There is a spirit abroad, which, under the plea I of the grace which is the very heart and soul of Christianity, would destroy all the foundations of government in the world, in the family, and in the Church itself. Actuated by covetousness, it quotes the fruit of the Spirit, in Acts 2:44, 45, to establish a claim over what belongs to others. There it is the rich bringing" their goods to the poor,- a voluntary act prompted by the Spirit of God, who dwells in them. But here it is the poor burning with the desire to get the goods which belong to the rich. This is not Christianity, but socialism, – the very root of anarchy itself. That same spirit would forbid the king to bear the sword and use it against evil-doers, pleading the grace which God would exercise toward sinners. They utterly forget or ignore that grace itself is shown only to them who condemn themselves for their sins.

So in the family:instead of a faithful, paternal government, which does not fail to discipline the child for his wrong-doing, and thus press upon him a wholesome fear of evil and of its retribution, grace is again misused, corrupted, and degraded to a mere excuse of sin. The effects are plain enough on every hand, and the end cannot fail:The rising generation will not be Christian, but socialistic.

But in the Church itself is this corruption of grace seen in its worst forms:The circle where sin should not be found, or if found not to be excused nor covered up, but mourned over and repented of; and if not repented of cast out, though it be in sorrow, has become a hiding-place for all manner of spiritual and moral evil. Men devoid of spiritual intelligence plead grace for all this, as if the holiness which becomes the house of God were incompatible with His love.

All this only shows that the cross has lost its power over such, if ever it had any; that sin, which caused that awful cross, is lightly judged, if at all; that repentance, therefore, has ceased to be coupled with faith,- the salt lacking in the sacrifices, and corruption fast doing its work.

It is clear why "judgment must begin at the house of God," for if we judge not ourselves we compel God to do it; and though judgment be His "strange work," and delayed as far as possible, it becomes His necessary work. "I will spew thee out of my mouth" is His holy sentence upon an indifferent Laodicea. P. J. L.