ROUGH NOTES.

I.

LUKE XV, 1-10.

1. Then drew near unto Him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him.

2. And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.

3. And he spake this parable unto them, saying,

4. What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is 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 neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.

7. I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven

over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.

8. Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it?

9. And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbours together, saying, Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I had lost.

10. Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God, over one sinner that repenteth.

THE Lord Jesus was emphatically a "street preacher." His audience was composed of the lowest and most lost of mankind. He did not choose His disciples; they "drew near to Him for to hear Him," and He welcomed all who came. His gracious preaching attracted them. In it the hopeless found a new hope; the outcasts heard that a refuge was open to them; sinners were promised pardon, and the weary and heavy laden, rest. The great attraction of the Lord Jesus for those poor people, consisted in His infinite love and compassion for them, -His

sympathy with them; they felt this, and it "drew them unto Him to hear Him."

We, too often, when we stoop to do good to the miserable outcasts of society, do it from the height of our respectability and virtue; we have not the yearning love which Jesus had for them; we have not the intense desire to win them to everlasting happiness which He had, and which made it no effort to Him to mix with them, and to speak to them living words out of the abundance which was in His heart. It is this want which makes the Gospel we preach cold and unattractive. Though we call ourselves Christians how few of us have in us the loving spirit of Christ. We, who ought to be, as it were, the continuation of Him on the earth, act quite differently to what He did. Our religion is theoretical, His was practical. In theory we hold, what the Bible tells us, that the proud man is as far, nay farther from God than even such open sinners; and yet, provided the proud man is surrounded by respectable outward

appearances, we hold out the right hand of fellowship to him, whereas we repulse the outcast with disgust.

We are not like Christ! To become like Him, to obtain His spirit of Divine love and boundless sympathy, we must first feel ourselves to be sinners, yea, sinners perhaps viler in the sight of God than those whom we so scorn. We must take the measure of our numberless advantages of position, of education, of freedom from temptation to gross sins; we must lay in the balance our pride, our want of charity, our many sins of omission, and if we judge ourselves rightlyjudge our hearts as God sees them, we must descend in our own estimation, we must confess ourselves to be vile; we must go down, down, till we have placed ourselves on a level with the lowest of mankind, and even then we should feel in our hearts, that if there was a lower place still, that would be the fittest for us.

Having been thus humbled in our own sight, and having experienced in our hearts the infinite