every one of you, "My son, give me thy heart!" Oh! give Him your hearts, that He may fill them with His love, even as He has filled the sun with light; then as the pure light flows forth from the sun, which God has filled with light, so shall love flow forth from your heart, 'which God has filled with love. This revealed love of God to you, as it is the spring of all your life and all your love, will be also the spring of all your duties and of all your service. Without this love in your hearts, you will know nothing as a child of God ought to know: without this love in your hearts, you will do nothing as a child of God ought to do it. This must be the vital energy of all your obedience; this, the sweet source of all your happiness. You may drag on in a dull round of heartless duties, with a drowsy conscience, and self-satisfied spirit; but you will be an utter stranger to that inner life which is, the heritage of all the children of God, which is itself joy unspeakable and full of glory.

But, O my friends! my dear friends! does the thought never come across you, that all this love, if disregarded, must have an end. This time of trial must have an end; this costly and sacred pupiliation an end! The freely offered gospel of salvation an end! The preaching of this gospel an end! The Father's surpassing love an end! The patience of the very Lamb of of God an end! The Spirit's ministration to your heart an end! Nay, all the bright and magnificent array of gospel promises and gospel privileges, if you are still disregarding or despising them, are even now like a glorious vision melting into thin air before your very eyes. The day of the Lord is at hand, when every one of us must give an account of himself to God.' May God the Spirit so shed abroad the love of God in your hearts; may your love be made so perfect, that herein you may have boldness in the day of judgment. We cannot change your hearts, we cannot make this love precious to your souls; but we can pray. And oh! how earnestly, how with my very heart and soul, do I pray that you may find mercy of the Lord in that day!

SERMON VI.

FORGIVENESS.

MATTHEW VI. 14, 15.

"For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But, if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."

THE Word of God is distinguished by this great excellence-nothing can be plainer than the language in which it teaches plain duties. The portion of Scripture which I have now brought before you is one of these plain-spoken passages. Jesus, the Friend and Saviour of sinners, had taught His followers how to pray. After this manner pray ye.' He gave them that glorious form of prayer, which has since been called from Him, 'The Lord's Prayer.' He singles out one sentence, one petition of this prayer, and He makes a remark or two upon that petition. His

remarks are plain and striking, and cannot easily be misunderstood. For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but, if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.'

What a weight of meaning there is in that word, 'Forgive!' As we think upon that single word, the high and glorious privileges of the glorious gospel of the grace of God seem to hang upon it, are comprehended by it. Forgive! Yes, but it speaks to us not only of our privileges, it calls upon us to consider and to practise our duty. As thou art forgiven, so do thou forgive. Forgive! It is the very watchword of peace; God thus declaring Himself a covenant God, and reconciling the sinner unto Himself. God speaking peace to the troubled conscience; and man seeking peace with his fellow man, forgiving, as he himself has been forgiven.

I. The lesson taught is peculiarly a gospel lesson. All the other petitions in the Lord's prayer, we are told, had been in use as forms of prayer among the Jews; this portion of the prayer, and this alone, was new to the Jews. Alas! it is new to the nature of every fallen man! "A new commandment I give unto you," said the forgiving Jesus, "that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all

men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another."

"If ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But, if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." In the eleventh chapter of St. Mark's gospel, our Lord first assures his disciples, that what things soever they desire when they pray, if they believe that they receive them, they shall have them; and He then adds, "And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any; that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses." How very plain this is! It would seem impossible for any one not to understand the duty so plainly taught him. But it is not by what we understand, or what we do not understand; it is not by the plain sense of such plain teaching that we regulate our conduct. There is a deep radical opposition in the unrenewed mind of man to the mind of God, which makes him as it were blind in day-light, deaf with the voice speaking in his ears, unconcerned in the midst of the most awful realities. For the removal of this unrenewed mind, and for the grace of God to be given specially to each one of us, *John xiii. 34, 35.