pardons it; for this depravity is most offensive in his eyes. And so he does pardon it; and he heals by pardoning—or rather by making the soul to know this pardon: for the knowledge of his pardon is the soul's healing. But here I am treading on the confines of the infinite; how shall I dare to speak of a love that never knew beginning-everlasting as God himself? I labour, and am oppressed exceedingly, with this mighty subject; and that I may be enabled clearly to shew how all this love is put into the face of Jesus Christ, and, residing there, takes the name and character of pardon, that whoso looketh on Him his soul may live, I have already shewn that every man, till visited by the Holy Ghost, is utterly ignorant of God's character. Now ignorance of God's character can only be caused by sin in us, and is therefore a very heinous sin, and therefore requires pardon. And I have also shewn that every man, till visited by the Holy Ghost, is filled with utter aversion to God; and this, too, requires forgiveness. And I have also shewn that every man, till visited by the Holy Ghost, is utterly unconscious that this is his character, and utterly unhumbled for it; this is death in sin, and also requires pardon. Every man, then, needs to be pardoned; and every man, too, needs to have his spiritual diseases healed. And herein appears the manifold wisdom of God, that his pardon of man's sinfulness, manifested to the soul in its believing the Gospel, is necessarily the healing of that sinfulness: for he has revealed an exceeding glory of love in the face of Jesus Christ, divinely and admirably fitted to display his real character; which, wherever it is seen, removes all aversion to him in the human heart, and fills the soul with admiration of his glorious beauty, and shews it, in contrast, its own worthlessness; so that it is humbled and abased in the very dust, and made earnestly to seek that it may be clothed with all holiness. And this is the healing of the diseases of the soul. They are healed by faith; by faith in God's love, in God's pardon. This love, entering into the soul by faith, becomes there the principle of eternal life; so that the man has from that moment eternal life abiding in him; and thus "This is life eternal, to know thee" (John xvii. 3); and "God is love." And here I would remark, that love and pardon are not the same thing; for I may love one who has offended me, while yet I cannot pardon him. But what is pardon but manifested love? If I love one who has offended me, but cannot pardon him, I shall be careful how I in any way manifest the love I still bear him; for this plain reason, that he will construe that manifestation into a pardon. Thus, when Benhadad, king of Syria, was afraid of being put to death by Ahab, king of Israel, whose prisoner he was, his servants did diligently watch whether any expression of remaining affection would fall from the mouth of Ahab; and

when he said "My brother Benhadad," they took courage. And thus, also, Wolsey, when he received in the mire the ring of king Henry the Eighth. If I have offended any powerful friend, and fear that he never again will acknowledge me; and if in the midst of my anxieties I learn, that, without any solicitation of mine, he has rendered me a most essential and invaluable service, my fear of his not acknowledging me departs on the intimation of his kindness; I read his pardon in the act of his love. Now apply this to God. He might have loved us notwithstanding our sinfulness, though, for the wise purposes of his government, he might not have been able to pardon us: but in this case we should never have heard of his love: but now this love is manifested, and herein consists the Gospel pardon.

We are taught in Scripture that there is one God, and that there is none other but He. But we are also taught that there are Three Persons in this one God,-Father, Son, and Holy Ghost: the Father God, the Son God, the Holy Ghost God; and yet these Three Persons but one God. Were I to give scriptural proofs of this at any length, I should require to transcribe nearly all the New Testament. In their several names the Apostles, God's ambassadors, bless the churches of the saints:" The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all." (2 Cor. xiii. 14.) And into their separate existence and Godhead is every one baptized: "Baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." (Matt. xxviii. 19.) Distinct personal actings are ascribed to each: "The Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world;"" The Father hath committed all judgment unto the Son." The Son's personal actings are manifest throughout his whole ministry. And we have only to look into the book of Acts to be convinced of the personality and distinct agency of the Holy Ghost: "As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul" (Acts xiii. 2): "So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost" (Acts v. 4): "They were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia:" "They essayed to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit suffered them not" (Acts xvi. 6, 7.) I shall only refer further at present to the concluding chapters of John's Gospel. In the xivth chapter, at the 9th verse, the Son says, "he that hath seen me, hath seen the Father... Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?" I leave this language its own comment. It was uttered to those who for three whole years had seen the Speaker's goings out and his comings in; and if any one supposes that any creature, even though he were the most exalted creature the world ever saw, could without blasphemy use such language about himself, I have only to say that I can believe no such thing. His

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using this language to his disciples, and his saying, on another occasion, to the Jews, "I and my Father are one" (John x. 30); especially when we take into account the Apostle's commentary, that He thought it no robbery to be equal with God" (Phil. ii. 16); prove to a demonstration that the Father and He are distinct Persons, and distinct Divine Persons. In the end of the xvth of John he says "He will send the Comforter;"" the Comforter," he adds, "which is the Holy Ghost, who proceedeth from the Father." Now consider this language. The Son is speaking: He has just before claimed equality with the Father, and he speaks of sending the Holy Ghost, who proceedeth from the Father. And we have other evidence of the Divinity of the Holy Ghost. Here, then, we have the Three Divine Persons all at once before us; and they are One God; and it is against Him that man has sinned, while against all the Three Persons of the Godhead his sin has been directed. When the Son was on earth, he was treated with all possible contempt; and he declared that this contempt, in being poured on Him, was poured on his Father also: "He that hateth me, hateth my Father also" (John xv. 23.) And when they said that he had an unclean spirit, he charged them with blaspheming against the Holy Ghost. But while both the combined and separate name of the Sacred Three is God, their combined and separate name is also Love: the Father is Love, the Son is Love, the Holy Ghost is Love: and they have manifested this love to man, notwithstanding his sinfulness; and this manifestation is the Gospel pardon.

Any manifestation of God's love to us, in our sinful and ruined circumstances, ought to have been hailed by us as an invaluable blessing. But had the question been put, in what way it was likely that God would manifest his love to us; while we might have conceived of many ways, it certainly never would have entered into the heart of man to conceive it as a possible thing that God for this end should have taken the course which we find that he has actually done. He might have contented himself with sending to us a messenger from heaven; with despatching an angel from the upper sanctuary to assure us of the favourable regards he cherished towards us, and to tell us of his pardoning mercy; and even this would have been kindness. But this would by no means have expressed the plenitude of that holy affection which he cherished towards us; it would have been a very insufficient exhibition of the riches of that love which refused to flow in such a contracted channel, and sought a manifestation worthy of itself. And this manifestation it found, when God the Son himself took on him human flesh, and appeared in the world. And, oh, what an illustrious guest was He! Of Him the Holy Ghost hath testified (John i. 1),

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the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God....All things were made by Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made....The world was made by Him, and the world knew him not." But they who received him" beheld his glory, the glory as of the onlybegotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." He came to find the creature in a state of utter estrangement and alienation from him, and he came to reconcile it to himself, by declaring and manifesting his love to it. And this was his employment while he dwelt on earth; for I speak of One who went from city to city, and from village to village, preaching to his creatures the glad tidings of his love, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease; I speak of One who, whenever any case of distress was mentioned to him, had this prompt answer, "I will come and heal him;" of One who, while his creatures reposed themselves on beds of down, had not where to lay his head; who yet grudged them not their comforts, but only besought them, that, besides them all, they would partake, and be blessed in partaking, of his infinite love. And this One was no other than" the Word made flesh, the Brightness of the Father's glory, and the express Image of His person ;" who is even now upholding all things by the word of his power. Of his ministry the Holy Ghost hath testified, "that God was once in Christ". "-i. e. his character was manifested, when he was incarnate, in the man Christ Jesus" reconciling the world unto himself;" not dealing with the creature according to his sins ("not imputing to them their trespasses," 2 Cor. v. 19), but rewarding him good for his evil. For, surely, had he dealt with man according to his sins, he would not have spent on him a single expostulation, nor shed one tear over human misery, nor borne a single hour with human wickedness. But this was the language of all his ministry: God passing by transgression, no more remembering sin. Nor did his love cease even here. Because without shedding of blood there could be no remission; because without a sin-offering, set forth to bear the creature's sins, access to God could not be opened to him again; therefore did the Lord hasten to offer up himself a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God the Father, a propitiation for the sins of the world. And by doing this, he opened to his creatures access into the holiest; so that there was none who might not go to God, and go to God with confidence. For thus did he himself most solemnly testify to the Jews: 66 Verily, verily I say unto you, My Father giveth you the true bread from heaven" (John vi. 32); "the bread which I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world" (verse 51). And what it is for the creature to receive his flesh we know from the x th of the Hebrews, where the Apostle Paul says. (verse 19), " Having therefore, brethren,

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boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh, let us draw near." And he made this testimony of his love to those who would not believe it; who ridiculed what he said as incredible, and accused himself that he had a devil and was mad. This, then, was the God who 1800 years ago broke silence, and revealed himself; and such was the revelation he then made of himself. And he is the same God still; being the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. And the man who believes the Gospel, just believes that the God with whom he has to do hath so loved him that on his behalf he took on him human flesh, and appeared in the world, and tabernacled among men; and was so desirous of his eternal peace, that he offered up, as a sin-offering for him, that human nature which he had taken into closest union with the Divine; and that this sin-offering is now to him a sufficient ground of confidence in approaching God. Now, our having confidence in approaching God, is just our being able to think of God, and go to God, without dismay; and this no sinful creature can do without the knowledge of the forgiveness of sins. How, then, is Christ's offering a ground of confidence to us? what connection is there between it and the forgiveness of our sins? Just this connection-a very plain and obvious one indeed-the knowledge of him delivered for our offences, which is his sinoffering, is the knowledge of our forgiveness. It is saying too little to say that we infer the one truth from the other, for the truths are the same: the knowledge of one as delivered for our offences, is the knowledge of our pardon. And it is indifferent to my peace of mind, to my confidence toward God, whether I believe the one of these truths or whether I believe the other: believing either, I have confidence toward God. And the man who believes this Gospel has a sure foundation of hope in God: for if he believes that God hath so loved him as to give him so costly a gift (his own Son), he will naturally say (Rom. viii. 32), This God will freely give me all things; my unworthiness shall not prevent him; it did not prevent him giving me Himself. And if the knowledge of this gift be the knowledge of forgiveness, then the state of the man believing this Gospel is blessed indeed. He is persuaded that God loves him; of which he has a sure token. He is persuaded of the forgiveness of sins; of which he has also a sure token. The token of both is the gift of God; and in the possession of both the man rejoices. Now I repeat, what I have already said, that the knowledge of these things is the healing of the soul: yes, it actually is eternal life to know them; for thus hath the Faithful and True Witness testified: "This is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ." (John xvii. 3.) And why, then,