trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."1 For this reason, we daily say, in the Lord's Prayer, 'Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us.' Jane. "Did not our Saviour give to His Apostles the power of forgiving sins when He said, Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained.' "2 Mary. "It is never mentioned that the Apostles did forgive the sins of any one on their own authority. I have been taught to understand that our Saviour gave them authority to declare the great principle of forgiveness of sins, as it is expressed in our form of Absolution. Almighty God hath given power and commandment to His ministers to declare and pronounce to His people, being penitent, the absolution and remission of their sins. He pardoneth and absolveth all them that truly repent and unfeignedly believe His holy Gospel.' As God alone can see into the depths of our hearts, and know whether we do truly repent, so it is He alone who can forgive sins. The ministers have authority to tell us that, if we do truly repent and believe, we are forgiven for Jesus Christ's sake. Wherefore let us beseech Him to grant us true repentance and His Holy Spirit, that those things may please Him which we do at this present, so that at the last we may come to His eternal joy, through Jesus Christ."" "How dreadful the sins of mankind must 2 John xx. 23. Bessy. 1 Matt. vi. 14, 15. Q be in the sight of God to require so great a sacrifice as that of the death of our Lord, the only Son of God!" Mary. "Indeed they must. But it is a blessed announcement to us, that 'Christ is the Propitiation for our sins, and not for our sins only, but also for the sins of the whole world." Even the sins of one person alone could only be expiated by that Atonement." Jane. "Shall we now go on to speak of the last Articles of our Belief? There remain only the Resurrection of the Body, and the Life Everlasting." Mary. "I think we had better leave off now. believe we shall find sufficient in those subjects to occupy us another afternoon." 1 1 John ii. 2. I CHAPTER VII. "We believe a day shall come, When they who sleep down in the grave, Will ope again their eyes. For Christ our Lord was buried once, He died and rose again; He conquered death, He left the grave, So when the friends we loved the best Lie in their churchyard bed, We must not cry too bitterly Over the happy dead; Because for our dear Saviour's sake Our sins are all forgiven, And Christians only fall asleep, To wake again in Heaven."-C. F. H. NONE of the party were sorry that Mrs. Wingfield's job of work was far from being completed, and that Mrs. Thorpe had promised to repeat her visit the following afternoon. As soon as the young women had begun their needle-work, Mary said, "We agreed to talk over the last articles of the Apostles' Creed, which are the Resurrection of the Body, and the Life Everlasting;' or, as the Nicene Creed expresses it, I look for the Resurrection of the dead, and the Life of the world to come."" Jane. "Which means, I suppose, that we believe all who have ever been alive on earth will rise again from the grave, as Christ did." Mary. "Undoubtedly. Whatever was the cause of their death, or whenever it happened, it will be the same with all. All that are in their graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth: they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." "1 Bessy. By that, I suppose, we are to understand, that we shall all be judged after the resurrection." 2 Mary. "Yes, in the day when Christ 'shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him; and before Him shall be gathered all nations.' There is a full description of the Resurrection in that chapter of St. Paul's Epistle to the Corinthians, most appropriately selected as a part of our Burial Service. Though you must have read and heard it often, you will perhaps like to turn to it again, now that we are on the subject." Mary. "And I never can hear it too often; it is such a beautiful passage." For Jane then read aloud : "Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the first fruits; afterward they that are Christ's at His coming. Then cometh the end, when He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when He shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. He must reign, till He hath put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For He hath put all things under His feet. But when He saith, All things are put under Him, it is manifest that He is excepted, which did put all things under Him. And when all things shall be subdued unto Him, then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him that put all things under Him, that God may be all in all. Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead? And why stand we in jeopardy every hour? I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for to-morrow we die. Be not deceived; evil communications corrupt good manners, Awake |