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a little village church where you worshipped God with kindred dear. But you have wandered from your nest. You have lost your friends; you have gone into the world; you are a sinner. Conscious you are that you scarcely dare to face the home of your childhood. You have come away from your old haunts, for you are ashamed to continue in them. You have wandered from your nest. And do you mean to wander on? Is yours to be for ever the flight of a bird that hath no roost?"Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests;" will you never have a place to lay your Are you condemned, like the unclean spirit, to wander through dry places, seeking rest and finding none ? Are you a pilgrim who shall never have a city that hath foundations, whose Builder and Maker is God? Are you like the phantom ship of which the mariners talk, which flits across the sea for aye, but never reaches a port? Nay, friend, you are not so to account yourself, though the devil hath told you that there is no hope; though he hath driven you to desperation, and persuaded you that you are given up of God and man. It is not so; it is not so. The Eternal Father, bending from high heaven, looks down upon you, and by these lips talks to you. Little as you were thinking that you would be found out, he saith to you, "Return, return, return." "Tis he who makes you say, "I will arise and go unto my Father." He meets you, prodigal; he falls about your neck; he gives you the kiss of reconciliation. He cries to-day to the messengers of mercy, "Take off his rags, and bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet, and let us eat, drink, and be merry, for he that was dead is

alive, and he that was lost is found." The bird has come back, and has found her nest; and as the motherbird is happy when that little fledgeling which she thought had fallen on the ground, or had been swallowed by the hawk, comes back, and she covers it with her feathers, and bids it nestle under her warm bosom, so is the Eternal Father happy; and as she rejoices, so, nay infinitely more, does the Eternal Father rejoice when the wanderer comes back to him, and finds comfort in his love.

Trust thou

Believe thou in the Lord Jesus Christ. in the Father's grace as manifest in the Saviour's wounds, and so thou shalt find an eternal nest from which thou shalt never wander till thou shalt build thy happy nest in heaven. Amen.

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"Strive to enter in at the strait gate; for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able."-Luke xiii. 24.

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friend.

HE precepts of our Lord Jesus Christ are dictated by the soundest wisdom. He has given us divine prescriptions for the health of our souls, and his commandments, though clothed with sovereign authority, are spoken in such infinite kindness that we may regard them as the advice of a true and faithful This is not a legal but a gospel exhortation"Strive to enter in at the strait gate." He himself is the only gate or the door by which we can find admission, and the way to enter in through Jesus Christ is not by working, but by believing. Then, as to the strife we are urged to carry on, it is an earnest endeavour to steer clear of all the rocks, and shoals, and quicksands of popular fallacies and deceitful traditions, and to sail in the deep waters, with his covenant for our chart, and his word for our compass, in simple obedience to his statutes, trusting to him as our pilot, whose voice we always hear, though his face we cannot The storm signal may well rouse your fears; the

see.

cry of peril had need excite your caution. The mere

mention sounds like a menace. enter in, and shall not be able."

"Many shall seek to Listen to that warn

ing, lest ye be amongst the "many" that foundermayhap you shall be among the few that escape. Hearken to what Jesus tells you shall come to pass with the multitude, that it may never come to pass with you

as individuals.

Mark now-A GATE WHICH IT IS MOST DESIRABLE TO ENTER.

Surely "many" would not seek to enter if they were not convinced of the desirableness of passing through it. The very fact that so many, although they fail, will at least seek to enter, proves that there is a desire, a reason, and a motive why men should aim to enter.

This gate—that is, Christ—it is most desirable for us to pass through, because it is the gate of the city of refuge. Cities of refuge were appointed for menslayers, that when they were pursued by the avenger of blood, they might pass the gate and be secure within the sanctuary or city. The gospel of Jesus Christ is intended as a refuge for those who have broken the law of God, whom vengeance is pursuing, who will certainly be overtaken, to their eternal destruction, unless they fly to Christ and find shelter in him. Outside of Christ the sword of fire pursues us swift and sharp. From God's wrath there is but one escape, and that is by a simple faith in Christ. Believe in him, and the sword is sheathed, and the mercy and the love of God will become your everlasting portion; but refuse to believe in Jesus, and your innumerable sins, written in his book, shall be laid at your door in that day when the pillars

of heaven shall reel, and the stars shall fall like withered fig-leaves from the tree. Oh! who would not wish to escape from the wrath to come? Mr. Whitefield, when preaching, would often hold up his hands and cry, "Oh! the wrath to come! the wrath to come! the wrath to come!" There is more weight and meaning in those words than tongue can tell or heart conceive. The wrath to come! the wrath to come! When past that gate, like Noah after he had passed into the ark, you are safe from the overwhelming deluge, you are sheltered from the devouring conflagration which shall consume the earth, you are rescued from the death and the doom that await the countless multitudes of the impenitent. Who would not wish to enter where there is salvation, the only place where salvation can be found?

It is desirable to enter this gate, because it is the gate of a home. What sweet music there is in that word "home!" Jesus is the home of his people's hearts. We are at rest when we get to Christ. We have all we want when we have Jesus. Happiness is the portion of the Christian in this present life while he lives upon his Saviour. I have seen outside the night refuges crowds of persons waiting an hour beforehand, till the doors were opened. Poor souls! Shivering in the cold, but solaced by the expectation of being warmed and comforted in a little time for a little while, when they should be admitted. What think ye, O homeless men and women! were there the prospect of a permanent home for you, a home from which you never could be banished, a home into which you could be introduced as dear children-would it not be worth your while to wait long at the door, and to knock again and again

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