such to take alarm at the proclamation of the "perfect law of liberty," and insist on the terrors of the law of commandments. But our alarm comes from a different quarter. There are those who profess to have come to Christ, and advanced somewhat beyond the "school-master" and his alphabet. They have seen that GOD IS LOVE, and have learned of Christ that all the law is fulfilled in love; and we view with infinite concern the fact that these should manifest a disposition to turn back again to the weak and beggarly elements of the law. We can not sympathize with the fear that the proclamation of the "royal law," as the sum of all laws, will encourage men in sin. We can not look with favor on the attempts that are being made to convince the world that those who have embraced this law of love are, nevertheless, firm in their allegiance to the "law of commandments." It seems to us like a movement in the wrong direction, a concession, in fact, that the old "school-master" was wiser than Christ. The very anxiety manifested to make out a case, and show that we are sufficiently sound in the matter of pains and penalties, betrays our lack of confidence in the omnipotence of love.

But of this more in another place. We have in this chapter traced the exodus of sin from the sphere of our internal activities. to that of our outward life, and shown the mission of the law in marking it as sin. But it is evident that the law, as such, can furnish no cure for sin. To effect this, the fountain whence it flows must be cleansed. The law of love that is within us, back of all our outward acts, must be strengthened, so that it shall become the supreme law. Until this is done, sin will continue to abound, and it is precisely this work of love that the gospel proposes to do. The "law of commandments," in its best aspect, can do no more than to restrain the

hands. The law of the Spirit of life alone can touch the heart. He who goeth forth with that law can well afford to dispense with the thunders of Sinai. Nevertheless, the law has its mission, and that is a mission of education. Man must needs live in society. The spheres of our activity intermingle, lines of movement meet, and conflict ensues. The interests of society clash with the individual interests, and to avoid one perpetual struggle of brute force, it is necessary that there should be conventional rules of social intercourse. These rules the law gives, and its chief use is to define transgression. To enforce obedience, punishments may be inflicted, for society has the right to protect itself. Now, it so happens that a large portion of the Old Covenant is made up of laws, whose design it is to define transgression against the peace and welfare of society, and hence, again, offenses abound. So, then, "the powers that be are ordained of God, and the law is made for the transgressor." He that is made perfect in love needeth no other law.

We have now considered the origin and exodus of evil, natural and moral. We have attempted to define evil, and show what sin is, and whence it comes, and we are now prepared to answer the objection so often urged against the doctrine of divine sovereignty, that it makes God the author of evil, and especially of the monster evil, sin. As regards natural evil, it has been shown that it is not an entity, or a thing that exists in itself, or in the nature of things, but it is a temporary phenomenon, which comes of movement, relation, or contact, and is intended of the Creator for good. Its mission is to educate in the knowledge of the laws of the universe, and in all that is calculated to secure pleasure, and avoid pain. But, whatever it may be, there is no question about its origin, or where, in the last analysis, the responsibility of it belongs. The

conflicts and relations, whence it arises, come of the fiat of Omnipotence, as irresistible as that which said, “Let there be light," nor is there the least doubt that God intended all its varied phenomena to be. That fire should burn, and cold should freeze, and that, when burned, or frozen, man should suffer pain, is, beyond all debate, an enactment of the Creator. Do we thus impeach his goodness? By no means; for the fire, and the frost, and the pain are, in his hands, the instruments of good, and constantly tending to good. And now, as regards moral evil, sin, the same principles hold good, and he is the author of it in the same sense that he is the author of natural evil, and no other. Sin is not a substance, or an entity, existing in se, but it is a temporary phenomenon emerging from a conflict between the law of love and the lusts and passions, which exists in the sphere of our internal activities as a constitutional fact, and by the enactment of the Creator. Nor is there the least possible reason to believe that God intended this law of love to be always victorious, so that there should be no sin. If it were. so, never was Creator or created being so sadly disappointed, for in the result all have sinned. Save only him of Nazareth, upon whom the Spirit was poured without measure, no man has lived and sinned not. And now, if there is a child born into the world to-day, it is no more certain to live to the age of maturity than it is to sin. Of all human experience it is most certain to pass through this. The conflicts between the law of love and the lusts and passions, written more or less clearly upon the heart, will come, and full often the latter will be victorious, and the bitter experiences of sin will follow. We say that this conflict exists as a constitutional fact in the sphere of our internal activities, where sin originates, and that it did so exist in man as he came from the hand of the Creator.

Lust won the victory in the very first battle, and it has won it many a time and oft from that day to this. In this sense, and no other, God is the author of sin. Do we thus dishonor him? Nay; for God sees that these sad and bitter experiences of sin are needful for man-needful to educate him in the knowledge of that great love of God, which abounds over all sin, and that everlasting mercy, for the manifestations of which sin furnishes the occasion, and needful to draw out man's love to God in the highest perfection, on the principle that they will love most to whom most is forgiven. And thus it is seen that moral, as well as natural evil, is, in the hand of God, an instrument of good, and sin itself is made subservient to the one fundamental and central principle of the divine government, which underlies and terminates all facts and phenomena, and does and communicates good ever and always.

CHAPTER XVII.

RESPONSIBILITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY.

Man Responsible in His Conduct - Popular Doctrine of Accountability Criticised - Law of Love the Only Source of Moral Obligation — Natural Responsibility-Evil Emerges from the Violation of Law-Pain an EducatorThe Natural Functions of Eye and Ear-" Man's Heart Deviseth His Way, Yet the Lord Directeth His Steps "-This Truth Does Not Relieve from Moral Obligation-Why? - Responsibility Increased by Reason and Understanding-Mental and Social Responsibility—Illustrations—All Our Responsibility Rendered Inevitable by the Fact that God Reigns-Laws Not Written on Stone-Glory of the Great Teacher.'

MAN is an accountable being, and responsible for all his conduct. No truism is more often repeated or more earnestly asserted than this. With the amendment of a single word, we are prepared to indorse it in full. We ·would rather say that man is responsible in, than for, all his conduct. Properly defined, the doctine of responsibility and accountability is doubtless true, but we are compelled to record our protest against the common notions upon this subject as a wide departure from the truth. The great error in most of the teachings upon this topic is, that they deal mainly with the "law of commandments," and rear the whole superstructure upon that basis. The idea seems to be, that God has by special enactment embodied his law in a formula of words, and our responsibility consists chiefly in the fact that we are