ings, in spite of the protests of the heart, to the inexorable conclusion that the vast majority of the race from no fault of their own have been lost; and nowhere do they make the least acknowledgment of failure on the part of the present system of grace to reach every man with redeeming power, or acknowledge any necessity for indemnifying the failure of the present by lengthening probation into the future. The aim of the Bible is not to tell to men the seven-sealed secrets of the future, but to make known to them the glorious possibilities of the present. It is with "the life that now is" that the revelation of God in his Word is mainly concerned. Knowledge of the future is largely inferential, knowledge of the present is positive and real. Whatever the future may bring,-and that we can well afford to leave with the all-loving One -the present is a day of grace, a day filled to the brim with redeeming influences, a day in which the attainment of a redeemed manhood is possible in every life.

It is no wonder, when the present plan of God to save men is made out to be an egregious failure, that short and summary methods are suggested by which the deficiencies and failure of the present may be supplemented in the world to come. But, is the present plan a failure? Has Christ died for any man in vain so far as being

able to save him in this life? Is redeeming love ever fettered so that it cannot move when struggling souls cry aloud for help? Has life, in multitudes of instances to run to its fateful end in an unhindered course of evil, with an impotent Christ looking on? Is this world to which the Son of God descended-this world upon which, and for which he shed his precious blood, the theatre of Redemption's unfinished and unsuccessful plot? Is it the Thermopylæ of the universe at which the Heavenly powers of light and love have fought their best, but have fallen defeated, although crowned with glory and honor? No! here has been the scene of Heaven's grandest triumph! Here hell has been vanquished! Here the Cross has been lifted up, the symbol not of defeat, but of victory!

True, Heaven's purpose of redemption is not yet completed; but its final realization is fully assured. By the widening knowledge of the gospel it is being progressively unfolded, increasingly realized. At no point, however, does it fail to reach its destined end. The help that man needs is not postponed into the future, but is ministered to him as he needs it. Christ is always a present Saviour; to-day is always the day of salvation; the present is always spiritually decisive.

IX.

THE FORTH PUTTING OF REDEMP

TIVE EFFORT A NECESSITY OF THE

DIVINE NATURE.

"O Lord, if thou wert needy as I,

If thou shouldst come to my door as I to thine,
If thou hungered so much as I

For that which belongs to the spirit,

For that which is fine and good,—

I would give it to thee if I had the power."

From an outline sketch by SIDNEY LANIER.

"Here lie I, Martin Elginbrodde;

Hae mercy on my soul, Lord God,

As I wad do, were I Lord God,
And ye were Martin Elginbrodde."

An epitaph by GEO. MACDONALD.

"Though man sits still and takes his ease,
God is at work on man,

No means, no moment unemployed

To bless him if he can."

DR. YOUNG.