sermon ever preached, and the most successful; and in it we have the Apostle building his call to repentance and baptism on the outward facts of the Miracles, Crucifixion, Death, Descent into Hell, and Resurrection of Jesus.

The only sermon of the Apostle St. Paul on record (in Acts xiii.) is an exact counterpart, in somewhat different language, to this sermon of St. Peter; it is a call to repentance and faith, grounded on the Death, Burial (which is especially mentioned), Resurrection, and appearances after His Resurrection, of the Son of David. The shorter notices of Apostolic preaching scattered throughout this book are all to the same effect.

When an Apostle is chosen into the place of the traitor, it is that "he may be a witness of the Resurrection." (Acts i. 22.)

When we are told of the force and energy with which the Apostles preached, it is in the words, "with great power gave the Apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus." (Acts iv. 33.) When the door of faith was opened to the Gentiles, and words were told Cornelius whereby he and his house were to be saved, the words as recorded are, "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power, who went about doing good whom they slew and hanged on a tree. Him God raised up the third day, and showed Him openly, not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen before of God, even to us who did eat and drink with Him after He rose from the dead. To Him give all the prophets witness that whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins." (Acts x. 38-43.)

Again, St. Paul's preaching is described in the words "Opening and alleging that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead, and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ." (Acts xvii. 3.)

Again, he himself describes his own preaching in similar terms, "Saying none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come, that Christ should suffer, and that He should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should show light to the people and to the Gentiles." (Acts xxvi. 23.)

All the notices of Apostolic preaching which we have in this book bear witness to the same fact-that the Gospel of the primitive Church was the proclamation of God's love to a sinful world, as set forth in the Death, Burial, and Resurrection of Jesus. No single Apostolic discourse which has come down to us is conceived in the spirit of a modern revival sermon. Even if we have only the outlines of the Apostolic discourses, these outlines imply that the form of primitive doctrine resembled rather the articles of the creed than a Calvinistic or Methodistic system. They are outlines which could not possibly be filled up with what is now called a Gospel

sermon.

We now come to the Epistles. The first of these in order in our Bibles, and the most important of all from the nature of its contents, is the Epistle to the Romans.

This Epistle begins with an enunciation of the Gospel exactly similar to those which we have found in the historical part of the New Testament: "The Gospel of God, concerning His Son Jesus Christ, which was made of the seed of David, according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of Holiness, by the resurrection from the dead." (Rom. i. 1.)

But in this Epistle we have the Apostle practically applying his "Gospel" to the consolation and assurance of his converts, and so we have the Gospel as applied

by God's Holy Spirit to the assurance and comfort of the individual; and we find that it is still represented as consisting in the record of the same outward facts, and not as so much inward experience, or abstract declarations of the love of God, or of the all-sufficiency of the work of Christ. For instance, in applying the fact that Abraham was justified by faith to the present assurance of the Roman Christians, St. Paul writes, "It was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed if we believe on Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered for our offences. and raised again for our justification." (Rom. iv. 23—25.)

Let the reader mark these words. The Apostle here asserts that righteousness is imputed to a man, not when he believes that his sins are forgiven-not when he believes that he is personally justified and accepted-not when he realises that Christ died for him in particular, -but when he believes that God the Father raised up God the Son from the dead. So at least asserts the Apostle. Whether circumstances require that the strict meaning of his words should be modified I do not stop to inquire.

Again, we find similar words in the tenth chapter of this Epistle: "The word of faith which we preach, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thy heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." (Rom x. 9.)

Similarly St. Peter says, "You, who by Him do believe in God that raised Him from the dead, and gave Him glory, that your faith and hope might be in God." (1 Peter i. 21.)

Again, when St. John would fill his converts with fulness of joy, he writes, not of God's secret election, not

...

of individual assurance, but of his own personal witness to the truth of the FACT of the Incarnation. "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the Word of Life .. that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us, and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ, and these things write we unto you that your joy may be full." (1 John i. 1—4.)

In accordance with all this, St. Paul, in declaring to the Corinthians the Gospel which he preached, and in which his converts stood, sets forth to them first of all that which he had also received, how that "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures." (1 Cor. xv. 1-4.)

Such is the aspect under which the Gospel is presented to us in the Scriptures.

What provision does the Church make that this Gospel of the kingdom" should be set before her children under the form in which it always appears in Scripture? What means does she employ in order that it should have the same prominent place in her system which it undoubtedly occupies in the Bible?

Very remarkable indeed is the provision which the Church makes for this, for it is by far the most prominent and noticeable thing in her service book. She provides for the setting forth of the Gospel under this its one Scripture aspect by embodying it in her yearly round of Fast and Festival. She commemorates the great facts of Redemption on her great days of religious ob

servance.

On these days she sets forth the great features of the

Gospel rather as events or facts than as doctrines. She makes these days great days, and she does her best to invest them with a sanctity above that of other days, and this according to their relative importance.

Unquestionably, the Resurrection of Jesus as the scal of His Messiahship and God's own assurance of the full efficacy of His Son's Death is the first event in the New Testament, and so Easter Day is the Queen of Days in the Church's year.

Then

Next to it are Christmas Day, Good Friday, Ascension Day, and Whit Sunday, as setting forth the Incarnation and Birth, the Atoning Death, and Exaltation of Jesus, and the Fulfilment of the Promise of the Father. come Advent, Epiphany, and certain Saints' Days. And on various other Sundays, from Christmas to Trinity, we have certain great facts or leading events in the Saviour's life. On the festival of the Epiphany we have His adoration by the Magi as the firstfruits of the Gentile world; on the first Sunday after the Epiphany we have the one incident recorded in Scripture of the carly youth of the Saviour; on the first Sunday in Lent His Temptation by the devil; and on the first Sunday after Easter the most remarkable of His appearances after His Resurrection.

A week of sacred service is given to the events immediately preceding His Crucifixion, and to the circumstances of the Crucifixion itself, such as His entrance into Jerusalem, His anointing for His Burial, Institution of the Eucharist, Betrayal, Agony, Condemnation, Scourging, Crowning with thorns, Death and Burial.

Now I do not merely say that it is Scriptural to fasten these events on these days, and to associate as far as possible the day with the deed; I go much further, and say that no form of public prayer or liturgy, or any