And would that wanderer have been satisfied, think you, to have remained in the wilderness? If the way home had been shown him, would he have refused to return? Weary, hungry, foot-sore, would he have said in reply, "Thank you! I have all I want in the wilderness; it is good enough for me. To find the way home would be more trouble than it is worth; I have no anxiety about that."

Oh no! food, rest, home, would be too valuable in his estimation to make such an answer possible.

But now look at the contrast. There are lost ones who care not to be found; and wanderers who would fain stray on for ever. Reader, dear reader, it may be that you are among the number. You have wandered away in the wilderness, far and farther still, as life has gone on; your soul is hungry because the pleasures of this vain world, on which it is trying to feed, can never really satisfy it. They are like the roots and berries of the desert, they just stay the gnawings of starvation for a little while; but there is no real nourishment in them. Your feet are weary because they know not, and you do not care to know, the rest of home. Your whole being is wanting something, and looking for something which it never seems to find.

Do you know what I mean? You have been living without God in the world; you have been sinning against him all your life long, and you have never asked to be forgiven. You know that you must die, and you have no home to go to after death. Yet all the while there is a dull, heavy, unsatisfied longing at your heart, like the wanderer yearning for the home he knows not how to reach. Is not this to be worse than lost; worse than a wanderer in the wilderness; worse than a sheep straying upon the mountains?

But the shepherd seeks the missing sheep; and the Lord Jesus Christ, the heavenly Shepherd, seeks you. He loves you. He cares for you. He has died instead of you. He has borne the punishment of sin for you, that you might go free. And now He stands before you this day. He says,

"Return unto me, for I have redeemed thee.”* open; it only needs that you be ready.

The way is

But oh! that is the saddest part of all; you are not ready; you will not come, you will not see your only happiness. But even this God has provided for; his Holy Spirit can and will make you willing if you will ask for this gift of God. That blessed Spirit will gently turn your heart to the loving Saviour, who tells us that "The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost."† "They have gone from mountain to hill; they have forgotten their resting-place;" "Yet return again to me, saith the Lord."‡

God grant you grace to say in reply, from your inmost heart, "Behold, we come unto thee, for thou art the Lord our God."§ And then will it be said of you, "This my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.”||

Christ all in all.

PPLY unto thyself all that thy Saviour is, or hath done. Wouldst thou have the graces of God's Spirit?—fetch them from His anointing. Wouldst

thou have power against spiritual enemies?-fetch it from His sovereignty. Wouldst thou have redemption ?— fetch it from His passion. Wouldst thou have absolution?– fetch it from His perfect innocence. Freedom from the curse?-fetch it from His cross. Satisfaction?—fetch it from His sacrifice. Cleansing from sin ?-fetch it from His blood. Mortification ?-fetch it from His grave. Newness of life?—fetch it from His resurrection. Right to heaven? -fetch it from His purchase. Audience in all thy suits?— fetch it from His intercession. Wouldst thou have salvation ?—fetch it from His session at the right hand of majesty. Wouldst thou have all?—fetch it from Him who is one Lord, one God and Father of all, who is above all, † Luke xix. 10. Jer. L. 6; iii. 1.

*Isa. xliv. 22.

and through all, and in all.”* And as thy faith shall thus interest thee in Christ, thy Head; so let thy charity unite thee to His body the Church, both in earth and heaven. Hold ever an inviolable communion with that holy and blessed fraternity. Sever not thyself from it either in judgment or affection. Make account there is not one of God's saints upon earth but hath a property in thee, and thou mayest challenge the same in each of them, so that thou canst not but be sensible of their passions; and be freely communicative of all thy graces, and all serviceable offices, by example, admonition, exhortation, consolation, prayer, beneficence, for the good of that sacred community.

And when thou raisest up thy eyes to heaven, think of that glorious society of blessed saints who are gone before thee, and are now there, triumphing, and reigning in eternal and incomprehensible glory; bless God for them, and wish thyself with them; tread in their holy steps, and be ambitious of that crown of glory and immortality which thou seest shining on their heads.—Bp. Hall.

My life shall seem a trance, a dream,
And all I feel and see
Illusive, visionary,-Thou
The one reality!

Show me Thy face;

I shall forget

The weary days of yore;

The fretting ghosts of vain regret
Shall haunt my soul no more:
All doubts and fears for future years
In quiet trust subside,

And nought but blest content and calm
Within my breast reside.

Show me Thy face

The heaviest cross

Will then seem light to bear;

There will be gain in every loss,

And peace with every care.
With such light feet

The years will fleet,

Life seem as brief as blest,

Till I have laid my burden down,

And entered into rest.

Show me Thy face,

And I shall be

In heart and mind renewed,
With wisdom, grace, and energy

To work Thy work endued.
Shine clear, though pale,
Behind the veil,

Until, the veil removed,

In perfect glory I behold

The Face that I have loved!