those in our Prayer Book, 'therefore in every person born into this world it deserveth God's wrath and damnation ** As St. Paul says, 'Death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.'† Sin does not always outwardly demonstrate its presence. There are many amiable natures in whom it is very hard to believe sin exists. But we cannot see into each other's hearts. The Creator who made man should know what is in him, and He has revealed to us very clearly and decidedly our nature. He sees perhaps that what we call good actions are prompted by corrupt motives. To take one example from among manythe man who gives largely 'to be seen of men.' We cannot tell what motive prompted the gift; to us it appears a good action. Our Saviour says, 'Verily I say unto you, They have their reward; but the reward is given them on earth, not in heaven.

We cannot understand the origin of evil, or why God permitted it. Many vain and useless explanations may be given. Enough for us that the Bible is silent on the subject of its origin, but is very clear in telling us that we have got sinful natures. We have inherited the sinful nature of our common ancestor Adam. To some it may seem strange that a sinful nature should be allowed to be hereditary. But in looking around we see similar things to which we take no exception, and yet none the less strange. For instance, a man disobeys all physical laws, and sows the seeds of consumption, or other disease. He not only reaps the penalties of his own folly, but his children, and their children inherit the disease. It may seem very hard on them, but the bare fact remains, and no one thinks of denying it. The remedy in our case is at hand, and if we neglect it the fault will be our own.

CHAPTER IV.

NO DIFFERENCE IN GOD'S SIGHT.

For there is no difference, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.'*—Rom. iii. 22.

IN

N the previous chapter I endeavoured to show that the Bible teaches us that all men are sinners. I now desire

to point out that there is no difference in God's sight between one sinner and another, and that all must be saved in the same way. Perhaps there is no truth so humiliating to the natural man as the one taught in the above text. Many, who are quite willing to admit that they are sinners, consider that they have a claim on God's mercy because they are not so bad as many others around them. St. Paul says of them, 'they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.'†

Men frequently divide their fellow-creatures into classes, mentally labelling them 'very good,' 'good,' 'moderate,' 'bad,' 'very bad.' They then again subdivide each class till there are so many degrees between 'very good' and 'very bad' that

* 'Now it is quite clear that St. Paul's great object in the Epistle to the Romans was to put down all claims on the part of man to rewards for services done by him to God. Accordingly, in the first three chapters he shows all men, whether Jews or Gentiles, to be sinners, and so deserving, not justification or acquittal, but condemnation. His conclusion is, that if

we are saved, it must be by the merits of Christ or by free grace only; without any claims on our part on the score of desert.'-BISHOP OF WINCHESTER, On the Thirty-Nine Articles, p. 305.

† 2 Cor. x. 12.

it is almost impossible to distinguish between the degrees. One is reminded of the skilful artist's shading from black to white, in which it is impossible to detect where the dark ceases and the light commences. The Bible, however, admits of no such divisions. It declares that all men are divided into two classes-the Saved and the Lost. We find them under different names in the Bible; but, under whatever name, there the two classes stand in bold and striking contrast to each other. Sometimes they are called the saved and the lost; at other times, the dead and the living; elsewhere, the righteous and the unrighteous, or believers and unbelievers. Illustrations to represent the same two classes are frequent, such as goats and sheep, good fruit and bad fruit, wheat and tares, good seed and bad seed, and many others. But never are intermediate stages spoken of when the idea is to bring forward the standing of men in the sight of God. In the parable of the Sower there are but two classes, the one yielding fruit and the other yielding none; though in the latter class we are shown the three different ways they hear the Gospel.

It is a most solemn thought then, that each reader of this little book belongs to one class or the other. If he does not belong to the class that are saved, he must of necessity belong to the class that are lost. If not spiritually alive, and yielding fruit, he must be spiritually dead. If a shilling is not a good one, it must be a bad one. There may be some very good counterfeit coins that deceive the inexperienced, and pass well among a number of others, but still they are not good coin. Although they may pass for a time and escape detection, they will be condemned as soon as they are brought to the Mint. There may also be some very good counterfeit Christians who may not only deceive those around, but even deceive themselves; but they will not deceive the Great Searcher of Hearts in the Great Day of Assize.

It is very easy to look at the drunkard, the thief, the liar, the profligate, and those who habitually indulge in open vice, and to admit that such are sinners. The persons so condemned will, probably, not deny the charge. But to look at the strictly moral and upright man who is amiable and kind to his neighbours, honest and fair in his dealings with his fellowcreatures, loving and affectionate to his relations, regular in his attendance at a place of worship on Sundays as well as on other days, devout and attentive when there, and then to have to admit that such an one, unless already washed in the blood of Christ, is in need of a Saviour, does seem very strange to the natural man. Yet the Word of God has so declared it. 'There is no difference, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.'

St. James says: 'For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.'* The heart that would sin once against God, would sin more frequently if the opportunity were granted. God demands implicit obedience to the law as a whole, not giving the option to man as to what he shall keep or reject. So also in Nature, if a man were to attempt to make a selection in the laws he would obey or disregard, he might be careful not to strain his bodily or mental faculties, and take various other precautions, to perish after all from the neglect of a law he had decided to disregard. A man in a fit of passion may be guilty of murder; he may have most carefully avoided infringing any other law of his country, but that one crime is sufficient to cause his own death. Another man may have killed many men in his lifetime, but the penalty is the same-death. The laws of our country make no difference between one and the other, and taking it for granted that the man who has so little regard for human life as to kill one man, would, if opportunities offered and it suited his purpose, kill many men, have attached the same

* James ii. 10.

It

penalty to both. The law of the country so intensely abhors this disregard for human life that it attaches the highest penalty it possibly can inflict on even one infringement of its laws. can inflict no higher penalty on one who has broken it many times. So in spiritual things. God, foreseeing how much harm sin would do in this world, and to show His hatred and abhorrence of it, attached the highest penalty possible to it. The sinner may only sin once, or he may sin many times, but the penalty is the same-he is guilty of all.

One act of a rebel shows a disloyal heart. Many more rebellious actions may follow or not, as circumstances dictate. People are apt to judge harshly of a poor uneducated man in the lower strata of society because he openly gives way to temptation, and to think too well of those in the upper classes who do not openly indulge in gross sin. The restraints of society may, after all, have been the only motives which restrained the latter. There is such a thing as sinning in heart and in desire, but being restrained by circumstances around from openly indulging in sin. The brutal drunkard who starves and beats his wife, and the amiable, refined, highminded young lady who hardly knows the meaning of an impure word, both have a sinful nature, and both require a change of heart. The one may have given way to all the brutal instincts of a depraved nature, while the other, debarred by the restraints of society, may have refrained from ever openly indulging in any of the grosser forms of sin; but in God's sight, both alike are sinners, 'for there is no difference, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.' Without any wish to incriminate the one, or to exculpate the other, it is well for us to see that there is no claim to merit before God on account of the circumstances in which He has placed us. Had the circumstances been reversed, perhaps the results might have been reversed also.

It is said by medical men, that in the healthiest children