. Paul went through all the trials and hardships he had
to endure, because by the grace of God resting on him he was enabled
to do so.

PENANCE FOR SIN.

Would you insult the Almighty by offering Him the fruits of this
frail body to atone for sin? Supposing your Queen were to send me a
magnificent present, and I said to the royal messenger: "I certainly
should not like to accept this from Her Majesty without giving her
something in return." Suppose I should send her a penny! How would
the Queen feel, if I were to insult her in that way? And what have
we that we can offer to God in return for His free gift of
salvation? Less than nothing. We must come and take salvation in
God's way.

There is no merit in taking a gift. If a beggar comes to my house,
and asks for bread to eat, and I give him a loaf of bread, there is
no merit in his taking the bread. So if you experience the favor of
God, you have to take it as a beggar. Some one has said: "If you
come to God as a prince, you go away as a beggar: if you come as a
beggar, you go away as a prince." It is to the needy that God opens
the wardrobe of heaven, and brings out the robe of righteousness.

Paul says again: "If by grace, then is it no more of works:
otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it
no more grace: otherwise work is no more work." Paul is reasoning in
this way: that if I work for a gift or attempt to give money for it,
it ceases to be a gift. The only way to get a gift is to take it as
a gift.

An old man got up in one of our meetings and said, "I have been
forty-two years learning three things." I pricked up my ears at
that; I thought that if I could find out in about three minutes what
a man had taken forty-two years to learn, I should like to do it.
The first thing he said he had learned was that he could do nothing
towards his own salvation. "Well," said I to myself, "that is worth
learning." The second thing he had found out was that God did not
require him to do anything. Well, that was worth finding out too.
And the third thing was that the Lord Jesus Christ had done it all,
that salvation was finished, and that all he had to do was to _take_
it. Dear friends, let us learn this lesson; let us give up our
struggling and striving, and accept salvation at once.

A FREE PARDON.

I was preaching in the Southern States a few years ago; and the
minister called my attention to one of the elders in his Church. He
said: W