Ir is strange that evangelical religion should be thought unfavourable to the proper conduct of life. The mistake for mistake it certainly is -shews very strikingly how the misrepresentation of a system, if persisted in, will blind men not only to its essential qualities, but to the account which it gives of itself. So far from the gospel being inimical to good works, one sees not how it could bear stronger testimony in their favour. Although men can never by means of them establish a claim to salvation, although that in every case is to be freely received, they are on no account to be dispensed with. The faith of the gospel is evidenced by works. What we are appears not so much in what we profess as in what we do-" By their fruits ye shall know them." Good works are not merely an incidental result; they are the great end of the new creation. They form the material of the future judgment, and determine both the nature and degree of the final award. A most remarkable and impressive testimony to their importance is borne by the manner in which they are mentioned in the letters which our Lord addressed through John to the Churches of Asia Minor. That glorious Being who “walketh amidst the seven golden candlesticks," whose "eyes are like lamps of fire," whose awful majesty so oppressed the beloved and most favoured disciple that he fell at his feet as dead," addressing seven Churches in succession, commences in each case with this solemn announcement, I know thy works." Not, I know thy profession, or thy creed, or thy feelings, or thy resolutions, but I know thy works; as if He wished it to be understood that, knowing their works. He rightly estimated their character, and that His knowledge would determine His treatment of them and the sentence He would pronounce on them at last.

All this is very conclusive as to

W. LANDELS.

the importance of good works, or of personal goodness as evinced in works; and in all there is nothing at variance with the fact that men are saved by grace. The two things harmonize perfectly; each complements and supports the other; as we hope presently to shew.

Men need to be saved in order that they may work rightly. An unsaved man is, as regards his state, condemned already. As regards his character, he is corrupt and depraved; and his wrong-doing is the indication and fruit of his corrupt and depraved nature. Now were he by his own works to obtain freedom from condemnation, the freedom so obtained would exert no salutary influence on his character. Being indebted for it to himself alone, it would induce neither humility nor gratitude. Instead of subduing selfishness and pride, it would foster both, until he became self-righteous as the Pharisees of old, who were the most inwardly rotten, albeit the most outwardly correct of all the persecutors of our Lord.

But the very supposition is absurd. In his present state his works cannot possibly better his position. They are as he himself is; neither better nor worse. The fruit par takes of the quality of the tree. If he be corrupt, they are corrupt: if he be depraved, they are depraved. They are the expressions or outflowings of his own nature. And it is absurd to suppose that he can obtain freedom from condemnation by the expression of those feelings for which he has been condemned. No works of his can better his legal condition. when they spring from the state of heart which has made that condition what it is.

Accordingly, before he can perform any works really good, he must be placed in a new position. He wants a locus standi from which to start on a course of goodness. There must be a clearing away of past liabilities-a cancelling of old debts

an acquittal for all past offences. There must be this, first, because he cannot procure it by any works of his own; secondly, because until he has obtained it he is not in a state of mind for working rightly; inasmuch as the sense of condemnation awakens that slavish terror and that exclusive regard to self by which all his efforts are vitiated.

For this cancelling of the past he must of course be exclusively indebted to grace. Unable to procure it for himself, he can only receive it as God's free gift. Receiving it thus, feelings of gratitude and humility are awakened. The fear which represses it being removed, love comes into play. He loves Him who has so graciously, so generously forgiven his offences, and freed him from all apprehension of punishment. His nature is renewed. His works are prompted by new feelings. He is the partaker of a new life from which his works spring, and of whose qualities they partake. With no feeling of self-righteousness, with no sense of merit, nor yet from that absorbing selfishness induced by the fear of hell, but from gratitude for sins forgiven, in a spirit of humility and devotion, he performs those works which are good in themselves and acceptable in the sight of God.

It is thus that the importance of good works consists with the doctrine of salvation by grace. Our salvation is really the transformation of our own nature; at least, that is, its highest and ultimate part. To be saved is to be freed not so much from external danger as from disorder in ourselves, to have our own disordered sinful nature put right— purified and brought into harmony with the Divine will. Thus our works are important as the fruit and indication of what we are. They are the expression of our character; they shew whether we have been saved or not-whether or not we have undergone the transforming process which makes men new creatures. As fruits they testify unmistakeably to the qualities of the tree which bears them. If our works are not good, other proof of our own bad

ness need not be adduced. By our own acts and out of our own mouth we are condemned.

But good works are important on other grounds. As a general rule the things we work are of greatest value to us. "The joys of conquest are the joys of men." Infants need to be nursed and fed by the hand of another; in childhood we require to have all things provided for us; but as we advance towards manhood our purest, highest joys are those whose acquisition calls into vigorous exercise our various powers. That which is inherited or gratuitously received is not so precious to us as if it were earned by toil or struggle. A fortune to which a man is born, or a fortune descending to him unexpectedly by some lucky windfall, or acquired by some chance stroke, yields him far less enjoyment than if it were gradually and patiently accumulated by industry and skill. A kingdom inherited is nothing like a kingdom won. Take the heir of so many broad acres, who has been accustomed from his earliest years to anticipate their possession, and in his father's house has been constantly surrounded with the luxuries which they supply, or the heir to a throne, who has been surrounded from his infancy with regal state and splendour, -these can never find such enjoyment in their possessions as the once poor man whose painstaking industry has made him the lord of those broad acres, or the soldier who by his genius and courage has fought his way to the throne. Hence, to be high-born or wealthy-born is in some respects a disadvantage. It is so when the position is so elevated as to preclude or hinder an advance; because, although the man has the joy of possession, the greater joy of acquisition is denied to him. And instead of saying, as we do, that the son is more favourably situated than his father was, when that father, though born in poverty, has raised himself until he can leave his family in wealth; we should, did we look deeper and think more soundly, prefer the father's starting-point to the son's. Even to those who earn wealth there is generally more plea

sure in the acquisition than the possession. There is a pleasurable excitement in seeking an object, especially if the seeker be animated by the prospect of success, for which the satisfaction of having is often an inadequate compensation; and the disappointment which is sometimes felt and expressed when a man has gained his end, is not always owing to the thing which was sought proving to be of less worth than it seemed, but to the fact that the possession has brought to a close the excitement of the pursuit.

In some measure this principle holds good in reference to higher things. I do not mean, of course, that possession there is followed by disappointment, but only that our work is to a large degree the measure of our happiness, and that our highest joys are the results of faithful labour. They must strive who would enter in at the strait gate. They must run with perseverance the Christian race who would obtain the heavenly prize. They must fight the good fight of faith who would lay hold on eternal life. They are labourers who enjoy the rest. They are not only soldiers but conquerors who receive celestial honours. It is to him that overcometh that all those promises are given which in the letters to the Churches are held out to view for the encouragement of the saints. "To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God." He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death." "To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it." "He that overcometh and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations." "He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment, and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels." "Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more

out and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name." "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me on my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father on his throne."

If there seem to be any discrepancy between these statements and what we have previously said of the freeness of salvation, it is only on the surface. Looking a little deeper, we discover their essential harmony. All that we say of the freeness of salvation relates only to the terms on which it is proffered to

us.

Effort is not needed to bring it within our reach; merit is not needed to give us the title to it. We receive it in the simplest possible way; and yet it is true that a great struggle attends its reception, and that this greatest of God's gifts is not conferred as a premium on man's love of ease, but is the reward of his earnest endeavour. All who have passed through the crisis of the new birth know that, because of our nature's aversion to the conditions of salvation, a mighty struggle takes place before it is received. A struggle is necessary to resist the temptations to its rejection by which we are constantly assailed. A struggle is necessary to prevent the world blinding us to the things which belong to our peace. A struggle is necessary to withdraw the attention from the various objects which distract it, and fix it on Divine realities." A struggle is necessary to overcome the self-righteous tendencies of our nature, and to bring and keep ourselves in the state of mind in which we are prepared to receive salvation freely. And after it has been received the struggle is not over. The same self-righteous tendency has still to be resisted, the same temptations have still to be overcome, the same watchfulness is necessary to prevent the world's usurping the place of Christ. It introduces not to a life of idleness, but to a life of labour. We are placed on the course that we may run the race. We are made