left them. And now, with the debt paid, and the Surety accepted in heaven, having gone in with His completed work, the message to the sinner is, that "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them." Not that I am not a sinner; not that I have not sinned; the debtor in the far land could never deny that the debt was his; but he could say that another had taken the debt so with us. We have sinned; but the Lord laid on Him (Jesus) the iniquities of us all. God, on the cross, was imputing our sins to Him, so reconciling us to Himself.

And now you say, What must I do to be saved? We reply, believe this message of God. You say, Is that all? for that surely is a very little thing to have to do. What! a little thing for the Son of God to die? a little thing to take your sin? But you say, It is an easy thing, then, to be saved! Nay; not easy. I will suppose that I am at the antipodes, and that one comes to me and says, "You remember the debt you owed ?" I say, "Yes;" and he says, "That debt has been paid." What now do I say? Do I say, "Oh, that is an easy matter, or it is too simple ?" No, indeed; not so simple but vast! singular! wonderful! I ask, Is it really true? I question my informant. If he be true, I am saved. Thus, beloved, may you identify me as a true witness. Oh! do identify me as a true witness for God; go to the book of God, and see that the Son of God did come down here for sinners; that He died. Observe, He did not deserve to die. He never did a wrong thing; He was God's own Son; He never broke a law. Why, then, did He die? Because He took the place of the guilty; and as God did not spare Him who took the place of the guilty, it was that He might save us who are guilty. Judgment for sin on the cross has been given, and is past it would be unjust to ask for it twice; that is, once at

the hand of our suffering Christ, and then at the hand of the believing sinner. Now, Jesus took the judgment, and every soul who will take the advantage of it appropriate it that soul, believing, is, on the authority of God, a saved soul. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." Beloved, these are marvellous times. What conversions!

God is work

How many!

ing everywhere. and of sinners of all sorts. And they still multiply. Look at one who, on his own showing, often raised his hand against his mother, but is now saved; look at another, whose hand became suddenly palsied over the mystic cards, and when carried to his room exclaimed, "Oh, my God, if my servant were not here, I would cry for mercy." Again; look at another, mingling in polite society, with everything but God; full of pleasure, so-called, but arrested, alarmed, led to the cross, saved. And another, a peer of the realm, who, for more than eighty years, was a rebel against God; in his old age his wife, lately converted, with tears consulted as to his salvation; by advice, she opened a meeting in her own drawing-room, and while the Gospel was being preached, the aged peer heard the truth which reached his soul; and on his dying bed sent this message to his former associates among the nobles, "Tell them I have lived without God, but have now found Jesus; God saved a poor, miserable sinner, and He can and will save all who believe."

These, and thousands more, are from the lanes and cities of these Gentile times. Rejected by Israel, He receiveth sinners. And now, from out of our wanderings amidst the highways and hedges of our ignorance and sin, He seeks out the wanderers for His house-the starving for His feast. With divine efficacy of grace He brings the wanderers in compels us to His board. The Holy Ghost reveals Jesus- His grace,

His blood; and then we have a will against our old will-a heart against our old heart to come. A feast is remarkable for its abundance. How infinite and endless are the provisions of Divine love. It was in their midst the prodigal sat, in silent wonder. It was there, while listening to the music and the dancing, he feasted on the fatted calf.

Ah, beloved, angels have no such food. They drink not at the cup of salvation. They feed not on dying love. God Himself finds His highest food in His knowledge and love of His Son. We are called to feast on the same, and there, in the midst of such provisions, each one sings—

"Oh, to grace how great a debtor."

Yes, each one, until in heaven our voices will be like the mighty orchestra of seas on seas- floods on floodsand ocean joined to ocean in its sound; yea, like the noise of many waters, blending with the sweetness of harpers harping with their harps.

Says Christ, "Compel them to come in." It is the compulsion of love-the irresistible power of love. What but such power of love led out Rebecca from her father's house? What but such love led the exiles to their David in the lone cave of the wood? Jesus, with His own dying love, shows Himself to the poor heart that needs Him, and that heart is captive to His love.

So it is Jesus, in love, died to save the "chief of sinners." You have only to believe in a crucified, a loving Christ. May God give you now to take the Gospel as it is in His own word.

We, too, would compel you. For now, then, we are ambassadors for Christ," And we beseech you in Christ's stead be ye reconciled to God."

Mark that word, "in Christ's stead." If we stand in Christ's stead what patience we should have! what

forbearance! Ah, if He were here, how would He speak? He would not use exuberant trope or eloquent measure; He would not speak in words of mere noise or turbulence; not in furor of delivery, or in levity of soul, but in calmness and intelligence, in sobriety and earnestness of soul. He would not speak of hell in a careless way, or of heaven as of a light thing. How He would compel you, and with what love, what tenderness, what long-suffering, spending a whole day at the well of Jacob, with a poor Magdalene sinner; and what unselfishness; even on the cross, when He might have said, "Do not speak to me, the nails are in my hands, my mouth is full of clotted gore and noisome gall; don't speak to me in my agony. But no; with a mind at leisure from itself, even in that dark hour, with what a calm irresistible force He turned to the poor malefactor at His side, and said, "This day shalt thou be with me in paradise." In Christ's stead!—as it were His representative-doing the will of the Father, in the power of communion, as He; delighting in drawing out the affections of sinners towards God, even as He; and towards Himself, for, as flowers open to the unveiling of the sun, so do our affections open to the Lord when He Himself is unveiled. Ah, then, with what a sense of reality in the soul does He make known the riches of His grace, the wonders of His love.

May the Lord bless you; the blessed Spirit of God awaken the unawakened, and comfort the awakened! May He show you God reconciled, Christ as having died, the fountain of His blood as opened for our

ADDRESS XII.

HOW TO HAVE PEACE.

"I create the fruit of the lips; Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near."-Isaiah lvii. 19.

It is not to give any explication of these words that they are now chosen, but simply to show that it is God, and God alone, who is the root or source of true peace.

You have been singing, beloved, "A mind at perfect peace with God;" and I would like to tell you how we get a mind at perfect peace with God. We get it, first, by knowing what God is to man, or to one who is afar off-a sinner in his sins; and, secondly, by knowing what God is to the new man, or to one who is near. On these grounds, we may know what "perfect peace with God" is; or, in other words, we may know it by believing what God is to the sinner; and what He is to the believer. Or, if you put it still otherwise, we get it by knowing Him in His aspect towards the first Adam, and by knowing what He is to us in the last Adam. Oh, that God, beloved friends, may now give me an abundant utterance for His truth, and give you the understanding heart!