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PREFACE.

N these pages I offer to the public some thoughts which I have already offered to

my own congregation, on what seems to me the problem of problems-the relation which sin sustains to the Divine plan of human development. The course of thought which is here rather sketched than wrought out, may possibly seem to clash in some degree with the tenets of the theological school which has long ruled in the domain of Evangelical Nonconformity. But I am not without hope that the thoughts developed in these pages will receive a candid and kindly consideration, inasmuch as I am firmly persuaded that their tendency is not to confound, but to confirm and establish, all that our hearts cleave to as the essence of the Gospel.

If I claim for the work of Christ an older as well · as a wider relation to man than the formularies of

our faith seem to recognize, I believe that I am vindicating a truth on which those formularies themselves are built, and which lends to them their weight and influence with men. I am happy, too, in the conviction that the number is rapidly increasing in our churches, of those to whom the statement of this older and wider relation of the redeeming love and purpose of God in Christ will appear to be "not against the truth, but for the truth" of the Gospel; and who may find here convictions about Divine things which have long haunted their minds brought out to fuller expression, and connected with the great purpose of redemption-which I here treat as the very groundwork of man's life and history.

Happily, too, it is more easy to speak freely and to be judged Christianly, when treating, however imperfectly, yet with honest and reverent heart, of these high matters, than it was when I published the "Divine Life in Man," four years ago.

ATKINSON PLACE, BRIXTON,

February, 1864.

J. BALDWIN BROWN.

Sermon v.-The Penitent's Creed

"He looketh upon men, and if any say, I have sinned, I have perverted
that which was right, and it profited me not."-Job xxxiii. 27.

Sermon vi.—The Penitent's Gospel...............

"He will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall
see the light."-Job xxxiii. 28.

Sermon vii.-She loved much: She had much
forgiven

"And, behold a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she
knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee's house, brought
an alabaster box of ointment, and stood at His feet behind Him
weeping, and began to wash His feet with tears, and did
wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed His feet,
and anointed them with the ointment.
Wherefore,

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I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for
she loved much.
And He said unto the woman,
Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace."-Luke viii. 37, 38,
47, 50.

Sermon viií.-The Sin that hath never For

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93

114

135

giveness

155

"Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damna-
tion of hell?"-Matt. xxiii. 33.

Sermon ix.-On Restoring a Sinner

.... .......

178

"Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual,
restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thy-
self, lest thou also be tempted.”—Gal. vi. 1.

Sermon r.-And yet there is Room

"Come, for all things are now ready." "And yet there is room."

206

Luke xiv. 17, 22.

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