shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave them me, is greater than all and none is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one." (John x. 25-30.) "Jesus answered them, Have I not chosen. you twelve, and one of you is a devil? He spake of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon: for he it was that should betray him, he being one of the twelve." (John vi. 70, 71.) "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity." (Matt. vii. 21-23.) How glorious this truth! God loved His own from the beginning, and He will never cease to love them. The children of the wicked one never were His; therefore, in the end, He will say unto them, in strict and literal truth, "I never knew you; depart from me."

This all important truth is one of the great arteries of Divine revelation. It is well attested by innumerable passages of Scripture, and it throws a flood of light upon many parts of the written word, otherwise hard to be understood. In the Epistle to the Romans it is thus written: "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: therefore, as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life." (Rom.

:

v. 12, 18.) These two verses refer exclusively to every descendant of Adam, in virtue of God's blessing him, and saying, "Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth;" to all whom God created in Adam. These alone fell with Adam in his transgressions. The apostle removes all doubt upon this point in the next verse, when he says, "For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners; " this is a change in the mode of expression; in the former case the word all is used, and it can have but one signification, every one without exception in the present instance the word many is used, which must mean, not all, but a portion. It is to be observed, however, that in both cases the final destiny of the parties referred to is the same: the "all men are justified by the righteousness of Christ," "so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous." (Rom. v. 19.) The apostle's meaning cannot be mistaken. He teaches that the effect of Adam's transgression is entirely removed, by the righteousness of Christ, from every individual whom Adam represented when he disobeyed. They who sinned in Adam are saved by Christ. "For as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive." Meditate upon these passages in the light of the great truth we have been considering, and the language of the apostle, otherwise obscure, becomes clear and intelligible. In the 12th and 18th verses he speaks of the seed of the woman alone, without reference to any other. In the 19th verse he speaks of the same seed, but as being many, mingled in this state of being with the seed of the serpent.

Take one other portion of Scripture:-" And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous and he is the propitiation for

our sins and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world." (1 John ii. 1, 2.) The whole world, in this passage, are the all spoken of by the apostle Paul-the seed of the woman. The apostle John illustrates this himself, when he says, "We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not: but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not. And we know that we are born of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness," (or the wicked one.) (1 John v. 18, 19.) The whole world, in the first passage, being the seed of the woman, begotten of God. The whole world, in the last passage, being the seed of the serpent, distinct from the seed of the woman, and contrasted with it. The one begotten of God, the other lying in the wicked one.

CHAPTER VII.

OUR path is a lofty and a narrow one. Every step we advance opens up to our view more and more of the hidden treasures and unfathomable mines of divine truth. What we now know is the stepping stone to what we may yet discover, if we follow on to know the Lord. Before proceeding further, it is needful that each be fully persuaded in his own mind of the truth of what is already written; because, further inquiry will only be beneficial to those who go forward in faith. They who hear and believe, being like unto the man who builds his house upon the rock. They who hear and believe not, being like unto the man who builds his house upon the sand.

It is not improbable that some who may be constrained to acknowledge that the contents of the preceding chapter are strictly in accordance with the word of God, may, nevertheless, be tempted to employ themselves in searching for new difficulties, to supplant those dislodged from their minds, instead of humbly adoring the great Jehovah, whose works are so unsearchable, and whose ways are past finding out. To such I would say, give up at once and for ever a mental employment so dishonouring to God and injurious to yourselves. Cease from criticising that, regarding which you are

utterly incompetent to pronounce judgment upon. "Wo unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? or thy work, he hath no hands."

God has given a written revelation of Himself, so full, so perfect, and so complete, as to render wholly inexcusable the man who will not believe it. What He has said concerning Himself, is clearly and distinctly stated. It is supported by an amount of testimony altogether overwhelming. It reveals a knowledge which has a breadth, and length, and depth, and height, that passeth all understanding. Man is himself wonderfully interesting. The world in which he dwells, possesses myriads of objects calculated to excite wonder and amazement. This earth, with its continual round of mutation, is of itself an exhaustless field of inquiry, and presents to the mind of the diligent student many a mystery so hopelessly inexplicable, that, but for the unquestionable testimony of his senses to their existence, belief in them would be impossible. Within the body of a single man, there dwells a nature, compared with which, the whole world of matter is less than nothing. The soul of man, to himself, possesses a value beyond all calculation; "for what should a man be profited, if he should gain the whole world and lose his own soul." The being of the The being of the man is a profound mystery to himself. No one has as yet been able to unravel and explain it. There is something truly solemnizing in the contemplation of one's self. I, a thinking being, possessing faculties, divine in their origin, and endless in their duration; living, and to live for ever, in the active exercise of those mental