in the former case, upon a mistaken interpretation of a passage in the Bible. But they are at least harm less, and have long been associated with the sim plicity, and benevolence, and Christian humbleness, of this body of Christians, the followers of one who, three hundred years ago, set out upon the glorious enterprise of making all men friends. Now, would it be Christian, or would it not rather be something more than unchristian would it not be gross rudeness and coarse unfeelingness to treat such words, and habits, and customs, with anything but respect and reverence?

Further the apostle enjoined this duty upon the Corinthian converts, of abridging their Christian liberty, not merely because it might give pain to indulge it, but also because it might even lead their brethren into sin. For, if any man should eat of the flesh offered to an idol, feeling himself justified by his conscience, it were well: but if any man, overborne by authority or interest, were to do this, not according to conscience, but against it, there would be a distinct and direct act of disobedience-a conflict between his sense of right and the gratification of his appetites, or the power of influence; and then his compliance would as much damage his conscience and moral sense as if the act had been wrong in itself.

Now, in the personal application of these remarks, there are three things which we have to say. The first is this: Distinguish, I pray you, between this tenderness for a brother's conscience and mere timeserving. This same apostle, whom we here see so gracefully giving way upon the ground of expedi ency when Christian principles were left entire, was

the same who stood firm and strong as a rock when anything was demanded which trenched upon Christian principle. When some required, as a matter of necessity for salvation, that these converts should be circumcised; the apostle says, "To whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour!" It was not indifference, it was not cowardice, it was not the mere love of peace, purchased by the sacrifice of principle, that prompted this counsel; but it was Christian love-that delicate and Christian love which dreads to tamper with the sanctities of a brother's conscience.

2. The second thing we have to say is this that this abridgment of their liberty is a duty more espe cially incumbent upon all who are possessed of influence. There are some men -happily for themselves, we may say—who are so insignificant that they can take their course quietly in the valleys of life, and who can exercise the fullest Christian liberty without giving pain to others. But it is the price which all who are possessed of influence must pay, that their acts must be measured, not in themselves, but according to their influence on others. So, my Christian brethren, to bring this matter home to every-day experience and common life, if the landlord uses his authority and influence to induce his tenant to vote against his conscience, it may be he has secured one voice to the principle which is right, or, at all events, to that which seemed to him to be right, but he has gained that single voice at the sacrifice and expense of a brother's soul. Or, again, if, for the sake of insuring personal politeness and attention, the rich man puts a gratuity into the hand of a servant of some

company which has forbidden him to receive it, he gains the attention, he insures the politeness, but he gains it at the sacrifice and expense of a man and a Christian brother.

3. The last remark which we have to make is this: How possible it is to mix together the vigor of a masculine and manly intellect with the tenderness and charity which is taught by the Gospel of Christ! No man ever breathed so freely when on earth the air and atmosphere of heaven as the Apostle Paul, no man ever soared so high above all prejudices, narrowness, littlenesses, scruples, as he; and yet no man ever bound himself as Paul bound himself to the ignorance, the scruples, the prejudices, of his brethren. So that what in other cases was infirmity, imbecility, and superstition, gathered round it in his case the pure, high spirit of Christian charity and Christian delicacy. And now, out of the writings, and sayings, and deeds, of those who loudly proclaim "the rights of man," and the "rights of liberty," match us, if you can, with one sentence so sublime, so noble,- one that will so stand at the bar of God hereafter, -as this single, glorious sentence of his, in which he asserts the rights of Christian conscience above the claims of Christian liberty: "Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend."

XVII.

[Preached May 16, 1852.]

VICTORY OVER DEATH.

1 Cor. xv 56, 57. —“The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

ON Sunday last I endeavored to bring before you the subject of that which Scripture calls the glorious liberty of the sons of God. The two points on which we were trying to get clear notions were these: What is meant by being under the law, and what is meant by being free from the law? When the Bible says that a man led by the Spirit is not under the law, it does not mean that he is free because he may sin without being punished for it, but it means that he is free because, being taught by God's Spirit to love what His law commands, he is no longer conscious of acting from restraint. The law does not drive him, because the Spirit leads him.

There is a state, brethren, when we recognize good, but do not love God in Christ. It is that state when we admire what is excellent, but are not able to perform it. It is a state when the love of good comes to nothing, dying away in a mere desire. That is the state of nature, when we are under the law, and not

converted to the love of Christ. And then there is another state, when God writes His law upon our hearts by love instead of fear. The one state is this"I cannot do the things that I would;" the other state is this" I will walk at liberty, for I seek Thy commandments."

Just so far, therefore, as a Christian is led by the Spirit, he is a conqueror. A Christian in full possession of his privileges is a man whose very step ought to have in it all the elasticity of triumph, and whose very look ought to have in it all the brightness of vic tory. And just so far as a Christian suffers sin to struggle in him and overcome his resolutions, just so far he is under the law. And that is the key to the whole doctrine of the New Testament. From first to last, the great truth put forward is, The law can neither save you nor sanctify you. The Gospel can do both; for it is rightly and emphatically called the perfect law of liberty.

We proceed to-day to a further illustration of this subject of Christian victory. In the verses which I have read out, the apostle has evidently the same subject in his mind-slavery through the law, victory through the Gospel. The strength of sin, he says, is the law. God giveth us the victory through Christ. And when we are familiar with St. Paul's trains of thinking, we find this idea coming in perpetually. It runs like a colored thread through embroidery, appearing on the upper surface every now and then in a different shape, a leaf, it may be, or a flower,- but the same thread still, if you only trace it back with your finger. And this was the golden recurring thread in the mind of Paul. Restraint and law cannot check