the Lord: for very great are his mercies: but let me not fall into the hand of man."

As to crime and its punishment, that is another and different question. Thus, in the presence, on the one hand, of your sins, and, on the other, of the greatness of the undeserved love of your Lord in pardoning your transgression, in receiving you graciously and in loving you freely, you will be moved, penitently, reverently, lovingly, humbly to say with Mephibosheth, in the presence of David, "What is thy servant, that thou shouldst look upon such a dead dog as I am?"

To God be the glory and praise, even of your repentance. It is his own blessed gift to you. "Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life."

CHAPTER X.

MEPHIBOSHETH.

There is a brief Scripture biography which may be introduced here. It will help as an illustration of the truth from life and be of service to you in seeing and accepting the way. It is the story of Mephibosheth as given us in the following portions of Scripture, viz.: 2 Sam. ix; 1 Sam. xx: 11-17; 2 Sam. iv:4; 2 Sam. xvi:1-4; 2 Sam. xix:24-30.

This narrative, though brief, is yet marvelously full of the fundamental elements of the gospel of the kingdom. Your condition as a sinner, with the gracious provision made for your relief, and its effect upon your soul, as you believingly apprehend and realize it,—all this the Holy Spirit has therein wonderfully illustrated. You may regard the biography as setting forth the return of a sinner to God together with the treatment accorded him upon his return.

The first fact to be noted, as stated in 2 Sam. iv:4, and 2 Sam. ix:13, is that he was lame on both his feet as the result of a fall. The crippling

was total, not partial. You may take this as illustrative of the fact taught throughout the Scriptures, viz. that the presence and effects of sin have extended to our whole being. In the use of the phrase "total depravity," it is not intended to affirm that all are just as bad as they can be. This certainly is not true, not being borne out either by the facts of experience or the teaching of the Scripture. But nevertheless the phrase is true in the sense that the evil effects of sin are realized throughout the totality of our nature-no part being exempt. Our bodies are certainly affected. And whatever way you may view the immaterial side of our being, whether in the commonly accepted three-fold division of the will together with the intellectual and emotional, or whatever other method you may adopt, it still remains true that sin has so lodged itself in the soul that all of its varying manifestations and activities feel its blighting presence. No department of your being has escaped it. It is total. And the salvation wrought for you must and will be as universal as this your need. Through sin therefore, your crippling is not partial but total,-on both your feet.

Mephibosheth dwelt in a place called Lo-debar the meaning of which is "without pasture." And in such a place are we by nature dwelling.

Spiritual Lo-debars, sterile, forbidding, destitute of the nutritive elements which should be our portion as those who are of the seed royal.

But from the city of the great king word is sent down to Mephibosheth to leave Lo-debar. David takes the initiative in sending for him. Mephibosheth would never have done this of his own motion. In his poverty-stricken and alienated, Lo-debar condition, he would have remained, so far as he was concerned. And so will every sinner. If a soul ever moves away from it it will be because God graciously takes the initiative and sends for it. If "we love him," is it not "because he first loved us?" In pursuance of this love he sends his messengers of grace to lead you into the fullness of blessing which he delights to minister.

Well, with mingled emotions, Mephibosheth, having received the command and invitation, begins the journey. He is not yet fully assured as to what the outcome may be. But, moved by the spirit of obedience, he will go with fear and trembling, casting himself upon the mercy of the great king. From the salutation of the king when he came into his presence, we conclude that he was fearful as to the kind of reception awaiting him. And such fear he no doubt regarded as well-grounded in view of his position and antecedents as being of the house of Saul, the tra

ditional enemy of David. The consciousness of all this troubled him.

And so has it more or less every soul who has heard the voice of God by his messengers calling them from their spiritual Lo-debars. There is a time, brief, or more continued, during which, in view of their aroused sense of sinful alienation and ill desert or conviction of sin they are subject to fear as to the outcome of God's dealing with them. But moved by the spirit of obedience, wrought in them by the Spirit, such souls nevertheless go in fear and trembling, casting themselves upon the divine mercy. And when they come-what then?

Well, what was the greeting which Mephibosheth received from the king when he presented himself? He first spoke his name, kindly you may well believe, the very tone of his voice reassuring the troubled heart. "He calleth his own. sheep by name." And when, in a self-deprecating and trembling yet loyal way, Mephibosheth answered, "Behold thy servant!" the king's response came quickly, "Fear not." You may well believe that there now entered into Mephibosheth's soul the glad consciousness of an old fear being supplanted by a present joy, for was he not accepted of the king, was not the light of the king's countenance lifted upon him?