siastic who believes that, in spite of all our sermons and prayers, our churches and Sunday schools, our Christian associations and our missionary societies; in spite of everything that is being done by earnest men and noble women,-all but the merest fraction of the responsible creatures for whom we strive are going down to ruin and misery endless and hopeless. If I believed that it would not only blot from the earth the last patch of sunshine, but it would so paralyze my energies that I never more could put my hand to the plough. If I believed that, I said to my inward questioner, there would be no object in remaining in the ministry. I should hang my harp on the willows and let those sing the songs of Zion who still could find a tongue.

While confident of the consummation, let us be well assured that it is linked by inexorable logic to every effort we put forth. It will not come of its own accord. It cannot be separated from human work. The chariot may be hindered, the kingdom may be delayed, by those who are careless and unfaithful. The sooner every brain is alive, every heart in sympathy, and every hand busy, the sooner will the temple be builded. The vision of the outcome ought not to sing us a cradle lullaby, but a battle song.

. It remains for us to put our ideas into practice, to extend their influence more widely, to make all our agencies more powerful. Let us

not say, "Success is certain, therefore let us be idle." The true motto is, "Success is certain; therefore work, work, work the harder!" On the eve of victory, let us not fling down our arms; on the skirts of the harvest, let us not throw away our sickles; on the very steps of the throne, let us not turn back from the coronation. Sound the trumpet along the entire line! In all the departments of our work, in the Sunday School, in the young people's societies, everywhere, let us be more vigorous and useful. Extend to our weaker interests a helping hand. Unite with them in the work Make their cause our own. We cannot be isolated. To stand alone, to stand idle, is death. Activity is life. Sympathy is life. Victory is life.

"We are living, we are dwelling

In a grand and awful time;

In an age on ages telling,

To be living is sublime!

Hark! the waking up of nations—
Gog and Magog to the fray;
Hark! what soundeth is creation
Groaning for her latter day.

"Will ye play, then,-will ye dally
With your music and your wine?
Up! it is Jehovah's rally-

God's own arm hath need of thine!
Hark! the onset! Will ye fold your
Faith-clad arms in lazy lock?
Up, oh up! thou drowsy soldier,

Worlds are charging to the shock.

"Worlds are charging-heaven beholding,
Thou hast but an hour to fight;
Now, the blazoned cross unfolding;
On-right onward--for the right!
Strike, let all the soul within you

For the truth's sake go abroad;
Strike, let every nerve and sinew
Tell on ages, tell for God!"

VIII.

THE REAL PENALTY OF SIN.

[Sunday Evening, Nov. 30, 1890.]

"Be not deceived: God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”— GAL. 6:7.

Because we reject the doctrine of Endless Punishment, we do not therefore reject the idea of Penalty. We emphasize it. We do not dispense with the element of fear. It is as much a part of human nature as hope. If it no longer influences as of yore, it is because men have grown skeptical of the fabulous objects presented to it. What shall we fear? Not the wrath of God. We do not need protection from Him. He ought never to be so presented as to make men shrink from his presWhat shall we fear? Not the hideous hells of the future. This is the fear of superstition. It is vanishing, because it is baseless.

ence.

What shall we fear? There is something real to be dreaded, and that is SIN. Not the sin of Adam. Let him take care of that; it does not concern you and me. Not original or inherited depravity. This

is mere fiction. But that which is no fiction is one's own personal wrong-doing! This is more terrible than all the imaginary frowns of that Deity

whom men have pictured sitting clothed with thunder and armed with lightnings in the skies; more terrible than the lurid flames that burn beyond the horizon.

"For myself alone I doubt;
All is well, I know, without;
I alone the beauty mar,
I alone the music jar."

While sin is real, penalty is also real. It is positive as transgression, and goes hand in hand with it, an indissoluble brotherhood. While the hells of superstition have vanished, the hells that are constantly formed by such dark builders as evil passions, evil thoughts, evil conduct, evil character, remain. For these devils and their angels, there is woe enough prepared.

I. THE REALITY OF RETRIBUTION.

While we reject the midnight fancies that have so long held sway, we discern more clearly than ever, how in the structure of the human soul and body, in the constitution of society, in the laws of nature, is written in new lines the old warning, "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." What Milton wrote of Satan is true of every sinner: "Within him hell he brings,

And round about him; nor from hell

One step no more than from himself can fly
By change of place."

And the great arch-fiend cries out:

"Me miserable! which way shall I fly
Infinite wrath and infinite despair?
Which way I fly is hell; myself am hell!"