ECCLESIASTICAL.

Otago Witness, Issue 1967, 5 November 1891, Page 46

ECCLESIASTICAL.

FULL REDEMPTION. A Sermon Dbuvbhsd on Sabbxth Moening, APBJIi 3iJ, 1860, BY THB BKV. 0. H. SPUBQKON, AT BXETRB HALL, STRAND. " There shall not a hoof be left behind." —Exodus x, 26. — '^ The controversy between Jehovah, the God of the whole earth, and Pharaoh, king of Egypt, was intended to be remembered, and spoken of throughout all generations On tbat occasion God permitted human nature to arrive at its highest degree of stubbornness and obstinacy; but he, nevertheless, cowed it, and overoame it. He did indeed raise up Pharaoh for this purpoie, tbat he might show forth bis power in him- Pharaoh, as an absolute monarch, is permitted to go to the utmost degree of hardness of heart, and yet the Lord would show to all coming generations that his decrees shall stand, and he will go all his pleasure. You will remember that tbe quarrel was on this wise-God had sent his people into Fgypt in the olden times, there to dwell in the land of Goshen. They had multiplied exceedingly, they haa been favourably treated by succeeding kings, till at length a new king aroie who knew pot Joseph. He began to opprest the people, but the more he oppresied them the more they Increased. He made their lives bitter with hard bondage. In mortar and in brick, and in all manner of serwoe of the field, did he make them to serve with rigour. Probably they were employed in building many of those mighty piles, the pyramid*, whioh now ataod

•upon the plains of Egypt. He subjeoted them to the most rigorous tasks ; they worked under the -whip continually, and had to make bricks without •traw— the hardest possible exaction that even a i tyrant could have imagined. At last the cry of the people went up to their God in heaven. He saw their affliction, he heard their cry, he knew their sorrows, and he determined, with bis own bare arm, to be avenged on Pharaoh, and to bring out all his people, the seed of Jacob, from their house of bondage. He raised up Moses, and he sent him in with this message to Pharaoh, " Thus saith the Lord, let my people go, that they may serve me." Pharaoh laughs at it. "Ye are idle," saitb he, "ye are idle ; ye shall not go." A plague at onoe is God's answer to Pharaoh's laughter ; he turns their water into blood, and th<j flih that was in the river died, Pharaoh gives way a little, for if he must yield it must be by degrees. " You shall have." *ays he, " two or three days of rest to serve your GtU, but it must be in this land." " Nay," cays Moses, "we oannot serve our God in this land ; we must go forth into the wilderness." Pharaoh bids them begone. Another plague, and yet another. And now Pharaoh yields thus far. " They may go into the wilderness, but they must not go very far." " Nay, but," says Moses, " we will have no such stipulation." Pharajh therefore again deals deceitfully, again refuses, again grows angry, and waxes proud ; and God smites the land with lice, with flies, with a very grievous murrain, with all manner of plagues. Then Pharaoh says, " You may go, you may go into the wilderness, but only the strong men among you shall go ; ye shall leave your wives and your little ones. " Nay," sajs Moses, "we must all go, with our wives and with our little ones, must we serve the Lord our God." Pharaoh again refuses ; his heart is hardened ; he will not yield. Moses at the command of the Lord then stretched forth his hand toward heaven, and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt, even darkness that might be felt. Then Pharaoh's subjects clamoured to him, "Let these men go." Pharaoh yields thisj "for," he say*, " you shall go, your wives and your little ones, but you shall leave your cattle and your goods behind." "Nay." saith Moaei, "we matt have all er none ; not a hoof shall be left behind." Not a single sheep shall stay in Egypt ; the whole of God's host, and all they have, their sick, their young, their aged, and all their possessions must go forth out of Egypt. And you will remembar that the Loi d never yielded a single point to Pharaoh, but exacted all of him, and at last buried him with his horses and his riders in the depths of the aea. Now it seems to me that this grand quarrel of old is but a picture of God's continual ooatest with Ihe powers of darkness. The mandate has gone forth to earth and hell : " Thus saith the Lord, let my people go that they may serve me." "No," saith Satau, " they shall not." And if he be compelled to yield one point, he still retains bit hold upon auotber. If he must give way, it thall be inch by inch. Evil is hard in dying ; it will not readily be overcome But this is the demand of God, and to the last will he have it. " All my people "—the whole of, every one of them, and all that my people b'ave pot sessed —all shall come out of the land of Egypt. Christ will have the whole ; he will not be contented with a part, and this be vows to'acoomplisb. " Not a hoof shall be left behind."

I think you will now see the drift of the discourse. I use the text as an aphorism, which I hope to be enabled to illustrate. God bless 1b to our souls. " Not a hoof shall be left behind." Christ will have all that he has died to purchase ; all that he has bought wl(h blood be will have ; not a fraction of the purohased possession will he lose. First,- then, Christ will- have the whole man— "Not a single boof shall be lefb behind." In the next place, he will have the whole ohuroh— " Not a hoof shall be left behind." In the next place, he will have the whole of the lost inheritance of his church—" Not a hoof shall be left behind." And at last, in the fourth plaoe, to conclude, he will have the whole world to serve him—" Not a hoof shall be left behind."

I. First, therj, Christ will have the whole man. In his people whom he has purohased with his blood he will reign without a rival. As for the world that lieth in the wioked one, the prince of this world shall have his power over it until bis time shall be accomplished. But as for the Lord's people whom he hath redeemed, on whom bis heart is set, he will not have a single hair of their heads to be alienated from himself. " Xhey shall be mine," naith the Lord, " they shall be wholly mine." Christ will not be part proprietor of any man ; he will not have one part of the man. and leave the other part to be demoted to Satan.

In entering upon tble point- that Obritt will have the whole man -I shall have to notice that he does already poiien the whole of bia people in their intent and purpoio, and that by and bje, when he hath sanctified them wholly? he will then aotually possess the whole spirit, and soul, and body of the man whom he hath purchased with bis precious blood. Mark then, my hearers, if you be children of God, if you be saved, you belong wholly and entirely to Ohrlat. By this you may know this morning whether you are subjects of that old Pharaoh, or whether Jehovah is the Lord your God and your great Deliverer. Are there not multitudes of men who seem to imagine that if they »aye a corner in their souls for their religion all will be well ? Satan may stalk aoross the broad acres of their judgment and their understanding, and he may reign over their thoughts ani their imaginations, but if in some quiet nook there be preserved the appearance of religion all will be right. Oh t be not deceived, men and brethren, in this. Christ never went halves in a man yet. He will have the whole of you, or he. will have none of you. He will be Lord paramount, Matter supreme, absolute Lord, or else he will have nothing to do with you. You may serve Satan, if you will, but when you serve him you shall not serve Christ too. He will not permit you to have your right hand in his service, and your left hand employed for the black designs of bell. The whole man Christ died to* purchase, and if you are not wholly given ,up to God— if in the intent and pur pose of your souls every thought, and wish, and power, and talent, and posieision be not devoted and consecrated to Christ- you have no reason to believe that you have been redeemed by his precious blood.

Christ will not allow us to spare a single sin.- We may not seleot some favourite evil, and say, I will give my heart wholly np to God, but this vice is to be spared. Nay, nay, my hearers, ye are nob Christ's if-ye have one tampered lust, one sin whioh you fondly indulge. Sin you will, even though you be Christ's ; but if you indulge sin, if you love it, and delight in It, if it ii not to you a plague and a ourse, you have no reason whatever to oonelude tbat your name is on his breast, or that you belong to Christ at all. Suppose a house attacked by seven thieves. Tbe good man of the house has arms within, and he manages to kill six of the thieves ; but if one thief survive, and he permits him to range his house, he may still be robbed, perhaps still be slain. And if I have had seven evil vices, and if by the grace of God six of these have been driven out, should I yet indulge and pamper one that remaineth, lam still a lost man. lam not his so long as I willingly yield and joyfully hold fellowship with a single evil and false thing. I contend not for creature perfection— l believe it to bs impossible for us to attain it in the present life— but Ido | contend for perfection in purpose, perfection in design; and If we wantonly and wilfully harbour a solitary sin, we are no friends of Jesus Christ. Not one sin, then, is to be spared. And as no sin Is to be spared, 10 no duty is to be neglected. If I am Christ's I am not to look down his law and say, " Snoh-and-suoh a precept Is agreeable to me, I will keep it." No, as I hate every foolish way so must I love every right one-. I count all thy precepts concerning all things to be right. We have not come yet to be Christ's verified property, to be Christ's disenthralled people, unleis we feel that in all the commandments of God we desire to walk blamelessly —not a hoof is to be left behind. As no sin is to be spared, and no service to be shunned, so no power is to be reserved from entire oonseoration. Christ bought the whole man, and the whole man must be devoted to Christ; I am not to use my judgment for the Saviour, and let my imagination lie idle ; lam not to reserve for sin the freedom of my will while I give to God my conscience ; but the whole man is to be given up to Christ; he is not enlisted in Jesus Ohrltt's army who has not given up to Christ, head, and hands, and feet, and heart, and all. lam told that in Soolland, in the olden times, the farmers used to save one field whioh they did not sow ; they saved tbat for the devil ; it waß called, " The gude man's croft," so that Satan might range there as muoh as he liked, and not disturb the crops elsewhere. A strange whim. Oh I how many Christians have tried to do the like in their hearts. They have had just the gude man's croft, a little oorner where Satan might have his way, but, oh I this will never serve, the whole land must be tilled; every acre must be sown with tbe good seed, for it is all Christ's or else it is none of it Christ's, we are wholly conseorated or else unoonseorated. We belong from the orown of our head to the sole of our foot to Christ, or else we do not belong to Christ at all. Man— the entire nature must be surrendered. The demand is. imperative; to a proverb it shall be verified; " there shall not a hoof be left behind."

Yet, further, if no power is to be unoonseorated, how muoh less will Christ ever permit our heart to be divided. If we seek to serve God and mammon, God and self, God and pleasure, we do not serve God at all. When the Bomans erected the statue of Christ, and put it up in their pantheon, saying that he should be one among their gods, their homage was worthless. And when they turned their heads, first to Jupiter, then to Venus, and then to Jesus Christ, they did no honour to otlr Lord, they did but dishonour bito. Their service was not acceptable, and so if you imagine in your heart that you can sometimes serve God, and sometimes serve self and be your own master, you have made a mistake. , Christ will have no suoh service as tbis ; be will ! have all or nothing ; and indeed, men and brethren, it is neoesiary for us to eicape entirely from the snares of sin, or else we oannot be saved. A quaint old divine uses the following flgare : " If," saith he, ' "a hart be oaught in a trap, aud 16 shall extricate all its limbs except one foot, it has not esoaped as long as the foot is in the trap ; and if a bird be taken, and if with much struggling it getteth its liberty all but one wing, vet when tbe fowler comes he will seize it unless that wing also become delivered." So Is it with you and me ; if any part of our heart be devoted to Satan we might as well devote the whole, for we are still his bond- slaves. If you say, " Well, I was onoe bound hand and foot, but now I have broken off the chain from my hand." Yes, but if the ring of iron enoiroles one foot, and it is fastened down to the floor, you are still a slave. You may have filed through the chain of your drunkenness, but if you have not filed through the chain of your self-righteousness, you are still as muoh a bondman as ever. It is all in vain for you to fight hah! the battle ; it is not the half but the whole that gives the victory. It is not the Blaying of here and there a sin, like the stopping of here and there a leak in the shipj she must be rokeeledor elee she will sink j she must be new bottomed and new made ; and so must you. All thoie slight amendments and improvements, good as they are In a morafc-ftspeot, are worthless as to any spiritual salvation of your soul. Remember this, thou who thiukest tbou art a beliover. see whether it can be said of thee, " I have wholly come out of Egypt in my heart's intent, ' not a hoof has been left beBut to proceed i what is already true In our intent and purpose shall ere long be true in reality. Tarry a little while, Ohri6tian, a few more struggles against the flesh, a little more battling and of warring against the evil powers within thee, and thou shalt put thy foot upon the neck of thy old corruptions : sin and self shall both be Blain, and Jems Christ shall reign triumphantly. What a joy it is to the Christian to believe that be shall one day be perfect. As we have worn the)lma({e of the earthly, bo shall we also wear the in?age of the heavenly. The toDgue that has spoken many an evil thing, bought with the blood of Christ, shall one day be full of the sonnets of Paradise. There sball be no strife in the soul ; the Oanaanite shall no more dwell in the land ; we shall be vessels fully purged as by fire, fully sane- ; tified and made fit for the Master's use. When we shall come up dripping from the shelving banks of Jordan we shall have left behind us all our sins ; up those oelestial hills our feet shall climb, and our garments shall be whiter than any fuller can make them. Not Jesus In his transfiguration shall be more complete and perfect than we shall be in ours. The blaok drops of depravity will have been wrung out of our hearts ; the virus of deep corruption shall j have been extracted, and we shall take our plaoe among the angels, pure as they — among the perfect spirits, the prophets, and the glorious host of martyrs, as truly sanctified, as fully redeemed, as effea- i t'ually delivered from sin as even they are. ' The redemption shall be complete—" Not a hoof shall be left behind." ,

Before I leave this point let me remark that there { is one part of man seemingly the most worthless whioh we sometimes think will be left behind . The poor body 1 it shall be put into the grave, the worms shall hold a carnival within it, and soon it shall crumble down into a few atoms of dust ; but Christ, who redeemed his people, bought their flesh and their bones as well as their souls, and " Not a hoof shall be left behind." Not the eye shall be left any more than the judgment, nor the arm any more than the spiritual vigour ; for the Bedeemer lays claims to the organs of the body as well as the faculties of the mind. He will raise from the dead the very bones of his people, and as tbe whole host shall j go marching up behind their oonquering leader he,| shall cry, " Of them that thou ha«t given me I hay lost none, not a bone in my own body has been j broken, and nob a bone of their bodies has b^en left behind." The whole man, body, soul, and spirit, all consecrated, all filled with the Spirit, shall stand before the throne and clap its hands, aud sing the everlasting song of glory unto God for ever and ever. " Not a hoof shall be left behind." 11. This, to proceed to the second part of our discourse, is equally true of the whole church as of the whole man -" Not a boof shall be lefb behind." I never have subscribed— l think I never shall -to the dootrine of universal redemptiou. I believe in the j limitless efficacy of the blood of Christ. I would nob say, with some of the earl 7 Fathers, that a single drop of Christ's blood would have been suffi- J cient for the redemption of the u'orld. That seemß to me to be an expression too strained, though doubtless their meaning was correct. I believe that bhtre is efficacy enough in the blood of Christ if it be applied to the conscience to save any man and every man. But when I come to the matter of redemption it seems to me that whatever Christ's design was in. dying, that design oannot be frustrated nor by any means disappointed. When I look at the person of our Lord Jesus Christ I cannot imagine that such an One, offering suoh a sacrifice, can ever be disappointed of the design of his soul. I Henofl I think that all whom he came on purpose to save he will save, all who were graven on the strong affections of his heart as the purchase of his blood he- assuredly shall have. All that his heavenly Father gave him shall come to him. All that he chose fram before the foundation of the world be will ral*e up at the last day. All who were jnoluded among the members of his mystic body, when he was nailed to the tree, shall be one with him in his glorious resurrection, and " Not ajioof shall be lefb | behind." I know there are some who believe in a dUappointed Christ, who -affect to lament concern- 1 ing Christ a design not accomplished a frustrated oross, agonies spent in vain, blood that was poured out on the ground a* water that cannot be gathered up. I believe in no euch tbing. God oreateth nothing in vain, nor will I believe that Jesus Christ died on the oross in vain in any sense or in any degree whatever. Not a hoof of all his purohased flook shall be left behind. Come, then. Methinks I see before my mind's eye tbe countless multitudes whom Jesus bought with blood. The day shall come when their great shepherd walkfeg in their front shall lead behind j him the entire flook, and not one shall be absent. Bat suppose for an instant— we take that ground to \ see how untenable it is— suppose for an instant tjbat one of those purohased ones should be absent. Of what sort shall that one be ? Suppose it be a suffer- j Idb one, one that has lain tossing on the bed of pain for many months and years, some aged disciple filled with twitohlngs and convulsions, who for the last few years seemed to suffer pains like those of hell, thoueh she lay on tbe borders of Paradise— shall she be left behind? Such a suppoiitlon Impugns the love of Ohriat. If he lefb any, certainly it should not be the suffering ones. If one should be oast away certainly not of that martyr band who for his sake endured, nor of that pilgrim band of the desnised who through much tribulation inherit the Som of heaven? Who then shall it be? Shall it be the strong ones that shall be lost? Imagine It so. But how were they strong ? They were strengthened through Christ, and yet can they nerish? Suoh a suspicion impugns the immutaMHfcv of God. Did he gird them with strength one day Ld leave them helpless the next? What I did God pour the fall vigour of his grace into a heart, and then restrain that vigour, »d»»flerthe«ttong one to perish ? Samson, sbalt thou be lost after thou heat slain heaps upon heaps thy thousand men? Shalt thou at last die ingloriously ? No, if thou dlest upon earth thou shalt hear the groans of thy Philistine enemies about thee, and die, as a warrior should, in the midst of battle, an undefeated one. Shall the minister of Christ whom God has areatly blessed be deserted by the faithful God, and shall the shame of his fall ring round the world and become the jest and mockery of drunkard and harlot ? God forbid ; he shall keep the Btrong, and they shall enter into life. But suppose for a minute it should be one of our weak ones, our poor friend, Mr Feeble-Mind, or our excellent sister, Mhs Dea-Dondenoy-suppose these mutt perish. Ah! then twTwoull impugn tbe power ot God for then the enemy would cry. "Aha! aha I be kept the strong but he could nob keep the weak. Tho»e who took ™re of themselves he kept, but the weak ones he suffered to perish." Ay, beloved, but there shall >' not a hoof be left behind "-not that poor lingering ebeep, not that poor newly-born and feeble lamb ; they shall every one of them be brought innoT" not a hoof shall be left behind." "But," saith one, "perhaps it will be the erring ones among them." Ah! but if the erring ones in the Ohuroh be lost then should all be lost, for they all err. "But suppose there be some that specially err?"

Well, if these were lost it would be to impugn the grace of God, because then it might be said, and said with truth, " It was of works and not of grace," for if it be of grace then must the erring be brought book and forgiven, and even those sheep that break the hedge and leave the pasture, these must be brought In, that it may be said on earth and sung In heaven that it was of grape, free grace, and grace alone, that any were saved— that all were saved— that hone are left behind. Methinks 1 see the great Shepherd now, and there ire all his sheep. They have been wandering. They ! have got into a dark glen in the mountains, and a snow-storm is coming on, and he goes to seek them. There they are. The grim spirit of the tempest, tbe Prince of the power of the air, meets him, and says, "Back, shepherd! What dost thou here?" " I have oome to reolaim my own." " They are not thine now," eaith he ; " they have strayed into my grounds, and they are mine, not thine." "Nay, lead," saith he, " they are mine.; they have my blood-mark on them ; they wore given ma of my Divine Father, and I am bound by solemn obligations to keep every one of them safely." " Thou sbalt not have them,"saith the fiend. "I must. I will," saith he. They fought, and the good Shepherd he overoame. He daahed down the enemy and trod him under foot, and crushed him -ormhed the serpent. Then the serpent with wily oraft replied, " They are thiae— thine I oonfesi, and I will give thee some of them— the fattest of them." " Nay," aaitb'he, " nay, fiend, I have bought them all, and I will have them all." And there they oome, a goodly company ; but he keeps back a few. " They are not all here," says the Shepherd, " and I will have all." "But," saith the fiend, '-there are some of them that are speokled sheep, and some that are black and diseased. Dost thou want them ? Let me have a few at least." " No," saith he, " no ; I must have the black ones, the speokled ones, the diseaoed ones : let them all oome. Fiend, stand baok, let them come I tell thee, or my right arm shall fell thee to the ground again." And now they all oome but one, and Sit an sayi, " Nay, but this is such a little one ; this is so weak. Thou wouldst not have suoh a shrivelled, scabby one as this In thy bright flook, thou fair Shepherd of God." " Ay," eaith he, " but sooner tbau lose one of them I will die again, and shed my blood onoe more to buy it back. Avaunt I All that my Father gave me I will have." And now methinks I see him in the last tremendous day when the sheep pass a«aia und-r the hand of him that telleth them. He cries, "Of all thou ha.st given me. I have lout none. They have none of them perished. The lion has not devoured them, nor has the cold destroyed them. I have brought them all safely here, " not a hoof is left behind." 111. The third point was to be this— Jesus Christ will not only have a.l of a man, and all the men he bought, bub be will have all that ever belonged to all thete man. That Is to say, all that Adam lost Christ will win baok ; all that we fell from in Adam Christ will restore us to, and that without, the diminution of a single jot or tittle. Not an inch of Paradise shall be given up. nor even a handful of its duat resigned. Christ will bava all, or else he will have none— " Not a hoof shall be left behind." Very briefly let me run through a short list of ail these precious things which we lost in Adam. And first, with reference to God. Chritt's blood-bought ones once enjoyed in their father Adam divine likeness. "Let us make man in our own image, in our own likeness," saith God. Alas 1 that likeness has been defiled and debated. Like the king's superscription on the coinage, which has been worn for many a year, you oannot tell whose image and superscription it now is. Ay, but we shall have that baok again. God will re-stamp his precious things ; reengrave his name upon bis gems, and we shall wear tbe likeness of God as Adam did when be came fresh from his Maker's hand. We have lost, too, as we know to our cost, by nature the divine favour ; God loved Adam, he showed that love to him, but when Adam sinned, though God was merciful, be could not show love to one who had become a rebel ; I mean— not the love of eomplaaenoy— though the love otbenevolence never ceased for a moment. Ay, bub God delighteth in hi« people now in Christ. Christ hath gotten back for us the full light of God's favour. Tha sun sheneonAdam full-orbed, and it will not sbine on us with less brightness. God loved Adam very tenderly, but he loves us just as much. We have gotten back the two divine privileges of heavenly likeness and heavenly favour. But you will remembar, also, Adam had tbe celestial boon of divine fellowship : " The Lord God walked with Adam in tbe garden in the cool of the day." And some of yon know what it 1b to have that baok again, for he has walked with v«, and God has talked to his people till our eyes have shone, and our hearts have been ready to break for very joy. Our poor weak body was not able to contain its overflowing bliss. Christ will get baok for his people all the likeness of God, all the favour of God, and all the fellowship with God, of which Satan robbed them. Not a particle less shall they have, but I think I may venture to say even more, for God loved Adam for Adam's sake ; he loves you and me for Christ's sake and that is a better motive -a higher, a deeper, and grander consideration than even loving a man for his own sake. Because of his only begotten and well bejoved Son, he loves all his people with an infinite, unfailing affection. This is the first parti of the inheritance which we lost and which Christ will get us back. Then again, Adam loit happiness, and we have lost it too, and we have become the heirs of sorrow, and like our Master we are acquainted with grief. Ay, but he will get us back our happiness ; we have had *ome portion of it already. That well of living water, into which Satan oast a great stone so that it could not spring up, -Christ has rolled away the stone, and now we drink the water whereof, if a man drinks, he shall never tbirst, and shall never need to go to earthly fountains to draw. Ohl oourage, courage, Christian, in all thy sorrows, Christ will win thee baok that glorious happiness which Adam Io»t for th"c. Betidei, you all know that in Adam we lost the right to live. "In the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. Man became a dying soul, and not a living soul any more. But Christ has brought life and immortality to light by tbe gospel, and because he lives we shall live also. And yet again, Adam of old was king. Wherever be went there was a dignity about him that made tbe lordly lion crouch and lick his feet j the birds of the air did him homage ; he bade the fish of the sea leap in their waters, and they did it, for he was king — God's orowned oherub who walked in the garden of Eden like a king in his palaces. But now, what are we ? Tbe servants of servants ; toiling oreatures that wipe the sweat from our face, and strain our nerves, and empty out our veins with labour. Ay, but that dignity is restored already to the people of God, for he hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Je»ui our Lord. And vliibly shall that dignity come b«ok lo us, when the leopard shall He down with the kid ; when the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and man on earbh shall be lord of the oreation just as he was of old. Master of the sea -leviathan— shall do his bidding, and Behemoth shall stay him in his course to hasten to the voice of puny bub redeemed man. We shall b»ve baok, I believe, everything that Adam had, and much more. " Not a hoof shall be left behind." And yet further, not to keep yon longer, we believe that in Adam we lost sonship. but in Christ we have received the adoption. In Adam we lost cafe standing; but he hath plucked us out of the miry clay, and set our feet upon a rook. In Adam we lost righteousness, but he that believeth is justified from all thiogs. Whatever Adam lost Christ has found, and infinitely more. A man once wrote a book to prove the devil a fool. Certainly, when all matters shall come to their destined consummation, Satan will prove to have been a magnificent fool. Folly, magnified to the highest degree by subtlety, shall be developed in Satan. Ah 1 thou trailing serpent, what hast thou now, after all ? I saw thee but a few thousand years ago twining around the tree of life, and hissing out thy deceptive words. Ah I how glorious was the serpent then— a winged creature, with his azure scales. Ay, and thou didst triumph over God. I heard thee as thou didst go hissing down to thy den, I heard thee say to thy brood— vipers in the nest as they are—" My ohiidren, I have stained the Almighty's works ; I have turned aside his liege subjeots ; I have injeoted my poison into the heart of Bye, and Adam hath fallen too ; my ohiidren, let us hold a jubilee, for I have defeated God." Ah 1 fiend, I think I see thee now, with thy head all broken, and thy jaw teeth smashed, and thy venom bags all emptied, and thou thyself a weary length of agony, rolling miles afloat along a sea of fire, tortured, destroyed, overcome, tormented, ashamed, haoked, hewed, dashed In pieces, and nude a hissing, and a scorn for ohildreu to laugh at, and made a scoff throughout eternity. Ah 1 well, brethren, tbe great Goliath hath gained nothing -by his vauntlngs ; Christ and his people have really lost nothing by Satan. AH they lost once has been re-taken. The victory has not simply been a capture of that wmen was lost, but a gaining of something more, we are in Christ more than we were before we fell. Not a boof shall be left behind." IV. I shall want your patience and y<»"\ P**? B ™ while I now attempt to dweU upon my last »lußtratlon. Phrisfc will have the whole earth—" Nob a

I hoof shall be left behind." God hath made this world for himself, and when he made it he looked around on all his works.andhesald." They were very good." All oreation wat meant to be a grand oxohestra, the angels ocdupying the higher Seats, and sounding the higher notes ; while descending in the scale the inhabitants of the divers worlds, which are perhaps countless in multitude* taking their placet In one harmonious song. In one place there was an old and almost empty spot without a singer; blessed be God, the singers have many of them taken their places already, and there are others on tbe way. That spot was left for men to sing In, for men who should praise God, and magnify his name always. Ay, but Satan came and took away all the singers, spoiled their voices, and. ruined them, and now this world, instead of being an orohestra for God's praise, hat beoome an arena for evil passions, a battlefield for lust and rapine, and murder and sin. But mark this, God will not be disappointed of his purpose ; tbis ruined world shall yet sing forth his praises, and without a marring or a jirrlng voice the whole of his creatures shall magnify his holy name. Satan is now lord of the most of the world, and he seems to say to-day, " Thou King of kings, take England for thyself, and Amerioa be tblne ; here and there thou shalt take an island, or a oity, but lot me have the masses of mankind ; I will be lord of China's teeming multitudes, and India shall lie within my colls." Brethren, shall it be so ? shall it bs so ?— are you content in your Master's name to resign those mighty empires to the prince of darkness F Unanimously your hearts speak out your Master's language ; it mmt not, aud it shall not be. The tramp of Christian beross shall yet shake those nations, and the trumpet of Jubilee shall proolaim liberty to the bandaged sons of Adam that are weeping there. They must— they shall belong to Christ. And now the blaok prinoe comes forward, and he proposes another thing "Oh I" taitb he, " great King, why this perpetual duel— why must thy servants fight and live, and my lervants continually be defeated P Lbt us divide the empird." You remember that in tbe olden times of England, when Canute and the Danes were fighting against the Saxons under Edmund, it was deolded at last that the two kings Should fight it out. A most agreeable aad proper method. I only would that It were always taken la hand, and that all king* who ohooie to engage in warfare had to fight their own battles. I am sure we should all be patrons of their encounters, and we should sincerely thank God tbat there was suoh a s*viDg of blood Let them fight if they will, but why should their poor subjects die ? The fight went on with various success, and at last, the champions having parted, it was deoided that one should take one part of Bngland, and the other the other, and so a truce was made. And so, blaok fiend, tbou proposest this to the king of heavea, dost thou?-a division, shall it be? shall thefitjht be suspended? shall Christ have half, and Satan tbe other half ? No, listen to the ory of tbat half whioh we might give up. "Ye men, ye men of Israel, come hither, help ! help ! come ye to the help of the Lord against the mighty! Why should we be given up to intolerable tyranny, and devoted for ever to hell's monarch and his mighty power ?" Nay, we oannot consent, thon fiend 1 that thou shouldst have onehalf. Imagine, then, that tbe Gospel has spread in every country but odo, and now Satan pleads—" No missionaries ahall be sent there to disturb their unhallowed peaoefulness. Let me reign there," saith he, " and I will be content."

But it must not be. Soldiers of Christ;, to the battle, to the battle. All the line, all tbe rampart must be stormed. Not a single oastle mutt be left in the possession of tbe enemy. We must dash him down from his hills, and rend him up from hi* valleys. He must not have a single spot whereon to plaoe his foot. Now I hear him flap bis broken wings and fly into the grim north. " There are a few Esquimaux," saith he, " who live in the dreary region long oonseorated to my power. I will betake myself to the land of icebergs and of rocks, of the wild bear and of tbe dog, and there will I keep my last resting plaoe." Brethren, shall it be, sball ft be ? Shall he reign king of the iceberg* and lord even of the frozen north ? No, by heaven, and him that redeemed the earth ! Out even of that regidn must he be dashed ; as of old he fell from heaven so must he fall from earth. And now I see the Icelanders bowing before Christ, and the vilest and most depraved of men submitting to Jehovah's sway; but satanbas one dark-souled being— the last man that is left unconverted. Ring your Sabbath bells, my brethren 1 Go up to your house of prayer ! Be happy! But I see a gloom upon your lace. What means it ? You reply there is one man left unsaved. Satan hat still a lodging placa in the heart of one man ; surely our song* would lose their melody if that were the oase. Nay, Master, nay. " Not a hoof shall be left behind," Thou shalt walk through this world and meet no more with sin. There shall not be fouod one inhabitant of tbis globe who is not thy subject— not a single being who is not fully consecrated to thy will. That were a consummation devoutly to be wished. Equally may I say it it a consummation confidently to be expected. Wait a little while, labour a'little longer, and he that will come shall come and will not tarry ; then shall the world see, and hell shall tremble at the sight; that Christ has conquered aad has taken baok ail his possessions. " Not a hoof shall be left behind."

And now, ere you disperse. I have just a word or two of practical dootrine to deliver. Give me your solemn attention ; I will not detain you more than one or two minutes. On whose side art thou— man, woman? Art thou ChrUt's or art thou Satan sj Remember, if thy soul belongs to sin, living ana dying as thou art. hell's greedy maw must devour thee ; for Satan saith. as Christ saith, " Not a hoof •hall be left behind." The waves of the deluge of wrath shall drown every man who is not in the ark. Not a single thorn or tare shall be left to grow ; they must all be bound up in bundles to ba burned, and cast into the fire. Answer that question then : Whose art thou ? Answer now another : If thou hopest thou art Christ's, Christ's motto with every man is, •• Aut O»sar, aut nullus." He will be Gajsar In your hearts, king, emperor, or nothing at all _; he will reign entirely over you, or not at all ; Christ will not go shares in your heart. Are you wholly Christ's then ? " Oh," saith oae, " I hope so. Ay, but take oare It is not mare hope, but that It is the fact; and lift up thy heart and sanctify me wholly, spirit, soul, and body, take f uU possession of all my powers, all my members, all my good*, and all my hours, all I am, and all I have, take me, and make me what thou wouldst have ma to be." God hear that prayer for thee, and make thee wholly Christ's. Yet one other question : Is there one who says. " I fear lam not Christ's, but I wish to be ?" Is that a olnoere wish ? I am happy, happy, thrloe happy, that thou feelest thus, for thou oouldst not even wish to be Christ unless Christ'a jrraoe had made thee wish. Oh, remember, if thou wiliest to have Christ, there is no question about Christ's willingness to have thee. Come, juit as thon art, and with a full surrender say : " Just as I am without one plea. But that his blood was shed for me, And that he bids me come, Oh ! Lamb of God, I oome." Trust Christ, and you are saved ; rely on Jesus, and your sins are forgiven, and you are Christ's, and shall be Christ's in that day when he maketh up nil jewel*. May God bless these thoughts and meditations to each and all of us. Amen.