There is a time which arrives in the lives of most, if not all of us, when we feel a desire to free ourselves of all bonds, even the light restraint which is laid upon us in our father's house. A child may be brought up in the love of God by pious parents; holy principles are instilled into him from his earliest youth, and for a time all seems to go well; he does not question the truth of what he is taught, he accepts it all, and seems to walk without difficulty in the way in which he is brought up. But as his mind developes, he begins to think for himself he begins ask, "Is this all true? that it is untrue?" He persuades himself that it is untrue; that what has been represented to him as evil, is not evil, that on the contrary it is good, and that much pleasure and profit may be gained by it; that also what has been represented as good, is, on the contrary, not good, and involves much pain at times, and restriction, and useless self-torment. Thus desiring

perhaps to doubt-to May it not be possible

his liberty, the liberty to see and judge for himself; he says, "Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me," and goes forth into the world hopeful and joyous, to make his own experience, and determined to take his fill of its pleasures.

See the same man ten or fifteen years later,it may be more, or it may even be less. It is not necessary that he should have plunged into riot and vice; he may only have followed the round of the permitted pleasures and dissipations of the world, and yet ask him if he is satisfied? If his soul is full? If he has found the happiness he sought and expected?-and he will tell you "No." He may have suffered no outward reverses, his houses may be still as richly furnished, his horses and carriages as splendid as ever,—but his heart is empty and unsatisfied.

There is in the mind of man a craving for something solid and enduring; a firm friendship, a true love, some one to trust, and these he does not find among the gay crowds which surround

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him. The time comes when pleasure palls upon him, when he finds that the pomps of the world are but vanity, and he is satiated with the enjoyments which he once pursued so ardently: then he returns in thought to the pure pleasures of his Father's hearth, to the simple life he led there, full of the peace and love and happiness he now wants, but cannot find.

When God created man, He created him in His own image. He placed Him in Eden where he was perfectly happy and needed nothing, and yet he was not satisfied. When Adam and Eve took of the forbidden fruit, was it not that they said to God, like the prodigal to his father, "Give me the portion of goods that falleth to me." They wanted their liberty,—freedom even from the light yoke of happiness.

The question has often arisen in many minds, “ Why did not God, to whom all things are possible, create man perfectly happy and sinless? Why did He not create him so that he could not sin?" We feel that if our son said to us,

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Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me," we should use our paternal authority and discretion, we should refuse to give him that which we believe would be hurtful to him; we should reason with him, and endeavour to dissuade him from pursuing his evil course. That is the way in which you and I would act. But God did not so. Could God have created man a perfect being, incapable of sinning, or of falling into temptation, and yet have made him in His own image, free, responsi ble, and with a conscience to guide him right? And which of us, even fallen as we now are, would exchange our freedom, our responsibility, our conscience, our judgment, all that constitutes the image of God within us, for the sake of an imposed, unchosen, happiness? Therefore, God lets man choose his own way, and happy are they who, after having tried the pleasures of this world, find out their wretchedness, their emptiness,their utter inability to satisfy the infinite cravings of the soul created in the image

of the Eternal God, and who from out of their misery turn to seek their Father's home again. Happy are they! Yet how far happier those who from their earliest youth "choose first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,—who, taking up the easy burden that Christ lays upon them, never have to groan like the prodigal under the heavy load of sin, and the intolerable burden of remorse. Oh, friends! that you could be persuaded to choose now for your Master, Him whose service is perfect freedom!