the first." Ye have both fought a good fight, and finished your course, and kept the faith. Ye have overcome, and now I shall grant unto you to sit with me in my throne, even as I overcame, and am set down with my Father in His throne. Now you are in possession of that exceeding, even eternal, weight of glory which your earthly afflictions have wrought out for you; ye are worthy, most worthy, and therefore you shall ever walk with me, clothed in the white robes of your own personal righteousness; and ever and anon He shall pronounce in their hearing the gracious salutation, Thou hast done well my good and faithful servants. As often as the King repeats these words, with their hearts filled to overflowing with grateful emotions, they shall cast their crowns at His feet, and, as if grieved that He should say one word in praise of them, who are in their own sight so utterly unworthy, they shall say, "Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth's sake. Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honour, and power." Thus the two-edged sword of truth again meets and harmonizes in Christ. The merit of the believer is unknown to himself; he feels that by the grace of God he is what he is; and he ascribes all glory and honour unto the Lamb. God, on the other hand, looks only at the personal righteousness of the man, in awarding the measure of glory to each recipient of a crown. So it is that the happiness of heaven is perfect and eternal. God looks from Himself at His creatures, and He is well pleased with them in Christ, giving to every man according as his good works have been, without respect of persons. Saints empty themselves wholly of self, and know nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified, as

the author and finisher of their faith. God in men and men in God, and both in Christ, the one Mediator between God and men, dwell for ever mutually and reciprocally delighting and being delighted by each other. Are not the ways of God equal? Is He not just and the justifier of all them that believe in Christ?

Just as the man willing to do the will of God can do nothing without Christ, so the man unwilling to do that will, can do not one thing opposed to God. An impenitent and obstinate spirit may be most determined to act so as to thwart the purpose of Jehovah; but beyond the limits within which God circumscribes his power of opposition, he cannot pass. He was free, and will remain free in this life, to choose what he will or will not do, but the power to execute he does not possess; and even one act in the least degree opposed to the will of his Creator, he cannot perform without God's permission; and thus it is that every man possesses unlimited freedom to choose, and is placed in circumstances the most favourable, and plied with counsels and persuasions the most powerful, to induce him to choose what is good, and reject what is evil. This is what constitutes his moral nature, and makes him a responsible being; but having made his choice, which he can do of himself, and which he will do most deliberately, and adhere to most obstinately, if it be adverse to God's will; he can do nothing more, except by permission; and what is permitted, is overruled for the glory of God. The stupidity as well as wickedness of a self-willed man, is clearly illustrated in Balaam's case-the dumb ass rebuking the madness of the prophet. The way of transgressors is hard, and God's face is set against them. All the dealings of providence with impenitent men, are calculated

to move them to repentance. When "the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand, he bowed down his head, and fell flat on his face." (Num. xxii. 31.) In the judgment of men, it would have been supposed that Balaam had repented; how far otherwise the case was, the inspired apostles who speak of him declare. This man's whole history, so far as man could judge, would have been regarded as, after all, only exceptionable in some points; and it is a part of Scripture which, but for the allusion to it in the gospel, would have been interpreted very differently, as to Balaam's eternal destiny, from what the Spirit of God has been pleased to reveal. And even with the inspired interpretation, to most men the whole transaction is beset with perplexity and difficulty. For above and beyond his prostration before the angel of the Lord, "Balaam said unto him, I have sinned; for I knew not that thou stoodest in the way against me: now therefore, if it displease thee, I will get me back again." (Num. xxii. 34.) Is there not penitence here, it may be asked? No; but the determined spirit of a rebel, prostrate and submissive because he cannot help himself; for it is a singular fact, an obstinate man must either be a tyrant or a slave: he knows no medium between these two extremes; he must either lord it over others, or he must himself be lorded over by another. The opening of Balaam's eyes was the renewal of the Spirit's striving with his conscience, so powerful and so alarming, as to prostrate him in terror, but not in tears. He confesses his knowledge of his sin, and that admission is but its aggravation. If the Spirit had not striven with him, he would not have known sin; but the light that was in him, he of his own free will

made darkness; and how great was that darkness! He says, "I have sinned:" what else could he say; what can any man say when in the act of known transgression his conscience, roused from its slumbers by the Spirit of God, smites him with almighty power. It is, after all, but a pretence: he says, "I have sinned; for I knew not that thou stoodest in the way against me." His acknowledgment is much more frank than he meant it to be: he had silenced conscience; he had persuaded himself that the time was come when he might with impunity defy his God; if he had foreknown that he was to be thus obstructed, he would have remained at home, only, however, to wait a more favourable opportunity. The determination to abandon his obstinacy and impenitence, is nowhere revealed; for he immediately adds, "if it displease thee, I will get me back again." He knew it was displeasing to God from the very beginning; his conscience had repeatedly smote him, and God's Spirit had striven with him, and the angel of the Lord had just said to him, "Behold, I went out to withstand thee, because thy way is perverse before me:" and yet he dares to reply, as if he were actually in ignorance of God's will, saying, "If it displease thee I will get me back again." What was this, but just saying, when I cannot help myself, I will not oppose thee; but I am unwilling to do thy will; and unless thou preventest me by thy power, which thou canst do if thou wilt, I will go. His is not the case of a poor sinner, whose eyes are opened for the first time, and who says, Lord be merciful to me a sinner; but his is the case of the obstinate impenitent, who has again and again been warned and remonstrated with, and who in the darkness of his dark mind, even when confronted with divine vengeance in the very act

of disobedience, insults his Maker, by pretending still to be in ignorance of what He will have him to do. The whole saying is grossly inconsistent; he says, "I have sinned;" and yet he says also as if in ignorance, "if it displease thee." The explanation is, that the confession was extorted from him by the dread of punishment; the ouly mistake which he regretted making was, not that he had disobeyed God, but that he had ventured to come when God stood in the way against him. And all he is disposed to do is to go back, if he cannot be allowed to have his own way. He will just do what God compels him to do by the force of his power, which he feels he cannot resist without destruction to himself; but of his own choice he is firmly determined he never will submit to the will of God. In all that happened, it was taught that a man's will is his own, and he can make his own choice, and in doing so, resist the powerful strivings of the Spirit of God. will is left perfectly free by God in its volitions, their effects are completely under His control, and that an obstinate and impenitent spirit can only do what God permits. And further, the whole narrative is an exhibition of the manner in which God deals with obstinate men; leaving nothing undone that can be done, to persuade and move them to repentance; and that it is part of his gracious arrangement, to make even the aggravated wickedness of such men the means of blessing his believing people. God is not mocked; as a man sows, so shall he reap; with the fruit of his own doings shall he be rewarded; for it shall be given to every man according as his works have been. Still, God restraineth the visible manifestations of the wrath of wicked men, and the remainder of wrath he causeth to praise Him.

That while a rebellious