religious. What, will you tell me that you think there is anything manly in sinning against the Son of God? Is there nobility in trampling on Divine affections and "wounding' afresh the heart that broke in agony for you? Yet the heart is still breaking, and the blood still flowing, and the love is still sinned against, and God's complaint to-night is still the same as He made against His people of old,-"I have loved you, saith the Lord; and ye say, Wherein hast Thou loved us?"

Once again. I gaze at the Lord Jesus, and I behold in Him wounded credit. This is the last "wound" of all. Not content with treating Him with indifference, even those who seem to make some faint approach towards His cross, are the very people who send this last keen shaft right home into the heart of Jesus. How many of us there are who would endure almost anything rather than this. If there is an honorable merchant in this church, I venture to say he would almost rather you should run a dagger into his heart than doubt his credit. Make it known on 'Change to-morrow morning that his bond is no security, and you make a deeper "wound" on his mind than if you inflicted a deep wound on his body. Jesus Christ stands before you, as the One who, above all others, deserves to be believed, and Who, above everybody else, actually stands doubted. Why men should doubt Him it is not so very easy to say. But ah! how many do; even those whom He is reaching out to save, keep back, and prevent themselves from enjoying the pardon by this miserable habit of "wounding" the credit of Jesus.

Are there any in this church to-night who feel themselves to be sinners, who know they want a Saviour, and cannot quite trust Him? My dear friends, what hast thou found in Him that thou shouldst doubt Him? Is He untrustworthy? Is His word not to be relied on?

"Will you not His word receive?
Will you not His oath believe?"

You trust the word of a fellow-man. I am a perfect stranger to you, and yet if I make an assertion about any of you, I venture to say you would believe me. Yet when the Lord Jesus says, "I conquered death for you," you wont believe Him. "I bought eternal life for you; you wont have it. "You have only to cast yourself on Me in simple confidence, and you are a saved soul," and you don't credit what

He says. Let us have done with this mangling of the heart of Jesus. If He is worthy to be believed, then in the name of reason let us believe Him.

I have only a few moments left in which to speak of those five bleeding "wounds" which the body of Jesus bore.

"Five bleeding wounds He bears,
Received on Calvary;
They pour effectual prayers,

They strongly plead for me.
'Forgive him, O forgive!' they cry,

'Nor let that ransomed sinner die.'"

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Those "wounds" shall speak to you, ere I close my sermon. I look at those sacred hands of Jesus, and I behold them transfixed by the Roman nail. And as I gaze at those hands,. I ask the question, What are those wounds in Thine hand, Thou blessed Saviour?" And then I look at my own hands for an answer, and I think how those hands of mine have wrought out my own will, and many a sin in the eyes of my God. And it is as though I heard my Lord thus plead for me: "O holy Father! that sinner's hands are stained with guilt; they have wrought his own will, not Mine. They are guilty hands in Thy sight, O God. These hands of Mine never moved but to do Thy will: from Bethlehem to Calvary, they never did one act but Thy smile rested upon it. Take these guiltless hands of mine and nail them to the cross, and when Thou hast driven home the nail, let that sinner's hands. go free." And thus the hands of Jesus are there, and my hands are left at liberty. What shall I do with them? He tells me: "Reach hither thy finger, and behold My hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into My side: and be not faithless, but believing."

I look at those feet of Jesus, and I see the nail tearing the flesh. Again I ask the question: "My Lord! My Lord! why are Thy feet thus pierced?" Then I look at those feet of mine, and I remember that "we all, like sheep, have gone astray, we have turned everyone to his own way; and again I hear Jesus pleading for me, and He seems to say, "Father, that sinner's feet have led him on the way to hell. He has wandered down the broad road, turned his back on Thy counsel, sinned against Thy law. O Father, these feet of Mine have run in the way of Thy commandments, they have been swift upon errands of mercy, they have borne

this body of Mine ever willing and eager to do Thy will. Take these innocent feet of Mine, and nail them to the shameful Cross, and when Thou hast driven home the nail into My innocent feet, let that guilty sinner's feet tread the path of life, and walk the way that shall lead home to his God."

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I look at Him again. This time the eye falls upon that riven side, and through that gaping wound I gaze into a broken heart. And again I ask the question: My Lord! My Lord! wilt Thou tell me why Thy heart is broken? What cruel burden wrung the life out of that guiltless heart of Thine ?" Jesus answers, I hear Him pleading with His Father," O` Father! that sinner's heart has been the home of sin; devils have dwelt there, polluting it. The dark stains of guilt are upon it. It has been a secret chamber of imagery in which all kinds of horrible idolatries have been perpetrated against Thee. And oh! My Father this heart of Mine is pure and stainless. It has beaten in sweet harmony with Thy will from the first beat to the last, never a thought has harboured there but such as Thou Thyself couldst delight in. Father! take this guiltless heart of Mine, and let the load of a world's sin rest upon it, the crushing weight of human guilt! Press it down, as though in the winepress of the fierceness of Thy wrath. Crush it! bruise it! break it! Then, when I have endured to the full that fearful pressure, that horrible burden, when Thou hast caused it to rest upon this guiltless heart of Mine-until it is broken under the very load-fill that sinner's heart with heaven's own joy; pour in 'the power of an endless life' into that once-polluted spirit, and let that heart which was the abode of Satan become the abode of the Eternal Spirit of purity; that heart that was overshadowed with sin, let it become as the Garden of Eden on which Thou wilt gaze with pleasure. And from my broken heart 'let the water and the blood' flow forth, that shall wash that guilty heart of his, that I may die, and that he may live."

"These are the wounds with which He was wounded in the house of His friends."

Are you going to "wound" Him to-night? I will tell you how you can do it. The moment this sermon is concluded, get off your seat, go down that aisle as quickly as you can, begin to talk about the sermon, go away home, join your society of worldly friends, put the whole thing out of your

mind as quickly as you can; then, just as you lay your head on your pillow, I trust you will have a vision, ere you close your eyes in sleep. I hope you will see One standing by your bedside with His "wounds" all streaming; I hope you will hear Him saying: "These are the wounds with which to-night, once more, Thou hast wounded Me!"

VI.

Philip and the Eunuch.

“Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same Scripture, and preached unto him Jesus."—ACTs viii. 35,

WE

passage;

E shall have two characters before us in this first, Philip the evangelist, and secondly, the Ethiopian eunuch. If we spend a little time in contemplating the former, we shall find a lesson most suitable to those of us who are at peace with God, a lesson of service, of obedience, of devotion. If we contemplate the latter, we shall find in him an example of what an earnest, awakened, determined soul ought to be.

I will begin by looking at Philip and endeavour to learn a few lessons from him. Now the first thing that strikes us with reference to this servant of God-Philip-is the ready obedience with which he puts himself at the Divine disposal. If Philip had stopped to argue according to the flesh, and to form his conclusions as you and I might have formed them, according to the line of probability and so forth, Philip would never have undertaken this blessed work which God had in store for him. Let

us consider for a moment the position. Philip has been doing a remarkable work; God has employed him to stir up a whole city; so great has been the result of his ministry that not only is it stated that there was great joy in that city, but the apostles and elders at Jerusalem heard of the wonderful work that had taken place, and two of the most prominent of their number were sent down to confirm those who had received the Word. Philip therefore might have reasonably saidThis is my proper place; God has been so wonderfully blessing me here; it can't be God's will that I should turn my back on such a work as this. If Philip had yielded to his own predilections instead of acting according to the Word of God he would not have left that city, still less have gone into a "desert place." But Philip had learned that true spiritual power lies in submission to the Divine will. Let me find a man who takes the law of his life into his own hand, and sets up to guide himself and I will show you one who will be stripped of all real power. If we want to be really strong we must be content to be weak. The only secret of real strength lies in putting our utter helplessness into the hands of God's omnipotence. When God finds one who is willing to be what God calls him to be-to be nothing, to be passed by, to be trampled upon-when God finds a man who does not calculate consequences-who does not say to himself-If I do this what will So-and-So say? and shall I not put myself in a disagreeable position and be shutting doors of usefulness in my face?—a man who does not reason after the manner of the flesh, but says-"Lord, just glorify Thyself in me”—He can use him and does use him.

It is said in the Book of the prophet Isaiah that the Lord's messenger is a blind messenger and a deaf messenger. My dear friend, if we want to be thorough, hearty servants of God we must be content to be blind and deaf. There are thousands of different objects and sounds that will draw us off in all directions. There is the voice of popularity, the earnest entreaty of those who call themselves friends, the attractions of self-display-all these spread themselves out before our eyes or appeal to our ears and call us to leave the narrow path God has indicated to us, and to turn like sheep into our own way. If we are indeed God's servants let us obey God's will; let us say-Only show me Thy will and then cost what it may, I am ready; here am I, send me. Well but you say