receiveth sinners," is the name and character by which He is known. "This Man receiveth sinners," is written in legible characters over the mercy-seat, inviting you to draw near. "This Man receiveth sinners," is the Gospel echo which sounds aloud from Calvary, and has been re-echoed for the last two thousand years. Listen, sinner, to the sound! Let its melody fall on thy weary and heavy-laden heart. It shall fill thy soul with gladness; it shall fill thy lips with praise. Angels, bending over the battlements of heaven, shall hail thy spiritual birth, and there shall be joy unspeakable in the realms of the blessed. "Blessed are the people that know the joyful sound; they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of Thy countenance."

"There is a balm for every grief,

A charm for every woe;

It comes with swift and sure relief,
Its worth how well I know.

The cloud may rise, the storm may rage,

Their terrors I have proved,

But oh that charm, it never fails,
I know that I am loved!

Time on its ever-varying wing
Full many a burden bears,
And oft, alas! its track is marked
With anguish and with tears :
Some cup of sorrow to be drained-
Some cherished joy removed,
But midst the ever-varying scene
I know that I am loved!

O Thou who formed each secret cord,
With skill beyond our ken,

To vibrate at a touch-a word

In all the hearts of men ;
The secret of my love to Thee
By time and change unmoved,
Its spring, its steadfastness, is this,
I know that I am loved!

For ever! yea, for ever loved,
And evermore to be,

In ages past, in days to come

Throughout eternity!

All love that e'er deserved the name
From this blest Fountain flowed,

The centre of eternal joy,

I know that I am loved!

Jesus, ascended Lord, Thy life—
Thy death revealed a love

Whose height was yet unknown on earth,
Its depth unknown above.
Assurance! Oh! 'tis doubly sure,

By oath, by blood approved,
And God Himself has made it mine,
I know that I am loved!

Dear Fount of life-of hope-of bliss,

There is no love like Thine,

Yet each sweet stream that flows from Thee

Is like Thyself divine.

Oh may Thy saints with me proclaim

By Thine own Spirit moved,

Their password this, in life and death:
I know that I am loved!"

"DRAW ME, WE WILL run aftER

THEE."

SONG i. 4.

All

WHAT a comprehensive passage this is! Mark the connection between our running and Christ drawing. He must draw before we can run. is of God. Man's will is nothing unless it be drawn. Man has a will, but it is not to be saved. "No man can come to Me except the Father which sent Me draw him." And if ever his will is addressed in the Word of God, this "drawing" is always understood, always in the background. If man comes, it is because he is drawn. Not a sinner, from the days of Adam to the present time, ever came in any other way. Is man, then, a mere automaton? No. "They shall be made willing in the day of My power." The Spirit of God operates on man's will-constrains it, so that it yields. And so in the higher stages of the Divine life. All is of God's drawing power. All is of grace, and grace only. And what is the great drawing power here? Jesus. This is all the soul needs. It is the Spirit of God presenting Jesus, Jesus only, to

Do we

Do we

the soul. Then it runs. It never seems to go fast enough. The transcendent loveliness of His countenance has a power over the heart stronger than all the forces of morality or nature. want to draw sinners ?-lift up Jesus. want to draw saints ?-exalt Jesus. Do we want to give peace to the conscience ?-present Jesus and His finished work. Do we want to comfort the weary and heavy laden ?-oh, present Jesus to them! Do we want to cheer life's rugged pathway, lift the load from some burdened spirit, light up the dark valley into which some shrinking saint is about to enter? show them Jesus,—show them Jesus-Jesus only! For every state and every circumstance, for all times and all places, present Jesus. This is Heaven's panacea for every malady.

The

Mark again the individuality-" draw me.” coming to Jesus, the pressing after Jesus, the conformity to Jesus-all is individual. Ask not, with one of old, "What shall this man do?" but rather, "What am I doing?" "What is Christ to me?" Reader, affectionately and earnestly I ask, as your eye falls on these pages, is your inward heart secretly hungering, thirsting for Jesus? "What think you of Christ?" May God touch your conscience with this question, and enable you to look in His face with one of old and say, "Lord, Thou knowest all things; Thou knowest that I love Thee."

"We will run after Thee," not "walk.” quickened step, an earnest race.

It is a

It is heart, hands,

and head engaged in His service. Is is a "reaching forth," a "pressing" towards the mark. Oh, what will keep the soul thus moving onward, regardless of what the world says, what friends say, or what one's own heart would say? The eye fixed on Jesus. There is power. There is that which will keep everything under the feet. There is that which will make it "run;" run with alacrity, yet with Divine wisdom; run with zeal, yet with patience; run in the face of the world, the flesh, and the devil-and yet "more than conqueror" over all," through Him that loved us."

And lastly, mark the single eye-" after Thee." What a heart-searching principle is involved here ! How other motives come in in our Christian course! How much seems done for Christ, which, if it were sifted, would be found to be selfishness! How much is taken up and persevered in with a latent desire to stand well with the Church or the world! Oh, how little the eye is single in running the heavenward race! How films, or shadows, or clouds, dark and deep, come between the soul and Jesus! But let the Spirit of God draw me aside, search my motives and my conduct in the light of His countenance, then shall I see my own folly and weakness and sin, and learn to look more simply at Jesus. Then shall I cast this vile self behind, and with Him alone filling my vision, press onward