other human being, there is still no reason in God why you should not be freely and fully forgiven, "For the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth from all sin." And then, while the atonement is for sin as sin, the intercession of Christ is for the sinner as suppliant. And if, as I have said, the meaning, the heart, of the doctrine be, that all the resources of Christ are at this moment freely available to you, then there is no reason in Christ—no reason in the universe—why you should not be "accepted in the Beloved."

Possibly, however, you may now be ready to shift your ground. Admitting that there is no reason in God why you should not obtain mercy, you may be ready to confess that your great reason for dismay is in yourself-that you have so often recovered and relapsed-sinned and sorrowed, only to sin again and all this while standing within sight of the cross of Christ-that you begin to question your own susceptibility to the renewing influence of the Holy Spirit. The readiness of God to pardon you profess to admit, but your own readiness to repent and forsake sin you more than question. Possibly there may be ample ground why you should take this low view of your character. I would say nothing to lessen, but everything to deepen your humility. But do not deceive yourself. In putting away from you the consolation I offer-and in doing this under the idea that you are only condemning yourself—you are doing despite to the Spirit of grace. You are still questioning the willingness of God to renew you. His power to do it you surely would not question. You cannot doubt the ability of the infinite Spirit to "create you anew in Christ Jesus." To do this is as much a Divine work, in a sense, as to provide for your forgiveness. And can you doubt His readiness to give to you "a new heart and a right spirit"? This is the great promise of the dispensation under which you live. The agency and outpouring of the Spirit was the first great gift obtained by the intercession of Christ. "expedient for you that I go away."

"It is" (said He) And when He went

And still

from the place of sacrifice, and stood in the presence of God for us-when He arrived there to find that the incense of His offering had preceded Him, and had filled the entire temple with its odours-He found also that the Spirit himself was waiting to descend to plead and strive with men, while He became their advocate with the Father. Christ is interceding, and the Spirit is acting. Not only, therefore, is there no reason in God why you should not obtain the renewal you need, as it is a part of the great work of human salvation, there is every reason in God why you should. The same infinite love, which led Him to provide for your redemption by the atonement, now leads Him to seck your renewal by the agency of the Holy Spirit. Disbelieve this, and you are committing the only sin which can make your recovery impossible; doubt this, and you are defrauding Christ of the joy which was set before Himrobbing Him of a pleasure greater than the songs of angels can impart. Absent yourself from the throne of grace, and you are staying away from the only place of meeting-of contact-between the soul and its Saviour. Go there, and cry for mercy; and your voice, ere it reaches the ear of God, shall fall in and blend with the voice of Him "whom the Father heareth always." And if there be truth in the textif any veracity in the word of God—your prayer becomes His desire-your success becomes identified with His honour; so that in representing himself as your advocate, He is, in effect, pledging himself to your salvation.

And, now, why was this glorious truth placed on record? Precisely for the same reason the apostle assigns for recording the preceding truths-" that ye sin not." He knew that a sense of insecurity makes the soul sullen, and obedience impossible. He knew the force of the sentiment, "Then shall I run in the path of thy commandments when thou hast enlarged my heart"-that it is only as the soul is set free from the bondage of sin and fear that it bounds away in the path of duty, and soars where before it hardly crept.

For "love casteth out fear." Happy they who repair to the mercy-seat, only to leave there their sense of guilt, who go to the throne of grace, only to bring away with them a portion of its royalty to become themselves living and sceptred powers, who rely on their Lord's intercession, only to "go and sin no more.

For another practical result of this is, that they themselves are prepared to intercede for others. Christian parents and friends, can those dear to you point to you, and say, We have intercessors human advocates with the Father? Whatever else you may have done for them, if you have not yet wrestled in prayer for them, you have yet to employ the mightiest agency of all at a throne of grace.

Prayer for the world is the sublimest office of the Church. And how cheering the thought, that of all the prayers which are thus offered-making one continued strain of supplication-not one ever has been, or can be lost. It is a prayer for the kingdom of Christ; and as such it is music in the ear of God, of which He loses not a single note. It is a prayer for the hastening of His own glory; and, as such, He places it among the perfumed supplications already offered by the saints of past generations-He places it among the last aspirations breathed from the deathbed of David the son of Jesse, and of every ancient worthy among the mighty prayers which ascended from the fires of the early martyrsamong the loud cries of those whose souls are heard from under the altar-among the earnest entreaties of the wide creation sighing to be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. It is a prayer for the salvation of a world which He loves; and, with delight, He beholds it flow into that channel into which a stream of prayer has been for ages flowing and accumulating without a moment's pause-and which shall finally overflow, and pour forth a healing flood of heavenly grace over the whole earth. "Ye, then, that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence."

Pray for the world. That is your office. You are made priests unto God. In this way our "Advocate with the Father" would plead with our lips as well as with His own -clothing us in effect with priestly vestments-placing us by His side at the altar-putting into our hands a censer filled with incense like His own-and thus multiplying the voice and power of His own intercession. "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much"-how much the day of judgment alone will disclose. We are not yet alive to the efficacy of prayer-the Church of Christ at large is not. It is an invisible cord by which we can draw men towards heaven-it links our weakness to the power of God-it invests us with indefinite power over the destiny and happiness of the race-its history is the history of wonders. But the full efficacy of prayer is as yet unknown, for it has never yet been tried-we allow it to remain a mystery. Like some of the elements of nature, it contains a power which, if put forth to the utmost, would infallibly change the face of the earth. And the day is hastening on when its efficacy shall be tried on a scale before unknown, for “all flesh shall come to pray before the Lord," and Christ shall lead their devotions, and shall give to them the infinite weight of His own intercession. And, then, when the last sin is pardoned, and the last soul saved-when nothing shall remain but for "the righteous to go away into everlasting life," it shall be seen that, like this epistle, the whole Christian economy is but God's epistle inscribed to us "that we sin not "—that for the utter extinction of our sin and guilt we are indebted to Him who is our advocate with the Father; and that prayer, in His name, is the mightiest instrument for the salvation of the world.

SERMON VII.

THE EPISTLE TO THE CHURCH IN SMYRNA.

REV. ii. 8-11.-"And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write: These things saith the first and the last, which was dead and is alive; I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich,) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches: He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death."

HERE, then, is a letter from Christ-one of seven-addressed to the seven Asiatic Churches. If you look at them, you will find that the structure of each is alike. Opening with an inscription to the particular Church for which it is intended, and of the Divine authority from whom it is sent, each of them is found to contain a commendation of whatever in that Church was praiseworthy, a rebuke for whatever was wrong, followed with counsels and appeals to arouse the slumbering, to encourage perseverance, and animate hope; and each concludes with a call to universal attention, and a promise to the triumphant Christian of distinguished honours in the world above.

But, beyond this similarity of structure, these epistles are all characterized by the same general principles; and the call on every man to "hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches," demonstrates that these principles were intended for universal application to the Churches of Christ in all after times. I have selected the text as the basis of a few remarks on some of these great general principles.