ught to have done. 'The sinner whom Christ denounces,' says Sir John,
'is he who has done nothing; the priest and the Levite who passed by on
the other side; the rich man who allowed the beggar to lie unhelped at
his gate; the servant who hid in a napkin the talent intrusted to him;
the unprofitable hireling who did only what it was his duty to do.'
Christ's villains are the men who sin against the _Person_ and the
_Precepts_ of the Most High; he scarcely notices the men who violate the
_Prohibitions_. Yet it is of the _Prohibitions_ that, when New Years
come, we think so much.

At vesper-tide,
One virtuous and pure in heart did pray,
'Since none I wronged in deed or word to-day,
From whom should I crave pardon? Master, say.'

A voice replied:
'From the sad child whose joy thou hast not planned;
The goaded beast whose friend thou didst not stand;
The rose that died for water from thy hand.'

During a ministry of nearly thirty years, it has been my privilege and
duty to deal with men and women of all kinds and conditions. I have
attended hundreds of deathbeds. In reviewing those experiences to-day, I
cannot remember a single case of a man who found it difficult to believe
that God could forgive those things that he ought not to have done and
had done; and I cannot recall a single case of a man who found it easy
to believe that God could forgive those things that he ought to have
done but had left undone. It is our sins against the divine _Precepts_
that sting most venomously at the last:

'The sad, sad child whose joy thou hast not planned;
The goaded beast whose friend thou didst not stand;
The rose that died for water from thy hand!'

Ebenezer Erskine saw that day at Dryburgh that he must recognize the
inspired order. He must bow first of all to the authority of the Divine
_Person_; he must recognize the obligations involved in the Divine
_Precepts_; and, after this, he must eschew those things that are
forbidden by the Divine _Prohibitions_. That order he never forgot.

VII

George Macdonald tells us how, when the Marquis of Lossie was dying, he
sent post-haste for Mr. Graham, the devout schoolmaster. Mr. Graham knew
his man and went cautiously to work.

'Are you satisfied with yourself my lord?'

'No, by God!'

'You would like to be better?'

'Yes; but how is a poor devil to get out of this infernal scrape?'

'Keep the commandments!'

'That's it, of course; but there