d in the Hereafter. They
are forming character and _character tends to permanence_.

The "outer darkness" it would seem comes not from absence of light but
from blindness of sight. The joy of Heaven is impossible to the unholy
just as the joy of beautiful scenery to the blind or the joy of
exquisite music to the deaf. Probation in this life--simply means that
in this first stage of his being a man either is or is not blinding his
eyes and dulling his ears and hardening his heart so as to make himself
incapable of higher things in the life to come.

If then it be possible even for a heathen to have in this life
sufficient probation to determine his attitude towards God for ever,
how much more for a man in the full light of Christianity. In view of
this the great law of life that CHARACTER TENDS TO PERMANENCE may it
not be awfully true that a man who with full knowledge of Christ
wilfully and deliberately turns from Him all through this life, should
thus render himself incapable of turning to Him in any other life?
With _full knowledge of Christ_ I say, not with knowledge of some
repulsive misrepresentation of Christ.

For think what it means to reject Christ wilfully with full knowledge
of Him.

His voice still comes as we tramp on,
With a sorrowful fall in its pleading tone:
"Thou wilt tire in the dreary ways of sin;
I left My home to bring thee in.
In its golden street are no weary feet,
Its rest is pleasant, its songs are sweet."
And we shout back angrily hurrying on
To a terrible home where rest is none:
"We want not your city's golden street,
Nor to hear its constant song!"
_And still Christ keeps on loving us, loving all along_.

Rejected still He pursues each one:
"My child, what more could thy God have done?
Thy sin hid the light of heaven from Me,
When alone in the darkness I died for thee.
Thy sin of to-day in its shadow lay
Between My face and One turned away."
And we stop and turn for a moment's space
To fling back that love in the Saviour's face,
To give His heart yet another grief,
And glory in the wrong.
_And still Christ keeps on loving us, loving all along_.

Is it hard to believe that a man thus knowing Christ and wilfully
rejecting Him should thereby risk the ruin of his soul? Can we not
recognize this awful law of life that wilful sin against light tends to
darkening of the light--that every rejection of God and good draws
blood