men acquit and God condemns, all is lost. He that judgeth us is the Lord.

We should never forget that official character is one thing, and moral character another thing. All official characters may be sustained without any real grace in the heart. Balaam's prophecies were as true and as sublime as those of Moses or Isaiah. So far as we know, Judas' performance of the duties of the apostolic mission was as acceptable and as useful as that of the majority of his brethren. Even success in preaching is not proof of piety. It is the message, not the messenger; the truth preached, and not the man who utters it, that converts the soul. Piety is of infinite importance to every soul of man; but a man who has no piety may yet do good.

The history of Judas shows us how man will cling to false hopes. Hypocrites hold fast their delusive expectations with the utmost tenacity. There is no evidence that during years of hypocrisy Judas ever seriously doubted his own piety. There were many sure marks, indeed, against him; but what cares any hypocrite for evidence? His own blind confidence is to him more powerful than all the truths of God's word. Because he is determined to believe his state good, nothing will convince him to the contrary.

If men thus self-confident forsake their profession, and openly apostatize, we need not be surprised. "It is impossible but that offences will come." (Luke xvii : 1.) "There must also be heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you." (1 Cor. xi: 19.) Open defections from truth and rightcousness are no strange things. It has been so from the beginning. Jesus had his Judas. Peter must deal with Ananias, Sapphira, and Simon Magus. Paul was in perils among false brethren, and Demas quite forsook

from us.

him. We must expect those that are not of us to go out If they were of us, they would no doubt continue with us. The wicked will do wickedly, though for a while they may seem to be righteous.

The case of Judas gives us the rule of admission to church-membership, and, so far as moral character is concerned, to church offices. We may require a credible profession of piety. Infallible evidence of love to Christ is not attainable. A profession of piety, accompanied by such evidence as a consistent life affords, is as much as we may demand. Our Savious knew Judas from the beginning to be a bad man, "a devil;" but his omniscience, not the overt acts of Judas, taught him thus, and so he received him into the church, leaving us an example that we should follow his steps. Our Lord judged of the members of his church, not by what he as God knew of their hearts, but by their credible profession. The Master never did evil that good might come. He practiced on the true rule. Let us seek no other. However painful our fears respecting the real characters of men, we must respect a profession of piety, not contradicted by the life.

Thus, too, we have a full refutation of the objection made to a connection with the visible church, because there are wicked men in her communion. The apostles certainly knew that among them was one bad man; but they did not therefore renounce their portion among Christ's confessed friends. And Christ himself held intercourse with Judas just as if he were all he professed to be. So that if one certainly knew another to be an enemy of God, and yet could not prove it to the satisfaction of impartial church authorities, this should not debar him from the Lord's table. If dogs will sometimes get the children's bread, that is no reason why a table should not be spread for the children.

How difficult it is to bring home truth to the deceitful heart of man. Nor could one do a wiser thing than to inquire whether he has better evidence of piety than the great traitor had during his apostleship. Judas could heal the sick, raise the dead, and cast out devils. He was first a disciple, and then an apostle of our Lord. He often heard Christ preach. He held the only office of trust among the apostles. His reputation for piety stood as fair as any man's. His persuasion of his good state seems to have been so firm, that he hardly felt inclined to look into the grounds of his hopes. He was not a drunkard, nor a swearer. He was not a captious hearer of the Gospel. Without a murmur he bore all the fatigue of his apostolic mission. He was not an envious man beyond others. He was not a slanderer, a reviler, a backbiter, a whisperer. He displayed no inordinate ambition. He was not a brawler, nor a violent and outrageous man. And yet he was not a child of God. Mere negative goodness, mere freedom from open vice, proves no man an heir of glory. It is truc there was sufficient evidence against Judas, but he willingly overlooked that. If many men had as good evidence against their enemies or their neighbors, as they have against themselves, they would speedily pronounce them hypocrites.

In the case of Judas we have also a fearful example of the terrible judgment of God against the wicked. As he loved cursing, so it came unto him; as he delighted not in blessing, so it was far from him. As he clothed himself with cursing like as with his garment, so it came into his bowels like water, and like oil into his bones. God's judgments are still abroad in the earth. Of all judgments, those which are spiritual should most alarm. us. To have eyes and not see, to have ears and not hear, to have hearts and not understand, to hold the truth in

unrighteousness, to be forsaken of God, to be given over to believe a lie-these are among the direst curses that fall on men in this world; and they are sure forerunners of God's sorest plagues in the world to come. And how fearful must it be to fall into the hands of the living God, when on earth a drop of wrath will make men choose hanging rather than life. And how dismal must be the prospects of all who die in their sins, when they shall have for their companions Judas and all evil-minded men, the devil and his angels. The society of the damned is good ground of earnestness in fleeing from the wrath to come.

All temporal suffering can be gauged. But who can fathom the sea of love, the ocean of bliss, made sure to all believers? And eternal misery is as dreadful as eternal glory is desirable. Oh! how fearful must be the doom of the incorrigibly wicked, when in their case existence itself ceases to be desirable, or even tolerable! It is true of every one who dies without repentance toward God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, that IT

HAD BEEN GOOD FOR THAT MAN IF HE HAD NOT BEEN BORN.

THE SCEPTIC;

OR, HAPPINESS APART FROM THE HOPE OF RESURRECTION. PARIS EXHIBITION SERMON.

REV. JAMES MURRAY, M. A.

IN THE CHURCH OF THE ORATOIRE, RUE ST. HONORÉ, PARIS.

"If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable."-1 COR. XV: 19.

IT

T was the intention of the Apostle, to establish in the minds of Christian converts at Corinth, the truth of the doctrine of the resurrection of dead. A greater or

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more important doctrine could not be submitted for their consideration or for ours, as it is the groundwork and foundation of our holy religion. Without this the sufferings and death of Christ, undergone for sinful men would be in vain, and the system of instruction which he came to deliver, would be better in degree only, than that of any wise teacher of the ancient world. Without this, our hopes and expectations must have been confined within the narrow sphere of our present earthly state. . .

The whole chapter deserves the most serious and attentive consideration. In it you will see the certainty of a future resurrection enforced by the closest reasoning, and in plain, yet eloquent language, such as must have produced a powerful impression on those to whom it was addressed. Among the errors which appear to have crept into the Corinthian church, and against which this great teacher had to watch and to warn, was tlrat derived from the Sadducees, who denied the doctrine of a resurrection. Some of the early professing Christians at Corinth had probably belonged to the sect of the Sadducees, and had insinuated some of the poison into the Corinthian church. . . .

This doctrine of Sadducees, which represents all who sleep in the grave as utterly and for ever dead, hoids out a cheerless and melancholy prospect to all, but especially to us, the disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, for if in this life only we had hope in him-if we could not look beyond this vale of tears to a brighter and more animating scene, then we who are exposed to so many and great calamities for his name's sake, were of all men most to be pitied; amidst such evils as we are summoned to endure, nothing could support and comfort us except the blessed hope of everlasting life which God hath given us in his Son Jesus Christ.

We must be strictly careful lest our outward security