see it, and have it. It is mine. If I had the sturdiest sinner in the land before me, I could tell him that the moment he sees that, he too is entitled to peace. I would tell him, on the authority of God, that he is saved. I would give him absolution-not a priestly absolution, nor a ministerial absolution—not a human absolution, but a divine absolution. Here it is"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be”lost? condemned? What is the word? It is "SAVED." Yes, saved-fully and eternally saved -with no condemnation-no hell. The Lord took the cup of wrath—that dreaded cup!—and

"Drank damnation dry."

Yes, DRY-for, now, in that cup there is not a drop, not a dreg, not an atom left. There is no punishment -no hell; but there is salvation for the lost- -there is pardon for the guilty. Oh! if I preached for a million years, I could tell you nothing more. The Gospel isgood news for the sinner; it is salvation for the lost; it tells of life for the dead, heaven for those who are on their way to hell, God for the creature, heaven and God and everlasting life for every sinner that believeth.

One evening, at the old Metropolitan Hall, I went down from the platform, and a person said to me, "Sir, I am a Roman Catholic. I was never in a place like this before; but since I came in, I have been saved." "How do you know that ?" I said. "Have you not told me that all our sins were laid on the cross, and that they are gone ?" "Well," I said, "and have you now no hell ?" "No," said he; "none." "And will you have punishment after you die ?" "None." I walked to the other side of the hall, and a second person came and said nearly the same words; then a third. You see they believed it at once. The dying thief did not take a moment to find out that he was saved. The

devil was saying, "We have him-he is ours;" when,

in the twinkling of an eye, he recognised the lordship of Jesus, and heard the blessed words, "This day thou shalt be with me in Paradise.”

Oh! what a blessed Gospel is this! Ah, dear people, some of you have never called upon God; you have brought Him your moodiness, your gloominess, your readings, and your prayers. The devil often allows a man to read the Bible, and then, perhaps, to weep for his sins; but when that man gets ill, and is about to die, he is terrified, and says, "Let me see a minister; let some good book be brought." But who ever paid debts that way? How will that set you free from the clutch of justice? I have seen a man in such agony, that the tears would not come. But would his tears, if he had them, satisfy justice? No: justice has nothing to say to tears; but the Gospel is, Christ had tears-died. Oh, it is not our tears, or our death, but His; oh believe, and have salvation on the spot. You are thinking, perhaps, that the preacher makes out God a Being of mere forgiveness, and gives but a one-sided view of God.

But no. I love to tell the sweet reverie I once had of His justice. Methought I was looking up at the cross, and saw thereon a heavenly visitant; by the sternness of her features, I knew she must be Justice; I saw that it was Justice sitting_over the cross: and as my eye rested on the scene, I said, "There has been strange work here?" "Yes," said Justice; "strange work." "Thou hast been plunging the sword into that victim," I said. "Yes," said she. "Then," said I, "has it nothing more to do ?" "No; there is nothing more to do that sword was to have gone into thee, but it has gone into this victim instead.' I said, "What is this upon the hilt of thy sword ?" (for there was a dead, shrivelled thing nailed to the hilt.) That," said Justice," is the fang of the old enemy-the sting of death, which is sin there it is; I am going to hang it up

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among the spoils of principalities and powers." "Then is there no sting now for the sinner that believes?" "No; none: death had but this one sting; and now there is none left." Listen to that, sinner. If you were to put your hand in the hole of the asp, and were to receive its sting in your hand, you would find that it had no sting beside; others might now put their hand, there is no sting. That is how death is. Hence we say, "O Death, where is thy sting?" Where? It is among the spoils of the cross of Jesus; it is made a shew of openly. What a wonderful truth! "But," I said, looking at His opened side, "here is a pool of blood: may I not drink at it ?" "Yes," said Justice; "for except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.""

You understand me, beloved; it is our life, this. As the emancipated debtor lives upon the paper securing his release, and knows he is a free man; so I live upon Christ; I draw my life from Calvary. God is satisfied, and I am satisfied. God is honoured, and I am saved. God is not a tyrant; He is my Father-my Father in heaven. I now bring Him "sweet spices." I love to take Jesus, to bring Him in my arms-my Saviour, my Lord, my Life-to have fellowship with a wounded, dying, risen, coming Christ. I can now bring my love to Him, for I know that He loved me first; and now, instead of God being "made weary," He is well pleased, and He says of me, "This is my child, sealed as mine -sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise." As owner, He marks his sheep, and says, "They are mine." There is a seal—God's mark; that seal is the Holy Ghost who is in us; and my life must be spent, not in blotting out my sin-for that has been done-but in serving Him. Sin is still in me, trying to spoil His work; but I must mortify it. Never imagine that conversion makes you free from sin. Conversion is knowing that Jesus died for your sins-a belief of God's love to you in Christ.

I

Such as the poor prodigal had, who thought his Father would have made him a servant-made an example of him; but, to his wonder, saw how he gave him the best that he had, and called his friends to rejoice over him.

"There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth." Repentance is a change of mind towards God: to believe that He loves us, that Christ died for our sins, is to have a right mind towards God. This gives peace. Ah! sinner, it were well worth forty journeys, if God would reveal Himself to you. "God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” WHOSOEVER-WHOSOEVER-young or olddisbeliever or unbeliever-Atheist or infidel-drunkard -devil incarnate-whosoever-whosoever what? Why, not worketh, nor weepeth, nor prayeth, nor giveth, nor burneth, but BELIEVETHI

You cannot help seeing salvation if you really see God. I cannot help knowing that I am free, when I see what Christ did for me. Who can make out to the contrary ?-who can make out that two and two do not make four?—who can say that faith in what Jesus did for me does not save? No: He is our rock—

"Dear name! the rock on which I build,

My shield and hiding-place;

My never-failing treasury, fill'd

With boundless stores of grace."

Boundless stores-aye, glorious stores of goodness, love, and grace! May the Lord bless you. May my God bless you. I have no greater desire than that you may be saved. I have never seen many of you before, but I have you in my heart. But, oh! I would see you again in the land where we shall meet eternally, amid the everlasting summer of heaven, where it is always laburnum time, where the autumn leaf never falls, and

where the friend never dies, and the knell never tolls the requiem of joys departed.

Beloved, believe now, and be happy for ever. It is all a lie of the devil, if he tells you you will not be happy. No man has any right to be happy in this life, till he sees his way peacefully out of it. You may die to-night. Ah! what a glorious thing, that when a man embraces Jesus as his Saviour, he gets the life that was with God-even eternal life. Christ is our life. The blood, the rent vail, the resurrection of Jesus, is your title. You are "complete in Him." Then, die at any moment, and you are sure of heaven, as God is true.

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Behold the rock on which you can stand-" Complete in Him." A full Christ is what God has given for empty sinners. You have nothing but unbeliefeverything that is bad in yourself; but Christ has all you need. Now, suppose a long sack hung across this place, one half being full, the other empty; bring the fulness of the one end into the emptiness of the other, and you have a symbol of what you have in Christ. At this end you have nothing-you are all wanting; but there it is full-all fulness dwells in Him. I am without any title to heaven, but in Christ is title enough. The fulness of the Head is given to the members; and now we can say with Paul, Giving thanks unto the Father, who hath made us meet"-not who will make us meet when we come to die, or when we are a little better-when you have had more prayer better living; -no; but "hath made us meet" in Jesus; not in you or in me, but all in Him—all in your Head-everything you want. Hence, you may die in peace, notwithstanding that there is not an hour in which you do not feel that sin is in you; but you do not love the sinyou do not encourage it. Your sins are rebels-enemies and will be always present until death; the root of them is in you, which you loathe and abominate, especially after some dread effort at growth; but when