state of grace could not have come to us but through a medium, and that medium was and is Christ. And what I want to show is, that this kingdom of God upon earth, within us, is not a thing of time only, but that it was established before creation had place, or man a being. God in Christ, the Saviour of the world, as much stood upon the arena of a past eternity, as He did upon the arena of our world, when He came to do the work he had purposed to do. "The field is the world," but the purpose made, the Word given, the thing was as much done, as when He said, "It is finished." Whatever God purposes cannot fail.

Of the origin of evil we know nothing, of the evil of ourselves we know not whence it is; but we may suppose it is of date coeval with God's purpose to destroy it, and that He suffered its operation for its destruction. If I inherit a sinful nature, "I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me," I say, if I am born with this evil nature, and myself have no power or control over it, it might be supposed that God, as "a faithful Creator," would interfere, and bring home to us a salvation sufficient to our need; a salvation absolute and complete; salvation from Himself, full and free, and independent of the creature. And this is the salvation I want to exhibit, the salvation of God. When it is written, "salvation is of JEHOVAH," it means emphatically, salvation is of God; JEHOVAH is only the name by which He has guaranteed salvation; the covenant name; the oath or solemn affirmation He has made to the creature. "JEHOVAH called unto Abraham out of heaven, and said, by Myself have I sworn, saith JEHOVAH"

(Gen. xxii. 15, 16; Heb. vi. 13-18). "God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath." It is this distinct salvation and redemption I want my reader to see. The ram offered for a burnt offering instead of Isaac typified it, but the creature has nothing to do with it. We have to respond to it; to be obedient to the heavenly calling as Abraham was; to receive the promise, and to receive the gift, but we can do nothing in the work of our salvation; we may work out the knowledge of it, and the perfect assurance of it, but the kingdom of God is an invisible, underlying principle. The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost have done all, are doing all; we may not lift up a tool upon it, nor may human voice be heard in the holy temple. Creation was of God, redemption was of God, sanc.ification was of God; His own people were set apart to Him before the foundation of the world, and the work of regeneration and restoration is of God the Holy Spirit we can do nothing towards them, but to believe and to receive them. "We which have believed do enter into rest, as He said, as I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world” (Heb. iv. 3). How independent was this of the creature! If man were to lift up a tool upon the work he would defile it. He must not look to himself for salvation, but away from himself to Christ. "I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name's sake" (1 John ii. 12). How often is the work of the Spirit going on upon the human heart when we see it not, know it not, silently and surely; the work was God's.

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Then let us for a moment glance at the subject of the love of God. If we had no revelation, we should see it in creation, in a world that was prepared for man, wisely and wonderfully adapted to the economy of man, to all his wants, convenience, and pleasure; to his five senses, so that life is pleasant. But it is in revelation also that we see Him; the Eternal Spirit has drawn aside the veil, and by the eye of faith we do see the invisible God, the God of love. And nowhere more than in this verse: "I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name's sake." Forgiveness without claim or reward, solely for His name's sake. This is free, absolute grace. The souls of children, their eternal life, are in the hand of God, through Christ. The fact opens to us the doctrine of Christ, in all its entireness, and completeness: the keys of the kingdom of God are in his hand. The doctrine of love is as clear as the light of heaven could make it; the doctrine of forgiveness grows out of it. In God there is a depth of love, a boundless ocean of love that no finite mind can fathom, grasp, or comprehend. It is twice written, "God is love" (1 John iv. 8, 16). And, And, "In this was manifest the love of God towards us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him." I do believe there is a boundless ocean of love that no thought can traverse, that no spiritual gift while here can grasp. "God is love;" it answers every cavil, responds to every mystery, unlocks every difficulty, solves every problem. Its very entireness sounds the bottom of "the mystery of iniquity," undermines its base, and guarantees its utter annihilation. The depth may be profound, the abyss perfectly inexpli

cable, but the love of God has compassed it, and will uproot it to its last hold. "All the promises of God in Christ are yea, and in Him amen, unto the glory of God by us" (2 Cor. i. 20). As I have said, the work of the salvation of the world is entirely God's, the underlying stratum, operation, entirely of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; three Persons, but one God, and the glory must be His. We cannot commit greater violence than to be looking for self righteousness, and mistrusting Him. There is Christian responsibility, salutary circumspection, but the work of our salvation and redemption was, and is God's.

"He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" (Rom. viii. 32).

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"We have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God" (1 Cor. ii. 12). In Christ all is restored to us that was lost, and more than all the Fatherhood of God, the Godhead in His fulness, eternal life in its Divine glory. The two gifts of God to our world were His Son, and His Holy Spirit, and in these we are complete. The love of God could design no more. "God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John iii. 16). And what does this same Apostle resolve this grand truth into? "Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down his life for us" (1 John iii. 16). God laid down his life for us, so that Christ was God, the same Being of the Old Testament, as of the New Testament. "In all their affliction He was

afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity He redeemed them; and He bare them and carried them all the days of old" (Is. lxiii. 9). And St. Paul speaks of "the Church of God, which He hath purchased with his own blood" (Acts xx. 28). So that the love of Christ was the love of God also, and what does his most blessed Word say upon the subject of his love?

"The love of Christ, which pas eth knowledge" (Eph. iii. 19). This brings me back into the profound depth we have before seen, into the invisible world, into the kingdom of God. But we cannot comprehend all its mysteries, we cannot explore all its regions; for time it must be "the mystery of God" to us, but when the spiritual mystery is finished, the love of God will be revealed. It is emphatically asserted here, that it "passeth knowledge "-all human knowledge, and even all the knowledge that is revealed by the Spirit. There are breadths, and lengths, and depths, and heights of love, of which we shall know nothing till we have put off the sinful flesh, and are past the boundary of time. "The love of Christ, which passeth knowledge;" then let us not think to span the mighty ocean, to grasp the almighty fiat, to comprehend redeeming love; it extends on and beyond anything we have any knowledge of. The word is God's that it passeth knowledge, and here we must rest till eternity reveals the whole. How often have I said, that the Apocalypse reveals to us operation beyond the present human economy, that "the tree of life for the healing of the nations" is seen beyond our economy; and "the river of water of life," still proceeding out of "the throne of God and of the