fore us in the Gospel. It is good to feel. But it is far better to be converted.
We see, for another thing, from this young man's case, that an unconverted person is often profoundly ignoixint on S2nritual subjects. Our Lord refers this inquirer to the eternal standard of right and wrong, the moral law. Seeing that he speaks so boldly about '' doing,'' he tries him by a command well calculated to draw out the real state of his heart, '' If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments." He even repeats to him the second table of the law. — And at once the young man confidently replies, "All these have I kept from my youth up : what lack I yet ?" So utterly ignorant is he of the spirituality of God's statutes, that he never doubts that he has per- fectly fulfilled them. He seems thoroughly unaware that the commandments apply to the thoughts and words, as well as to the deeds, and that if God were to enter into judgment with him, he could "not answer Him one of a thousand !" (Job ix. 3.) How dark must his mind have been as to the nature of God's law ! How low must his ideas have been as to the holiness which God requires !
It is a melancholy fact, that ignorance like that of this young man is only too common in the Church of Christ. There are thousands of baptized people, who know no more of the leading doctrines of Christianity than the veriest heathen. Tens of thousands fill churches and chapels weekly, who are utterly in the dark as to the full extent of man's sinfulness. They cling obstinately to the old notion, that in some sort or other their own doings can save them — and when ministers visit tliem on their death-beds, they prove as blind as if they had never