vi God has Eternity to work in. 83 



God will give that which was a valley of troubling 

 for a door of hope. 1 



God is angry with sin ; this is Law. God desires 

 to heal sin ; this is Gospel. It is a true instinct in 

 man which expects the attributes of Justice and of 

 Mercy to be combined in a perfectly righteous Judge. 

 But though these are co-eternal in the mind of God, 

 yet it was necessary that, in the order of historical 

 evolution, Law should be manifested first. It is the 

 method of Our Lord, and of the Prophets and Apostles 

 generally, to state apparently opposing truths, and 

 to let their reconciliation take care of itself. But 

 how God can be at once perfectly just and perfectly 

 merciful; how retribution and forgiveness can both 

 be parts of His purpose ; how the elect of the present 

 dispensation are comparatively few, but are elected 

 that they may be the channel of ultimate blessing to 

 all ; these truths do not appear difficult to reconcile, 

 when we remember the further truth that God has 

 endless ages in which to work out His gracious pur- 

 poses. The high and lofty One, whose Name is 

 Holy, inhabiteth eternity. 2 



No doubt it is easy to quote a catena of passages 

 of Holy Scripture which appear to assert that the 

 Divine vengeance on sin is final and irreversible. 

 But it is equally easy to quote a catena of passages 

 which appear to assert that sin cannot be forgiven at 

 all. "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." 3 "He 

 that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong that he 



1 Hosea ii. 15. 2 Isaiah Ivii. 15. 3 Ezek. xviii. 4. 



