the world and the things that are in the world; once the lusts of the flesh, the Justa of the eye, and the pride of lifo filled their heart. The moral miasma of the corruption that is in the world was defiling their soul; but they escaped, drawn by tho powerful aUraction of the cross. '!'hey rose into a purer atmosphere; they lived in the know- ledge of Christ. 'l'he full knowledge (l,r!-yvt.1,m) of Christ is the very sphere in which the true Christian dwells. Within the range of that knowledge grace and peace are multiplied unto him (eh. i. 2). That knowledge is eternal life (John xvii. 3); it more than compensates for the loss of all that the world can give (Phil. iii. 8); it is sweet, procious, holy, beyond the power of language to express. Those who have that blessed knowledge escape from the pollutions of the world. Sensual pleasures have no hold upon those who realize the holy joy of communion with the Lord. But they must watch and pray, and keep themselves in the love of God. It seems, indeed, almost impossible that any who have known the Lord should fall away into sin; but" the heart of man is deceitful above all things." Satan is ever on the watch with his insidious templations, and sometimes, when all seems safe, the danger comes. Some of those who had escaped from the snare of the evil one are again entangled in it, and, alas! so entangled that escape becomes almost impossible. 'l'hey are overcome; they are captives, brought back into utter bondage. Judas, liko St. Peter, had forsaken all and followed Christ; and yet, oh strange and awful mystery of the deceitfulness of sin! he was covetous, like these false teachers; he sold his Lord for money. And if one of the chosen twelve who lived in familiar intercourse with Christ, who saw every day that gracious face, and heard those words such as never man spake, and witnessed his many works of power and love,-if one of those could fall completely under the dominion of Satan, how jealously ought we to watch against the first suggestions of the tempter I how carefully should we take heed lest we fall when we most seem to stand I It is impossible, we may whisper to ow·selves. We who have ta.sted that the Lord is gracious can have no taste for the pollutions of the world. But Scripture tells us it is not impossible; experience tells us it is not impossible. "What I say unto you "-such is the emphatic warning of the Lord-" I say unto all, Watch." All need that warning. The holiest saints of God do not count themselves to have ::i.lready apprehended, to be already perfect : they watch. 3. Now their case is more hopeless than eve1·. The last state is worse than the first. Satan had them once; now he has them again; he will not let them go. They once knew the way of righteousness, but, alas I that knowledge, now lost, only serves to deepen their guilt and to harden their heart all the more. For sin against light is more deadly far than the sin of ignorance; and, the greater the light, the deeper is.the sin of those who love darkness rather than light. For all knowledge involves responsibility; and, as the full know- ledge of the Lord Jesus Christ is blessed exceedingly, so to sin against that knowledge must imply an intense blackness of guilt. It is like the sin of Judas, who was one of the twelve. The man who thus sins against light" bath trodden underfoot the Son of God, and bath counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing, and bath done despite to the Spirit of grace." Ho was once unclean, but be was washed, but he was sanctified (1 Cor. vi. 11), and now, alas! he has retnrne,l to wallow in the mire of uncleanness. Holy Scripture says of such men, in wor-1~ of most awful but most just severity, "It is impossible to renew them again unto repent- ance." "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." LESSONS. 1. Christians must avoid the sins of the false teachers; they must not despise dominion, they must not rail. 2. Christians must be strictly temperate; they must hate uncleanness. 3. Covetousness is deadiy sin, especially in teachers of religion. 4. Christians must be on thoir guard against false techers; high-sounding words ancl loud talk about liberty often lead men astray. 5. 'l'o ciu against light, to fall from grace, involves most awful danger. "Be not high-minded, i.~t fear."
HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Ver. 1.-Denying the Master. Neither our Lord Jesus nor his apostles ind:1,!ged In sanguine expectations and glowing predictions concerning the immediate results of the proclamation of the gospel. It was well understood iu the early Church, by all but 68 THE SECOND EPISTLE GENERAL OF PETER. [ori. u, 1~22,