manner, with always a pleasant word, and enquiry, showing his interest in " all sorts and conditions of men."

On one occasion, while the Palace at Kew was being repaired, one of the Masons,-a young man,-was cutting some work in the stone in a very skilful, and rapid manner. His ability attracted the King's attention,-who paused to watch him,-making some remark,—at the same time,to his attendants. A week or so after the King came again to notice the progress of the work. Owing to the expected arrival of Royal Visitors from abroad it was important that the work should be completed by a certain date. George the Third had then a good memory, and quick eye, and not seeing the young Mason at work he had before seen, inquired the reason of his absence. No one could say. The King desired them to make enquiries. In great haste, and in evident trepidation,-down came the foreman, and architect, and from them the King learned that the young man in question, though an able workman, was a pious young man, attached, they thought, "to the Methodists." As it was important to conclude the Contract in the time, all the other workmen had agreed to come quietly, and work privately, on the Sunday. This the young man had refused to agree to, and he had been dismissed.

"Dismissed!-exclaimed the King, "Then I beg that he may be again employed! This will never do! The man, gentlemen, who resolves to please his God, rather than to please his King,-that is the man for me!" The young man was at once reinstated, and the King, ever after, showed the worthy Mason particular favour.

NOTE. The "Methodists." The followers of that sainted man,-John Wesley,-who appears, -with Whitfield,-to have been sent by God to save this Country, and true religion, from almost dying out under a sleeping, indifferent, and corrupt church. This Heavenly-gifted man,-evidently inspired, was born in 1703, and was spared,-in God's mercy,-for he was sorely needed, -till 1791,-thus living in the reigns of Queen Anne,-George I.,— George II.,-and during twenty years of the reign of George the Third ! What a dark and Godless age, -a State Religion, and a State Church utterly corrupt, had reduced true Religion to in England at that period, we,-in these days of toleration in religion, and enlightenment, can never know!

"The World is my Parish!" said that great revivalist,-John Wesley. It was indeed! And like the other great Reformer in Religion,-Martin Luther," He shook the World!"

Though unconnected, in any way, with their Denomination, the Writer, in common with thousands of their fellow Christians,-has ever felt for the Followers of that man of God,--John Wesley,—the utmost respect and esteem. It is impossible to overrate what "Methodism" has done for the true Religion of Jesus Christ!

Utterly unable to comprehend the difference between the "Wesleyan," the

"Methodist," the Primitive," the "United," &c., &c.,-these remarks apply to all their sub-divisions, as they are no doubt at one, as regards the main, fundamental points, and, in Essentials are all Followers of the saintly man who first brought "Methodism" to light.

GEORGE THE THIRD AND THE SERMON.

On another occasion His Majesty attended Divine Service at a certain Church, and the Minister took occasion to allude, at some length, to the virtues, and goodness of the Royal Visitor, and to the blessings and advantages the Nation had derived from his long and illustrious reign. If the young Reader will turn to that fulsome "dedication" to James at the commencement of his Bible, he will obtain some idea of the affected, unreal, flattery and adulation in vogue in former times. He will notice that King James,in reality, a rather pompous and mediocre man,-is approached, as "Dread Sovereign,"-capital letters are employed as if he had been Divine; he is alluded to as "the Sun in his strength;" while that worldly old body Queen Elizabeth, with her 3,000 or more dresses, is alluded to as "the setting of that bright occidental Star." It would be a boon if this fulsome nonsense could be altered,-or the dedication removed altogether from our Bibles. The old doctrine of the "Divine right of Kings" has been happily now long exploded, and they have been found on examination to be pretty much like other men, too often,—worse.

During the Sermon,-stiff and bolt upright in his pew sat old King George,―till,—the Service being over,—the Court prepared to leave, and all stood respectfully up to see the King go by. But good old George the Third, -ever anxious for the glory of God,-was not going to leave that Church without teaching all present a lesson. For just as he had reached the middle of the aisle,-amidst profound silence,-George the Third,—“ Farmer George,”—suddenly stopped, and bringing down his thick oak stick, with a great bang, upon the floor of the Church,-called out in his big voice," Friends! I came here like yourselves,—a humble worshipper to this House of Prayer, to join in the praises of Almighty God, and not to listen to those of one of the weakest and most unworthy of His creatures!"--So saying the King signed to his attendants to proceed, and amidst breathless silence, slowly left the Church.

"They that honour Me, I will honour, but they that despise Me shall be lightly esteemed."

CHAPTER XLI.

THE ETERNAL HOPE DELUSION.

MODERN UNBELIEF.

HE WAS A LIAR FROM THE BEGINNING.-UNBELIEF IN THE PULPIT.-THE FRENCH LADY.-THE PRAYING WHEEL. TOUCHING THE SACRED ARK. TRUE WORSHIP.-CHRIST'S WORDS.

"YE SHALL NOT SURELY DIE!"

There is an increasing complaint on the part of Congregations both of the Church of England and Dissenters, that the Gospel,—too often, is not now preached; that Ministers, -too often,-openly teach that there is no Hell to shun,no Last and Final Judgment of the Impenitent Wicked,— no Wrath to Come from which to flee, in short,-that Unbelief in Christ's Teachings has now made its appearance in many Pulpits.

The "Larger Hope" doctrine of our day is but a modern phase of old Unbelief. It is the old, old falsehood, -"God is too merciful!" "And the Serpent said unto the woman ;-ye shall not surely die."-Gen. iii., 4. God merely said it to frighten you; it was intended, merely, as a wholesome deterrent; not that He intends really to do it; there is no real danger. God's warning to you is merely to be understood as an instructive Parable.

Jesus tells us of the Devil,-" He was a Liar from the beginning.

Dear Reader! Surely the Tears, the Groans,-the Deaths, of countless Millions of human beings, for thousands of years,-since that day,-have proved to Mankind that God's warnings are something more than "Instructive Parables!" "Thou shalt not eat of it,- for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die!"Gen. ii., 17.

THE OLD FALSEHOOD REPRODUCED.

In our day, once more,-for History repeats itself,lying voices have gone out into the World persuading to the old, old Unbelief; teaching that Sin,-after all,-is not so deadly, a misfortune rather than a fault ;-lulling the Conscience to sleep with the false hope that God does not

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really mean what He says, We are now told that the "old, narrow, terrible, Gospel creed" must give way before "Modern Thought;" that we may now freely indulge in a "larger hope."

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It is true that Christ tells us that the way into life is narrow," that the gate is "strait," (difficult) "and few there be that find it." But we now know better! Christ did not really mean what He said! We now know God to be too merciful,-a God of love. In these days of cultivation and advanced thought, we can take broader views. We may now hope for the ultimate salvation of all Mankind, through Christ's atonement,-after, it may be,—a certain refining Purgatory for very evil characters.

You will find,-we are told,-in the "last day, that our view is right, and Christ was wrong, and you Christians will have to be contented with merely receiving your own salvation."

Yet Christ says, "I tell you, Nay: For except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish."—Luke xiii., 3. "Woe unto that man by whom the Son of God is betrayed; it had been good for that man if he had not been born! Matt. xxvi., 24. "Ye will not come unto Me that ye might have life. Ye shall die in your sins, and whither I go ye cannot come."-John vi., 40; viii., 21.

Ultimate salvation for all Mankind? Then why would it have been "good for that man if he had not been born?" Universal salvation? And some "die in their sins," and where Jesus is they "cannot come ?" What does it mean? Dear Reader! You have God's word constantly placed in your hands. He has given you common sense to guide you. What does Christ mean if there is ultimate, universal, salvation for all men?

If there is, then our Saviour's teachings,-all through His Ministry, and all His words upon this dread subject selected in this, and other Chapters of this Book, are not merely unintelligible, and meaningless,—they are worse,they are designedly false! What about the Judgment Day? "The Books being opened? The dead judged?" Why a Judgment Day at all? What Books? Who is going to be "Judged?" You see, dear Reader, if there is to be universal salvation for all, the "Last Judgment" becomes an absurdity!

The shallow, sentimental, religious teachers of our day, seem incapable of intelligent reasoning upon this subject. Nothing is more amazing to the thoughtful Christian than that men who presume to teach Religion to others, cannot,

-or will not,-see the destructive consequences that follow their "larger hope" delusions.

BELIEF IN THE BIBLE IS DESTROYED.

The sneer that the Christian Believer "will have at last to be content at receiving his own salvation," is an unworthy one. The Believer is the last person in the World to feel disappointed in finding that all men are to be finally saved, but he is the first to see that this false hope, and modern delusion, strikes at the root of all belief in the truth of God's Holy Word! For if the Last day will prove that there is ultimate salvation for all men, then that Terrible Day will also prove that there was not one word of truth, in all the solemn texts selected in this Chapter from the Word of God; and that God and Christ wilfully deceived Mankind upon this Subject for nigh two thousand years! Are you prepared to commence Eternity upon that discovery? Prove God and Christ to be untruthful in one Subject, why not in others? If the Warnings of God, and Christ are false, why may not their Promises be equally so? Either the Bible, or the "larger hope" must go! They are irreconcileable! They mutually destroy each other!

UNBELIEF IN THE PULPIT.

One more fatal consequence of this new phase of old Unbelief in God's warnings, we must all have noticed already, namely; its effect upon the Pulpit! Dear Reader! You must have noticed it yourself! In our churches and chapels we find excellent Music,-tasteful interiors,altars, surplices,-Anthems,-genuflexions,-interminable repetitions of the old, old responses, ejaculations, collects, and prayers, gabbled over by well-dressed audiences, for the thousandth time,-about equivalent to the " Praying Wheel." But what is there in all this to awaken the sinner, or urge to a new life? How seldom do we now hear earnest, awakening, Gospel sermons,-urging the speechless importance of obtaining an interest in Christ's atonement, while the opportunity is ours,-the absolute necessity of the great change from a Christless, to a pious Life? That "without holiness, no man shall see the Lord?" How should we? How " warn men to flee from the wrath to come."(Matt. iii., 7.) when the Minister does not believe that there is any "wrath," from which to "flee?"

"We admit that the Sermons are poor; but in our Churc!s we come for the Service, and not for the Sermon." "to doubt! When the Minister has instituted his "Ete