their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the Gospel preached to them." Surely, in these wonderful works, we behold a grand display of the power of Christ. The power of Christ is seen in His marvellous work of Redemption. Consider Christ in conflict with Satan and sin, in conflict with death and hell, and then think of His power. He conquered Satan on his own battle field. He put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. He swallowed up death in victory. The gates of hell had no power to prevail against Him. Triumphantly, He exclaims before He ascends to His throne of Mediatorship in heaven, "All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth.” And afterwards in Patmos, John hears his loving, though powerful voice, saying, “I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death." What more shall I say about the power of Christ? Well, He has power to justify the sinner by His Blood, which Blood is all powerful. He has power to give life to the spiritually dead. "He quickeneth whom He will." He has power to call a people out of the world, and to sanctify them for Himself. He has power to hold them in His hand, and to preserve them unto His heavenly kingdom. He has power to raise them from the dead in the morning of the Resurrection. He has power to make them inherit the throne of His glory for ever. The saints shall talk

of Thy power. And no wonder.

They shall talk of Thy power. The saints of God have always been talkers. And why not? They have got some one to talk about. It is impossible to stop the mouths of the saints from talking. They will talk of Christ. Now, there are two classes of talkers mentioned in the Word of God. The first class are those who are unruly, vain, and foolish talkers. St. Paul has spoken of these on more than one occasion. (see Titus i. 10, Eph. v. 4.) Amongst those who belong to this class, I place Cain who talked with his brother Abel, and afterwards slew him. (Gen. iv. 8.) Joseph's

brethren were foolish talkers when they conspired together to put him to death. (Gen. xxxvii.) The counsel which Ahithophel gave to Absalom, when they conspired together against David, was foolish talking. (2 Sam. xv., xvi., xvii.) The Scribes and Pharisees, the Sadducees and Herodians, conferred together how they might tempt and entangle Christ in His talk, and finally slay Him. They were foolish talkers. The chief priests and scribes were foolish talkers when they agreed to give Judas thirty pieces of silver, if he would betray Jesus into their hands. And so we might go on speaking of those who are not only foolish talkers, but wicked, and desperately wicked talkers. Those are foolish and vain talkers too, who speak of themselves as being better than their neighbours. They may use the words of the proud Pharisee, and thank God, that they are not as other men are. But then, this is foolish talking. And then, there are those who speak as if they were able to do so much in saving themselves. This is also foolish talking. You know what Solomon says of such persons. These are His words: "Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? There is more of a fool than of him." I shall now pass on and see, if we can discover any that understand and know how to talk wisely.

The second class of talkers of whom we read in the Scriptures are those who talk of Christ and of His power humbly and wisely. Now we discover such persons as these in the days of the Prophet Malachi. "Then they that feared the Lord spake (talked) often one to another and the Lord hearkened, and heard" what they said, "and a book of remembrance was written before Him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon His Name." Neither these persons nor their conversation is forgotten before the Lord. He remembers them and makes a most precious promise to them: "And they shall be Mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up My jewels; and I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him." These are the persons on whom the Sun of righteousness arises with healing in His wings. How

delightful to talk with Jesus. Now, when our Lord was transfigured before His disciples upon the holy mount, there appeared Moses and Elias talking with Him. The subject of conversation seems to have been that of the Death and Resurrection of the Lord of glory. (Luke ix.) These are two all important subjects. You will remember that two of our Lord's disciples went from Jerusalem to Emmaus on the very day that Jesus rose from the dead, and "they talked together of all those things which had happened." Now, what had happened? Christ had been betrayed, He had been crucified, and He had also risen again from the dead. It strikes me that the chief topic of their conversation would be the Resurrection. This we gather from the 24th chapter of St. Luke's Gospel, to which I refer you. Jesus drew near to these disciples, and went with them, and freely conversed with them, but they knew Him. not, for their eyes were holden. The disciples told Jesus their story, after which, He impressed upon them, that Christ ought to suffer these things, and then to enter into His glory. And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. What an unfolding of God's Word. He then opened their eyes, and they knew Him; but He vanished out of their sight. And now what is their confession, as they talk one to another? They say, "Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us by the way, and while He opened to us the Scriptures." Now you see what these disciples had been talking about. They had been talking of Jesus and of His sufferings; they had been talking of Him as the Redeemer of Israel, and of His Resurrection from the dead. They had not talked together in vain, for the Lord heard them, and remembered them, and communed with them to the warming, comforting and gladdening of their hearts. O Lord Jesus favour us with such an interview with Thyself.

In conclusion, what are we to talk about? About our neighbours? About science? About business? About politics? These may be all very well in their place. I

think we have got something better to talk about than these things. The Psalmist says, "I will talk of Thy doings." "I will talk of Thy wondrous works." "I will talk of Thy power." Who can exhaust the wonders of our Triune Jehovah? Who can sound the depths of the love of Jesus in saving sinners? Who can measure the greatness of His power and might? Who can behold the glory of His majesty and live? Who? The saints shall speak of the glory of His kingdom and talk of His power; they shall make known to the sons of men His mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of His kingdom, for His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and His dominion endureth throughout_all generations. Beloved brethren, shall we not say: Let the name of our King, Jehovah Jesus, and the glory of His kingdom, together with the power of His might, be the theme of our song for ever and ever! Amen! and Amen!!

SERIES VI. No. 12.

'BEING JUSTIFIED FREELY BY HIS GRACE."

A SERMON

PREACHED BY THE

Rev. J. BATTERSBY

(Vicar of St. James', Sheffield),

AT VERULAM MISSION CHURCH, KENNINGTON ROAD,

LAMBETH, LONDON,

THURSDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 6TH, 1881.

In the 3rd Chapter of St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans, and at the 24th verse, you will read:

"BEING JUSTIFIED FREELY BY HIS GRACE through the REDEMPTION THAT IS IN CHRIST JESUS."

I know of no subject, which is of greater importance to the children of God, than the one which our text contains. Justification before God is one of the richest blessings in the Covenant of grace. "What is man

that he should be clean? and he that is born of a woman that he should be righteous"? "How should man be just with God"? "How is a sinner justified and accepted in the sight of heaven"? These and kindred questions must always be of the deepest interest to those who are spiritually concerned about the salvation of their souls. The doctrine of justification, which has to engage our attention this evening, is a foundation or fundamental doctrine of the Gospel. We need be careful in speaking