vehemently and pursued passionately; because God hath set such a value upon them, that they are the effects of his greatest loving-kindness; they are the purchases of Christ's blood, and the effect of his continual intercession. And if we can have fondnesses for things indifferent or dangerous; our prayers upbraid our spirits, when we beg coldly and tamely for those things which are more precious than the globes of kings, weightier than imperial sceptres, and richer than the spoils of the sea.

We come to God because it is a general custom, but neither drawn thither by love, nor pinched by spiritual necessities and pungent apprehensions. We say so many prayers, because we are resolved so to do; and we pass through them, sometimes with a little attention, sometimes with none at all. Can we expect that our sins should be washed by a lazy prayer? Can an indifferent prayer rescue us from an eternal sorrow? Is Satan so slight and easy an enemy that he will fly away from us at the first word, spoken without power, and without vehemence? Read and attend to the accents of the prayers of saints. I cried day and night before thee, O Lord! my soul refused comfort; my throat is dry with calling upon my God; my knees are weak through fasting; and, let me alone, says God to Moses; and, I will not let thee go till thou hast blessed me, said Jacob to the angel. Though your person be as gracious as David, and your desires as holy as the love of angels, and your necessities great as a new penitent; yet it pierces not the clouds unless it be also as loud as thunder, and clamorous as necessity. Every prayer we make, is considered by God; but cold prayers are not put into the account: but are laid aside like the buds of roses, which a cold wind hath nipt into death. And when, in order to your hopes of obtaining a great blessing, you reckon up your prayers, with which you have solicited your suit in the court of heaven; you must reckon, not by the number of the prayers themselves, but by your sighs and the fervour of your spirit. Christ prayed with "loud cryings;" and St. Paul made mention of his scholars, in his prayers, night and day. Fall upon your knees, and grow there; and let not your zeal remit. Remember to how great a God you speak; therefore, let not your devotions be little. Remember how great a need thou hast; let not your desires be less. Remember how great is the

thing you pray for; do not undervalue it with thy indifferency. Remember, that prayer is an act of religion; let it, therefore, be made thy business and lastly, remember, that God hates a cold prayer; and therefore it shall always be ineffectual.

Under this title of lukewarmness, may be comprised also this caution that a good man's prayers are sometimes hindered by want of perseverance. The prayer lives like the repentance of Simon Magus; or the trembling of Felix. But if we would secure the blessing of our prayers, we must never leave till we have obtained what we need. Israel prevailed no longer than Moses held up his hands in prayer: and he was forced to continue his prayer till the going down of the sun; that is, till the danger was over. Whatsoever you need, ask it of God as long as you want it; even till you obtain it. For God many times defers to grant, that thou mayest persevere to ask; and because every prayer is a glorification of God, by the confessing many of his attributes. A lasting and persevering prayer is a little image of the hallelujahs and services of eternity: it is a continuation to do that, according to our measures, which we shall be doing to eternal ages. (Bishop J. TAYLOR.)

He

Publicans and sinners attend our Lord's instruction. vindicates, by the parables of the Lost Sheep and the Lost Drachma, his readiness to receive them. LUKE, XV. 1-10.

1. THEN drew near unto him many tax-gatherers and heathens, for to hear him. 2. And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man taketh pleasure in sinners, and eateth with them, as guest.

3. And Jesus spake this parable unto them, saying, 4, Who of you, having a hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the pastures of the desert, and go in search of that which was lost, until he find it? 5. And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6. And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and his neighbours, saying unto them, 'Rejoice with me: for I have found my sheep which was lost. So, I say unto you, That greater joy will be in heaven over one reformed sinner, than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need not reformation.

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8. Or what woman, having ten drachmas, if she lose one of them, doth not light a lamp, and sweep the house, and search carefully till she find it? 9. And when she hath found it, she calleth her female-friends and neighbours together, saying, ' Rejoice with me: for I have found the drachma which I had lost.' 10. So I say unto you, There is joy among the angels of God over one reformed sinner.

THE supercilious and self-righteous Pharisees affected to despise our Lord's charitable endeavours for the reformation of sinners. Our Saviour, in these two parables, insists that the reformation even of the most profligate sinners, such as the publicans generally were, was an object of great importance, not only to the happiness of the persons themselves, but to the glory of God; and, in some sense, conducive to the felicity of Blessed Spirits.

I. In considering the circumstances of these Parables, as leading to these important points of instruction, the first thing is the representation of the unhappy state of every man, while he remains under the dominion of sin.

1. He is compared to a lost sheep, which has gone astray from the sheep-fold; a very natural image of the case, and frequently used by the sacred writers. "I have gone astray," says David, "like a lost sheep; seek thy servant." The slave of vicious lusts breaks through those sacred enclosures, where God feeds the people of his pasture, and wanders without reflection, amidst the precipices of vice, in hazard every moment of everlasting perdition. Like a lost sheep, he has neither ability nor inclination to return to the great Shepherd and Bishop of souls. He is exposed to the assaults of Satan, that "roaring lion, who goes about seeking whom he may devour."

I. 2. The next parable represents the same object in a similar, yet different point of light. God made man upright,' bearing resemblance to himself in his intellectual and moral attributes. But man, being left to the freedom of his will, degenerated from the rectitude of his nature, so that his original glory is departed from him. In this state of moral corruption, he is compared to a piece of beautiful coin, for a time lost in the dust of the earth, where its former lustre is miserably tarnished, and its value diminished. We find the same similitude of

debased coin used in the sacred Scriptures in other places, to express the corruption and degeneracy of the heaven-born soul, through the prevalence of vicious passions. "How is the gold become dim." "Thy silver is become dross." As a piece of coin, lost in the dust of the earth, is of no value; so the soul, until it be sanctified and renewed by the Spirit of God, is lost to God and the noble purposes of its being.

II. The second thing represented in the parable, is the solicitude of our heavenly Father, to reclaim sinners from their vicious courses, and save them from everlasting perdition.

1. He is compared to a faithful shepherd, ever watchful for the safety of his flock. When one of them strays from the fold, he goes in quest of the thoughtless wanderer; and having found it, he endeavours to lead it back with his friendly crook, and to replace it among the rest of the flock. This is a metaphor, used in Scripture, to express the tender concern of the Father of mercies for impenitent sinners. "The Lord is my shepherd. He shall feed his flock, like a shepherd." Thus our Saviour terms himself The Good Shepherd. (John, x. 11.) The same comfortable truth is taught in the diligence of the woman, who carefully sought and recovered the piece of silver coin which was lost. In the two cases supposed, God is represented as so deeply interested in the recovery even of one soul that is ready to perish, as for a time seemingly to neglect the care of those who are in no such hazard; nay, rejoicing in the success of his labours, as if some real honour and felicity did accrue to himself from it. The same thing is confirmed by many express declarations in holy Scripture. "As I live (saith the Lord) I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked: turn ye from your evil ways: for why will ye die, O house of Israel ?"

This repentance of sinners is represented as a matter of joy in heaven. God is represented, after the manner of men, as feeling a more sensible pleasure in the repentance of one sinner, than in the continued obedience of ninety and nine comparatively righteous persons, who, having never gone astray into such licentious courses, are not in the same hazard of everlasting perdition; even as a father rejoices more in the unexpected recovery of one son who was given over for dead, than in the health and safety of his other children whom yet he loves with equal tenderness. It is not unusual for us to be more sensibly

affected by an unexpected advantage, than by the continuance of more valuable things which we have long enjoyed.

This joy in heaven may be considered in reference to God who is not willing that any should perish; but especially in reference to the Blessed Jesus, our benevolent Intercessor. Is he not exalted as a Prince and Saviour to give repentance and remission of sins? The conversion even of one sinner that repenteth, is a new trophy erected to the glory of his grace; a His joy will then be

new gem added to his celestial crown. full, when he shall have delivered up the mediatorial kingdom to his Father, that God may be all in all.

The angels to whom our Saviour alludes, must feel a joy in a more literal sense. They congratulated with ecstasy the Saviour's birth; they cannot but rejoice, when redemption, wrought by their king, shall have brought additions of just men to participate in their own eternal felicity.

The representation of universal joy in heaven, occasioned by the repentance of sinners, is a powerful motive to engage them to forsake their sins. We are not only assured, from the plain import of these parables, that God is willing to restore them to favour; but that he rejoiceth in their recovery, as if a real accession to his glory and felicity resulted from that event.

The same consideration should engage us to promote, as far as we have power, the salvation of others. Our Saviour himself assures us, that by promoting the conversion of a sinner, we shall fulfil the joy of the Blessed God and Father of all; of Jesus, the Mediator of the New Covenant; and of an innumerable company of angels. We shall fulfil our own joy also for 'they that turn many to righteousness, shall shine as the stars, for ever and ever.' (Dr. A. GRAY.) See my "Second Course of Sermons," vol. ii. p. 28.

Our Saviour impresses the necessity of vigilance, in the parable of the Good and Evil Servant: MATTHEW, xxiv. 43-51.

THIS ye know, that if the householder had known in what watch of the night the thief would have come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be dug-through. 44. Be ye, therefore, also ready for in an hour as ye think not, the Son of Man