One who sees himself a justly condemned sinner in the sight of a holy God will try to put away his sins and to become righteous, but he will try in vain. In the Lord's own appointed time he will reveal Jesus to this man, as he does to every convicted sinner, as having died for him and put away his sins by the sacrifice of himself. This truth always conies to the sinner as a surprise; it is never expected, it always comes as something new and wonderful. Now they experience the new covenant without knowing at the time what it means, any more than a child understands what it is doing when it takes its food. "I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more." --Heb. x. 16, 17. This one now has received the knowledge of the truth. The sins that burdened his soul have been forgiven, and will burden him no more with condemnation, though the remembrance of them will keep him humble and cause him to desire to walk softly before the Lord all his days. But now this one is "under law to Christ," and by the power of the law which is written, not on tables of stone, but by the Spirit of the living God in the fleshy tables of the heart (2 Cor. iii. 3,) he feels from day to day the sinfulness of this old nature, so that he has to say, "In me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing." Here, it seems, is the experience of the fellowship of the sufferings of Christ. (Phil. iii. 10.) The more nearly we are enabled to walk with God, and the more clearly we are given to know the power of the resurrection of Christ, the more acutely will we feel this depravity of the flesh. It is likely that there never was one child of God who did not feel more or less of this sinfulness in heart or word or deed, causing him to feel at times the supplicating prayer of the publican, "God be merciful to me a sinner." The dear Savior graciously remembered this when he put this sentence into the prayer which he taught his disciples: "Forgive us our sins." Can such a man sin willfully? He, looking into his own heart and life, has to say in all honesty, "The sins of one most righteous day might sink me in despair," yet he is walking in Christ by faith. He realizes that he cannot take one step in his own strength or in his own name; he feels day by clay that Christ is his life, that he cannot walk one step in holiness except by faith in Christ, and in the good works, which God before ordained that his people should walk in. (Eph. ii. 10.) Can this man sin in such a way as that his sin should be called a willful sin? The apostle here says something that sounds like it: "If we sin willfully." He did not say, If we should sin willfully, but, if we do. John speaks of a sin unto death. Under Moses' law there were sins unto death, which meant a death of the body. But those of whom John and Paul are speaking are not under that law of sin and death. (Romans viii.) These have been born again, and have the law of Christ written in the new heart. Of course their transgressions are against no law that they are not under. It is against the law written in their hearts that they transgress; against the law of the Spirit of life in Jesus Christ; against his commands. Is there a transgression that may be committed by a living soul which will bring upon him punishment, while other sins are not punished? Are there distinctions between different sins of the Lord's people? The Father says of the Son, "If his children forsake my law, * * * then will I visit their transgression with the rod."---Psalms lxxxix. The Lord says, "You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities."--Amos iii. 2. Paul commands concerning one transgressor that the church should deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. (1 Cor. v. 4, 5.) Afterward he speaks of this as a punishment, and directs that the one who was punished shall be restored to their fellowship and love. (2 Cor. ii. 6-11.) Again, he speaks of delivering two unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme. (1 Tim. i. 20.) If evil thoughts and selfish lusts and desires for revenge are in my heart and mind, and they are suppressed by me through the power of the Spirit, and no word or deed of expression follow, I will feel a deep sorrow and be greatly abased before God, but there is no call for punishment; but if I give expression to that sinful thought and desire, then its character is somewhat changed, as all that hear or know of it are somewhat involved. If I covet, I am a sinner before God, but it is before him and him only, and if I feel a hatred of myself for that sinful desire my cry unto God will be heard; if, however, my covetous desire has led me to do a wrong, then comes something more. If my envious or jealous feeling has been expressed in word or deed against any one, then punishment must follow. It is the Lord only who can punish, and this punishment is a most solemn thing. The church cannot punish; the church does, or should do, what the King and his princes, the apostles, direct. The punishment is by the dear Savior himself, and it is never in anger, but always in infinite love and tender compassion. God is not mocked. "What a man [of God] sows that shall he also reap." When the evil thought or covetous desire was expressed in word or act, then the transgressor was sowing. If he sows to the Ii flesh he will have a sad harvest of corruption to reap. If he keep under his body, and keep utterly to himself that corrupt desire, by power of the Spirit, and, looking unto the Lord for help, he sows good wishes and love for his brother, it will be his blessed to reap some of the special joys of life everlasting.

Job’s friends thought the Lord was punishing him for some hidden wickedness, by taking away his wealth and destroying his children, but they did not understand his case. He asserted his integrity in regard to all the charges of guilt which their carnal minds brought against him, at the same time that he was bemoaning his sinfulness and corruption in the sight of a holy God. The loss of worldly Wealth and treasures and personal affliction, and pain of body or mind, are no indication that one is under the wrath and punishment of a holy God; on the contrary, the one whom the Lord is visiting with stripes because of his iniquities ma find his worldly condition improved, but leanness of a most terrible kind sent into his soul. (Psalms cvi. 15.) The natural man knows nothing of this leanness, knows nothing of either spiritual joy or sorrow. The one who commits a sinful act knows that it is sinful. His conscience, which the Lord has made good and tender, tells him that what he is doing is wrong; he knows he is seeking in this way t( gratify some evil propensity or fleshly lust. The apostle does not seem to be talking of a worldly man who is trying to deceive the church, and who feels no such thing as godly sorrow for sin, but he is referring to the Lord's people, saying, "The Lord shall judge his people," and this seems to me to be the same characters (his people) referred to in all this chapter and connection.

It may be that one has, for no good reason, forsaken the assembling of himself together with the church. The apostle seems to refer to this as a transgression of a most important kind. To disobey any commandment of Jesus is to trample him who gave the commandment under foot, to count the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing, and to do despite to the Spirit of grace. These are strong expressions, but they can be spoken only of a child of God, for only a child of God has eve been sanctified by the blood of the covenant. This transgressor has known that Jesus atoned for the sins of all his people when he did. Now he is to feel the infinite importance of this truth, when he feels himself left without hope, as he says again and again to himself, 'There remaineth no more sacrifice for sins." He cannot get the assurance that he is in this covenant of grace until the Lord shall have fully judged him and shown to him the holiness of his judgments. He is separated from the sweet comforts of the gospel, from the precious, experiences of gospel fellowship. Now he feels a fearful looking for o judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries. These adversaries are all the evil propensities of the flesh; they must devoured, destroyed. We have done the will of the flesh in turning from the sweet commandments which were delivered unto us, and now we feel the sad consequences. The apostles have told us urgently and tenderly to avoid the evil, not to live after the flesh, for if we to we shall die. "Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men," telling the men of God not to fulfill the lusts of the flesh. N)w this death is upon us; not the death of the body, not death in sin, but death to the joy and power of spiritual things. No power in prayer, no answer to prayer, no comfort of love, none of that gladness which once filled the soul, even in the midst of affliction. Only a living soul can experience this kind of death. A worldly man is dead in sin and cannot experience this death, which is a separation from the blessings of the gospel that the natural man does not understand.

Should I meet one who is suffering this, which he feels to be a just punishment for some transgression, and who does not think that he can ever be forgiven, I could not say to him, "You sinned willfully, and now yon have no ground for hope, because there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins." I could not say that; I would have to say to him, "You sinned willfully, as you acknowledge, and your punishment, as you feel it to be, is just; but your sorrow and heart-brokenness are evidence to me that you a child of God. You can do nothing to atone for your sins, but your sins were all atoned for by the dear Savior, and in his own good time he will reveal this to you and give you forgiveness for all your sins, as he has already given you repentance. It is a fearful thing, but also a most blessed thing, that you have fallen into the hands of the living God, as your Judge, who will judge his people, and who has declared this unfailing judgment. 'Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted;' and who directed one of his apostles to say: 'If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness and who moved one of the holy men of old to say for our comfort now: 'I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him, until he plead my cause.' 'He will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his righteousness.'" The judgment and fiery indignation which this man, who has sinned willfully, moved by the will of his carnal mind, so fearfully looks for, will devour the adversaries--not the man, but the adversaries of the man which war against his soul (1 Peter ii. 11; James iv. 1,) seeking to destroy his hope and his comfort. The carnal mind and heart are full of them, they are "the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life."--I John ii. 16. These adversaries caused the man to sin, caused his downfall. They would, if it were possible, destroy the child of God himself, but that they cannot do, for Jesus has prayed for every one of them that their faith fail not. But these adversaries shall themselves be devoured. The poor sinner shall see them to be lying vanities (Jonah ii. 8,) shall see them as nothing, as of the world, as passing away; shall see in the Lord's own time and way that this punishment, so sorely suffered, has been for the destruction of the flesh, that through mercy the spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. (1 Cor. v. 5; 2 Cor. ii. 6-11.) This punishment is sorer than that of the one who transgressed Moses' law, as the things of the new covenant are higher, more holy and more desirable to the spiritual mind than the things of the old covenant, as the law of the Spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus is higher and more glorious than the law of sin and death, from which it has made us free. (Romans viii. 2.) He who has suffered or who is suffering this punishment can never tell it; it is terrible, beyond his power to describe. But the deliverance from this suffering shall surely come to every wandering sheep, and the dark and terrible night of sorrow shall be followed by the morning of eternal and unfading joy.

0CTOBER, 1912.