must conquer. The right is might-divine might: almightiness is with the right thought, act and life. The wrong

cannot stand before it ;-it must fall, as the colossal image in Nebuchadnezzar's dream fell at the touch of the little stone. The wrong in science, literature, governments, institutions, religions, must fall before the right.

Fourthly: The folly of opposing the right. Priests and princes may rise up against it; intrigue and violence, armies and navies, may be employed to put it down; but fruitless will prove all their efforts. The triumphal car of right must roll over the dust of the Herods, Caiaphases, Julians, and Neroes.

SUBJECT:-Heresy: an Exposition and an Appeal.

"Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; let him know, that he which converteth a sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins."-James v. 19-20.

Analysis of Homily the Hundred and Fiftieth.

MEN may think falsely and live virtuously, or they may live immorally and think correctly. The one class are intellectual sinners, the other moral transgressors. They are to be judged by different standards, and so classified as not to be swept away in one common anathema. If error proceeds from sheer intellectual inability to see as the majority see, charity should be brought to bear in such a case, in all its power and tenderness; but if error proceeds from a putrid heart-if it is cherished because truth is too regardful of the conduct, and too restraining for the wildness of passion, then indignation may be excited, and consequences allowed to discharge their retributive fires.

The most pernicious of heresies, is the heresy of an immoral life. A defective creed may be the result of a thousand subtle causes, beyond the cognition of the keenest intellect; but a corrupt life can only be the offspring of a

rotten moral constitution. It is of vital importance to know, if possible, the history of a man's heresy before we pronounce him a leper, and avoid him as a pest. The wrong thinker is not to be branded with the iron of theological disgrace, and left in penal isolation, if he displays anxiety to avail himself of all possible light, and if his conduct is above the breath of impeachment. Such a man is to be treated with kindness; his yearnings should awaken sympathy, even though his conclusions should fail to secure concurrence. Not so with the man of immoral life; his is wilful badness -he likes the mire, and therefore wallows in it.

Keeping in view the distinction thus hinted at, let us learn truth and tenderness from the exhortation of James. His words imply :—

I. THE POSSIBILITY OF A TRUTH-POSSESSOR BECOMING A TRUTH-LOSER.

"If any of you do err from the truth." The

assumption is, that once the erring one was safely enshrined in the palace, but that by some means he has lost himself in the complicated corridors and passages, and is unable to retrace his steps to the seat of comfort. from the truth" from the following causes :

Men may

err

First Through a daring, speculative, turn of thought. They are apparently oblivious that there is a boundary beyond which they cannot pass and live. They forget that it is only in their own atmosphere that they can inhale life. And hence, darting upward on the wing of speculation, they are sickened, or scorched, or dazzled, in unaccustomed climes. Their mental eye-ball cannot bear the splendour of the higher suns, and their ear is deafened with the thunderburst of music from the loftier globes. Thought has its own appointed sphere. If it pass into other orbits, it may be captured as an intruder and slain as a spy, Let the speculator know, that in the universe there is still that mystic central tree, forbidden to man. The eye may look upon it, and the tongue may praise its tinted beauty and its clustering fruit; but the solemn words are written upon

every leaf, "In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." We are not of those who would close the inquiring eye and bind the exploring wing; yet our duty is to warn the student that there are dangerous latitudes in every sea, and that many a gallant vessel has been shivered on the hidden rock.

Secondly: Through want of sympathy in their intellectual difficulties. The thoughtful Christian must meet with much to startle and perplex him, in grace and providence. In study, it may be, a new idea has dawned upon him; and though he cannot see it on every side, and cannot yet give fitting expression to the great thought that stirs his soul, yet he ventures to hint it to his companions in Christian fellowship; and if they do not get precisely the same view of it, they are too apt to cry Heresy! and to leave the struggler in lonely contest. This is cruelty. In the idea there may be nothing at variance with the hoariest orthodoxy, yet if not expressed with scholastic definiteness it may ruin the denominational reputation of the unfortunate thinker. A new idea is not to be coldly treated. Take the stranger in—some have thus entertained angels unawares-encourage it to speak; and if its speech be divine, fear not to re-echo it whoever may frown or curse. Many noble minds have been injured by the neglect of those on whose sympathy they had the strongest claims. It has too often seemed as though independent thought were a crime, and thus the discouraged and unrepresented student has been aroused to defiance and goaded to scepticism. Woe unto the church when honest thought and honest speech are repressed! When intellect is stagnant, its putrid effluvium may corrupt the heart's holiest feelings. Let us treat the honest thinker with Christian manliness. Though he may shock some old prejudice, the very convulsion may ventilate our being with the pure air of heaven. What a sense of isolation the Christian feels, when he has some great scheme in his breast which he dare not divulge under penalty of being pitied as an enthusiast, or despised as a fanatic!

Thirdly Through intellectual pride. Some men are ever in minorities through a love of singularity. They falsely imagine it to be great-minded to differ from the mass. They confound impertinence with candour, and mistake rudeness for originality. Such men overlook the fundamental condition of all progress-receiving "the Kingdom of God as a little child." We must leave our grey-hairs and our "experience," (falsely so called) behind us, when we come to study the gospel; and must drink in the pure word as the child imbibes the unadulterated milk. The intellectually proud fall into the mistake of confounding the province of reason with the province of faith. Their rationalism leads them from the sublime mysteries of redeeming love, into the cold abstractions of intellectual propositions. In their search after the underlying WHY, they deprive themselves of the ten thousand blessings which flow from a simple faith in the Lamb of God.

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Such, are three of the many causes which lead men to err from the truth." It becomes us to "watch and pray," that by the grace of God we may be preserved from the terrible issues of religious apostacy.

II. THE PRINCIPLE OF MUTUAL OVERSIGHT IN SPIRITUAL LIFE IS RECOGNISED. "And one convert him." Keeping up our original figure, the idea is that the "one" has noticed the vacant seat in the palace and has gone forth to bring the wanderer back to his society and his duties. This principle of mutual oversight is one of particular beauty, but liable to much abuse. The man who imperatively claims submission to his dogmas is a usurper;-he is a tyrant without the tyrant's power. Go to the erring one with a brother's gentleness, and you may win his soul from destruction. The nearer he is to the edge of the precipice, the more caution is required on the part of those who have his interest at heart. If a committee or deputation begin to cry with stentorian voice, the man may be startled into the charm : but if the tender voice of love fall upon his ear, he may be

rescued from ruin. It requires much of the spirit of our divine Lord to go after the wanderer and to be successful in the reclamation of the prodigal. HE is the perfect type. Overflowing with love and guided by His own infinite wisdom, He knew when and how to address the vagrant sinner. Let us study HIM, if we would be wise in winning souls.

In what spirit should the church receive the returning errorist ? With coldness, distrust, or indifference? Nay: if there be "joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth," surely there should be thankfulness on the part of the church when the misguided thinker returns to the "old paths," and stands in the "good ways." (Jeremiah vi. 16.)

He who would convert the sinner, should study manner as well as matter, Personal contact alone is admissible. There should be no communication through a third party. In the presence of others the sinner may seek to defend himself, but when appealed to alone in the presence of God, he may unburden his heart; and while he sheds the penitential tear he may rise again to his ancient faith. (Matt. xviii. 15-17.)

In him who would convert "the sinner from the error of his way," there must be (1.) Intense sympathy with Christ in the love of souls. (2.) A thorough acquaintance with the heart's deceitfulness: this is necessary, that he may the more clearly trace out the causes of heresy and self-deception. And (3.) an intelligent reverence for the established truths of religion.

III. THE SALVATION OF THE SOUL IS THE SUBLIMEST OF MORAL TRIUMPHS. "Shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins."* What tears are deep enough and hot enough to weep over a dying soul? We can have no

* See Dr. Clark in loco, who discusses this expression with much clearness and simplicity.