prove, if they can, that God is too holy to look on sin with approbation, while at the same time they acknowledge that he not only permitted its introduction, but imparts to it his own immortality, and fixes it in his universe for eternity.

The existence of finite and temporal evil I can thus, to my own satisfaction, reconcile with the attributes of God, with his infinite wisdom, holiness and love. But beyond this I cannot go. Tell me that sin is in its nature infinite, or in its duration without end, and I leave you to explain its existence in the universe of God as best you can; for I believe with Bp. Butler that, "it is a manifest absurdity to suppose evil prevailing finally over good, under the administration of a perfect mind."

My views then on this subject are summarily these: God måde man in his own image, that is, a moral being capable of moral improvement and happiness. But to be this, he must be morally free; and freedom to good is not possible in a finite and imperfect being, only on condition of the possibility of evil. In other words, a finite and imperfect being to be free, must be free to choose evil as well as good. The only alternative, then, which it is possible for us to conceive, was to create man as he is, liable to sin and suffering, or not create him at all. To have made him a machine, or even a brute, would have placed him beyond the possibility of sin, it is true,

but only by denying him all morality. To have made him perfect, and thus raised him above the possibility of sin, would have been to make him God at once, and therefore impossible even for the Almighty. God did not foreordain that man should sin; he did not will it; for had he done so, his ordination or will would have been man's law, and obedience to it would have been virtuous. He did not even permit sin any farther than creating man with powers which rendered sin possible may be construed into a permission. On the contrary he forbade it, and held the guilty transgressor of his holy law responsible for his sin. But sin is finite and temporal, and God has made ample provision for its ultimate destruction. In the moral nature which he has given man, he has manifested his purpose to bring evil to an end. The wicked show themselves to be out of their proper sphere, and to be warring against their Else why that perpetual struggle, that restless, discontented and unsatisfied state in which they always live? If evil had any permanent ground, it would manifest a natural and firm growth, and the sinful would come to find a kind of happiness in sin, that should be steady and sufficient to meet their wants. But the history of six thousand years proves that it is not so. All observation and experience show that a life of sin, amidst all its outward seeming, is still unnatural and forced, unsubstantial and false.

own nature.

There is

always an inward contradiction in the sinner's own soul, which cannot be removed; an internal faintheartedness and insecurity that perpetually betray. themselves, if not to the world, at least to his own consciousness. It is in vain to tell me that such a character is formed for eternity. It has no trace of permanency upon it. But look at the good man: there is quiet, and a calm sunshine upon the soul that no storm, no cloud can shut out. And the deeper you penetrate his heart, the fresher and fuller will be the fountain of his peace. In the tranquil joy which now fills his soul, you can recognize the elements, the germ of a blissful immortality toward which he is advancing.

But it is not in our moral nature and the course of Providence alone, that God has indicated his purpose to eradicate sin and attract man, a free being still, to himself, and to heaven. He has manifested this still more clearly in revelation, where he has foretold the bruising of the serpent's head, but especially in the New Testament where he has openly exhibited the Great Redeemer as one who "taketh away the sin of the world," and who seated upon the throne of truth and grace, "must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet," and who," when all things shall be subdued unto him," shall "himself be subject to him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all." This is the end contemplated in the Gospel, and without attaining it, God would himself

suffer defeat. But as Bockshammer has well said, "Then will God be All in All when every creature without ceasing to have an individual existence, shall yet find itself in willing accord and harmonious union with Him."

THE BIRTH OF CHRIST.

SCRIPTURE LESSON, LUKE II. 1-20.

The birth of Christ! What an event in our world's history!-and what a host of rich and blessed consequences have flowed and are still flowing from it. And yet it was an event of apparently a very humble cast, that excited no considerable attention at the time of its occurrence, and promised little to the world beyond any common-place event.

God, it is true, had spoken glorious things to his chosen people. From time to time, through a long lapse of ages, he had spoken of One whom he was ultimately to send to the earth as his great Messenger, and who was to declare his heavenly will. Even in the garden of Eden, the birthplace of the human family, and of sin, God announced the future coming of "the seed of the woman," and proclaimed the object of his mission, to bruise the serpent's head. Four thousand years had passed slowly away since that great design of the All-wise was made known to his sinful crea