wrath, no sweet, mild, winning looks to soothe the asperities of human life. You must lay all this bitterness aside. It is not the characteristic of a Christian. Wrath and anger are often associated in the Scripture, and cannot easily be distinguished (Col. iii. 8, Heb. xi. 27, Rev. xii. 12.) They are violent, fierce passions which overbear the control of reason; they unhinge the mind, and destroy, for the time, the reasoning and reflective faculty. The Christian should put them away as being unworthy of the name and character which he bears. Love must rule in his heart, and not anger; patience must have her perfect work, and not wrath. Let the same mind be in you which was also in Christ, who, when He was reviled, reviled not again, and when He was buffeted, threatened not. Let truth, holiness, and love flow in a still and peaceful course towards heaven, unruffled by the winds and gusts of passion The rock beneath us is steadfast, the heaven above us is serene, and the God whom we love and serve is of one mind for evermore. Why, then, should we allow the cares of the world, or the raging of the enemies, or the attacks of the devil, to stir up our minds to anger and wrath? The patient Lamb, bearing His cross to Calvary, is not the type and leader of such! Neither, beloved, should you lift up your voice in the streets, nor join the tumultuous populace in clamour and controversy (Acts xxiii. 9, Eph. iv. 31). The noisiest rivers are not the deepest, and the Lord was not in the storm, nor the earthquake, but in the still, small voice. Evil speaking, also (Greek, blasphemy), is forbidden by the royal law of love, under which we dwell. Blasphemy here means slander, calumny, or intentional defamation of character, and it may well stand at the top of the climax! You began with bitterness, and it has led you thus far! You are beyond the stages of anger, and

wrath, and clamour, and are ready for the devil's diploma in the university of the damned! But I will restrain myself, lest I become what I seek you to avoid. The word blasphemy (evil speaking) is used in reference to God and the Holy Spirit (Matt. xii. 31, xxvi. 65, Mark ii. 7, xiv. 64, Luke v. 21, John x. 33, Rev. xiii. 5, 6), as well as to our fellow-men, and in both cases it consummates the guilt of the wicked. This gives the tongue a fearful importance, and may well justify the striking language of the apostle James (iii. 3-10). How noble is the right use of the tongue! A good converser (there are only a few historically celebrated ones in our English history), a faithful preacher, such as Paul was, and such as Cowper described (Task, Book ii.), a public orator in the high places of the land, leading the destinies of nations, and having for his audience one may say, the civilized world; these are examples of the wonderful power of the tongue, and the estimate in which the right use of it is held among men. Even so cruel, accursed, and execrable is the bitter, lying, boastful, clamorous, calumnious tongue, and it is, or ought to be, in an equal degree, detested and despised. All these evil monuments of the old man are to be put away from the saints, with all malice or ill-will. Kakia, Badness, has two representatives in Hebrew-see Ex. xxxii. 11, 12, Isa. xxix. 20. Xenophon makes it the cowardice of the soldiers (Cyr. 2, 2, 27), and in the New Testament it means malice or malignity (1 Cor. v. 8, Col. iii. 8, Titus iii. 3). This seems to be the soul out of which all the others grow; the fallen condition of the natural heart, in which so many evil passions find nourishment and scope. Be done with them all. In the name and strength of God, be done with them all! It is possible; grace can do it! and God Himself com

mands it.

XII. THREE GRACES.

"Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.” (Ver. 32.)

Kindness, tenderheartedness, forgiveness, are here presented to us as the attributes of the new man, and the virtues which the faith of Christ inspires. These are some of the active duties which adorn the Christian character, in which all negative and positive excellence should unite together. Kind and tenderhearted are to be distinguished only in degree, as they both show the beneficent operations of Divine mercy and love. The latter is much the stronger of the two (well-bowelled, viz., having yearning compassion, 1 Pet. iii. 8), and denotes the pitying, grieving affection with which love looks upon misery. These are, indeed, noble graces, and tell at once the fountain from which they flow, even the forgiving love of God, in Jesus Christ our Lord-forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. O noble conduct, and still nobler motive! Forgive one another as God in Christ (so the Greek) hath forgiven you! Stript of all ornaments, and seen simply by the eye of the intellect, the verse teaches the following propositions: (1.) All forgiveness of sin is the act of God's grace. (2.) This act takes place through the mediation of Christ. (3.) Christians are to be adorned with the noblest moral virtues. (4.) These moral virtues are based upon, or flow from the revealed character of God. (5.) Assurance, conviction, certainty, should be the condition of the believing soul, God in Christ hath forgiven you. These five propositions contain more truth concerning God and man than is to be found in the entire literature of heathen Greece and Rome! Any one

of these outweighs many times the speeches of Cicero and the orations of Demosthenes! God for Christ's

sake hath forgiven you! It is a reprieve from the God of heaven, reaching the criminals on the road to the execution! It re-establishes, in a moment, the broken link between God and His creatures by restoring confidence and peace! Being forgiven, we then forgive; we are as certain that God has forgiven us, as others are that we forgive them. He has done it, and we shall do it. Jesus, the Head, is the Receiver from the Fount of Divine Majesty; we receive the healing streams from Him, not to appropriate them, or conceal them, but to dispense the water of life to all around. But, observe here, brother man, the first thing to make sure of is this-Has God forgiven thee? All other questions may well be kept in abeyance till this be answered! and this must be answered before you can be kind and forgiving to others. May I then-must I then know that my sins are forgiven? You may, and you must, if you would exercise the virtues of this verse. But you are teaching the assurance of faith! Well, yes, I am, and I now assert that no believer in the New Testament ever expresses a doubt of his salvation. Never! Show me the text; I am open to conviction when I see the passage. Mant's exposition of 1 Cor. ix. 27 is false; and the passage teaches the assurance of faith. Then, in that case, I should say "God has, for Christ's sake, forgiven me; Jesus Christ loved me, and gave Himself for me; what shall separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus my Lord? I know that when He shall appear, I shall be like Him, for I shall see Him as He is; I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord will give me at His coming. Behold what manner of love

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the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God." Yes, my brother, such is the strain of the New Testament, and such should be the language of the believer at all times. The doubting faith (a contradiction) of modern times, the holy Scripture knows nothing about, and neither did the Reformers of the sixteenth century. The Council of Trent, indeed, condemns this doctrine as Protestant, under the title of vana fiducia hereticorum-the vain assurance of heretics. But enough of this. Our text says, "Forgive, as God in Christ hath forgiven you." Remember the source of forgiveness is not simply God, but God in Christ; God dispensing His gifts and blessings through the Mediator whom He has appointed. Approach, then, and drink from the fount of mercy abundantly, for there is no lock on thy Father's house. He meets the prodigal, and in fatherly embraces forgives him, so that there is no fear of repulsion or refusal. This good, kind, forgiving God is ours, and we may well take refuge under the shadow of His wings.