pity leading him to make effort and sacrifice in accomplishing the purposes which love ,c11n fashion. II. 'l'm: GOSPEL OF THE MIRACLES. The " good news," thus illustrated for us is that there is no ill from which humanity suffers, no bitter and terrible and seemingly hopeless consequence of sin, which Divine love and power cannot reach. Even death itself, man'H last enemy, is well within God's control. And the "good news~ that God, in his gracious Fatherhood, is as mightily and wonderfully caring for us every day, as Jesus was caring for sick sufferers and imperilled disciples and bereaved friends. III. THE GOSPEL OF THE HOLY LIFE. The "good news n that a man has actually lived here upon the earth" holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners." And that he will not only show us how to live as he did, but will give us the grace for so living. He left us the "example that we should follow his steps," but he gave us also to be partakers of that Divine nature in which alone the following of the example becomes possible. IV. THE GOSPEL OF THE SACRIFICE. The "good news" that our sins have been borne for us; acceptable sacrifice for them has been offered. The demands of infinite righteousness have been adequately met. The hindrances to reconciliation have been effectually removed. And men now have" peace with God through Jesus Christ our Lord." V. 'l'mi: GOSPEL OF THE RESURRECTION. The "good news" that God has signified his full acceptance of his Son. The "gocd news" that he who died for our sins lives to carry out his purpose of grace in our hearts. The "good news" that Christ "had risen again in order to communicate to us that ne,v and Divine life whereby our own resurrection should be assured-a life which should make the human body, though laitl in the grave, a seed from whence, in Gocl's own good time, a new a:nd more glorious body should arise." It is the gospel 1n this large and inclusive sense which has to be preached to men, and not a doctrine formulated by men respecting one part only of the "good news of God." They only preach the true gospel who can say with the apostle, "I have not shunned to declare unto you the whole counsel of God."-R. 'l'. Ver. 2.-Salvation a present process. Precisely rendered, the first sentence of this verse would read, "By which also ye are being saved." St. Paul applies, in bis writings, the best corrective to the imperfect, and indeed false, notion that human redemption is a thing completed, a thing doue outside of and separate from men, a something which they are to receive as if it were a mere gift provided for them apart from their own exertions. St. Paul clearly saw that redemption is a moral work; its proper sphere is a man's mind and heart and life. It is a process, and it has to be carried on right through a man's earthly history. There is a sense in which it may be said that we are saved, but there is a much truer and deeper sense in which it may be said that we are being saved. One of the most striking expressions of the Pauline idea of salvation as a present process, carried on within us, is found in Rom. v. 10: "For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life." Some adequate notion of the Pauline thought of salvation may be obtained by dwelling on the following three representations:- I. THE DEGJNJS"ING OF SALVATION JS THE RECEPTION OF THE GOSPEL. Observe how the Christian teachers first demanded faith in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the beginning. We must accept of Jesus as the Sent of God, the Son of God, and the Saviour from sin. 'l'hat heginning may be (1) intellectual,-a persuasion, upon due evidence, that Christ is the Saviour; or it may be (2) emotional,-a constraint of love to him who condescended, bore, and suffered so much for us, and whose personal history is such a fascination. Here is the initial stage, "Dost thou believe that Jesus is the Son of God?" You cannot be on the Christian platform at all unless you can give to that question a simple and hearty affirmative. But this is only a beginning. A man is not saved up.Pn such a faith as that. There must be advance to spiritual apprehension of the relation in which Jesus stands to tho individual and the individual may stand to him. II. '!'HE STATE OF SALVATION IS STANDING IN TIIE GOSPEL. It is apprehending that tho Lord Jesus Christ has, by the perfection of his obedience and the sublime merit of his sacrifice, made a new stamling-ground before God for us. '!'hat he repre- 542 TIIE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE COIUNTHIANS. [cu. xv. 1-68.
sC'nts us. That he wins a place before God, and a l'el:ition with God, for us. That his personal rights are not exclusively personal, but are ri<Thts which he share's with us 0I' allows us to share with him, and we are "accepted i; the Beloved." In the prese~ce of law claim, we stand as "justified." In the presence of God's claim to perfect obedience, we stand, in Christ, as righteous. _In the anticipations of a judgment day, we stand as already acquitted; for us "there 1s now no condemnation." Ill. 'l'HE PROCESS OP SALVATION IS GIVING THE GOSPEL FREE ROOM TO WORK IN MIND,. AND HEART, AND RELATIONS, AND LIFE. 'l'he gospel being conceived, not primarily as a set of principles, and duties, and conmels, but primarily as the spiritual and abidino- prcsence of the Lord Jesus Christ with us, using truths, principles, experiences, dutie;, thoughts, and counsels, as need be, for the carrying on of his gracious work of moral perfecting. "This i!l the will of God, even your snnctification;" and we lose the- holiest interest in that sanctification when we fail to realize that the Lord Jesus Christ is now actually present with us, carrying on and presiding over this work. We are being saved; and the exceeding solemnity of our common everyday life lies in this- Christ is in_ it, vrnrking at_ o_ur salvation. The apostle therefore urges upon us that we must hold m qmck and hvmg memory the gospel of the present, working Saviour- risen that he might carry on to its full completion his redemptive work-and that to believe in vain is to profess belief, but give the faith no power to open our soul and, life to the redeemiugs of the risen, living, and ever-present Saviour.-R. T.