eyes to the doctrine of their creed, and acted on the declarations
of the word of God. We rejoice that they are Christians, but
maintain, nevertheless, that in believing they acted illogically.

But to return to security. What more security could any one desire
than the word of Christ?--"My sheep hear my voice, and I know them,
and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal life; and they
shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
My Father which gave them me is greater than all; and no man is able
to pluck them out of my Father's hand" (John x. 27, 29). Our Lord is
here speaking of external foes, and declares that no enemy is strong
enough to take His sheep from Him. But men enter His service freely,
and freely they remain. He has no slaves in His household. His
people are attached to Him because they see in Him a concentration
of all that is noble and good. His self-sacrifice for them has won
their hearts, and inspired them with devotedness to His person. That
it is possible to fall away we admit, from the fact that man is a
free being surrounded with temptations; and also because we find
throughout the Bible earnest exhortations to watchfulness, which
would be quite useless except upon the possibility of letting the
truth slip from the mind. Hymenaeus and Alexander made shipwreck of
their faith (1 Tim. i.); and Paul had to keep his body under, lest
he himself should become a castaway. But the _possibility_ of
falling away should not disturb the equanimity of any Christian for
a moment. As free creatures we have the power of throwing ourselves
into the river, or the fire, or in many other ways taking our own
life; yet the possession of this power in nowise disturbs our
tranquillity of soul, or mars our peace of mind. It were, no doubt,
more pleasing to the flesh to have no fighting, no struggle, no
watching; but we must accept the logic of facts, and they clearly
indicate that the Christian life is a battle all the way to the
gates of the New Jerusalem. But in this spiritual contest, the thews
and sinews of the soul are made strong. By failing to realise the
ideal of what a Christian should be, believers feel the need of
Christ's presence, and the help of the Holy Ghost, and sympathise
with the sentiments of the hymn.

"I could not do without Thee,
O Saviour of the lost,
Whose precious blood redeemed me
At such tremendous cost;
Thy righteousness, Thy pardon,