pretension to self-righteousness and a willingness to plead guilty, and acquiesce in the sentence which would debar him from sonship for ever; and withal, a determination to return, casting himself upon the mercy of God in Christ Jesus as his only hope. Herein is that mingled despair and rising hope-that giving up of self, and the going out of faith towards an all-sufficient Saviour, which marks the transition of a soul from the kingdom of darkness into that of God's dear Son. With such a spirit, no sinner need fear to seek an injured father's face.

8. And this leads us finally, to say, that returning with the spirit of the prodigal, a favourable and joyful reception is certain. Long though it had been since that wayward son had fled his home, the kindness of a father's heart had not grown cold. Wicked as has been his life, and wretched as he is in his poverty and rags, he will not be spurned from the homestead doors. His trembling footsteps bring him near that home; his fainting heart almost dreads to make the appeal to be received again; at the last moment he is almost ready, like Lot's wife, to look back to Sodom. But just then the Father's eye discerns him, the long lost son is recognized, the tender heart of paternal love melts in compassion; the prodigal begins his confessions, but ere they have been ended, he is embraced by a father's arms, forgiven for all his wanderings, and acknowledged as a Robes white and clean are put upon him, he is adorned with gold, the fatted calf is killed, and the whole household echoes with strains of joy. He that was as good as dead, is made alive again; the lost is found.

son once more.

Such a reception, free and joyful, awaits you, my unconverted reader, if in your wretchedness and ruin you come pleading for mercy, at the doors of the kingdom. Through the riches of grace, which is in Christ Jesus, all your sins can be forgiven; by the Spirit which he has purchased a new heart can be put within you; and in the pure garments of his righteousness you can stand accepted. More favoured than the prodigal, you have a divine, allpowerful friend to plead your cause. God the Father, and this elder brother Jesus Christ, in the counsels of eternity, devised a plan for securing the return for such as you. The Redeemer's incarnation; his life of faithful obedience; his agonizing death on Calvary, and his intercession at the right hand of the Father in heaven, all were designed to prepare the new and living way by which the prodigal sinner may come back to God. His own honour and the compensation for the travail of his soul are involved in the rescue of the lost. Every prodigal returned is a fresh contribution to the rich revenue of glory he is to receive as recompense for his shame, dishonour and death; every wanderer brought back from sin and hell, is a new token of his triumph over his enemies-another star added to the lustre of his peerless crown. In such conquests all heaven sympathises for there is joy among the angels even over one sinner that repenteth. Why then should you not come? The way through Christ is an open way. "Him that cometh to me," says he, "I will in no wise cast out," and in him your utmost desires shall be satisfied, for he also says, "I am the bread of life; he that cometh to me shall never hunger."

More willing is the Father to receive you, than you are to return. His yearning heart pities you, his kind voice calls you, and if you but come you shall be a son and an heir in that glorious household. No sooner will the broken utterances of your guiltiness fall from your lips, than they shall be heard, and the lofty courts of heaven shall reverberate with songs of joy.

And will you come? Let me plead with you to tarry no longer away. Does your proud spirit at last relent? Has the great resolve been made? From your troubled heart has the language gone forth, "I will arise and return?" Then, blessed, thrice blessed will you be. A Saviour's blood will wash your sins away, and your rags will be exchanged for a robe of righteousness. A prodigal returned; how great the change! No more a stranger, but a son at home; no longer away in a desert land among the swine, perishing with hunger, but here at a father's board, where there is enough and to spare. The husks all gone; the empty aching heart at last filled the longing soul satisfied from the rich provisions of a Saviour's love; and though but yesterday an outcast beggar, now an heir of God, a joint heir with Jesus Christ, in full brotherhood with the saints on earth and in heaven, and but waiting for the mansions prepared above, for the full fruition of a kingdom and a crown. Joy, joy for ever! The dead is made alive! The lost is found!

THE TREE KNOWN BY ITS FRUITS.

BY

E. P. HUMPHREY, D. D.

PASTOR OF THE SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY.

Preached before the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church at the open. ing of its Sessions in Charleston, S. C., May 20, 1852.

Even so, every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.—Matt. vii. 17.

THESE words of our Lord contain a profound and comprehensive truth. As the nature of the tree, whether good or corrupt, is made known by its fruit, even so, the Master observes, false prophets may be detected. They come in sheep's clothing, yet being inwardly ravening wolves, their rapacity invariably betrays itself. Now we may give to this maxim a wider application, and suggest that a religious faith, as well as a religious teacher, whether true or false, will develope, by outward and significant marks, all its vital peculiarities. The inner life of Judaism, in its purer days, and then that life in the period of its degeneracy, clearly revealed its nature by many striking phenomena. The same remark applies to Christianity in all the phases which it assumes. These phases are determined by the peculiar theology which, from time to time, is received into the fixed and inward convictions of mankind. The

true discovers itself as good, and the false as evil, by inevitable developments. "Even so, every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit." The text, as thus explained, prescribes to this occasion a discourse of

ces.

OUR THEOLOGY IN ITS DEVELOPMENTS.

The purposes of this argument do not require a discussion of our theology in its sources and evidenNor is it needful, in this presence, to expound its peculiar doctrines. These have been made widely known through its living disciples, its written formularies, its celebrated teachers of former generations, and their powerful adversaries. Few intelligent persons are ignorant of the doctrines which its faithful disciples deduce from the Scriptures, even those touching the sovereignty of God and the dependence of the creature; his purpose as foreordaining, and his glory as the end of creation, sin, and redemption; the imputation unto all of the guilt of the first man, our federal head; the utter corruption of human nature; the election unto salvation of a certain and definite number; their redemption by the vicarious obedience and penal sufferings of the Son of God; the work of the Holy Spirit persuading and enabling them to accept of Christ; their justification by faith alone; and their infallible perseverance, secured by the immutability of the decree of election.

These doctrines are further verified as of the substance of our theology, by its celebrated symbols. Our faith is held within the brief compass of the Lambeth articles; it is stated at large in the Latter