SIN AND PARDON.

"I need thee, mighty Saviour!
For I am full of sin;

My soul is dark and guilty,
My heart is dead within;

I need a cleansing fountain

Where I can always flee-
The blood of Christ most precious,
The sinner's perfect plea."

HAT is sin? The Bible answers, Sin is a transgression of the Law. What is crime? The statute-book answers in the same words, Crime is a transgression of the law. What, then, is the difference between sin and crime? In essence, in spirit, none at all. Sin is crime, and crime is sin. Crime is a word usually applied to civil offences, and sin to moral offences, but in both cases the moving principle is the same. One is an offence against man, the other against God, but both are transgressions of law which make the transgressor guilty, and subject him to penalty and punishment according to the nature of the offence. Consequently, every man who has ever broken one of God's laws, is a criminal in God's sight. He is looked upon as such, treated as such, and unless pardoned through Christ, will and must be punished as such, at the last.

Outside of the Bible, sin is very generally regarded as simply a weakness, a fault, a failing, or an infirmity; something that all men are exposed to, and which therefore ought to be passed over lightly. You say to any man that he is a sinner, and he will readily admit the fact, sometimes with a smile, even, and by looks and actions, if not by words, reply: "That is nothing strange or unusual. There is nothing remarkable or serious about that."

Yes, there is something very serious about that. Is it a light thing to be a criminal in the eyes of the civil law? To go about feeling that you are unsafe anywhere; that that you are liable to be arrested any moment, and made to suffer the penalty of your crime? Undoubtedly the most unhappy being on earth is a guilty criminal. By his transgression of the law, he has broken off his friendly relations with everything around and within him. He has broken off friendly relations with himself; he has disturbed the peace of his own mind and conscience and heart, and all the powers of his being rise up to condemn him. He is out of friendly relations with society, and with the State in which he lives. Yea, more, the Yea, more, the very elements seem to combine against him; he is afraid of the whistling wind; he trembles at the rustling of a leaf. He is afraid to see his own neighbors; afraid of death; afraid of man, afraid of God. And why? Because he is a criminal; he has transgressed the law.

HUMAN LAW.

Now, which is greater, human law or divine law, the law of the State, or the law of Heaven?

Which is most binding and obligatory, the mandates of men or the mandates of God? All laws are binding and powerful to the degree that they are inherently just and right. A bad human law is sometimes more honored in the breach than in the observance, but when a law appeals to every sentiment of right and righteousness within the breast, then the law enforces itself, and all men unite in saying it must and shall be honored and obeyed. But what human law can be compared in the matter of justness, holiness and rightness with the holy and perfect law of God? Therefore, if human laws are binding and powerful because they are good, the laws of God are indeed a hundred times more so.

Again, a law is powerful and binding in proportion to the weight of authority that stands behind it. Thus, the laws of a state or a nation are felt and feared more than those of a single society or district, and a state criminal is regarded as tinged with a deeper dye of guilt than the mere offender against some purely local enactment. Then, what solemnity and power there is in a trial before the Supreme Court of the nation, where the whole national power sits enthroned in state, and stands ready to descend in a crushing blow upon the life, or person, or property of the offender. But what human court can compare for a moment with the court of the Supreme Ruler above, who is the author of our lives, and the Maker of the world?-that court which sits in eternal session around the great white throne, where the books are ever opened, and the officers of justice stand ever ready to discharge their duty?

Verily, then, if it is a terrible thing to be a criminal

in the eyes of men, how much more terrible to stand condemned as a sinner before God? All earthly penalties are not to be named beside the penalties of moral law. As Christ said, "Fear not those who can kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do, but I will forewarn you whom ye should fear. Fear him who hath power to cast both soul and body into hell; yea, I say unto you, fear him.”

Law, under all circumstances, is something not to be trifled with; is something that cannot be broken with impunity. Properly defined, law is a rule of action prescribed by the supreme power of a state or nation for the government of its subjects; a rule to which all rational beings are bound to yield obedience, or be exposed to punishment. This is human law, applying only to conduct, or external life.

DIVINE LAW.

But what is Divine Law? It is not only a rule of action relating to conduct, but also a rule of action relating to thought, motives, and feelings. While human law can only reach the outside, the divine law takes hold of the heart, as well as the life; regulates both the internal and external. Consequently, it is far easier to transgress divine law than human, because we sin in thought and feeling much more frequently than in deed, and the results are far more disastrous. This divine law was summed up by the Great Lawgiver himself in these two commandments: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy beart, and thy neighbor as thyself." All other moral

statutes, he said, grew out of these two; and he that offended in one point was guilty of all.

By referring back for a moment to the definition first given, it will be noticed that Law is an enactment by the supreme power in every case; consequently, it is the last and final utterance of that power, and from it there can be no appeal. We cannot go behind the law power to something stronger and higher, if we can behind the statute itself. While this is true of civil enactments, it is preeminently true of the laws of God. They are the embodiment of his own nature, and in them are found the eternal principles which govern his own action; consequently, there is nothing behind or beyond God's power as embodied in his holy law.

It is his last and final utterance upon the subjects contained therein. There is no appeal from them, no repeal of them. God himself could not change his own law, without changing his own nature and being; for his law is a reflex of that nature and being.

JUSTICE ANd providence.

It follows now that if God's laws are broken, there is no escape for the transgressor. Man cannot change the law; neither can God, without proper satisfaction; and, when once broken, penalty and punishment must follow. The great wheels of Justice and Providence, impelled by the force that made and upholds the universe, go rolling on and over all those who willfully place themselves in their track, and there is nothing that can stop them but the satisfied holiness of Him who made them.