prodigal son, sometimes unable to procure a draught of water when burning with fever. His bed was a mat, spread upon a board or chest, with a log for his pillow, and his food often only roots which he would pull up at night and eat raw. Rescued, unexpectedly, from this state, and again employed on board ship, he still continued his reckless course of life, and again was marvellously saved from a sudden death by drowning, by the interposition of that Providence which was reserving him for future usefulness. In the midst of this course he met with the works of Thomas à Kempis, and taking the book up carelessly, as he had often done others like it, the thought occurred to him, "What if these things should be true?" He tried to stifle the rising conviction, but it was forced upon him by a dreadful storm, which came on that night, and which left the vessel a mere wreck, to toss about for weeks at the mercy of the waves. Then the bold sailor's heart quailed at the thought of meeting his God. All his sins rose before him, and he waited, in gloom and despair, the ruin that he saw before him. But a hope began to return that the vessel might yet be saved, and with that hope came another, that he might be forgiven. At first he could not pray; but when he began to think of the life and death of the Lord Jesus-a death, he remembered, for sins not His own-the cry broke from him, "O God, save me, or I perish! The God of the Bible forgive me, for His Son's sake! My mother's God, the God of mercy, have mercy on me!" By the time he reached port all the delusions of infidelity had disappeared; the gospel was felt to be true, and he was comforted with the assurance that his heavenly Father had indeed received him back as a returning prodigal. The bands of sin, which nothing else could break, were thrown off; and in a few years he was the wellknown and much-revered minister of Jesus Christ, whose name can never be forgotten while the Church is militant here below. Thus have we traced the history of God's dealings in three instances, in which His mercy was wonderfully shown in bringing back the lost ones. The circumstances were different, and seem, like the parables, each to throw some light on His manner of working, and each to be particularly calculated to bring glory to His great name. I would only remark now, that we must beware of thinking that such cases of open sin and open infidelity are the only ones to which the title of "lost sheep," "lost treasure," or "prodigal son," could be applied. These histories are only chosen because they are striking examples; while each of these names would well represent the case of any sinner who has wandered away from a holy God and loving Father: and who is there that is not, or has not once been, such an one?"All we like sheep have gone astray," in heart, if not outwardly; and if any persist in refusing to return, they are only classing themselves with the proud Pharisees, who thought that they needed no repentance, and over whom, as such, the angels will never rejoice. Who the ninety-nine righteous are, has been a disputed point. We know that no man is righteous before God, and therefore some have thought that the angels are intended. To my mind it appears as if our Lord were saying that, supposing such to exist, there would still be more joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, than over them; in the same way that we always rejoice here on earth on the recovery of what we have lost, while the same. feeling is not called out by what we have always retained, and, consequently, never missed. Jesus did rejoice, and would rejoice, over all that returned to His loving embrace. Will not then each one who reads these pages resolve, first, to be, by the grace of God, a sheep in the Good Shepherd's fold; and, next, to imitate His blessed example, in striving to seek out and bring back all that are still wandering in the paths of sin and misery? HEAVEN." THE UNJUST STEWARD. THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS. THE RICH FOOL. Luke xii. 16-21. HE 15th and 16th chapters of St. Luke's Gospel give us two divisions of a discourse held by our Lord with an assembly composed partly of the openly wicked, and partly of the respectable but self-righteous members. of the Jewish community. In the former chapter, which contained those parables that we have just finished, He addressed Himself directly to the murmuring scribes and Pharisees; but evidently with the double purpose of reproving these latter for their pride and haughty contempt of their poor fallen brethren, and also of encouraging and welcoming back the returning penitents. In this chapter, of which the first part is addressed, on the other hand, to His disciples, in the presence of their enemies, a double purpose is again as plainly evident; for while in the parables that follow He is warning the former not to fall into those snares which kept back the Pharisees from His service, He is also indirectly addressing to the latter both invitation and warning. He would not have them think that all His love and care were confined to the poor, and those that were despised in respectable society, but would thus show them, that while these had openly rejected the service of God, and placed themselves in a miserable state of danger, they also were in no less peril because they were attempting an impossible thing, viz., the union of two opposite services-that of God and that of the world. "Ye cannot serve God and mammon," He says in the thirteenth verse. But we must remember that the publicans had it in their power to acquire riches as well as the Pharisees; and, therefore, to them this first parable of "the Unjust Steward" was quite as applicable and full of instruction as to any others. It is, however, one of the most difficult of all the parables to interpret, and numerous explanations of it have been given in all ages. We shall, therefore, merely venture to notice some of the difficulties that are usually felt, and then try to gather the lesson it was intended to teach. A certain rich man had a steward whom he discovered to be dishonest, and to |