of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life."

The apostle is here comparing himself, and his fellow-helpers in the ministry, with the false teachers who were disturbing the Corinthian church. Those false teachers were just exactly as the false teachers in the present hour, all for works, and doings, and observance of legal rites and ceremonies in order to please God and get to heaven. They clung to the law of Moses for salvation, whereas Paul declares the law of Moses to be the minister of condemnation. The false teachers declared it to be still binding, whereas Paul declared it to be done away. "The letter" and "the spirit" in our text are descriptive of the law and the gospel; and when he says, "the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life," he means, the law killeth, but the gospel giveth life. And so they do. The formal, literal precepts of the law kill-i. e., bring the knowledge of sin, its guilt, and punishment, to every one to whom they come; but the Spirit, i. e., the Holy Spirit, showing the things of Christ to the soul, giveth life-i. e., not only new life, but eternal life to that soul.

You remember what Paul says in Rom. vii. -"When the commandment came, sin revived, and I died." He means-when the formal, literal precept of the law was brought home to my conscience, sin, that I thought was dead, revived, and I died to all hope. Thus, the letter killed him. The commandment killed him-the law killed him; for it condemned him, inasmuch as it brought him in guilty of breaches of it, and he knew it was written, "Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things written in the law to do them."

But when Christ Jesus was revealed to him, then he got new life, and could thank God for Him; because there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.

Now do you understand what Paul means in the text when he says, "the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life?"

It is the same with you and me. The letter kills us all, for it proves us to be guilty before God; but the Spirit, enlightening our eyes, and enabling us to see Jesus Christ, gives us life-not only new life, but eternal life; for this life is in the Son.

-"Thou shalt not

For instance, the law says, "Thou shalt not covet" bear false witness”- "Thou shalt not steal." By which is meant, if thou hast ever coveted, or ever told a lie, or ever stolen-not merely in act, but in thought-you are under the curse. Thus you are killed by the law or letter: but if by the Spirit you can see in Christ your Law-fulfiller, your Substitute, the Satisfier of God's terrible justice for you, you get life into you-and thus are you given life by the Spirit; or, in other words, by the good news of the gospel.

You may see now what an awful infliction law preachers must be to poor sinners, for they kill them every time they open their mouths; and, on the other hand, what a glorious blessing gospel preachersable ministers of the New Testament-are; for they give life, and peace, and comfort to all whose hearts have had the vail taken off them by God.

II. Now, I would make some legitimate use of the phrase "The letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life" i. e., I would extend its meaning beyond the strict sense that I have first given.

It is a very common expression with many christians when the true and spiritual meaning of a Scripture is not understood. And I am not quite sure that the Lord does not warrant us, in this use of the phrase through his address to the unbelieving Jews as recorded in John vi. 51-63. The way I interpret this is-The Jews thought Jesus meant to give them His literal flesh to eat. But no; says Jesus, the mere letter of my words profiteth nothing, but rather kills or deludes you, it is the spirit of those words you are to be instructed by. It is the spiritual meaning of them you are to seck.

So I take it to be with all Scripture. We are not to be guided by the mere letter in every case, for this often killeth, for it confuses the mind, and makes it unhappy, and cuts it off from hope; but we are to seek out the spiritual meaning, or the meaning of the Spirit underneath that letter.

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A few illustrations will make my views plainer.For instance-(a.) Except a man be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot see the kingdom of heaven." Now if we stick to the letter here, we must come to the conclusion that nobody without water baptism can enter heaven! which is so monstrous an idea, that it must be repudiated by all who can understand the spirituality of the New Testament. It is incredible, because so contrary to the genius of the gospel, that Christ should ever have intended to convey that the salvation of a soul depended on the observance of a ceremony ! But when we seek the real meaning of this saying, the killing letter is removed; for it simply means-except a man be changed by the Holy Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.

(b.) Again" Baptism doth save"—Now, if we adhere to the letter here, we must conclude that whosoever is immersed in, or sprinkled with water, must be saved. But as this is directly contradicted, even in the context, we must reject the letter. It killeth-and then, when we get to know that it is spiritual baptism that saves, this meaning gives us life.

(c.) "Do this and thou shalt live"-said Christ to the young ruler. If we adhere to the letter of this, we must conclude that the young ruler might have saved himself by his obedience to the commandments; but as this is declared to be impossible by the Scriptures, we must reject the letter. It killeth-And then when we get to know the Lord's design in His coneersation with this young man, we are given life, for we perceive that Christ was preaching up Himself, by showing the impossibility of keeping the Law.

(d) Again" He that is born of God sinneth not." If we adhere to the letter here, we shall come to the conclusion that whosoever sins, is not born of God, but as we know from other Scriptures, and the experience of the saints, that this is not true; we must abandon the letter -It killeth-and when we get to know that the Apostle means→→→→ "Sinneth not as the devil sins, i. e., with spite, malice, hatred, or that he sinneth not to apostacy," we are given life through the passage.

(e.) Again-"True and undefiled religion is to visit the fatherless and the widow, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world." If we adhere to the letter here, we shall come to the conclusion that grace may be dispensed with, and that the new birth is not necessary-but when we learn that it is a sine qua non that every one with true religion must be changed by grace, we are compelled to reject the letter here-and when we get to know that James means that these are evidences of religion in a person begotten of God—then we get life therefrom.

I might multiply these illustrations ad infinitum, but I have given you a sufficient number to make my meaning plain. Suffice it to say that when I use the phrase" the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life" -I mean that if a man follows the mere letter of Scripture, in 9 times out of 10, his soul will experience the killing influence of the practice; but if he can get at the true, spiritual meaning of it, he will get life unto his soul.

May the Lord induce you all to think on these things.

THE ONE SONG.

"Can you repeat your hymn ?" was the first question put to a group of nice-looking children. "Yes, teacher," was the ready answer, and forthwith they began the well-known lines,

"What are the Angels of light and Glory

Doing in Heaven above ?"

was,

"Do you all

When it was concluded, the next question asked remember the tune?" To which one of the children replied, "Teacher, we all know it quite well, except Fanny Cox, and she will bring the glory into the doing, and that puts us all out and spoils the tune."

There are multitudes in the world similar to Fanny Cox, who, in attempting to sing the song of the redeemed, bring the glory into the doing, and thus spoil the tune. Ritualists, Romanists, Pharisees, and Free-willers are all singers of this sort-some more, some less-and with not a few, who are better taught than others, it is a science to make the cadence so musical that the undiscerning cannot perceive how the glory and the doing are blended; but they are, and it falls sweet upon the natural ear. It a lovely song to the unhumbled, unbroken sinner. There must be something given him to do. If ignorant of himself and the gospel, he will plead his doings as the ground of mercy. If awakened to his lost state, his hope is that he may do better, and many a long day often rolls by before he learns the tune rightly, and makes the proper distinction between the glory and the doing. The foundation upon which all false religion rests is Free-will. Truly the will of man is free in one sense-it is the freedom of the loosened stone, that rolls down the mountain's side, according to known laws, but requires foreign aid to send it up. Man by the fall

the

lost both will and power to rise heavenward, and only by an act of sovereign grace can he be lifted up from his ruined and helpless condition. Wheresoever and howsoever creature ability is introduced, in that particular total depravity is denied. This fundamental doctrine Satan wages war with, and especially in our day. The Ritualists, by bringing the "glory" into the "doing," prepare the way for the Papist, whose stronghold is Free-will; and the Transcendentalist-as by way of supremacy the Rationalists now call themselves—prepare way for the infidel, by setting up an imaginary God all love, and making heaven a general reunion for all humanity, without any regard to preparedness of heart, or similarity of mind with the Being who fills the throne. Thus the God of the Bible is ignored altogether, and without atonement or restoration to the lost image of God, the way into the kingdom of heaven is opened to all unbelievers. This in brief is the history of the Rationalistic school, that takes a leap over the medieval ages-so adored by the Ritualists-and drops us into Paganism, the traditional idea of an atonement, set forth in Pagan sacrifices, being left out of the account in modern days. The ground plan of religion, as received by the masses, is to bring the "glory" into the "doing," and with the so-called Evangelicals their doctrine amounts to the same; for the creature must take, according to their notion, the first step in advancing Godward. "No man can come unto Me except the Father, which hath sent Me, draw him," is the declaration of Christ, which is founded upon this truth, "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." "There is none righteous, no not one." Therefore what is to be expected from such a ruined condition? Surely there is no self help in the creature-there is no innate power that can turn to God if total depravity be a Bible truth. But say some, "Divines of former days made appeals to creature power.' True; but the wrong doings of others, however godly and zealous they may be, is no precedent to follow. The point is, "What saith the scripture? not what saith man? and not what saith the letter of the word—a bit picked here, and a sentence gathered there—but what saith the scope of scripture? What is the harmonious bearing of scripture?" To this standard, and not to man, would we appeal with the apostle's words, "Let God be true, and every man a liar."

But a word further upon the oft repeated excuse, that good men, zealous and true, dropped into this way of preaching. In their case it was an oversight, in our day it is a doctrine, and that makes a great difference. Men of other days held the truth firm and strong; men of our day play fast and loose with the doctrines of grace. They have never been brought to a point themselves in divine experience, in the special application of God's truth to their own soul; they have come over the wall, and not in at the door; and what marvel, when they begin to sing, they bring the "glory" into the "doing." The gracious description in the word of a work of grace upon the soul"Whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely"—and the encouraging words that Christ, and not man, must speak to the soul"Come unto Me". -are made props for creature power, and the doctrine of free will is drawn out of words that only prove the helplessness

of the creature that God takes in hand, having neither the will nor the power to help himself."

Souls brought under gospel teaching see through the fallacy of this by experience-"They cannot do the things that they would." They sigh and cry unto God-they desire, and that seems the only evidence of life; but their dependence upon free-will ability is beaten out of them by bitter heart-conflict, and when in feeling they are "free among the dead," they learn a lesson upon Arminianism that is not likely to be forgotten. "All things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are called according to His purpose;" and God makes use of temptation, sin, guilt, unbelief, the vicissitudes of life, and the changeful and ever-varying condition of mind belonging to mortals, to teach lessons in religion. It is "line upon line-line upon line-here a little and there a little." Last year's temptation is surmounted, but there is a new one ready for the new year. Old sins, old sorrows, are passed away and forgotten. They are among the former things that do not even come into the mind. But Satan is never idle-he knows the right bait, the suited temptation, or the trying vexation, whereby the poor believer shall stumble and fall; and if kept upright, shall come to the end of his own wisdom, find his own righteousness filthy rags, confess himself a fool, and led by the Spirit of God to the only remedy-the blood of the Lamb-see it is all of grace from first to last. No Arminianism can enter these paths. There is room for a sinner laden with guilt and misery-there is room for a poor helpless nothing, that feels he has come to the end of his religion-there is room for the ignorant, bewildered, humbled enquirerthere is room for the desponding and the backsliding; but there is no room for the Arminian who brings his glory into the doing, and thus spoils the new song that is sung by "the redeemed from among men." When God's called people are kept long in bondage, "shut up unto the faith that shall afterwards be revealed," they find they have no power to extricate themselves from their chains. Could that man be called a prisoner that voluntarily remained in prison? It is the compulsion of law that makes a man a prisoner. Even so is it with the believer. It is not with his will and consent he remains in bonds, in uncertainty: but he cannot help himself-he has no power-the word of command must be given, "Loose him and let him go.' The soul must be set free by an act of grace, and till then, captive children must wait for deliverance from the Father of mercies and God of all consolations, Lam. i. 14.

But, further, how many are the after states into which the people of God fall when they find they have no ability to help themselves. In deadness and darkness of soul, where there is just enough of the feeling of life to regret the state, and of light to see the darkness, what would n t a child of God give to rise out of this condition, and enjoy the sweet seasons of communion and access, fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ, that He formerly realized. But it is gone, and the completion of his trouble is the thought that he shall enjoy it no more-that this shall prove him a hypocrite, a way-side hearer, a barren fig tree,