of courtesy than severe fidelity, excuses to the perpetrators, with the plea, " And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers ; but these things which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled."* Imperfect as the separation is in the Gospels between the words of Jesus and those of his reporters, and doubtful as are many of the notices of him, it is, I believe, safe to affirm that this is a plea that never escapes his lips, but broadly discriminates the laxity of the disciples from the sanctity of the Master.

The holiness of God is still liable to be misapprehended, unless seen in the light of his spirituality. It is sometimes imagined that he is bound by it,-held by some fancied pledge,-to refuse forgiveness to even the truest repentance of the lapsed and delinquent will. But if he is a Spirit, then the evil which alienates from him resides not in the offender's act, which is momentary, but in his spirit which is continuous. Let that spirit be changed, and God will remember the act against him no more; not being like a carping lawyer, but a living and a loving Mind. To the returning prodigal his arms are ever open, to welcome the dead to life again, and the lost one to his home. He will not indeed cut off the uncompleted part of the perpetrated act of guilt: it must take its unimpeded *Acts iii. 17, 18.

course, and bring on the penalties which are made its award in the order of nature and necessity. But the presence of this suffering is not the absence of forgiveness. At the very moment when the outward burthen of his past misdeeds is weighing upon the offender's life, and he is bearing about him a visible woe of sin, his present inward relation to God may be one of reconciliation and of peace.

Whatever else may be included in the truth that "God is a Spirit," this at least is implied: that he is free to modify his relations to all dependent minds in exact conformity with their changes of disposition and of need, and let the lights and shadows of his look move as swiftly as the undulating wills on which they fall. And how could this be, if, in spite of his contrition, the returning son were regarded as if still a prodigal? To conceive of God as having, by his own Law of Righteousness, deprived himself of all flexible and proportionate mercy, and become committed to some definite and relentless retribution, is to carry over into the supernatural realm a conception applicable no further than the natural. It is only in the outward system of the world that he has given notice, by invariable uniformity, that we must stereotype our expectations, and that he will deal with us as if he were under a bond of persistency. Only there, accordingly, it is that no release can be given till the full sentence upon our sin has been worked out, and

that it were vain,-nay unholy,—to seek escape. There, our present is made by the past, and we are treated for what we have been. But in the spiritual sphere we are regarded, not as we once were, but as we now are; and it would be not less impossible for the Allseeing to turn in displeasure from any soul freshly surrendered to his will, than on the strength of former obedience and sweet psalms to look with complacency on the crimes of David in his fall. The holiness of God is indeed terrible to all who are inwardly unholy; but not to those who have nothing which they would hide, if they could, from the Searcher of hearts. Who can fail to see this reflected in the life of Christ ? It was ever the double mind, of the dissembler, the selfdeceiver, the hypocrite, from which he shrank with horror and indignation, and which lay bare before him through all its decent disguises; whilst he was instantly drawn, with hopeful pity, if not with immediate joy, to all that was transparently true,-to the "single eye that let the whole nature be full of light; to the guileless child that could simply trust and look up; to the contrite offender, that had thrown all self-excuse away, and had only tears for her past and prayers for her future.

It cannot surprise us that the impression of Christ's life and teachings advanced yet a little further, and culminated in the faith that "God is Love"; for this is already implied in the essence of a nature spiritual

and holy. Of the Divine Spirit holiness is the rule, and of all spirit love is the power, without which there can be no movement forth upon objects and beings around, nothing to stir the self-centred repose, or in any way to turn pure being into the definite and successive action of a true life. Love is the universal and ever-varying impulse, carrying each mind towards the ends assigned it as possible; while the law of holiness restrains from their indiscriminate pursuit, and selects and proportions their legitimate claims. As it is the characteristic of the spiritual nature to appreciate all things according to their worth, it will escape from the lower loves for objects that minister to self, and, as we see in Christ, be drawn at once, spirit to spirit, towards answering, yearning, and suffering souls. From the moment of his self-dedication, when he threw his cares away and went forth not having where to lay his head, the whole energy which others spend on interests of their own was poured into his humane and divine affections, and filled his life with an enthusiasm resistless and unique. However quiet his words, it is impossible not to feel the tender depths from which they come; and even in his sternest rebukes there rings an undertone of pity for the helpless and deceived. Sympathy with men below, quickened by inward communion with the Supreme sympathy above, is the mastering inspiration of his life; and in his selection of the most loving disciple to be the most beloved; in his disappointment

with the Temple and longing to deal with the uncovered sanctuary of the heart; in his notice of the widow's charity, the mother's pressure for his blessing, the good youth's discontent with his own goodness; in his contrast of the Pharisee's complacency with the Publican's beaten breast and downcast look of prayer; in his tale of the "joy in heaven "; in the restrained intensity of the parting meal, and the desolate hours which followed that pathetic converse; there is the expression of a soul self-surrendered in the pure sacrifice of love; yet, in the sublime trust which surmounts and glorifies it all, is plainly to be seen to what a God he felt himself to be allied, and in what infinite depths of Divine love the affections and sorrows of human life are embraced and transfigured. His filial spirit of absolute devotion opened the beatific vision to him; and in proportion as in this we have fellowship with him, will his Father be our Father, and his God our God.