with the world. Whilst Noah is saved, the impenitent antedeluvians must perish; whilst Lot escapes, the wicked Sodomites are destroyed; whilst the Israelites are delivered, the unrelenting Egyptian must die; whilst Elijah is taken into heaven without dying, the impious Ahab and Jezebel shall meet with a degrading death; whilst Mordecai is exalted, the designing Haman shall be hanged; whilst Lazarus is conveyed by angels into Abraham's bosom, the once sumptuous liver shall lift up his eyes in hell, being in torments; whilst the righteous hath hope in his death, the wicked shall be driven away in his wickedness. The great finale of all is graphically described by our Saviour in the twenty-fifth chapter of St. Matthew, when both parties shall stand face to face before the great white throne, the one on the right hand and the other on the left of the Judge: "Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." "Then shall he say also unto them on his left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels."

III. The third thing proposed is that the most absolute promises of God are conditional. It was so under the law; it is so under the gospel. Truly they were at first given freely without any outward inducement to actuate the mind. of an infinitely gracious Being; but in their practical application the condition of faith and obedience is attached to every promise. "Wherefore the Lord God of Israel saith, I said indeed that thy house, and the house of thy father, should walk before me for ever. But now the Lord saith, Be it far from me; for them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed." The promise to which the text refers was made unto Aaron and unto his sons, and is recorded in Exodus xxix. 9. "And thou shalt gird them with girdles, Aaron and his sons, and put the bonnets on them, and the priest's offices shall be theirs

for a perpetual statute; and thou shalt consecrate Aaron and his sons." The same is repeated in respect to Aaron's sons in Exodus xl. 15. "And thou shalt anoint them, as thou didst anoint their father, that they may minister unto me in the priest's office; for their anointing shall surely be an everlasting priesthood throughout their generations." That the priesthood should be given to the family of Aaron, and not to the family of Moses, was an act of pure Divine sovereignty, perfectly unconditional, and irrespective of the character of the individuals, but in the subsequent working of the priesthood we find that it was transferred from one member to another of that family, according to the conduct of the respective persons. Aaron had four sons who were consecrated to the office, Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. In the passages which we have quoted, the promise was given generally to the descendants of Aaron; but further on in the history of the Israelites, we find that the promise of the priesthood was confined to the line of Phineas, the son of Eleazar, for that pious act of self-devotion recorded in Numbers xxv. Eli, however, was of the line of Ithamar. When the priesthood was transferred from the family of Phineas is not known; it is doubtless under some peculiar circumstances not perpetuated in sacred history. But here it is said that Eli and his sons having violated the conditions of the promise, God threatens to remove it from that house. This was done partly in the tragical end of Eli and his sons, and it was done completely in the days of Solomon as stated in 1 Kings ii. 26, 27. "And unto Abiathar the priest said the king, Get thee to Anathoth, unto thine own fields; for thou art worthy of death: but I will not at this time put thee to death, because thou barest the ark of the Lord God before David my father, and because thou hast been afflicted in all wherein my father was afflicted. So Solomon thrust out Abiathar from being priest unto the Lord; that he might fulfil the word of the Lord, which he spake concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh." But now the Lord saith, "Be it far from me." Consistently with this is the application of

all God's promises. If we believe in Him and obey Him, the benefit shall be ours; but if we despise His commands and neglect our duty, it will be the same as if the promise never existed. "Them that honour me I will honour, but they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed." Solomon felt the conditional nature of God's promises when he prayed, "Therefore now, Lord God of Israel, keep with thy servant David my father that thou promisedest him, saying, There shall not fail thee a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel; so that thy children take heed to their way, that they walk before me as thou hast walked before me." In respect to Israel it is said, "O that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways, I should soon have subdued their enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries."

The declarations of the New Testament establish the same truth. Those who shall find rest to their souls, are those who take Christ's yoke upon them, and learn of Him. Those who "shall not perish, but have everlasting life," are those who "believe in Him." Forgiveness of sins. is promised to those who repent. To them that come out from among the unclean, God has engaged to be a Father, and those who are "faithful unto death," shall have the crown of life." If we honour Him, He will honour us; if we walk in His ways, He will never forsake us.

Then, brethren, if you hope to realize the promises of God, keep His conditions. Never forget that salvation is an act of duty, as well as a benefit of grace. God forbid that any of us should, like the sons of Eli, despise the ordinance. of God, or like them, we shall be rejected.

61

The Third Sunday after Trinity.

EVENING SERVICE.-Second Lesson: Gal. ii.

Verse 16.-"Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified."

CLASS legislation is a thing of which God does not approve. He may have legislated for peculiar classes under peculiar circumstances, such as for kings, priests, magistrates, and so on, in their official capacities, and He legislated especially for the Jews when they were peculiarly distinguished from other nations; but when He institutes a law intended for the regulation of the conduct of mankind as His creatures, "He accepts no man's person." What is applicable to one nation or class, is applicable to another. The duty of obeying God, and observing each other's rights, is universally incumbent upon all. More especially when we regard God's plan of saving man from sin and its awful consequences, we find that all are equally treated. The rich and the poor must stand on the same platform, the Jew and the Gentile must meet on the same level. This is the important subject which the apostle impresses on the minds of the Galatians in this chapter. The false teachers had taught them that it was necessary for the Jews to adhere to the rites of the law of Moses, to their believing in Christ; the Gentiles might be excused those rites on account of their peculiar position, but they were absolute in the case of the Jews, as otherwise they could not be admitted into the favour of God. St. Paul here combats this notion, and shows that the way of salvation is the same to all. "Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith, even we have believed in

Jesus Christ." Even we the Jews, to whom were committed the oracles of God,-even we who have been distinguished above all the nations of the earth,-even we, "whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh, Christ came,”—“ even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law, for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified."

We have here three things brought before us; First-The fact of a sinner's justification; Secondly-The inefficiency of legal works to effect that justification; and Thirdly-The means Divinely appointed for its accomplishment.

I. The fact of a sinner's justification before God.

To understand what is fully meant by being justified, let us illustrate it by the case of a trembling prisoner standing at the bar in the court of justice. There we have the criminal charged with a serious offence; we have the witnesses giving their evidence on the offence; we have the counsel taking the evidences for and against the prisoner; we have the jury deliberating on the case; and we have the judge sitting upon the bench to explain the bearing of the law upon that particular offence, and to pronounce the sentence upon the prisoner according to the verdict of the jury. When the case has been fully examined, it is left to the decision of the jury, and they retire for consultation. During their absence the criminal's heart is wrought up to the highest pitch of anxious excitement, he feels that his doom is in the balance, it may be that of life or death. Oh! what care, what alternating between hope and fear! At length the jury return, and when the foreman standing forward with his eyes fixed upon the judge, replies to the question, "What is your verdict-is the prisoner guilty or not guilty?" "Not guilty!" a thrill of joy vibrates through the heart of the accused, when the judge announces the acquittal, and adds, "the law has no further demand upon you, it pronounces you innocent, you are at liberty to depart." The accused in this case is declared just in the view of the law; and by an easy and natural figure is said to be justified.