elements. Under the influence of fear, all the powers of the soul often tremble and shake, like the leaves of a forest in a storm. But "perfect love casteth out fear," and peace is the fruit of love. (2) There is remorse. Sense of guilt fills the soul with those feelings of self-loathing, and selfdenunciation which lash into

fury. But in the case of Christly men this sense of guilt is gone. Being made right, or justified, "we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." (3) There are conflicting tendencies. In every soul there are instinctive tendencies towards God and the true. In every unregenerate soul there are tendencies towards the devil and the false. These are ever in battle on the arena of unChristly minds. Hence the wicked are like the troubled sea. He who is Christly is delivered from this conflict. The corrupt tendencies are exorcised, and all the corrupt passions and forces of the soul are brought into one grand channel, and will flow on translucently and harmoniously with ever increasing volume to the great ocean,-God. The

other remark suggested concerning this Divine peace is

III.-IT CAN ONLY BE REACHED BY THE PRACTCIE OF GOODNESS.

“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest (honourable), whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report." Whatever minute definition we may give of

these terms, they all stand for the elements of moral goodness; and to these elements we are bidden to give a practical regard. "If there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things." The practice of the morality of Christ is the ladder by which alone we can climb through all that is dark and tumultuous in the atmosphere of the soul, into the pure heavens of peace. It is the "doer" of the Word that is blessed, not the hearer. There are some, alas, who recommend other means to this glorious end, but they are utterly worthless. Some recommend ritualistic observances and sacerdotal services. Some recommend faith in an event that transpired on

THIS parable presents the Gospel of the kingdom as a sacred feast prepared by the Divine Lord for the hungering hearts of men. But the invitation is declined by one and another who have inclinations for lower things than the Heavenly Host provides. These invited guests excuse themselves on various insufficient grounds. The measures taken and repeated (verses 21, 23) to supply their room, together with the language of our text, indicate—

I. THE LARGENESS OF GOD'S LOVING PURPOSE. God wills that His house shall be filled. And we may be sure that this "house" of the Heavenly Father's gracious purpose is built on a large scale. In it are 66 many mansions." Its magnitude must surely answer to the exceeding greatness of His power, to the boundless riches of His love. To the question, "Are there few that be saved?" our Lord did not vouchsafe any other reply than that practical insistance on individual duty, "Strive to

enter in," &c. It is far better, He would say, to discharge an urgent obligation than to gratify an idle curiosity. But we cannot doubt that, if He had met the question by a direct reply, He would have said that the full house of His Father would contain an innumerable multitude of guests. To this conclusion point not only (1) The hopes of all holy and loving hearts, but also (2) The terms of predictive Scripture, "Ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands." (3) The attributes of the wise, strong and beneficent Father of spirits. The duration of the redemptive scheme, including its long preparation and its protracted operation. (5) The character of the redemptive work, the incarnation, sorrow, shame, death of the Son of God Himself. God purposes to do a vast and immeasurable work in that He is determined that His house shall be filled.

(4)

II. THE FULNESS OF THE DIVINE COMMISSION. There is great strength in the words, "Compel them to come in." It would be positively ludicrous, if it were not so painful, to think that they have been pressed into the

unholy service of religious persecution. No one thing can be farther from another, than the rack and the stake from the genius of the Christian faith. We have not so learned Christ; we understand well that there are other and higher weapons of compulsion than the sword and the block; physical violence is the resort of impotence and the confession of defeat. We may compel men to come into the holy kingdom of our Saviour by (1) The constant beauty of our daily life; by living in purity, in integrity, in temperance, in love; by (2) The occasional magnanimity of Christian conduct. by the large-heartedness, the self-surrender, the heroic courage which we manifest on some special opportunity; by (3) The convincing presentation of the Christian argument; either that which assures men of the heavenly origin of the faith or that which persuades them to come to His feet and to kneel at His cross; by (4) The earnest persistency of Christian zeal; by making the strenuous, personal, persevering appeal which will not be denied. These are such sources of compulsion as the Lord of love will sanction with His smile and seal with the influences of His Spirit.

BRISTOL

WILLIAM CLARKSON, B.A.

Luke xv. 2.

(The Third Sunday after Trinity.) "THIS MAN RECEIVETH SINNERS AND EATETH WITH THEM." SOME of the finest tributes ever paid to our Lord were unintentionally offered by those who were least disposed to pay Him a compliment or do Him a kindness. Such was the taunt levelled at Him on the cross, "He saved others, Himself He cannot save.' Such were the words of our text. That which they meant for a strong reproach we eagerly accept as a high commendation. The "righteous men" of His time. considered that the holy man proved his sanctity by the measure of his separateness from sinners, and they argued that the holiest of all-the Messiah-would most scrupulously and most completely shut Himself from the society of the sinful and profane. But they pushed their reasoning a step too far, and went down into serious error. We may let these words speak to us of

I. THE PRINCIPLES ON WHICH WE SHOULD ASSOCIATE WITH ONE

ANOTHER. (a) There is a natural fellowship between sinners on the ground of their spiritual affinity. The dishonest, the murderous, the lewd, the intemperate, and those who may be almost as guilty in the sight of God-the scandalmongers, the covetous, and the

frivolous, associate together and encourage one another in their evil thoughts and ways, but guilt cannot bear the presence of purity. The coward does not shrink more tremblingly from the eye of the brave, than does the guilty soul from the presence of the pure. (b) But there are certain conditions under which the good are found to shun the society of the sinful.

It is the duty of those who are young in years to do so. Immature in character, unfamiliar with the subtleties and sequencies of evil, they ought not to be exposed to the darker and more fatal perils of human life. It is the duty of those just redeemed from sinful paths to do so, else their association may be mistaken for sympathy, and it may be that old propensities will prove too strong for their new principles. It is the duty of those whose spiritual nature is constitutionally weak to do so. These should, so far as it is possible, turn from the way of transgressors; they should walk with those who walk with Christ. (c) But, again, it is our Christian privilege to associate with the sinful in order to redeem them. Thus did the Divine Exemplar: "this man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them." He knew that the bad might become the good, the very worst be numbered amongst the holiest

and the best; He knew that the hardest heart would melt at the touch of Divine mercy, and the guiltiest life be cleansed by the waters of penitence and faith. So He sat down at the table of the outlaws, and permitted to approach Him the outcasts of society. He laid His gracious hand on the shoulder of the abandoned and spoke words of grace and healing to "him that had no helper." He received sinners. This is the prerogative of the piety that is strong and brave. It may be well to rise above the pagan who had no indignation against vice; but it is better to rise above the Pharisee who had no more heavenly thought of sin than that it was irreclaimable and contemptible, beyond the help and beneath the notice of the wise and good.

II. THE TERMS ON WHICH CHRIST DEALS WITH US ALL. The terms on which He mingled with the unholy were not those of human equality; they were those on which a Divine Redeemer met souls that needed a Saviour. He received sinners and ate with them that He might teach and save them. He offers Himself to us on these same terms. If we make our appeal to Him as our Saviour, we may be certain of acceptance with Him. Only a false self-sufficiency and a guilty