having had some revelation given him which filled him with fear for the safety of his house; there could be no mistake, too, about his believing it. There he was, preaching and building, and telling men what he was doing, and why, and bidding them take refuge with him from the coming storm.

And must it not be so with us if we truly believe what we profess? If we believe what our Lord says respecting the coming judgment and the life everlasting, we shall assuredly be preparing for it. If we believe what our Lord and His Apostles say respecting the entrance into that life-that the gate is strait, and the way narrow-that we must cut off sins that have become as much parts of ourselves as our right hand or right eye-that we must deny ourselves and take up our crossthat our course is a warfare: and a warfare, if it is a real one, is no easy, painless, aimless thing, but a matter of life and death, for we kill our enemy, or our enemy kills us-if, I say, we believe all this-and all of it is certain from God's word-then we shall be acting accordingly; we shall be like Noah, making visible evident preparation for a coming day which will usher us into a life or death that will have no end.

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SERMON XII.

THE RIGHT USE OF LENT.

JOEL ii. 13.

"Rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth Him of the evil." THIS passage is taken from the Scripture which is appointed to be read as the epistle for Ash Wednesday-the Wednesday of the past week. It is also remarkable as being one of the passages of Scripture bearing on repentance with which the minister is directed to begin the daily service. I shall not occupy the time with considering the circumstances under which it was uttered by the inspired messenger of God more than to say that a great national calamity-no less than the total destruction of the fruits of the earth-had befallen the heritage of God; and this verse forms a part of the trumpet call by which the Prophet summons the people to humble themselves so that God might remove His hand from off them-but I shall not, I repeat again, dwell upon the circumstances under which it was spoken, for the text contains a truth in itself, quite independent of its context, quite independent of

the historical circumstances connected with its first utterance, and that truth is, that you and I are to repent and turn to God because of His MERCY. You and I are to rend our hearts -you and I are to turn to the Lord our God, not only because He is Holy, which He is,and a Righteous Judge, which He is, and a Consuming Fire, which, if you die in your sins you will most assuredly find Him to be-but because He is "gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness, and repenteth Him of the evil."

This, then, is a text peculiarly appropriate to the beginning of our Lenten fast. The Church calls us year by year, at a certain season, on which we have just now entered, to repent and turn to God-and why? Why at this time? Is there any public calamity, like that in the time of the Prophet Joel, always taking place just at this season? Is God now more than at any other time exhibiting His wrath? So far from this, we are bidden to rend our hearts and turn to God only because in the course of some six weeks we shall have brought before us, in the course of the Christian year, the greatest imaginable exhibition of God's grace and mercy. In the course of some six weeks from this time we shall have, in the services of the Church, Jesus Christ "evidently set forth crucified among us;" for we shall have Good Friday, when the

Lamb of God takes away the sin of the world -when, in our commemorative service, He is "wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace is upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed." We shall have also Easter Day, when He, who died for our sins three days before, rose again for our justification.

Now let us see as to the reason for our preparation for commemorating these great events by a course of humiliation, greater strictness, more frequent services, more sermons, and those sermons usually bearing on such subjects as self-examination, repentance, contrition, conversion.

What, first of all, is the reason why professing Christians are indifferent to the claims of Jesus Christ upon their hearts? What is the reason why so many professing Christians are indifferent to the deepest exhibition of the love of God that the universe ever has seen, or ever can see? In order that we may escape the eternal wrath of God, the eternal Son of God assumed a nature capable of suffering, and in that nature lived a life of suffering, and then ended that life with a death of inconceivable agony. And the whole word of God, by which we profess to be guided, is full of this love of Christ in dying for us. It was foretold in some way or other by every prophet; the whole worship of

God's people of old was a foreshadowing of it. The costly sacrifices of the Jews, and their gorgeous ritual, were without meaning unless they foreshadowed Christ's death, atonement, and priesthood. The death and resurrection of Jesus is the great crowning fact of the New Testament if we look to its history; and if we look to its doctrinal, or teaching part, we find that the reconciliation effected by Christ on the cross is made the one ground of the Christian's peace, as well as the one motive for the cheerful and loving performance of Christian duty.

How is it that men have such cold hearts towards Christ? Men that have warm hearts towards their friends and benefactors have cold hearts towards their greatest Benefactor. They take no pleasure in His service-no delight in His praise. God has told them in His word to "rejoice in the Lord," and when they come to church they profess to do so with their lips, but rejoice in Him in any real sense they cannot. They think that the fervent way in which some of their fellow-Christians speak or sing of His love and grace is cant or enthusiasm. Now, a great many of such people are by no means unbelievers. They believe much respecting their Saviour-they believe all the historical facts respecting Him, they confess His Person, and His work for

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