to our lips, as we hear of the man of God who came from Bethel, and think of his virtues, his failings and his end. Alas! who indeed? who of all the sons of men,-if we must first wash our hands in innocency? which among ourselves, even the best and holiest, if our smallest sins are noted in God's book, and the heaviest cannot pass from His remembrance? But "where sin abounded, grace did much more abound." We are not lost men, for Christ "died the just for the unjust, to bring us unto God.” But we must understand the Gospel, and receive and obey it. At the Cross we learn the double lesson not to excuse the most triffing fault, and not to despair of pardon for transgressions on which the world cries shame. these things are hidden from you,—if, like the unbelieving crowd, you wander abroad thinking that no danger is nigh, and, when you fail in duty or fall into common sins, instead of sorrowing unto repentance, take refuge in vague dreamy thoughts and hopes about an universal pardon for all but desperate offenders, O beware, beware; for the "roaring lion" is abroad and on the watch; and if he shall persuade you to believe that lie while life shall last, and when death is near, he will surely cut you off from life and happiness.

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God's mercies, indeed, are infinite. They are high, and reach unto the heavens; they are broad and embrace the wide circuit of the earth. The proclamation runs, "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters." The terms, unlike all the

bargainings of earth, are these, "Come, buy and eat, without money and without price." "It is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners," ay, the very chief of them. But to the unhumbled transgressor all these promises are nothing worth. They who make light of sin cannot have the benefit of them. The self-justifying sinner God will not justify. For this is His word to all ages,-tens of thousands have found it true to their unspeakable gain, and tens of thousands to their eternal loss,——— "To this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word."

SERMON XI.

THE UNFAILING STORE.

1 KINGS Xvii. 15, 16.

"And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days. And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord, which He spake by Elijah."

(Eighth Sunday after Trinity.-Evening.)

ELIJAH, the man of God, is suddenly introduced upon the scene in the opening verse of this Chapter, and fills a very conspicuous place in the succeeding narrative. He was called to do a great work for God, at a time of abounding corruption, and, while thus employed, was under heavenly guidance, and maintained by extraordinary supplies. While he dwelt by the brook Cherith, he had for his ministering servants one of the winged tribes, which seem to fly at random through the air, but are really as obedient to God's bidding as the blessed angels who stand around His throne. Our text tells us of another mode of catering to the Prophet's neces

sities. By divine direction he became the guest of a poor widow, who received him in faith, and was richly rewarded for her generosity before he left her house. A little meal in the barrel, a little oil in the cruse, was all her store when the Prophet came, yet ungrudgingly this was shared with him, and marvellously held out from day to day. Three persons lived on it, yet it grew no less, being replenished by Him who "openeth His hand, and filleth all things living with plenteousness."

The whole Chapter, then, is full of wonders; and because the events described in it are so strange,so much unlike what we ourselves see and have experience of,—many persons hardly think of learning any thing from it. "God wrought miracles, no doubt," they say, "in ancient days by the hands of His servants, the Prophets. But now Prophecies have ceased, and Miracles have ceased with them. We live in a common, every-day world; the birds feed their own young, but feed none besides; the dead never come back to life; and no store of provisions is found any where which is replenished without labour, and consumed without growing less. We listen, when such Chapters come before us, just as we listen to the narrative which tells us how God made the world, and how the flood drowned it; but no lesson can we learn from events so foreign to ourselves."

Now there are very few Scripture narratives from which the devout mind may not learn something. From this, I am sure, we may learn a good

deal; and so I am going to dwell upon it for a little while, in the hope of giving your thoughts a right direction, and leading you to a more thankful recognition of God's Providence in your own common, every-day world. You need not go emptyhanded from Church,-though the day's lesson is about ravens who fed God's Prophet in the wilderness at one time, and about a good, charitable woman whom God fed by miracle in her own house at another time,-if your wish is to be fed with the Bread of Life, and to learn how to serve God abroad and at home with thankful, obedient, loving hearts. May God be with us, then, and help us by His good Spirit, while we try to expound this portion of His word, and to draw some practical instruction from the widow's barrel and cruse which never got emptier while she trusted God, and generously helped His servant.

The first thought, I dare say, of every poor man, when he hears of such an unfailing, unwasting store is this, "How unlike my store! That wastes so fast! Every day, every meal, makes it less; and often, when it is nearly gone, I know not how to replenish it. A deal of labour goes for what is soon spent, and try as I will, with many mouths to feed, it is difficult to husband it so carefully as prudence requires me to do. The friend would be worth welcoming as a Prophet,—I would give him of my best, and would thank him heartily besides, —who should impart to me a secret like that, and

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