and true happiness in God,-can only be filled by God!

"I am the bread of life;" the Lord Jesus says, (John vi. 35.) "He that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst."

IV.

LUKE XV, 18-20.

18. I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, 19. And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.

20. And he arose and came to his father.

In following through this parable the history of the sinner, in tracing his alienation from, and his return to God, we have already alluded to the time when he "comes to himself," feeling himself bowed down beneath the weight of his physical and moral abjectness.

That time, which comes to most if not all of us, is a solemn moment in our lives, out of which arises, according as we profit by it, life or death to our souls. All who "come to themselves " do not return to God. Many, after living for some time conscious of their degradation, and in fear for the consequences of their sin, cast those

feelings off as a burden greater than they can bear, and recklessly return to their old life. Some fall into despair. You may, perhaps, have known instances of people, who, absorbed in the contemplation of their sin and of the justice of God which menaces them, seem to be left without hope, and losing hope, despair has seized them and they have lost their reason too. On this account the doctrines of the Gospel have been considered dangerous, but it is not the Gospel,the "good tidings of great joy," which drives a man to despair-it is sin, and its punishment, and the fear of never being able to escape it.

To me, the wonder is that there are not more such cases, for when we consider only our sin, how can we hope for God's mercy, and whatwhat remains to the soul from whom the hope of mercy is taken ?

But it is wrong, it is sinful to despair, it is denying the power of God, denying His mercy and His love! Let us always remember, if ever our conscience accusing us our souls

were to fall into so fearful a state,-let us remember that we are forbidden to despair. As long as there is a God in Heaven who " gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish," (John iii. 16,)—a God who calls to us, "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth," (Isa. xlv. 22,) and who has promised "him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out," (John vi. 37,)—so long as this God is in heaven, the sinner is forbidden to despair.

Some men from out of their despair, accuse God; they accuse the propensities with which they were born-the circumstances in which they are placed, and question, "Why have I been so placed?—the fault is not in me;-God has put me here-fate has led me; I could not act otherwise, my conduct has been a necessity; and if I have acted thus of necessity, God's justice cannot punish me, for to deserve punishment there must be liberty of action," and instead of buckling on their armour to fight the

evil that is in them, they fall back into their old ways, reconciled as it were to their sin.

Others, again, consider that their passions legitimize all things, and all the high aspirations of the soul, the noble ambitions which raise us above the world, all that is the work of the Spirit of God in the soul, they treat as follies. Why should we trouble ourselves," they say, "let us enjoy to-day, for to-morrow we die."

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Thus, sometimes from despair — sometimes from a so-called philosophy, denying the responsibility of man-and sometimes from the love of sin, men-for whom God has done so muchlose their own souls, because they will not do their part of the work of salvation, because they will not "arise and go to Him," and cry to Him for the help and light which He will surely give.

It was not so with the prodigal. He did not give way to despair, nor try to justify his sin, nor endeavour to reconcile himself to his situa tion. "I will arise," he says, "and go to my