for which you will have to bless him in time and eternity. And now, may that God whose name we have sought to honor this morning, bless these stammering words of ours for Jesus' sake. Amen.

SERMON XVII.

WHAT GOD CANNOT DO.

"GOD, THAT CANNOT LIE."-Titus i. 2.

TRUTH once reigned supreme upon our globe, and then earth was Paradise. Man knew no sorrow while he was ignorant of falsehood. The Father of Lies invaded the garden of bliss, and with one foul lie he blighted Eden into a wilderness, and made man a traitor to his God. Cunningly he handled the glittering falsehood, and made it dazzle in the woman's eyes – "God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." Proud ambition rode upon that lie as a conqueror in his chariot, and the city of Mansoul opened its gates to welcome the fascinating enemy. As it was a lie which first subjugated the world to Satan's influences, so it is by lies that he secures his throne. Among the heathen his kingdom is quiet and secure, because the minds of the people are deluded with a false mythology. The domains of Mahomet and the Pope are equally the kingdom of Satan, and his reign is undisturbed; for human merit, priestly efficacy, and a thousand other deceptions buttress his throne. The darkness of ignorance, the dungeons of falsehood, and the chains of superstition, are the main reliance of that monster who oppresses all the nations with his infernal tyranny.

.

Since by the lie Satan now holds the world and maintains his power, he everywhere encourages lies, and aids their propagation. Look about you, and see what a prolific family falsehood has! The children of the untrue are as many as the frogs of

curses.

Egypt, and, like those plagues, they intrude into every chamber. The slime of falsehood may be seen upon most things, both in secular and religious life. You have lying news and garbled reports in print; and as for the flying gossip of the tongue, if it touches the characters of good men, beware of believing a word it utters. If you would not have complicity with those who make the lie, be not hasty to entertain it. From the high places of the earth falsehood is not excluded. The untruth glides right royally from the kingly tongue, but is as much a lie as if the ragged mendicant had blurted it forth with low-lived oaths and What is diplomacy, for the most part? Is it not "the art of lying?" Was not he thought to be the best politician who used language to conceal his thoughts? In how many a conference have the plenipotentiaries labored which could overreach, dissimulate, and intrigue to the greatest degree? In the commerce of courts, who knows not that flatteries and lies are the most abundant commodities? The art of king-craft, as practised by the most high and mighty Prince James, whose name dishonors our English Bible, was only and simply the science of lying in the neatest possible manner. In these modern times, the difference between the promises at the hustings and the performances in the House of Commons, proves that the lie is still commonly patronized. Falsehood is everywhere. It is entertained both by the lowest and the highest; it permeates all society; it has ruined the whole of our race, and so defiled the entire world, that upright men exclaim, "Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar!" In the so-called religious world, which should be as the holy of holies, here, too, the lie has insinuated itself. Of old there were prophets who prophesied lies, and dreamers of false dreams; and there were others who spoke the word of God with such bated breath, and after such a fashion, that it was no longer the truth as it came from God, but truth alloyed with human falsehood. It is so to-day. There are those wearing the vestments of God's priests who do not hesitate to profess what they do not believe. Such men are the priests of hell. To wear a bishop's mitre, and

teach infidelity-how shall I stigmatize it?-it is nothing less than detestable hypocrisy and robbery. And what shall I say of men of all creeds, all subscribing to the same articles and catechism, when all the world knows they cannot all honestly believe the same thing, and yet differ as much from one another as light from darkness? What shall I say but that shame covers my face that there should be so many ministers of God who are untrue to their convictions, and continue to do and say what they feel to be unscriptural? In other quarters, philosophy is believed and Christianity professed; the traditions of men are put in the place of God's truth. The prophets prophesy lies, and the people love to have it so. Brethren, we have everywhere to battle with falsehood; and if we are to bless the world, we must confront it with sturdy face and zealous spirit. God's purpose is to drive the lie out of the world, and be this your purpose and mine. His Holy Spirit has undertaken to drive falsehood out of our hearts; be this our determination, in his strength, that it shall be cut up root and branch, and utterly consumed. Then let us walk in the truth; "buy the truth, and sell it not; " hold fast the truth, speak the truth in love, and act the truth in all our deeds; for so shall we be known to be the children of that God of whom our text asserts that he is "God, that cannot lie." After wandering over the sandy desert of deceit, how pleasant is it to reach our text, and feel that one spot at least is verdant with eternal truth! Blessed be thou, O God, for thou canst not lie. We will use our text in the following manner this morning: First, while we do not attempt to prove it, we will remind you of a few things which may confirm your confidence that God cannot lie, so that our opening remarks shall be upon the truth of the text; then, secondly, we will speak upon the breadth of the text, endeavoring to show that we must give no narrow interpretation to the words before us, but must receive them with an extent of meaning not usual to the expression; and then, thirdly, we will try to use the text for our own improvement, arguing from it that if God cannot lie he ought to receive our loving confidence.

I. First, then, let us commune together awhile concerning THE TRUTH OF THE TEXT, - not, as we have said, to prove it, because we all believe it, but to confirm our confidence thereon. Methinks we shall feel assured that God cannot lie when we remember that he is not subject to those infirmities which lead us into falsehood. Lord Bacon has said: "There are three parts in truth: first, the inquiry, which is the wooing of it; secondly, the knowledge of it, which is the presence of it; and, thirdly, the belief, which is the enjoyment of it." In each of these three points, by reason of infirmity, men fail to be perfectly true. In the search after truth, our moral eye is not altogether clear, and therefore we fail to see what we love not; we do not follow truth in a straight line, but are very liable to turn aside to the right hand or to the left, either to obey our prejudices or advance our profit. "Truth lies in a well," said the old philosopher. Many go down into that well to find truth, but, looking into the water, they see their own faces, and become so desperately enamored of their own beauty that they forget poor truth, or dream that she is the counterpart of themselves. Now, the great God cannot be liable to this error, because there is no discovery of truth with him. He needeth not to search anything out, for "all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do." When, in Scripture, that term is sometimes used, "Shall not God search this out?" when we hear him spoken of as" searching the heart and trying the reins of the children of men,”—it is not because he is not perfectly acquainted with all things, but only to set forth the certainty and accuracy of divine knowledge. God having no need to search, or, if he had, having nothing in him which should lead him to make a dishonest search, therefore he doth not lie. When we have searched out the truth, there is the knowing of it; and here the falsehood gets a footing in the form of a sin of omission, for we often refuse to know all that we might know. It would be inconvenient, perhaps, for us to be too well acquainted with certain arguments, for then our prejudices must be given up, and therefore we close our eyes to them for fear of knowing the truth. Do not many