giveness is not the end, but the beginning of service in the vineyard. It is not the goal, but the starting-post. If it has been truly received, it must lead to self-dedication, to grateful labour, and to holiness of life. Were the forgiveness of sins in any measure the reward of holiness, or of our service in the vineyard, there never could be certainty,—there could never be the assurance that enough had been done. Beside this, the motive could not be right; in part, at least, it would necessarily be self-righteous striving, rather than self-renouncing love. On the other hand, let it not be forgotten that he in vain boasts of pardoned sin, who is not led by it to love Christ, and faithfully to endeavour, after His example, to do the will of God.

Be assured that the doctrine of free forgiveness is one according to godliness. It is written,"There is forgiveness with Thee, that Thou mayest be feared." (Psalm cxxx. 4.)

Mark the con

nection. It is not written that God is to be feared that we may obtain forgiveness, but that He forgives that we may fear Him. It must ever be so. Here is our motive and our strength. He that is forgiven much will love much; he that loveth much will gladly, joyfully obey.

Who ever honoured God more, or laboured more abundantly than Paul? Yet who, more than he, gloried in the free justification of the Gospel?

It is our wisdom day by day to rejoice, in the midst of all infirmities, that our acceptance is secured, and our sins forgiven in Christ. "Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."

It is our wisdom also, in the strength of this, to serve God more and more, never to grow weary in running the way of His commandments, but to make manifest to all around us, that no motive is so influential as the love which arises from being freely forgiven and "accepted in the Beloved."

II.

The Right Principle.

THE Christian is entitled to very exalted privileges. He is freely, eternally forgiven. He is perfectly justified from all charge of guilt. He stands in the position of a dear child, made nigh to God by the blood of Christ. He is no more an exile, a stranger, but a citizen of the Heavenly Jerusalem, a partaker in all the rich blessings of the covenant of grace.

This brings with it great responsibilities. It demands a proportionable return. It requires of us, that we should walk worthy of our high vocation. If our privileges be far above those of others, so also must be the standard at which we aim, and the motive by which we are guided. This can be nothing short of aiming in all things to glorify God, and to live entirely to Him. When the Egyptians obtained from Joseph the food by which themselves and their families were preserved alive, he said to them,-"I have

bought you and your land for Pharaoh." Jesus, by bestowing upon us His precious blood and the rich benefits which are derived from it, says likewise unto us,—“I have bought you and all you possess for God." The apostle Paul reminds us, that such is the purpose for which we have been redeemed. "Ye are bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." Let not the child of God be satisfied with any lower motive, than is here set before us. It is well often to set before us the prize of our high calling: it is well to stir up our hearts, by pondering the crying necessities of the world we live in, and with true compassion to assist in meeting them, but there is something far beyond either of these motives. It is to glorify Him who is our Creator, our Preserver, our most loving Father. In every way this principle is the best, as well as the highest, by which we can be actuated. It greatly simplifies our course through life. Take the man who would serve God a little, and yet chiefly consults his own interests, and how often will you find him in a strait as to the course he should follow. Duty points in one direction, self-interest in another, and which is to be obeyed? Which of

the two shall yield? There is the fear of conscience troubling him afterwards, and yet such a man has no strength to follow its dictates. A wavering, undecided course, of all things the most painful, very frequently is the result. "A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways." The prophet Balaam affords a remarkable example of such a spirit. He was unwilling, positively and directly, to disobey God, and yet he loves the wages of unrighteousness. He would fain die the death of the righteous, and yet he cannot refuse the golden bait which Balak offers. More than once he yields a forced obedience: when the angel meets him by the way, he declares his readiness to go back; he cannot but open his mouth to bless Israel, though he desired to curse him. What is the issue of all this? What profit did Balaam reap? A conscience ill at ease,shame and disgrace in Moab,-destruction at length amongst the enemies of Jehovah : such was the reward that he most justly received.

Reader, would you have your way plain and clear before you? Aim at serving God first. "Trust in God, and do the right." This motto will cut the knot of a thousand difficulties, whilst ofttimes the half-Christian is entangled in the net