such things as words of course, and not as messages to their souls, not as God's providences, and for good or for evil to be remembered as such hereafter. So was it of old, when the Preacher of Righteousness, of whom we read this afternoon, warned the world before the flood. Godlessness and iniquity were bringing down certain death upon a world lying in wickedness, and they would not pause or slacken in their guilty career. They went on thoughtlessly as ever. They believed that the threatened deluge never would come, or that time enough would be given them when the windows of heaven were at length opened. But God's warnings did not halt a moment because the guilty were not prepared. So, too, will it be in the end of the world. So, too, in the end of each one of us. God will not wait, nor alter His word spoken. "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation"

But lastly, not only does the devil set aside the threatenings of God, to take away the fear of sinning, but he further bribes those, who will listen, to engage eagerly in sin. In our first parent, who had nought apparently to desire in that blissful Paradise, he discovered one ungratified, and of itself innocent, passion-the desire of knowledge. He spake to Eve of wisdom; he appealed to her senses whether the means of obtaining it were not desirable; and by thus enlisting her wishes on his side he prevailed. And how often since has the tempter overthrown the careless Christian by this same subtle process— silencing first the clamours of conscience by his deceit, and then tempting the senses with a desired, but forbidden, gratification! With some the bribe is 3 Gen. vi. First Evening Lesson for Sexagesima.

4 2 Cor. vi. 2.

still knowledge; with more, in our fallen and degraded state, it is pleasure, it is sensual appetite; that is the fatal bait. Tempted, however, we must be, and it is not that which is wrong. But beware, since you must be tempted, of yielding (in the smallest thing) to the Tempter. Consider his devices, how cunning he is, how active; that so, when you find yourself tried, you may look on the sinful wish as the first step to ruin, and not be surprised into sin. And be on the watch against the first approaches of Satan. When you find your conscience less quick and sensitive than heretofore, be on your guard, and pray to God to give you more grace, and to keep you from falling. The devil does not assault the wayfarer whom he sees travelling with his arms ready for use. But if he can persuade you to walk securely in a world that is full of snares, he will soon find some bait strong enough to seduce you into them. We all have our more accessible points-the sin which doth so easily beset us; and they are known, doubtless, to that old serpent. Let us keep watch, then, all around, but more especially where we know that temptation has most chance of success; and let us ever bear in mind for our comfort, that as one temptation yielded to removes us farther from God, so every temptation endured and overcome advances us in His favour; and that it is written, "Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried," i. e. after he has gone through the trial, "he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him "."

5 James i. 12.

SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE, LONDON.

FAITH, HOPE, CHARITY.

1 CORINTHIANS Xiii. 13.

"And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three."

(From the Epistle for Quinquagesima Sunday.)

THE three qualities of "FAITH," "HOPE," and "LOVE," which are associated in this verse, are often brought together by St. Paul, to describe the general character and condition of a Christian. And they are justly brought together for this purpose. If we desire to know what a man is, we ask, What does he believe? What are his hopes? What does he love, and fear, and hate? Now the Gospel professes to give to every man a new character; "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.' What is that character? Apply to it this threefold test. What are the principles, hopes, affections, by which it is distinguished? I cannot hope to answer this question in its fulness. But let us endeavour in dependence upon the blessed Spirit of God, at least to touch upon these three qualities to which our text refers.

I. The first question refers to the principle of action by which a Christian is governed. This principle the New Testament emphatically calls "Faith," or "Belief." Now, there are many facts [No. 17.]

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and truths in which a Christian believes, in common with a heathen or a Jew; for example, in the being of a God, in the immortality of the soul, in the general obligation to do right; these have always been the objects, if not of a very definite, yet of a vague and confused belief to the bulk of mankind. But the belief mentioned in the text is a belief of that truth which gives to Christianity its whole name, character, and complexion, and which is thus expressed in the plain but forcible language of one of its earliest preachers, "Christ died for our sins, and rose again." This truth, the Christian, and the Christian alone, believes, and this belief influences and governs the whole of his conduct, temper, and affections.

1. He believes it. The death of Christ is indeed a fact of historical notoriety, and as such, is equally an object of belief to the Pagan, the Jew, and the Christian. But when it is added that He died "for our sins," then the fact becomes a doctrine, and a doctrine more interesting and important to us as men, than any fact or truth which can be presented to the mind. He "died for the sins of the whole world." He became a "Sacrifice" for us, He became a vicarious Sacrifice, or died instead of us. He suffered those pangs which He in no way deserved, that we might escape the penalty which our sins had justly incurred. It is the connexion of the death of Christ with the salvation of man which the Christian, and the Christian alone, believes. No wonder, then, if that fact itself, the death of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, assumes an importance in his eyes beyond every other. His salvation depends upon it. If he be a Christian indeed, he

1 1 Cor. xv. 3, 4.

must reflect often and deeply on the occasion of so astonishing an event. A conviction forces itself on his mind that, however men may colour their vices with the gentle names of weaknesses, infirmities, foibles, accidents, it must be something more heinous than a foible, something more wilful than an accident, which the Son of God has died to expiate.

With what deep emotion under such a view of things does he hear the words, "God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." He considers the dignity of the person who has thus died for us. He remembers that the final happiness of himself and of all whom he loves, is intimately connected with the event-the death of the Son of God; and the fact itself, therefore, necessarily assumes an almost overwhelming prominence in his eyes. He feels what St. Paul felt and described when he said, "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world "."

3

Nor is this all. When a benefit is conferred upon a whole community, no individual of that number can consider himself as the special object of that benefit, and as therefore called to peculiar and personal gratitude. Such is the case between man and man, when a conqueror delivers a province, when a general spares a nation, when a benefactor grants to all what all equally ask and need; but it is a different case when God is the Benefactor. His eye is, indeed, upon all; but it is also upon each one in particular; and when the Son of God dies for all,

2 John iii. 16.

3 Gal. vi. 14.