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I wished to shew you that man could not be the sublime creature he is, without being subject to its influence. I wished to shew you that its source is in wilful ignorance and its concomitant-Sensualism; and its chief stronghold, in human usages and Laws; and in systems of Theology, which accommodate themselves to Sin, instead of, at all hazards, attempting its extermination. Much more might profitably have been said on all these points,-but enough for to-day.

Enough for to-day that we have the plain assurance of Jesus-tested and confirmed (or to us the assurance would be valueless) by the Heaven-bestowed instincts of Justice within ourselves-that God does not attribute Sin, to those who are ignorant of the right, or under the influence of a wrong conviction, which is the same thing.

But we have seen that whilst Ignorance is a safeguard against Sin and its concomitant, Remorse; it is itself a Sin when wilfully persisted in, because it is a violation of God's Law of Progress: it is (in effect) a voluntary renunciation of the Gift of Manhood, a voluntary withdrawal from the race for that prize-a crown of Righteousness, for which All are invited to struggle, and which All might win: it is, at best, but the choice of that thoughtless contentment which the well pastured Brute enjoys; but at worst-No! I will not close my discourse by saying what it is at worst; but this voluntary Ignorance-this tacit abandonment of duty,-this voluntary withdrawal from the conflict and the risks of Life, is not Righteousness, nor Happiness, nor Heaven.

My dear friends, though SIN is a rock upon which our bark may split, as it careers along the troubled sea of Life, IGNORANCE is no safe haven, in which to take refuge.

Our refuge from Sin is in that "Knowledge and Love of God," which preserves us from Sin, by enabling us to conquer and overcome it-in that "Truth" which "makes us free"in that great gift of Reason which enables us to "prove all things" that we might reject the evil, and "hold fast to that which is good."

May our faith in God enable us to "fight the good fight" and so

Obtain the victory!

Amen!

LAW THE REGENERATOR.

"Be not deceived; God is not mocked; for, whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."-GALATIANS vi. 7.

MY

Y FRIENDS,-We have a saying-full of wisdom, for it is the result of the world's experience-"Curses, like chickens, come home to roost." We may dispatch them on their evil errands with lightning swiftness, venom-winged; but, like the Australian's boomerang launched into the air, they shall return-return to plague and torment the sender. Wrong is never a triumph, but always a defeat. The craftiest knave, like the cleverest plagiarist, in rifling others, only robs himself. Unlike human laws, which are uncertain in their operation and, under present circumstances, necessarily unjust, those which the All-Father has impressed on Nature and the soul of man, dispense, in every case, impartial punishment and reward, with a simplicity and certainty as grandly unerring, as they are infinitely beneficent, and merciful, and wise. "Those who follow after Righteousness shall obtain her, and wear her as a glorious robe." So says Ecclesiasticus of old. But, for the soul out of harmony with the natural Laws, there is no consolation -no rest. Not matter, but the Spirit of God which animates it; not Revelation, but God, the Revealer present in our souls,

can bring this sweet consolation,-this holy and abiding rest. "There is no peace for the wicked, saith the Lord." Be not deceived: God is not mocked:"-His hand is not shortened that it cannot save: neither is His ear heavy that it cannot hear." Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." There is no chance-work; all is Law. My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater,-so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." (Isaiah lv. 8, 10, II.) And so it is and must be: Evil shall result in evil: Good in good-in the doer's soul, if not in the doer's deed.

Wrong shall come back to Right sometime. Prosperous evil is not: but that which seems so, shall, in the end, feel and know that all its seeming Gain has been real loss; its Pleasure, pain; its ideal of Beauty, deformity with a painted mask; its Treasures, transient; its Possessions, dross; yea, it shall feel and know that God's Laws cannot be set at naught with impunity, nor the smallest violation of them escape its appropriate punishment. But be it remembered that GOD is All-beneficent,-that His Fustice is always mercy,-His rod, corrective; and, that His retributive Law aims only at reformation: for "God hath no pleasure in the death of a sinner; but rather that he should turn from his wickedness and live." That "there is no peace for the wicked," we are

told by Isaiah; and we read in the Psalms of David a sentence which, when rightly rendered, is exactly analogous thereto,-"The wicked shall be turned into Hell; and all the nations that forget God."

Now, whatever may have been the Psalmist's meaning, this is the fact, and this, therefore, the true rendering of the sentence,—not the wicked shall be turned into a place of torture called Hell, but, that Hell—that is, torture of some kind, shall be turned into the wicked,-their tainted and guilty Consciences shall be their torment,—their Ill-gotten gains, their bane,—their material successes, Spiritual defeats, -their Hopes, disappointments, their Accumulations, air; -and the same of "All the Nations that forget God,"—they shall "sow the wind only to reap the whirlwind,"--there shall be neither Liberty, nor Security, nor Peace—for them. For God hath proclaimed through all Nature, as well as by the mouth of His Prophet whose rapt spirit read it there, that "There is no Peace for the wicked"—until Tribulation and Repentance shall have brought about the needful Reformation.

To convince you that this is the Law, the Law of Goda Law that cannot be either gainsaid or evaded-will be my aim in the first portion of the present discourse,-to be followed, in the remaining portion, by such general applications of the Law to Christian duty, and the well-being of the world, as will naturally flow therefrom.

First then of the Law.

That is a Law which is constant in its operations,— which has an end to attain, and is ceaselessly impelled towards its attainment.

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