remedy but simple confession, and childlike reliance upon absolute mercy.  The sinner must be a softened child and not a hard man, he must beg a boon and not put in a claim, if he would receive this kingdom of God, this New Testament religion, into his soul.  The slightest inclination to self-righteousness, the least degree of resistance to the just pressure of law, is a vitiating element in repentance.  The muscles of the stout man must give way, the knees must bend, the hands must be uplifted deprecatingly, the eyes must gaze with a straining gaze upon the expiating Cross,—­in other words, the least and last remains of a stout and self-asserting spirit must vanish, and the whole being must be pliant, bruised, broken, helpless in its state and condition, in order to a pure sense of guilt, a godly sorrow for sin, and a cordial appropriation of the atonement.  The attempt to mix the two tempers, to mingle the child with the man, to confess sin and assert self-righteousness, must be an entire failure, and totally prevent the reception of the religion of Redemption.  In relation to the Redeemer, the sinful soul should be a vacuum, a hollow void, destitute of everything holy and good, conscious that it is, and aching to be filled with the fulness of His peace and purity.

And with reference to God, the Being whose function it is to pardon, we see the same necessity for this child-like spirit in the transgressor.  How can God administer forgiveness, unless there is a correlated temper to receive it?  His particular declarative act in blotting out sin depends upon the existence of penitence for sin.  Where there is absolute hardness of heart, there can be no pardon, from the very nature of the case, and the very terms of the statement.  Can God say to the hardened Judas:  Son be of good cheer, thy sin is forgiven thee?  Can He speak to the traitor as He speaks to the Magdalen?  The difficulty is not upon the side of God.  The Divine pity never lags behind any genuine human sorrow.  No man was ever more eager to be forgiven than his Redeemer is to forgive him.  No contrition for sin, upon the part of man, ever yet outran the readiness and delight of God to recognize it, and meet it with a free pardon.  For, that very contrition itself is always the product of Divine grace, and proves that God is in advance of the soul.  The father in the parable saw the son while he was a great way off, before the son saw him, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.  But while this is so, and is an encouragement to the penitent, it must ever be remembered that unless there is some genuine sorrow in the human soul, there can be no manifestation of the Divine forgiveness within it.  Man cannot beat the air, and God cannot forgive impenitency.

II.  In the second place, the New Testament religion proposes to create within man a clean heart, and to renew within him a right spirit.  Christianity not only pardons but sanctifies the human soul.  And in accomplishing this latter work, it requires the same humble and docile temper that was demanded in the former instance.