Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth from all sin." Again, "Having forgiven you all your trespasses." And so truly is this the characteristic of the forgiveness of God, that the sinner may plead with the Psalmist, "Pardon my iniquity; for it is great." Sin may rise to the height of the everlasting hills, but mercy surmounts it; or it may sink to the depths of the fathomless sea, but mercy pursues and overtakes and pardons there.

This forgiveness of God is unchangeable and irreversible. The gifts and calling of God are without repentance. He blots out our sins, and lest they should be seen, he covers them. And to show how completely he does so, it is said, "He casts them behind his back;" and, lest this should not be expressive enough, he is said to fling them into the depths of the sea; and, lest this should not be expressive enough, he says, "Their sins shall be sought, and shall not be found."

And lastly, this mercy is free and unmerited. We can neither merit it before we receive it, nor pay for it after we have received it. It is sovereign, worthy of God, and the only mercy that can reach the hearts and carry away the guilt of his sinful family.

The fruit of this forgiveness is love in us. The appeal is made to the experience of human nature, when it is stated, "We love him, because he first loved us." Love to us on the part of God creates responsive love to God on our part. This is just the great process of the gospel, on which reliance is placed for reclaiming, regenerating, and saving multitudes of sinners. And when this love is fixed in the heart by the Holy Spirit of God, responsive to the love that God has manifested to us, it becomes the life and strength of all obedience. Love is the fulfilling of the law. The law is love in its outward development,

and love is the law in its inward life and principle. Wherever, therefore, the love of God in Christ Jesus is preached in its greatest fulness, there we may expect that there will be the truest allegiance, and the most lasting obedience to God. The air of the future glory is the love that results from forgiveness of sin. Love within us is the germ of glory. Our happiest moments are prefigurations of the future.

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LECTURE VIII.

CERTAIN PROGRESS.

And again he said, Whereunto shall I liken the kingdom of God? It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.-LUKE xiii. 20, 21.

THERE are different aspects in which the kingdom of heaven is set before us. In one parable it has a mixed character, as a visible body made up of tares and wheat, bad and good fishes. In another we are presented with the aspect of its outward development, as the mustardtree. In the present, its inward, penetrating, and secret action in the world, under the representation of leaven, is set before us. The only difficulty in this parable is the use of leaven in its figurative character. Generally it is used in a bad sense, as in 1 Cor. v. 7: «Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened." The Israelites were to put away all leaven during the passover. It has been interpreted by some in an evil sense; and under the name of leaven, it is thought by such interpreters that the Romish element secretly infecting the early church, and spreading with pestiferous power till the whole church was contaminated and corrupted by it, is the master idea of this parable. Were this interpretation correct, it would imply a universal apostasy, the utter extinction of the church of Christ, and the evidence that the gates of hell, contrary to the promise of our Lord, had actually prevailed against it. Besides, the representation implies on the part of our Lord

satisfaction, and not sorrow, at the progress of the leaven. We think there is yet a satisfactory solution. In the Scripture, and in parables, every minor quality of the symbol is not necessarily implied: its great and prominent characteristic is that which is seized, and made the eloquent and expressive vehicle of a great truth. Thus, the mustard-tree rising from a small beginning to a great size, is the only feature that is laid hold of in the parable in which it occurs, while the pungency, or acrid properties of the mustard are entirely excluded. The lion is applied to Satan, and also to Jesus, but in distinctive senses. So, the leaven may be applied to that which is evil, and also in its place to that which is good; but in its good application, its penetrative, assimilating, and spreading energies are alone regarded, while its souring and disturbing effects are utterly excluded, or superseded. The manifest scope and tendency of the parable should always guide us in the interpretation of it.

The leaven is used, probably, as a symbol of missionary and aggressive action. Hence, the true church, called "the Bride," and "the Lamb's wife," and "the woman. driven into the wilderness," never failed to spread around her some degree of holy influence. This at least is certain, it is Christians alone who are the only missionaries, who propagate with silent, but penetrating force, the holy influence of the gospel of Christ. It is the saints alone that are the servants of God. It is they who are leavened themselves with the great principles of life and light and truth, who go forth and successfully leaven others, and will not cease till the whole earth shall be penetrated with the sanctifying and sweetening power of the gospel of Christ. This is beautifully exhibited in Psalm lxvii.: "God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us. That thy way may be known upon earth, thy

saving health among all nations." It is implied in Go ye, and preach the gospel to every creature." It is also indicated in the metaphors under which Christians are represented: the light, that gradually illuminates; the salt, that silently spreads its savour; the leaven, that silently penetrates with its assimilating influence, till all is pervaded by it.

Leaven, referred to in the parable, is an element different from the lump or the society into which it is introduced. Now, this is just the nature, origin, and characteristic action of the gospel of Christ. It is not an earthly element neutralizing or dislodging a rival, and thus attaining an ultimate supremacy. It is not an influence created or excited by man, rallying and gathering to itself the last surviving virtues that beautify the wreck, and prevent the utter ruin of the social system. It is not a mission from the world, or of it. It is not machinery manufactured by philosophy, or by human genius. It is no earthly momentum. It is a divine element coming down from heaven, not earthly or of the earth, and lodged in the heart of humanity. It is a virtue from the actual presence of Deity coming directly down upon the earth, a vital, quickening, inextinguishable element directed by the Holy Spirit, deposited in the bosom of some, who make it known to others who are strangers to it. It begins in a nook, and goes forth in silence and secrecy, assimilating the earth to heaven, and men to God, and out of great nations educing the churches of Christ.

This leaven once introduced, we perceive from the parable, must make progress. It absorbs alien elements into its own-transmuting all it touches into the likeness of the source from which it came. It attracts to itself whatever is foreign to it, and makes it what God has designed it to be. Thus Christianity has made progress in every land.