ing angels are rejoiced, and the bells of heaven are set a ringing, and the sons of God shout for joy over the new birth of a fellow-heir to a glorious immortality. Nor is there ever a conversion of a sinner on earth but it awakens songs in heaven.

How indeed shall we gauge the satisfaction of Jesus as He beholds the fruits of the travail of His soul! This is an ocean too wide for our gaze to reach across it, and too deep for our fathom line to sound. We cannot know the bitterness of the cup He drank, nor feel the agony that made His pores sweat blood, nor estimate the burden of the cross under which He fainted and on which He died. No, the encyclopedia of Calvary, and the melting lore of dying love, are too profound for our powers to compass. And so it is beyond our reach to measure the heavenly joy over the trophies of that wondrous tragedy.

And when for such glad results the Saviour dealt so graciously toward the guilty and despised, how utterly discordant and shameful the attempt to stigmatize and condemn Him for it! What these people charged and meant for His dishonor was really a most precious encomium. What more cheerful and hopeful to sin-burdened and anxious souls could be said of Him than that "this man receiveth sinners!" And what, alas, would be our fate if this saying were not true?"

A blessed Gospel, therefore, is that which has been thus given us to preach. A compassionate Saviour has come to seek and to save the lost. In

Him there is hope even for the worst. He is here to receive, to pardon, and to bless, if sinful souls will but draw near in humble penitence. His word still is, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Nor is there any other Name under heaven, given among men, whereby to be saved.

What think ye then of Christ? In what esteem do you hold Him? Is it a thing of hopeful joy to you that the guilty and outcast can find favor with Him? Have you felt drawn to Him in loving interest to hear His gracious words and profit by His mercies? Sinners as we all are, has it been yours to make the angels glad by repentance? And if disturbed and troubled by past negligences and sins, be comforted by what this day's Gospel preaches, and rejoice in the blessed truth that "This man receiveth sinners."

Seeking and Finding.

Fourth Sunday after Trinity.

They . . . found Him on the other side of the sea.-JNO. 6: 25.

T is a great and blessed thing to find Christ. To find Him, is to find the centre of all Christian faith and hope. To find Him, is to find the well-spring of eternal youth. There be many treasures in the world, but none to compare with Jesus, who proposes to be wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption to all those who devoutly come to Him. And He is also to be found of all those who diligently seek Him. In some sense also the world is full of those who seek Him; for He has ever been "The Desire of nations."

But the seekers of Christ are of quite different sorts. Henry Martyn, the missionary, found that the thronging crowds of poor Hindoos that gathered around him every week came more for the bread he was in the habit of distributing among them, than for the Gospel Bread of Life. And so it is with many still. They profess religion, join the Church, or take part with Church people, more for the credit, social standing, or business advantages it may be to them, than for any honest

spiritual profit. What they look at is the worldly gain it may be to them. They have a relish for the loaves and fishes, and this it is that controls their movements. They are eager enough to have Christ as their Prophet and King, if He will prosper their earthly lives, fill their barns and purses, and crown them with temporal good and honor. But when the soul is to be subjugated to righteousness and truth, self-denial and the cross endured, the ardor fails, and the showy zeal expires. When there is to be a feeding of the flesh and its lusts and appetites, or food or money to be given away, there is stir and eagerness enough; but when only spiritual good is to be obtained, and only the Bread of Life is offered, the multitudes turn away, and the altar of God is neglected and forsaken. It is well indeed to It be zealous and determined in seeking Christ. is the only way to eternal salvation. But it must be a seeking of Him as the Saviour of souls.

But to find Christ so as to be to us a personal saving it is often necessary to cross the sea. These people found Him on the other side of the sea. A man has sometimes to leave his old way of life and enter a new land to find his fortune. And the same sort of necessity often holds in these spiritual things. There are two sides to life; a right side and a wrong side; and it is on the wrong side, -the side of sin and condemnation,—that all are born and many continue to live. For such there is no hope but to emigrate, to quit the old life and associations, and to cross

over to the other side, where alone Christ and salvation are to be found.

Between many and the Saviour there is a dark wide sea of unrepented and unforgiven sin, which must be crossed to reach Him. He is indeed willing and ready to receive and save even the worst; but they must consent to part from their old evil ways, leave the shores of desolation, and come to Him on the other side.

It is easy to become badly severed from the shore of safety. If you have stood upon some jutting rocks or timbers close to the water's edge at the incoming tide of the sea, you perhaps remember how imperceptible its approach was. You saw a little shivering spread of thin water running up upon the smooth sand, and some tiny wavelets gliding in only to retire as they came, with nothing to indicate the majesty of the incoming waters, until presently you found yourself cut off from the land by a wide stretch of sea rolling between you and safety. And so it is with sin. The first may be a trifle. "Is it not a little one?" of evil glides in, each little wave followed by another, and every successor coming faster and deeper until, before the person is aware of it, he is surrounded by an ever-widening sea that must be crossed in order to be saved.

We excuse it and say,
But gradually the tide

What is it, then, that separates so many from Christ, and the peace which is to be found in Him?

With some it is a subtle unbelief and false