economy of the Son of God;-Genuine penitential confession and assured Divine forgiveness.

I.

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GENUINE PENITENTIAL CONFESSION. "David said, I have sinned against the Lord.” Two things are to be remarked in connexion with this penitential utterance :— First That he regarded social wrongs as sins against the Lord. All that appears to us in the crimes of which he was now convicted was purely social. He had robbed a wife of her virtue, violated the rights of a husband, practised falsehood, and committed murder. The whole is a series of wrongs against society. Still inasmuch as social order is a Divine institution, wrongs against society are sins against God. Things are right and wrong between man and man because Heaven has willed them so. Whatever, therefore, you do against man you do against God; and the sinner's grief, when conscience is aroused, is not so much that he has injured man, as that he has insulted his Maker. Against thee, thee only have I sinned." Injury to man is rebellion against the golden law of society, "Whatsoever ye would," &c. But we do not learn this from intellect; awakened conscience alone teaches it. The other thing to be remarked in connexion with this penitential utterance is :-Secondly: That he felt that he himself was responsible for the commission of those sins. "I have sinned." "I." He does not refer to the tempter or the temptation; does not say a word about necessity and the influences of circumstances upon his organization; no, no! all this will do very well, when conscience is sleeping, for the intellect to speculate about. But conscience despises your fatalism, dashes its logical fabrics to pieces. "I have sinned." "I acknowledge my transgression, and my sin is ever before me." The psalms xxxii, xl, li, cxxx, will reveal to you the depth of his penitence.

"And Nathan said

II. ASSURED DIVINE FORGIVENESS. unto David the Lord also hath put away thy sin." Taking this language as expressing forgiveness of sin, the following

remarks are suggested :-First: Forgiveness is a real act. It is not a mere vision, or an idea of a superstitious mind, nor a mere figure of speech;-it is a "putting away" of sin. What does this mean? (1) It does not mean putting away the necessity of present chastisement for sin. Though David's sin was put away he had to endure all the sufferings threatened in the preceding verses. "The sword shall never depart from thy house." Nor did it. And he required it as discipline. Forgiveness does not free the Christian from the necessity of suffering and death. (2) It does not mean putting away all the natural consequences of sin in this world. The natural consequences of our sin are allowed to run on to a great extent, both on ourselves and on others. A diseased old age, or a dark and feeble intellect, will grow out of the abuse of our health, and the neglect of our mind, in the sinful days of youth, though our sins have long been forgiven. The errors we have propagated, and the corrupted influences we have exerted, will go on working when we are in heaven. The Almighty allows things in this respect to take their course. (3) It does not mean putting away the memory of sin. If the soul is to retain its identity we shall never forget our sin. The sight of Christ in heaven as a "Lamb slain," will ever keep us in mind of our sin. What then does it mean? The putting of it away, as an impression of guilt upon the conscience, as a ruling power of action in the soul, as a hell in the future. Secondly: Forgiveness is an act performed by the Lord. "The Lord hath put away thy sin;" the "Lord;" no one else. No one can forgive men's sins, but the Lord. "I, even I," &c. He has a method of doing it. "Whom God hath set forth," &c. Thirdly Forgiveness is an act which delivers from death. "Thou shalt not die." "The wages of sin is "The soul that sinneth it shall die." "Thou shalt not die; even thy physical dissolution shall only be a "sleep." Fourthly: Forgiveness is an act dependent on repentance. After he confessed, the assurance came. Repent, that your sins may be blotted out," &c. Fifthly: Forgiveness

death."

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is an act with which the true minister has much to do. Whilst we repudiate the doctrine of "priestly absolution," we hold it to be the right and duty of every true minister of Christ to do what Nathan now did,-declare divine forgiveness to him who has proved the genuineness of his penitence. Are you forgiven? If so, chant as David did, the thirtysecond psalm.

SUBJECT:-Lot's Message to his Sons-in-law ;

An Illustration of the Gospel Preacher's Message to the Ungodly World.

"And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the Lord will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law."-Gen. xix. 14.

Analysis of Homily the Four Hundred and Ninety-fourth.

THE context strikes several things forcibly on our attention. First The incongruity between the material and moral departments of existence in this world. Physically Sodom was a beautiful region; Gen. xiii. 10. But morally how loathsome! Gen. xiii. 13. In this world we find in the material domain beauty and harmony, in the moral deformity and discord. Secondly: The amazing power which prayer has with the Governor of the world. This is illustrated in Abraham's intercession; Gen. xviii. 23-33. Thirdly: The existence of a moral government in connexion with the conduct of man. Sodom and Gomorrah were now visited for iniquities. Eternal justice has its eye on all that is going on here. Fourthly: The deep interest of angelic intelligences in human history. They are here seen both in connexion with Abraham and Lot. We shall now use Lot's message to his sons-in-law to illustrate the gospel preacher's message to ungodly men.

I. HIS MESSAGE TO HIS SONS-IN-LAW WAS ALARMING IN ITS NATURE. "The Lord will destroy the city." This was the

proclamation. First Their peril was great. The life and property of his sons-in-law were in peril. How great is the peril of the sinner. He is in danger of losing his soul! &c. Secondly: Their peril was the result of sin; see Gen. xviii. 20. So it is with the unconverted. Thirdly: Their peril was just at hand. A few hours and the threatened catastrophe would take place. So with the sinner. There is but a step between him and hell. Fourthly: Their peril at this moment was avoidable. If they would obey Lot and escape to "the mountains," all would be safe. So it is with the sinner. There is salvation now. There are cities of refuge provided; flee to them, and escape the Avenger. There is an ark provided, enter it and be saved amidst the wrecks of a deluged world.

II. HIS MESSAGE TO HIS SONS-IN-LAW WAS FOUNDED ON THE DIVINE AUTHORITY. The angels of God came to Lot with the message, as the two preceding verses show. First: The danger of which the gospel preacher warns the unconverted is not a dream of his own; it is a fact of divine revelation. "The wicked shall be turned into hell," &c. "He that believeth not shall be damned," &c. "These shall go away into everlasting punishment," &c. Secondly: The proclamation of this danger to the unconverted is not optional on the preacher's part; he is bound by heaven to do it. NECESSITY is laid upon him. Ezekiel xxxiii. 7—11.

III. HIS MESSAGE TO HIS SONS-IN-LAW WAS SCEPTICALLY RECEIVED. "He seemed as one that mocked." How few comparatively now believe the message of the gospel preacher. He seems to the great bulk of hearers as one that is mocking. And for the same reasons as influenced the minds of these young men. What were those reasons? First: The appearance of things. There were no indications of a storm of fire; nor had they even heard of such a thing. So now. "Since the Fathers fell asleep." Secondly: The force of old associations. All their friends, their property, their sym

pathies were in Sodom, and how hard to believe in its ruin, so as to forsake it. Thirdly: A false trust in the mercy of God. They would say, perhaps, The God of mercy who made us and this beautiful world will never do what you say. They should have remembered that it was mercy that gave the warning, that it was mercy that held them in being to receive it, and that it was mercy that required the destruction of the city. What you call justice and wrath are only mercy clearing the way of obstacles for wider and richer manifestations of herself. Sceptic do not mock at our message. "Be not deceived, God is not mocked."

SUBJECT:-To-day; a Voice for the Opening Year. “Wherefore, as the Holy Ghost saith, To-day, if ye will hear his voice."-Heb. iii. 7.

Analysis of Homily the Four Hundred and Ninety-fifth.

INTRODUCTION :-(Remarks on the certainties, probabilities, and possibilities, of the year that is opening upon us.)

Time's fleetness so saddens our hearts, that we would sooner weep this hour, than work. Albeit, the spirit of the text is earnest labor, and we must bow to its authority. It bids us to enforce three facts on the attention of our race ;namely, that religion is binding, practicable, and urgent.

I. THE HOLY GHOST COMMANDS IT, AND THEREFORE IT IS BINDING. His will is law. The binding character of religion is too often lost sight of, even in religious teaching. There are some who represent it as a mere creed, others as an expedient preparation for the future state, others as some principle mysteriously implanted in the heart by the Spirit of God. But the truth is it is an obligation; it is a binding law on the whole soul to love and serve its Maker. But on what is this obligation founded? On absolute proprietorship. "We are not our own."

All we have and are

belong to our Maker, therefore we are bound to do what He