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The Sinner's Friend.

Third Sunday after Trinity.

And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.-LUKE 15: 2.

T was not a false accusation which these people brought against Jesus. It was true that many unsavory characters did flock around Him; that He did receive them kindly, and did accept invitations to their homes and hospitalities.

He was in all respects a very marvellous man, and an attractive preacher. There was something in His manner, in His sympathies, in His teachings, in His whole spirit that greatly impressed and captivated the masses. Even those whom society discarded, -the sinful, the condemned, and the outcast,—were drawn to Him. They saw in Him a new style of goodness, which commended itself to their judgment, touched their hearts, disarmed their resentment, and cheered their souls. They saw in Him what commanded their interest, their respect, their confidence. Though pure and holy, He seemed closer to them than they had supposed a holy being could come. Hence their drawing to Him.

And He welcomed their approaches. He took them up into His own deep sympathies. They felt that He felt for them; and many, whose seared consciences answered to no other touch, realized in Him the presence of a new power and yielded to it.

The self-righteous Pharisees were not attracted. They thought themselves too good to need His help, and were in no state of mind to value His favors. On the contrary, they despised His pretensions and teachings, and were offended and scandalized that He should bestow consideration. upon sinners and outlaws, and showed so little. regard for the excellent manners, legal purity, high repute, and decorous conversation of these self-exalted religionists.

But Christ's reception of sinners was not of a sort to make light of their sins. It was not true that He preferred the evil to the good. He received sinners, indeed, and ate with them, but only that He might teach them better ways, recover them from condemnation, and cleanse them. from their sins. He was kind and merciful to them, because they felt their need of His sympathy and help to lift them to a better life. He called sin, sin, and guilt, guilt; but He was moved and filled with pitying mercy for the marred and miserable who were longing for deliverance.

And why should it not have been so? Surely such tenderness well befitted Him who came to be their Saviour. Nor did He fail to show the propriety of His conduct in this. He did receive

sinners, and eat with them. He did manifest pity and commiseration for the despised and wretched. He did hold himself open to be visited by the wicked, the base, and the unclean. Nor did He ever weary in His efforts to serve, comfort, and bless all who came unto Him. But there was ample justification for it. A few simple and homely parables were enough to put His accusers to shame. His conduct, after all, was in strict accord with the principles that govern in the common affairs of life.

When but one out of the hundred of a shepherd's flock has strayed away, doth he not leave the ninety and nine to seek and recover it? When a woman misses one of her ten pieces of money, does she not search diligently for it, and show gladness in regaining it? What true-hearted father would not welcome his prodigal son when he returns in humble penitence, though ragged, reeking, and repulsive from his guilt? And why should not the merciful Saviour, sent to save the wandering, lost, and erring, cheerfully receive wandering souls when they come with broken hearts, seeking pardon and restoration!

It is a bereavement and calamity to lose what we value and love. It is a sore loss and sorrow when a son turns out a rioting spendthrift and vagabond. And so God, and heaven, and the holy universe, are bereft and damaged by men's sinfulness. So to speak, there is a privation and loss to Heaven inflicted by human apostacy; and there is every reason to wish the mutilation

healed. God loves and values His great flock, and is not willing that even one should be lost. Every member of it is a treasure. The human soul is a precious thing. It is a coin from the mint of heaven. It is stamped with Jehovah's image. It is a thing capacitated for a transcendent destiny. There is vast worth in it for good and profit, the loss of which is great and painful. And as a loving father is wounded and distressed to see his son going to the bad; so the great heart of God is moved and affected by the ruin of impenitent sinners. He loves them; He pities them; He has tender compassion for them; and is not willing to lose them; but would that all should come to repentance and live. It is no compensation for their loss that He has so many others left. Other souls and sons cannot satisfy for those that are gone. He might fill their places with new creations, but that could not cover the wound nor modify the calamity. Substituting archangels in their stead would not satisfy the personal interest and affection which infinite Goodness feels for each that He has created and so nobly endowed. It is the crippled and ailing child that lies the nearest to the parental heart; and where the tragic consequences of sin are most felt and lamented, there the divine compassion is deepest and most active.

Hence the readiness of Jesus to receive and favor sinners. It was not as the defender and patron of their wickedness. It was not to encourage and strengthen them in their evil ways.

It

was that he might help them out of their miseries, rescue and new-create their alien hearts to hope and heaven. He had words of comfort for the lowly and the guilty; He gave himself to companionship with those whom society discarded; He even dealt tenderly toward the very thralls and worn-out servants of the devil;—just that He might raise up the fallen, recover the lost, and bring salvation to the perishing. And such a

compassionate Saviour Jesus is.

And what a joyous achievement is success in such a work! Who can begin to tell what vast and eternal good is embraced in the saving of a perishing soul ! Lost, and found,-dead, and made alive again,-snatched from the mouth of hell and lifted to the height of heaven,-what blessedness of meaning is summed up in this! And if it is so glad a thing to the shepherd to get back one straying sheep, and to the father to have his errant son come home; what must it be to God and heaven, and all the holy universe, to have such master-pieces of divine creation rescued from the destroyer's grasp, and set up to live and shine as immortal stars in the kingdom of glory! Aye, says the Saviour, "there is joy in heaven,joy in the presence of the angels of God,—over one sinner that repenteth ;"-"more joy over one sinner that repenteth, than over ninety and nine just persons that need no repentance." The sighs and tears of a repentant Magdalene may awaken no interest on earth, or excite only disgust in the proud scribes and Pharisees; but wait

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