for their salvation, compatible with the principles of His government, He in very deed and truth gave up His own dear Son to live on this earth in human form, and after much and varied suffering to die amidst scorn and contempt upon a cross. In fewer words, our main difficulty is, not to persuade men that God will punish the wicked according to the measure of their sinfulness, but to inspire them with a living faith in this most amazing of all truths: that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.' Some amongst you will hardly give credit to it; but this I am persuaded is a fact, that, leaving all punishment out of account, it would come this day like a flood of light upon many souls in this church, could they simply believe that God loves them-tenderly, divinely loves them; that they occupy, so to speak, a place in His heart; that they are not lost and out of sight amidst the innumerable creatures of His hands; but that His eye is ever on them; and that no loving earthly father ever so welcomed a prodigal to his home, as God, the great Father, would welcome them, if they would truly turn to Him.

Doubtless, we must speak of punishment; we must tell men plainly, as Scripture does, that God will judge every man according to his works; for God is a Ruler as well as a Father. We must warn them that indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, await all impenitent transgressors; and, if we do not exceed the truth, denouncing everlasting misery,

eternal woe, unending despair, of which the Bible says nothing, and of the like of which it says nothing, if we except two or three passages which the Old Testament sufficiently explains (and to which next Sunday I shall ask your attention), I say that if we warn wisely, and do not misstate what is written in Scripture, men, for the most part, will readily believe us; for conscience tells them, and they cannot deny it, that they do deserve heavy punishment. But, I repeat, our more difficult task is to convince them that after all God will remit such punishment, if they repent and believe the Gospel. It seems too amazing to be true, that still there is an open heaven before them, and that they, even they, may, if they will, dwell in it for ever.

Still, whether believed or not, we must proclaim the good tidings; and there is little hope-I grant that there is some, but there is little hope-of those who are not thus won to godliness. For the sake of the sinners who do need terror, and, indeed, of the good who occasionally need it, we must declare that the Lord God is to the wicked 'a consuming fire;' not an eternally tormenting, but a consuming or destroying fire. Yet our delight must be, and our chief dependence must be, to set forth the truth that God is Love; and that the very warnings of His wrath are, rightly apprehended, a proof of it. It was love, brethren, and nothing else, that prompted the utterance of the text before us. And, if it be properly understood, you will, without difficulty, believe this; but once give to the word 'destruction' a meaning

6

which it does not bear according to the custom of any language, and then to believe that God is love, and to trust Him, delight in Him, and praise Him unfeignedly, is too hard a task for the human spirit. True, men persuade themselves that they perform it ; but, as I intimated on a former occasion, they profess to believe a frightful dogma; they honestly think that they do believe it; but the very fact that they will not think of it, that they find it too dreadful to think of, and, still more, that not a few of them can eat, drink, sleep, and be merry-all this is to me a proof that with the lips the doctrine is admitted, but in the depths of the soul it is rejected. Nay, let me speak out my whole heart. I believe that in countless cases flesh and blood could not sustain the clear, firm, undoubting conviction that the alternative before us is everlasting happiness in heaven, or everlasting misery in hell.

Of those who have had most faith in it, some have been oppressed and appalled, and some, dreading the temptations of the world, and taught by mistaken priests, have shut themselves out from all commerce with mankind: they have fled away from the sweet influences and kindly ordered discipline of home, to live where the heart withers, and nothing that is most lovely can flourish.

Hence I return to our subject; one of the most practical of all subjects, if true religion be love, and to love God we must know Him. This is life eternal, only true God, and

that they might know Thee, the

Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent;' and no pains

that we can take can be too great to ascertain what God really is, and how He will deal with the children of men.

I

Those who are not sensible of this will, of course, feel little interest in any explanation of our text. hope, however, better things of you.

Perhaps it is a subject well suited for to-day,* on which we are reminded of the duty of self-denial. For be assured that there are men to whom to eat, to drink, to sleep temperately is but a small matter compared with uttering at the impulse of conscience that which they know and painfully feel may greatly offend those whom they would gladly please, and whose approval and kindly regards they value and desire to enjoy.

But we must not forget that he who hath put his hand to the plough and looketh back is not fit for the kingdom of God. Natural feelings, worldly interests, all must be sacrificed to Truth and Duty. Truth and Duty have often required this; and probably they will to the end of time.

Putting together all the passages which teach, either expressly or constructively, that the end of sinners is absolute destruction, the number, it is believed, may be counted by hundreds. Sometimes the word used is, as in the text, 'destruction' itself; and destruction, we say, cannot mean endless preservation in misery. Sometimes it is 'death;' and death, we say, cannot mean eternal life in suffering. Sometimes it is being 'burnt up like chaff;' and being * First Sunday in Lent

burnt up like chaff, we contend, cannot mean being kept unconsumed, like the bush of old, in the flames. Sometimes it is 'being devoured' (as in the Scripture, 'Judgment and fiery indignation shall devour them'); and being devoured, we assert, cannot rightly be thought to signify being kept whole and living to undergo suffering for ever. So of several other expressions, such as to perish,' 'to be slain,' 'to be killed,' 'to lose life,' 'to be consumed,' 'to reap corruption,' 'to be blotted out,' 'to be rooted up,'' to be cut off,' 'to be cut down,' 'to be dashed in pieces,' 'to be lost,' 'to be ground to powder,' 'to be cut asunder,' 'to be cast away,' 'to have the house broken up,' 'to be torn in pieces,' 'to be put away as dross,' 'to melt away,' 'not to abide for ever,' 'to be as nothing.'

6

Many of these are doubtless figurative phrases; but if they do not indicate finality, no language would suffice to do so. Add to all this the remarkable fact, that Satan is represented as a 'Murderer from the beginning;' not one who keeps eternally alive to torment; and also as the Destroyer' ('Apollyon'); not one who preserves for ever in misery. Jesus, on the other hand, is called 'our Life,' as opposed to Satan the murderer. In the Syriac, which is the oldest copy of the New Testament, He is styled the Life-giver,' a very significant and instructive title. Then He is also called our Saviour,' as opposed to Satan in his character of Destroyer;' and similar remarks might be made regarding some other titles of our Lord.

C