in possession of all good. All the wants, all the desires of humanity may be summed up in these two words-eternal well-being. Man's deepest struggle is to preserve life, to make it as long and as happy as possible. He shudders at the idea of any termination,-the happier he, the more awful the idea of an end. In his deepest soul he feels that an "eternity of bliss is bliss."

Now this Christianity provides for; it has "the words of eternal life."

First: Its "words" revoke that legal sentence of eternal death to which humanity is subject. The Bible teaches (1) That men are doomed to eternal death. (2) That through the Gospel this doom may be averted.

Secondly: Its "words" remove that moral disease insuring eternal death to which humanity is subject. The Bible teaches (1) That men are infected with the mortal malady: and (2) That the Gospel removes it and implants the seeds of eternal life.

Another fact here indicating the transcendent volume of Christianity is :

II. IT RESPECTS THE FREEDOM OF HUMAN NATURE. "Will ye also go away? Christ uses no coercion. He treats men according to their nature: men are made to act freely, and they never can act as men only as they are free. Hence Christ says, "Will ye?" First: Christ does not want our service. He can do without us. He could destroy the old creation and create a new universe. Do not stay with me from the idea that I want you. Secondly: Christ will not accept forced service. (1) Because there could be no moral virtue in such service. He requires us to serve Him because by doing so we grow morally good. (2) Because there could be no happiness in such service. He wishes our happiness. The gloomy looks and the sepulchral tones of religious serfs are an abomination to Him. Be free then.

Another fact here indicating the transcendent value of Christianity is:

III. IT TAKES THE STRONGEST MORAL HOLD UPON HUMAN LIFE. "To whom can we go?" Though free we are bound. What are its binding forces? First: The gratitude it inspires. Gratitude ever binds to the benefactor. Secondly: The love it enkindles. Love always binds the heart to its object, and the more excellencies the object displays the stronger the tie becomes. Thirdly: The hope it awakens. Hope binds the heart to the object promised. Christ makes wonderful promises. Fourthly: The congeniality which it produces. Christianity suits man in every respect-heart, conscience, intellect, all.

To whom then can the man go who has really secured Christianity? How can he extricate himself? To whom can you go? Will you go to Rationalism,-to Romanism,-to Paganism, to Secularism? There is nowhere else you can go to, if you would.

SUBJECT-Moral Remedialism.

"He hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted."-Luke iv. 18.

Analysis of Homily the Three Hundred and Thirty-sixth.

THREE things are manifestly implied in these words :— First That there is misery in our world. Amidst all the beatifying influences of nature, and under all the gay and mirthful forms in which society appears, there is much suffering. There are broken hearts. There are some hearts broken by tyranny, some by slander, some by disappointment, some by bereavement, some by conviction of sin. What sighs of human anguish are breathed to Heaven, what showers of tears fall to the earth, what billows of distress surge through human souls every day! There is but ONE that knows. Another thing manifestly implied here is:

Secondly: That this misery is not here by Divine appointment. This is suggested by the fact that He has sent Jesus to remove it. Whence comes this misery? Does it, like fire from the volcano, or springs from the mountain, rise by the constitution of nature? No. The benevolence of the Creator and the structure of the Universe forbid the thought. God did not create man with a broken heart, nor did He create the thing which has broken the heart. Misery is of the creature, not of the Creator. "O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself." So uncongenial is human misery with the heart of God, that he sent Christ to remove it. The other thing manifestly implied in these words is:

Thirdly: That there is a high probability that this misery will one day be entirely removed from the world. He has sent a Healer into the world equal to the work. He knew the nature and extent of the disease, the qualifications necessary to remove it, and we may feel assured that He never would have commissioned a being to a work which he had not the qualifications to fulfil There is suffering in the world; but there is a physician too, who "can save to the uttermost,"

&c.

A moral Healer should be in possession of two things:Suitable remedial elements, and power effectually to apply them.

I. HE SHOULD POSSESS SUITABLE REMEDIAL ELEMENTS. The employment of instrumentalities is a principle in all God's dealings with man. He acts invariably through secondary causes: He produces, rears, sustains, educates and saves, man in this way.

What are the elements necessary to heal broken hearts?— First: Forgiveness. (1) Whenever man feels conscious that he has offended his Maker, he is and must be miserable. The idea that he has incurred his Creator's displeasure, will blacken the firmament of his soul, fill it with thunders and with fiends. This idea made the heathen world one of darkness, superstition, and woe. The

deepest groan of humanity is this :-"O wretched man that I am!" (2) This consciousness he is bound to feel sometime or other. He can no more prevent it rising in his nature, than he can bind the influence of Plæides or loose the bands of Orion. It must come, and when it comes-it bites like a serpent, and stings like an adder. Now there is nothing can relieve the soul in this state, but forgiveness. This Christ gives. "He has power on earth to forgive." He comes to the soul and says,-" I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins. I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions and as a cloud thy sins." When the soul feels that this is done, it can chant the psalm,-"Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile."

Another necessary remedial element is :

Secondly: Harmony. Conscience and selfishness, moral desire and animal preferences are ever battling within. "The wicked are like the troubled sea." What can harmonize? There is but one thing, and that is supreme sympathy with the supremely good. Love to God in the soul is as necessary to bind all its impulses and powers together in harmony, as attraction is in the material world to unite all the atoms, globes, and systems together. Christ generates this in the heart. He reveals God in all His loveable attributes.

Another necessary element is :

Thirdly Divine Sympathy. Sympathy is a healing element, "As iron sharpeneth iron, so doth the countenance of man his friend." A sufferer instinctively seeks for sympathy, and suffering instinctively awakens it. It is a healing element. A word, a look, an act of sympathy, how soothing! It acts upon the dark and troubled soul as the sun of a serene morning upon the dome of Heaven when chasing away the battling clouds. In proportion to the felt excellence and greatness of the being who expresses sympathy is its heart-healing value. Christ, the son of God, assures us of

His sympathy. "He is made in all parts like unto us." "In all our afflictions he was afflicted." His sympathy has a hearthealing power.

Another heart-healing element is :

Fourthly: Hope. Awake hope of future success in the heart of the man crushed by disappointment, hope of forgiveness in the soul of the sin convicted, hope of recovery in the mind of the diseased, of liberty in the captive, of forgiveness in the condemned, of a renewed friendship in the heart of the bereaved,-and in all these cases you will do much to heal. Hope is indeed a heart-healing element. This hope Jesus brings to the world. He is in it, as the "hope of glory." "Blessed be the God and Father," &c. The other qualification necessary to the healing of broken hearts is :

II. POWER OF EFFECTUALLY APPLYING THE PROPER REMEDIAL ELEMENTS. The possession of remedial elements is not enough. Medicine adapted to remove the disease of the patient, may be so applied as to render the disease more malignant. Proper application is fundamental. Three things seem necessary to a proper application of remedial elements to broken hearts :

:

First: Adequate knowledge. The moral physician should know the laws of the moral constitution, and the exact nature of the disease. The man who attempts to heal bodily diseases must, to succeed, make himself acquainted with the varied parts and laws of the human organization. No one can heal the soul without understanding it. Christ thoroughly understands it. "He trieth the reins." "He knows what is in man." He knows too the source of the disease. He knows everything about every suffering soul. Men must study souls to restore them.

Another thing which seems necessary to a proper application of these remedial elements is :

Secondly: Thorough happiness. No one can heal souls who is not happy himself. Can darkness ever dispel dark