Is not constant and enduring love better than that which fluctuates and occasionally ebbs away? Is not the man who always loves, better and holier than he who resents and forgives by turns? Does not he who never casts away an offender, but is always friendly even to the worst foe, represent a nobler type of love than he who wrathfully forsakes and then forgivingly welcomes his offenders ? There is no doubt that abiding love is infinitely superior to habits of forgiveness. Do you not, brethren, accept God as the highest pattern of loving kindness? If so, it would be easy to decide the point at issue by studying and analyzing the nature of Divine love. Let me ask,-Does God forgive sinners? I emphatically reply, He cannot. If by forgiveness you mean then cessation of anger and the restoration to favor of a penitent offender, I say, this is absolutely impossible with God. How can He cease to be angry who never was angry? How can He who never withholds favor renew and restore it? God is all love. He is always love. There is no change or variableness in Him. He does not love us by fits and starts. His mercy is not fickle or exclusive, but extends at all times to all His children. He loves saints and sinners. He loves us and protects us whether we love Him or not. Even from His worst enemy He doth not withhold His mercies. Does He ever cast us away because of our transgressions? No. He is ever working among saints as well as sinners, with the fulness of infinite mercy, for their salvation. You see the merciful Father not in heaven alone but likewise in hell, doing good to the meanest and grossest sinner. In hell? Yes, I have seen Him there many a time. seen Him in the hell of my own impure heart, lovingly working out my redemption from the bond

Often have I

age of iniquity. Who can accuse our God, our dear loving Father, of being angry and vindictive when He daily and hourly showers upon us His blessings in spite of our repeated iniquities and provoking antagonism? Always good and always loving, there can be no remission in His love, however great our offence may be. Infinite love is above anger and resentment. The Lord chastises the sinner for mercy's sake but never wrathfully deserts him. Men's iniquities cannot ruffle His serene and loving temper; their hostility cannot excite in Him anger and vengeance. These are base passions unworthy of the Divine heart. They find play in man's imperfect nature, where love is weak and liable to be vanquished by adverse influences; but in Heaven's perfect love they can find no place. If then God is never angry, how can He forgive? If He ever dwells affectionately in the heart of the wicked sinner, how can He take him back? There can be no re-admission where there has been no expulsion; no forgiveness where there has been no cessation of love. Eternal and unchangeable love is as far removed from forgiveness as heaven is from earth. Let our love then be as Heaven's love, steady, enduring and above all irritation, ever full, ever sweet, indulgent towards generous friends as well as bitter foes. And may we always be so kind to our enemies and persecutors that we may be above the rule of forgiveness !

I have declared unto you and expounded the short and simple gospel whereby, I believe, India will be saved. You will perhaps ask me what is my authority for the doctrine I have enunciated. I can assure you, I have the very authority of God Himself for this gospel of love. The

doctrine I have laid before you bears the stamp of the Divine seal. I preach no theory of my own invention; I am not imposing upon you novel ideas manufactured in my own mind. I have told you what I have heard from the lips of the Divine Teacher. If it were not so I would hesitate to offer my views. But as I possess the highest credentials and can cite the very authority of Heaven, I speak confidently and without wavering. Here is no deception. I am not drawing upon my imagination, but am stating a fact and a reality. Yes, the Lord has said unto me in the recesses of my heart that by faith in "I am" and the love of God and man shall we be saved. It is not to me a second-hand revelation, but my own heart has heard and therefore believed. My consciousness bears witness to the divinity of this gospel of salvation. With power has the Lord uttered it. And with irresistible power has it come upon me, riveting my faith and allegiance, and constraining me to go and preach it. Therefore will I preach it and proclaim it so long as I live, that I may vindicate the truth and magnify Him from Whom I have learnt it. But is it to me alone that the Lord has revealed this truth and confided this message? Ask humanity. Believers in all ages have heard this same truth in their own hearts, and to-day it is possible for every sinner like myself to hear it by faith if he is so inclined and prepared. In fact the universal consciousness of humanity bears testimony to it, and I challenge any one here present to dispute it. When I affirm that by love alone, that love which effects a complete absorption of the soul in Divinity and humanity, shall man be saved, I speak truth and nothing but the truth. I say what humanity has always said, and what the Divine

Teacher says unto all. Love is the fulfilling of all religion and morality; love is redemption, saith the Lord. To dwell in love is to dwell in heaven. Accept then the gospel of love as the gospel of universal redemption,

In commending this doctrine of holy and regenerating love, I am sure I do not run the risk of propounding any wrong theory or leading you into the dangerous paths of error or unbelief. I have borne witness to the Truth, and if you, friends and countrymen, accept what I have said, it will undoubtedly conduce to your spiritual welfare. I cherish no misgivings in this matter. But I fear I may run some risk, after what I have said, in quite another direction. I apprehend I may be accepted as a teacher by unthinking thousands among my countrymen. They may turn round to me, and pointing to the scheme of salvation I have set forth, say,-we shall accept you as our teacher, for you profess to have received from Heaven the light of our salvation. This may mean a compliment, and many are its temptations. But to me it is repulsive, and the Lord directs me to repel the offer as a snare and a danger. You know how in India religion has degenerated into hero-worship. How many misguided fanatics have asserted preposterous claims to the position and privileges of spiritual guides! How many really good and estimable devotees have been exalted by their disciples to the rank of infallible teachers! How the worship of ten thousand gurus, some of them the worst and meanest of men, has deluged the country with error, falsehood and corruption! Looking upon this painful spectacle, my heart naturally shudders and recoils from the thought of setting up as a teacher, I shrink back from the awful

responsibilities which attach to the position of a religious guide. Nay without any hestitation or equivocation I can emphatically assure you that I am not a teacher, and will never be a teacher unto my countrymen. He who regards me as a teacher is guilty of a lie and a blasphemy, inasmuch as he sets aside the authority of God, and establishes in its place the authority of man. It is as true that I am not amongst you as a teacher as that I live. If you believe in God, believe that He has not commissioned me to be an infallible guide unto you. The very gospel which I have laid before you denies my mission as a teacher. Remember then that by accepting it you are inviolably bound to ignore any authority I may claim as your priest and guide. The very creed my mouth has preached to-day disowns me, and points to God alone as the source of all truth. If you exalt me as a teacher, and then falling down before me accept every utterance of mine as a divine message, you do so at the risk of debasing yourselves and jeopardizing your highest interests. That would be false, impious, and extremely pernicious. You will perhaps say, this is nothing but humility and, modesty, so common among professed preachers. I say candidly, I claim neither humility nor honor before my countrymen. I am not in the least anxious that you should credit me with extraordinary self-abasement or self-esteem. I simply state a fact. I have said what I am without being sentimental. All that I contend for is this, that whatever truth there may be in my teachings should be accepted. and followed not for my sake, but for the sake of the truth itself. Let not my name carry the weight of authority. Let truth command assent for its own sake. I do not hesitate to admit that I have presented to you this evening some of the highest truths