did not believe it himself. The circumstance that he turned, remained turned, and was true to his new position till he died; adhered to it under all circumstances, and did that at a sacrifice of all things of a temporal character, only strengthens his testimony.

It is

But now for a few practical considerations. true that some infidels turn to Christ and become Christians, and some Christians turn away from Christ and become infidels. We make no argument from this, but leave it with simply stating it. It is true, we think, and leaves no doubt, that a large proportion of all the skeptics in this country renounce their skepticism before they die. It is not true that a large proportion of all the Christians renounce the faith of Christ before they die. Here there is a wide difference. This demands the attention of every skeptic. But there is one more difference. Some infidels renounce their unbelief when they think they are near to death. No Christian ever renounces his faith when he approaches death. What is the cause of this? Why does unbelief glide away at the approach of death so frequently; but the faith of Christ never glides away at that solemn and important moment? There is something suspicious in that which so frequently fails in the hour of death. It is a terrible state of things for us to repudiate in death; in the most trying period of this world; and the one when we are honest, if we ever are, what has been upon our lips all along through life. To say the least of it, there is something in the faith of Christ that will not forsake us in death. We may confess, in death, that we have been traitors to the Lord, hypocrites, or transgressors of any kind; but for a Christian, no matter how weak, cold and careless, to turn round and renounce the faith of Christ at the approach of death, is out of the ques

Why is We want

tion. Such a thing, we think, never occurs! this? This is a hard lesson for unbelievers. something that will stand by and support us in death. But there is nothing in unbelief to support any one in death, if it would not forsake us. It promises noth ing; it has nothing to promise. It puts us in mind of some Universalists, talking about all men being saved. But how do they prove it? They begin by telling us that there is no devil! But there is no salvation for all men in that, nor for anybody. They proceed: "There is no hell." There is no salvation in that! there is no lake of fire." There is no salvation for anybody in that; much less the salvation of all men. "There is no eternal punishment." There is no salvation in that. "There is no such thing as soul and body being destroyed in hell." There is no salvation in that. "There will be no sin in the world to come." Well, then, there will be nothing to be saved from, and, consequently, in the place of the salvation of all men, they have no salvation of anybody, from anything.

"But

Unbelief promises nothing, as we said before, and has nothing to promise. It is nothing but one stupendous denial of God, Christ, the Eternal Spirit, Moses, the prophets, the apostles and the martyrs; in one word, the Bible and all it contains! What is there in one perpet ual string of negations, denials? There is nothing ir that to benefit a soul of our race. No wonder men repudiate it in death. It is utterly empty-there is noth ing in it for a dying man!

But this is not all; there is nothing in it for a living man any more than a dying man. Infidels have no law. They are taught no particular manner of life; they never call their brethren to account for anything they do; they never call one of their brethren to ac count for telling a lie, swearing or cheating. No one

ever accuses them of not living up to their profession! Why not? Because they profess nothing. They believe nothing and are nothing-they have no position. They involve no responsibility, no particular character or manner of life. Their creed is all summed up in the brief sentence, that every man may do just as he pleases. They have no doctrine, no law or gospel, faith or practice. Their work is simply to pull down what others build, to deny what others believe. To hear them talk at one time, they would have you think that they have no credulity, and therefore can not believe like other men. At another time you will find them believing the most incredible things ever heard of. We know not where to find such a bundle of absurdity and inconsistency as in a modern skeptic. At one time he can not believe the Scriptures because the old manuscripts are too uncertain; then, again, we find him believing a few scraps, purporting to have been gathered up from different sources, written hundreds of years before Christ, and containing all the good things he ever taught! He finds no difficulty about how these fugitive scraps came down through manuscripts, and were translated, though their history is almost blank, compared with the history of the books of the Bible.

In one word, when a skeptic is summed up you have a man that has no trouble in believing without evidence, but one that can not believe with evidence! In other words, he can believe almost anything against the Bible, but nothing in favor of it. We have noticed skeptics, and thought of the miserable silly legends of Spiritualists they will swallow down, as if they were revelations from heaven, and then turn round and spurn at the wonderful works of God set forth in the Bible. But we can not pursue this train of thought.

Skepticism is the absence of faith, as darkness is t ́e absence of light, or ignorance is the absence of knowledge. A large share of all we know and act on in both temporal and divine things, is by faith. We act upon faith in men, money, newspapers, market prices, notes, book accounts, and promises of men. We can

believe in all these matters, where vast amounts as involved; believe the testimony of men, though nen have in so many instances testified falsely; but skeptics can not believe the ever blessed God, who has never deceived us! Why will men be deluded and led away from the clear and reliable, and give heed, not o ly to the doubtful, but to the most stupid legends ever told, and thus risk the loss of everything, without the possibility of gaining anything?

We have a kingdom that can not be moved. The time will come when everything that can be sbaken will be shaken, and that which can not be shaken shall remain. The faith of the people of God shall remain; the foundation that God has laid is sure. Those who stand upon it shall not be confounded. "He who shall believe on me," says the Lord, "shall never die; but from him shall flow rivers of living water." "The Lord knows them that are his," and "is able to keep them from falling." The Everlasting Arm is underneath them; and "they shall be kept by the power of God, through faith to salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time." May we love him, adore and honor him; and may he never leave us nor forsake us, but be with us, and grant us grace and glory, and withhold from us no good thing. And to his glorious name, through our Lord Jesus the Christ, be the praise of our redemption, forever and ever.

SERMON No. XIV.

THEME.—MEDIATION OF CHRIST, AND MAN'S RECONCILIATION TO GOD.

AT the time our Lord made his advent into this world, there were three theories among men in regard to the Deity. The first in the order in which they shall be introduced here is the atheistic theory. It is very short. It is simply the theory that there is no God in the universe. No doubt many have felt that the language of David is harsh, where he says, "The fool has said in his heart, There is no God." But, on a little reflection, it will be seen that the language is justifiable. In the nature of the case, no man can know this. No man could know this, or prove it, if it were so; because this universe is large, and a man can know but little about it. Then the assumption sweeps away all the information we have in the Bible, and a large amount not immediately in it. Sweep this away, and what does a man, any man, or all men, know about God? A man might assert that he does not know that there is any God, or that he does not know of any God. But that proves nothing. Any man must admit that there is a vast amount in the universe that he does not know. In this vast amount that he does not know, there may be a God.

There is a vast difference between the proposition that "there is no God," and that a man "does not know that there is a God." The former assumes to know