world of sinners, and I need nothing more to bring me within the scope of its competency, than that I am a sinner. Find me a righteous man, and this atoning blood has no virtue for him; but such am not I, and therefore I may not, until he spurns me, turn away from one who is peculiarly and exclusively the Saviour of sinners. This sufficiency in the provision of God's grace in Christ, to meet the wants of every man, lays a foundation broad enough to build thereon a universal offer of grace and salvation in the Gospel; broad enough then, surely, to afford a sufficient footing for my own hope. There is nothing in the Cross of Christ that prohibits me from looking to it for a personal reconciliation with God. I cannot say, as one of old, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord," now that I know that my humanity and my sinfulness constitute the only possibility of union between Christ and me, and give hope that he, who seemed from the very nature of his work to have only sinful men in view, will have compassion upon my misery.

But more than this, IN THE INVITATIONS OF THE GOSPEL, we find every thing to confirm the impression produced by the person and work of Christ. The heralds of mercy are expressly commissioned to seek out every thing that is human and sinful, and to bear to it the free offer of forgiveness and salvation through the blood of Jesus. We are to go out into the high

ways and hedges, and whatever we find there, however poor and squalid, we are to wash it from the mire, and strip from it its rags, and put on it a new and beautiful robe, the wedding garment of the righteousness of Christ, and bear it in to the gospel feast. At the birth of our Saviour, a multitude of the heavenly host were heard praising God, and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, and good will to men;" and wherever, by Divine command, the tidings are borne, we see Divine grace accompanying it, and confirming the faithfulness to the chief of sinners. To all men, every where, God offers eternal life in his beloved Son; offers to give them, in present possession, the life that endures forever; so to enrich them, that every individual may say, "All things are mine, and I am Christ's, and Christ is God's." I find these blessings offered without money, and without price, to hold and enjoy in inalienable possession - blessings, the extent and value of which, "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man.” I do not read the Bible too partially and selfishly then, when I see in it that not only to others, but to me also, Christ is freely given, to be my Saviour from the power, fear, and guilt of sin; and in Christ, all the blessings and privileges of the Gospel, in this life and in that which is to come.

In ministering to the spiritual wants of the inquir

ing, it is necessary to keep in mind these two things: not only the fullness and freeness of the promise, but the completeness of the work on which the promise rests. It is usually not enough to calm the troubled conscience, that we show that God offers salvation to every creature; we find ourselves obliged to go down to the very foundation on which that offer is based to show the fullness of satisfaction rendered to the Divine law and majesty, by the infinite sufferer Jesus of Nazareth. The anxious soul may see how thoroughly the honor of God has been vindicated, and infer his right to pardon, not from any special declaration to himself, not from the discovery of grace and holiness in his own heart, nor solely from the general offer of the Gospel, but more directly, and more satisfactorily perhaps, from the full provision which Christ has made for all the wants of a ruined race. Now he can comprehend the meaning, the propriety, and the sincerity of that deep and earnest call, which, once breathed into the air of earth by Divine lips, could not die away from the ear and heart of man; but every wind has caught it up and borne it along, every rock and every mountain has re-echoed it, every successive age has rejoiced in it-swelling and still swelling, louder and yet louder, every continent must hear it, and every island; "Come, come, come- whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely."

This, surely, is enough to encourage any and all of us in coming to Christ; but perhaps some of us have had even more than this. We have great reason for thankfulness, if we find in ourselves any of those emotions and experiences to which special encouragement is extended-if we have such a sense of sinfulness, of poverty, of weariness, of wretched helplessness, as prepares us to accept the gift, to entertain and welcome just such a message of grace as the Gospel reveals. And yet to many there may be a difficulty here. There are apparent limitations to this grace in many of the invitations and descriptions of the Biblewords which seem to imply, not only that faith is requisite as a condition, but that there is some previous work to be wrought in the heart before coming to Christ. "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden," "Ho, every one that thirsteth," "He that humbleth himself shall be exalted," are phrases that seem to contain such restrictions. It would appear as if the provision of the Gospel is, after all, not so free as we have supposed-that certain large classes of sinful men, not only have the difficult condition of faith imposed on them, but are excluded even from the duty or privilege of believing, until they have passed through some preparatory experiences. The proposal of these seems to be hampering the Gospel with new conditions, impairing the freedom and simplicity of a sinner's access to God.

As to the matter of believing, we fear indeed that we do sometimes so speak of faith, as to erect it into the importance of a condition, in view of which we receive pardon; and as soon as we hear of conditions, we begin to think of something that has a certain value in the purchase of a benefit, or in the payment of a debt. This is indeed to put a formidable obstacle in the sinner's way.

So anxious are we that such a difficulty should not lie for a moment in any man's way, that though a consideration of the nature of faith is out of our proposed order, we are willing to violate that order, by the introduction of one or two simple illustrations, to show that this salvation is a free gift of God.

Suppose that you are about to transfer a valuable property to one of your neighbors for a stipulated price, considered a full and fair equivalent. The instrument of conveyance is drawn in legal form. The money is paid, and he receives the deed-takes possession of the property-appropriates to himself all of its proceeds, and relies upon you that you will never disturb him in his possession-will never lay claim to it--will always consider it as his, and not yours. Now what will either of you, at any subsequent time, state to have been the condition of this contract? Will it be that act of his in accepting the deed, in taking possession of the property, and in relying upon your honor to allow him to enjoy it