to whom this sovereignty belongs. I just want to lay emphasis on a great fact, though only in a passing way, as an introduction to what I may further say on the subject of the principle of divine service. I want you to realize a truth which has done good to my own soul many a time, and has sent relief to my heart as I have thought about the sovereignty of God, which is this, that the sovereignty of God is the sovereignty of good. There is one God, and He is good. The rule of God is the rule of goodness; it is not merely power, or power and wisdom, but the rule of goodness itself, and the government of God is the government of love; for God is love, from everlasting to everlasting God is love. Therefore there never was a time when love was not; there is no place where love is not; there is no event in which love has not a part, and there never shall be a period when love shall cease, for God is from everlasting to everlasting. The infinite Creator rules over all, and He is love. The sovereignty of God is the sovereignty of good.

Now we are called upon to consider the question of the principle of divine service-the principle of this obedience; not so much, it seems to me, the obedience that we are bound to render, as the principle upon which that obedience should revolve. What is the principle of the divine service? You know that the movements of the earth, though complicated, have certain great centres. The earth rotates upon an axis, which may be called, in one sense, the principle of its movements. You know the movements of all worlds, however complicated, vast, and wonderful they may be, obey one single law or principle—that of gravitation.

Now I want you to consider with me very briefly what is the principle of divine service, the sight of which, and the sense of which, will tend to produce that service itself; for it is not sufficient merely to perceive the service we are called to render; there must be the presence of motives, adequate motives, leading to that service, and constraining to that obedience. You cannot have the fruit without the tree; you cannot have the result without the cause; and here are fruits and results of a peculiar character which only grow, so to speak, from certain roots, and spring from certain causes.

Now what is this law or principle of service? Let us place it, in the first instance, in contrast with that which contains in itself the element of obedience, though wholly different from the obedience and service we are called to render. All creation

fulfils without ceasing the will of God-the whole of the inanimate creation and the animate creation; inorganic and organic nature alike are ceaselessly accomplishing the will of God; worlds move at His will; and in obedience to His command there is order, there is government, there is obedience. The spectacle of the movements of the universe, one of the most sublime upon which the eye can gaze, is a spectacle of government. That fact has been profoundly impressed upon the minds of thoughtful men from the commencement of human history. There are movements by day and night in obedience to laws, and these laws reveal the great Lawgiver, and everywhere He rules in organic and inorganic nature, in the course of the seasons, the growth of plants, the changes in animals and their various activities. All things in heaven and earth ceaselessly obey Him. Well, this service is wholly different to, and altogether lower than the service we are called to render; for in these we have simply blind obedience to Almighty power.

But now, in contrast to this, let us place another kind of government-moral government-and ask wherein does moral government differ from the material government we have been speaking of? It is the government of free agents, moral beings of intelligence, and possessed of liberty of action and will, of liberty to obey or disobey. Oh, how great is the dignity, and how awful the position of such beings! Now how does the great Creator, who rules inorganic and organic nature, how does He control the action of His moral creatures? By means of motives, and, as we have often heard, by means of rewards and punishments.

It may be that some here see nothing in the moral government of God but such guiding and constraining the wills of intelligent creatures by means of rewards and punishments, making virtue bring its own reward and vice its own punishment, a feature in which human government is like the divine; for thus men govern each other, and many illustrations of this could be given. What are the methods of human government? For what are police employed? Why are the courts continually sitting? Why are the armies and fleets in existence? In all these, and in other similar things, we have constraints to direct the actions of men by means of external bestowments and inflictions, rewards and punishments. Now, wherein does this differ from that peculiar rule of God under which we are placed? For after all we must be under a government which rewards

virtue and punishes vice. We cannot escape from that, and we do not want to get away from that. God will reward good, and punish evil for ever. But wherein is the difference between this and that peculiar form of government to which we are called to render service? It seems to me, when I reflect upon the principle of divine service, that this method of government appeals to the principle of self-love. Now do not let us be shocked, or shrink from that as though it were evil. Self-love is not an evil thing; if it were we should not be told to love our neighbour as ourself. It is evident self-love is a right thing within its own proper limits. Well, this mode of government, by the action of rewards and punishments, appeals directly to self-love. The law given to Israel appealed to this motive of self-interest. The reward of keeping it was life; breaking the law entailed suffering, and in many cases death.

Now that law appealed to self-interest, and I just want to emphasize this, that there is no power in self-love and selfinterest to raise a ruined world. None; and hence the law failed, as its Giver knew it would fail; "by the law is the knowledge of sin." He knew it would not accomplish the salvation of the world; and Paul tells us in Romans that "what the law could not do," God has found another way of doing.

The

Well, I want you to consider with me this other way. child of God is led in a better way, a higher way, a more spiritual way, a more effectual way of producing the obedience God requires. It is not the way of self-love or self-interest, yet it is still that of love. Self-love remains as a secondary motive; what is now the primary motive? You will anticipate me; What is the love that constrains to Christian service? It is the love of Christ Himself "The love of Christ constraineth us." That is it; no longer self-love. The Jew, either in seeking to escape the punishment, or in seeking the reward, knew nothing of this motive; but the Christian begins here, and goes on here, and for ever and ever he rises higher, and goes further, and enters deeper into this amazing experience; and the more he knows of Jesus the more he comes under its blessed influence. For the love of Christ is the love of God, and the love of God is infinite and everlasting, and enters into all things. The love of Christ is self-sacrificing love too; it is of that peculiar character-self-sacrificing, and the service of God is the service of self-sacrifice, and such

service springs only from the fountain of self-sacrifice; and that fountain is nothing else and nothing less than the selfsacrifice of the Son of God-" The love of Christ constraineth

us."

Well, now, I can only give a few hints, and nothing more— I hope that this subject may be still further opened up to us during these precious days of Conference. I thank God that the interest in these conferences evidently is not on the decline, a proof of the Christian spirit in those who have come and come still to the meetings. Let me then very briefly add a few hints upon this subject.

The service of God, the peculiar service we are called to render, is the service of the free to a law which they love, and to a God whom they love. It is the service of the redeemed. And what do we mean when we say the service of the redeemed? It is the service of liberty, of perfect liberty, because we are set free by the act of redemption. Redemption has broken the yoke, has struck off the fetters, and the slave is manumitted, he is liberated. I remember a story of a slave in America being conveyed by his master on a boat down the Mississippi. There was a stranger on board, and he entered into conversation with the owner of the slave. This stranger resolved to obtain the liberty of the slave if he could, and so he bargained for the slave, and at last the transaction was completed, and the stranger turned to the slave and informed him that he had bought him that he might set him free. he spoke, his countenance expressed such love and sympathy, and there was so much kindness in the tones of his voice, and his words of compassion were such, that the slave was overcome at once, his affection was won, and he made a resolution to serve that man all the days of his life.

As

Well, perhaps that may help to illustrate the peculiar service we render, the service of the redeemed, purchased by the precious blood of Christ, our sin cancelled, and the yoke of the law removed; not that we are without law-we are under law to Christ, yet not under the old law; liberated from that by redeeming love, our hearts are gained, and we render the service of liberty, of gratitude, and of love. Again, it is the service of the renewed. You remember in the seventh chapter of Romans, we read, "that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter." Not with external service of the Jew, not constrained by terror

and self-interest, but with heart service flowing out in action, constrained by the love of God in Jesus Christ. We have the heart of the renewed, and so the service is renewed. Then it is the service of sons. Now I cannot here enlarge, as I should wish to do, on the peculiar principle which lies in this service, the service of sons; but if you look at the service the Son rendered to the Father in redemption, you will see it there. No constraint, no compulsion, no slavery; it was the loving service of the free.

This leads me on to refer briefly to what seems to me to be a most precious feature in this service. I said a few moments ago that the motive which constrains us to this service all the way along is the motive of love, and that love is not self-love, it is the love of God; and that love of God is the fruit of God's own love-"The love of Christ constraineth us." Now it is very evident that the apostle when he says that does not mean our love to Christ, but Christ's love to us. The context shows this, "because we thus judge that if one died for all, then were all dead, and that He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them and rose again;" and therefore it is the love of Christ to us, and nothing but this can afford an adequate motive for the service which God delights in and which we are called to render. Being of this character it is the service of the free, and it is a service full of joy as well as liberty, and will lead to the most blessed results in earth and heaven.

Now in order to perceive the force of this we should remember and reflect upon the fact that the love of Christ can constrain only as it is known; and the reason why multitudes find this wondrous motive-power so feeble is that they know so little of that love. How can the love of Christ constrain those who know nothing of it? How can it constrain except in so far as it is known? It is as we grow in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ that we are brought more and more under the constraining power of His love.

What is that love, O friends? It will be the theme of our meditation as well as of our praise through all eternity. We cannot exhaust this love. It is the love of God to a sinful and lost world, it is the love of the Redeemer. We are under the constraining power of the love of the Redeemer for ever and ever. The banner over us is redemption. It is redeeming

love, it is the love of God who takes His own Son and gives