sor. Governor of the Universe, consists in maintaining inviolate the influence of these laws, that are indispensable to the happiness of his creatures. It is only by motives that their influence can be maintained. Hence God cannot pardon sin on any terms except such as are consistent with these motives—such as will take away the hope of impunity, at least as well as the punishment of the original transgresHis justice (to say nothing of his goodness) forbids that mercy should be extended to the guilty on such terms as to endanger the happiness of the innocent. Hence the necessity of Christ's death as a propitiation for sin, that God might be just in justifying the sinner who believes and obeys the gospel of his salvation. But the whole of this reasoning, from first to last, is founded on the admission that holy beings can only be maintained in holiness by motives. Could they be so maintained by a direct operation of the Spirit, the difficulty which made it necessary for Christ to die, would at once be moved out of the way. Now, it is obvious, that if a sinful being could be converted to holiness by a direct operation of the Spirit, (whether physical, metaphysical, or whatever it may be called) by the same means, and with much greater facility, holy beings could be preserved in holiness. This, however, is impossible. No creature can be considered holy or sinful, except so far as he is influenced by motivesno man or angel can be kept holy except by motives—and no sinful being can be converted to holiness except by the same influence. Hence, justice to the innocent made it impossible for God to justify the guilty, except in such a way as would in no respect weaken the motives impelling the rational universe to holy obedience. The example made on Calvary in the person of Jesus Christ strengthens, instead of weakens these motives. Hence, by the death of Christ, all difficulty on God's part is removed out of the way, and his boundless compassion to a world living in wickedness gushes forth, unrestrained save by the sinner's own voluntary rejection of the offered mercy. Be it distinctly remembered, however, that the very difficulty which is thus removed, owed its existence to the fact, that motives alone can operate on the mind; and that by no other influence can sinful creatures be converted to holiness, or kept holy after their conversion. Were it otherwise, it is manifest that there would have been no conceivable necessity for the death of Christ, and consequently his precious blood would have been shed in vain. Such a supposition would be highly derogatory to the divine character. To the prayerful consideration of all who love the Lord Jesus in sincerity, the foregoing thoughts are affectinonately commended. COMMUNINGS J. S. IN THE SANCTUARY.-No. IV. "Thou, which hast showed me great and sore troubles, shall quicken me again, and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth."-Psalm lxxi. 20. Ir appears, at first view, somewhat strange that Christianity, which brings life and immortality to light, and opens to faith the transcendent glories of the spiritual world, should, nevertheless, have here assembled its votaries to present to their contemplation the emblems of death and sorrow. It would seem as though its far-seeing gaze were suddenly obstructed, and its distant hopes obscured; or that all its movements and influences were reversed, and its noblest purposes altered; so that now its paths, like those of earthly glory, "lead but to the grave." Nor is it a less singular thought that death should become, under any circumstances, a subject of commemoration. Strange, that the very consummation of human grace! woes, and the chief object of human | the no less immutable laws of divine fears, could be made a matter of voluntary contemplation—a matter to be celebrated-a source of happiness and hope! And stranger still, that we should have met to celebrate the death, not of an enemy, but of our best and truest friend! But it is in the sanctuary of God that the enigmas both of life and death are solved; that the mysteries of religion, and even those of nature, are revealed. It is here that truths concentrate; that extremes meet, and the first and the last, the beginning and the end, are one. It is here that He, who, in the beginning, brought light out of darkness, educes good from evil, joy from sorrow, life from death, and glory from dishonour. It is here we begin truly to realize that we dwell amidst the antagonisms of spiritual and natural contrarieties, and that an omnipotent and omniscient friend has wisely ordained our lot, that we might become acquainted with opposite and contrary affections, and learn by experience how immeasurable the height of that supreme love which holds the nice balance of our destiny, and how unfathomable the depth of that divine wisdom which, from the very lowest abyss of misery and depression, builds up the loftiest abode of joy. It is here, in view of these sacred emblems of the divine philanthropy, that we may appreciate that strange and solemn truth, as fully verified in respect to the body as the soul, that we can live by death alone. Not only do we sustain our animal life by the lifeless forms of once living plants and animals, but even our own corporeal frame itself subsists by its own | decay, and, like the light of a lamp, lives by the very waste which tends to destroy it! How well we know, then, that we can live only by that which has died for us-by that which has yielded its life for ours! And how admirably the irrevocable arrangements of Nature itself illustrate Except you eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man," said Jesus, "you have no life in yourselves." This is but the expression of the law of spiritual being. "As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me." "This is the record, that the Father hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life." If Jesus had not died, we could not have lived. For it is only through him, who died for us, that we can live to God. It is only by partaking of that bread which came down from heaven, and which was given for the life of the world, that we can live for ever! And this celestial food is received, not merely in the communion of his body and blood, when we commemorate his death, but in every institution of Christ; in every act of faith; in every emotion of love; in every joy of hope; through every medium by which we can lay hold of Christ, and enjoy the divine mercy and salvation. How delightful to reflect that we can thus, at all times, have access to this heavenly food, whether in the midst of the assembly of the saints, or in the throng of the ungodly; whether in the family or in the closet; at home or abroad; in sickness or in health; and that the just can thus live by faith amidst all the trials and corruptions of the world, and all the darkness and desolation of the grave: "I am the bread of life," said Jesus: he that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth in me shall never thirst." How precious the life which this spiritual food imparts! How just and striking the relation between this life and the food by which it is sustained! As the effect must correspond with its cause, celestial life can proceed only from the bread of heaven. Food that is itself corruptible, can I and the doctrine which the fact reveals. How important, then, the solemn declaration: "Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in yourselves.”* As there is a necessary connection between natural life and its food, so also between spiritual life and the means by which it is sustained. Mortality and corruption depend upon food that is perishable. Eternal life is equally dependent upon that food which endures for ever. Well, therefore, did our Saviour say: "Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, dwelleth But the food by which spiritual in me, and I in him." How happy life is sustained is imperishable. "I he who can truly realize, by experiam that bread of life," said the Re-ence, those precious spiritual truths! deemer. "This is the bread which How blissful the assurance that in becometh down from heaven, that a coming partakers with Christ we share man may eat thereof and not die. that divine nature in which life is inam the living bread which came down herent! How wonderful the thought from heaven. If any man eat of this that we who are but, as it were, the bread, he shall live for ever; and the creatures of yesterday, may lay hold bread that I will give is my flesh, of the very attribute of the Deity, which I will give for the life of the and be invested with imperishable world." Thus it is "living," incor- life and joy! And how inscrutable ruptible food alone that can impart the wisdom, power, and goodness, true life and incorruptibility. And which can thus cause the natural to oh! how striking the literal fact which give place to the spiritual-which can perfects the agreement of these truths, compel weakness to reveal power, and that when our Lord gave his flesh death itself to yield us life! R. R. for the life of the world, that "living food" saw no corruption! For he was the "true bread from heaven;" the celestial manna; the "bread of God which came from heaven to give life to the world." It was not possible that he should be held by death in the bondage of the grave. God would not leave his soul in Hades, nor suffer his Holy One to see corruption. The food of spiritual life must be imperishable as that life, and a just correspondence must obtain between the figurative and the real; the type and the antitype; the fact, This passage is very improperly rendered in our translations, "Ye have no life in you," or, quite lost. For. to say that any one has life in "You have not life in you." The true sense is thus him," is a very different proposition from this-that the possession of life; the latter implies not only the he has life in himself." The first denotes merely But also that this life is an essential part of his napossession of life on the part of the person spoken of, ture. It is precisely the same expression in the original here, as in verse 26th of the preceding chap. ter (the 5th of John), where it is said: "As the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself." Life is thus declared to be an essential attribute of the divine nature, and it becomes an essential attribute of all who be come partakers of that divine nature through Christ. Hence, using the very same expression, our Lord affirms by necessary implication, that all who eat his flesh and drink his blood, have life in themselves. And he affirms of the just, accordingly, that they cannot die any more, being made equal, in this respect, to angels. CHRISTIANITY AS AN ETHICAL SYSTEM. them the light of the knowledge of his glory in the face of Jesus Christ. It may sometimes be well for us, who live amid divine affluence from the cloudless sun, to bear in mind that there were, even in heathen midnight, a few bright morning stars— heralds of the dawn. From Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, of Grecian, down to Cicero, Seneca, and Marcus Aurelius, of Roman fame, there were many luminous points. Some of them, with solemn dignity and pathos, moralised on the virtues; some of them, with amazing eloquence and acuteness, unfolded the philosophy of natural OUR solar system has a centre. There is an imperial orb, vast in magnitude, and resplendent in brightness, supplying the stars and satellites with light, heat, cohesion, and motion. Among visible things it is the most sublime symbol of pervading Godhead. No sooner does it come forth in solemn state from the orient gateway, than the shadows and spectres of darkness flee and perish in their flight. Creation is redolent of gladness. The mountains which hold fellowship with the clouds, the seques-religion; others, in magnificent rhetered glens of old romance, the waving forests of religious solitude, the strong and free rivers, the hidden yet musical rivulets-all lift their voices in reverential joy. The morning hymn arises in a melody which might breathe life into the dead. Though all forms of idolatry are deadly, yet there is the mild and the malignant in that ancient disease. Hence we contemplate with different feelings the Persian on the mountain top dilating his eyes to catch the first beams of the great luminary, and the Egyptian upon his knees amid the slime of the river Nile adoring some hideous crocodile. The spiritual system likewise has a centre. The sun of righteousness arose with healing in his wings, giving great light to those who were sitting in the shadow of death, reviving and warming them into life by the day-spring from on high. In the strong language of the ancient historian we may say, the world was illuminated in a moment. Sorcery, sodomy, slavery, female degradation, with their loathsome abominations, were speedily shamed away. The legion of unclean demons, driven out of humanity, entered into swine, and ran down into the Dead Sea. God, who shined out of darkness in the earlier and inferior creation, shined into the hearts of the Apostles, giving toric, sometimes touching the borders of poetry, discoursed on the highest good and the first fair, and the possibilities of another existence. But whence came it that they produced so little fruit? and how was it that Christianity, administered by illiterate men, produced such amazing results in so short a time? There are three things which heathenism could not supply, which Christianity does supply; and the absence of which from all other systems of philosophy and ethics leaves them in necessary decrepitude and pauperism. First, a perfect model character; second, a sufficient motive power; third, a security for eternal life. 1. The best men of the heathen ages had their virtues blended with many infirmities and shameful vices. Had the people even taken the most conspicuous in moral purity as their patterns, their elevation would not have been remarkable. The rays of virtue and goodness were scattered and feeble, so that there was nothing to kindle holy emulation. There was no real character sinless and undefiled, and the ideal of such a one could not arise from the soil of the human mind. Never was this fundamental want supplied untilChristianity appeared. When the Son of God was manifested, then a fire began to Y burn with radiant lustre, which caused men to turn aside and see that great sight. All the graces and virtues congregated in the temple of his soul. All things pure, beautiful, and eternal, were harmoniously combined. We lay emphasis on the fact, that a perfect model character humanity could not have without the incarnation of the eternal word. The foundation fact in the scheme of redemption is the beginning of human glory, the spring-head of ethical fruitfulness. "The word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, amd we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." "No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, who was in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." "Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us." "Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father, and how sayest thou then show us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?" In the profound wisdom of his teaching-in the serene triumphant majesty of his works-in the heavenly charm of his unpolluted life, God was revealed, that the human spirit might be kindled, purified, and elevated. But we never could have risen towards God, had he not in pity stooped down to us. The human nature could not strive towards the divine, until the divine laid hold upon the human. Since then, earth is blessed in the embrace of heaven; and man, in contrition, wonder, gladness, and reverence, leans upon the arm of a Father and a God, with Christ as the elder brother, the first-born of the family. There might, before this, be a feeling after God, a groping round a dead wall; but that dark wall was circular. Reason discovered no passage into light and freedom-no ladder reaching to the blue ethereal. "He was holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens." "Leaving us an example, who did no sin, neither was guile found in his lips, who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, threatened not, but committed himself to Him who judgeth righteously." To possess such a character as our model allows room for expansion of soul and consecration of life, which could not otherwise have been conceived. There is scope for continual advancement. As we proceed in strangling impure desires, rooting out base passions, and resisting the wiles of the Evil One, we still find the Lord Jesus high above us; but his smile of encouragement is sweeter, and his voice of consolation more melodious. As we attain the summit of one blue mountain, another still stretches heavenward, and the Lord is always on the highest one. But the labour is full of life, bracing the spirit with godlike energy, and diffusing through all the faculties a celestial glow, as the presage of life eternal. 2. We may easily perceive that the masses of men are driven backward and forward by contrary forces and opposing influences. They are drifted by impulses, which obtain mastery in turns. They toss upon tyrannic billows, which have almost entire control; but a close inspection of society will bring before us a class of a different mould and spirit. They direct the winds and the waves of circumstance, or breast them successfully. Their passions, though deep, are directed by energy of reason; they stamp their impress and superscription in the living world. They leave deep and distinct foot-prints on the shore and on the rock. All things give way before them, for an invincible spirit lives and flames within. If we mark these men, and learn their history, we soon discover that fact and principle which we now desire to make prominent. We find that each |