though the vessel of your hopes be tossed and tempest-driven - what though the sails be rent and the rudder gone, and "neither sun nor stars appear,” and “ all hope that ye shall be saved" is "taken away," there is a Pilot who can give the word, and the half-foundered bark shall right again, and again plough the deep, and catch the gale, and at length reach the haven where ye would be. It is my cheering duty, as the minister of the Redeemer of the world, to address you in language similar to that of the Apostle of old, and say to you" There shall be no loss of any man's life," if only you will cast yourself on the power and goodness of the Ruler of the storm, and the Deliverer of his people. Will you not, then, listen to the invitation? Will you not throw yourself into the wide arms of Heavenly Compassion? If sin has been contracted by the transgression of the law of Christ, is it not expiated by the shedding of His blood? Is it not still true that he who "hath the Son hath lifehe who hath not the Son of God hath not life?" If death and hell have prepared. their deep caverns for the soul of the trans

gressor, is there not a Voice which can reach the contrite sinner even when he seems to have passed the extreme verge of safety, and restore him to hope and joy? "Fear not - I am the first and the last. I am he that liveth and was dead, and behold I am alive for evermore, and have the keys of hell and of death."— God give you grace, my Christian brethren, to listen to that Voice. May his Spirit impart to you the full and unchanging consolation which belongs to promises such as these! Heaven and earth shall pass away, but this word shall not pass away. His covenant is "ordered in all things and sure;" and the language of that covenant is "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved."

But what think ye? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to-day in my vineyard. He answered and said, I will not; but afterward he repented, and went. And he came to the second, and said likewise.

And he answered and said, I go, Sir; and went not. Whether of them twain did the will of his father? They say unto him, The first. Jesus saith anto them, Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not; but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him.

WHEN it is remembered that these words were addressed to a body of the "chief priests and elders of the people," or to

persons, in all probability, of considerable reputation in the eyes of their countrymen; it must be admitted that the statement contained in them is, in the first instance, somewhat startling to the mind. Nor will it be denied, that the manner in which they are sometimes interpreted is calculated to increase this surprise. At the same time care must be taken, lest, in avoiding one error, we fall into the opposite. If it be possible so to explain a part of the text as to encourage the worldly and the profligate, it is equally possible so to explain it as to discourage the lowly and contrite. In the hope of arriving at a just view of the doctrines conveyed by the text, let us examine, in dependence on the Spirit of God, the several points which it presents to our notice.

I. And here it may be well to call your attention, in the first place, to THE GE

NERAL IMAGE UNDER WHICH OUR LORD, IN THIS PARABLE, DESCRIBES THE WHOLE RACE OF MANKIND. It is under that of a great family of which God is the universal Parent.-The father in the pa

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rable plainly designates the Great, and Glorious Creator of the world, and the "two sons," the busy and almost countless multitude who swarm upon its sur face. The same image, I need scarcely say, is frequently employed in Scripture to the same effect. Have we not all one Father?" says the prophet. If then I he a Father, asks the Lord himself, where is mine honour? And it is agreeably to this image, that our Lord requires us, in that form of prayer which, in compassion, he bequeathed to his church, to approach the Lord as "our Father which is in heaven." And how intimately don the various dispensations of God correspond with this language! Is not the character of a Father stamped upon all his dealings with mankind? Are not the goodness and mercy which have followed us all the days of our lives such as to invest him with that endearing title, seven if he had not been pleased to adopt it? How constantly, amidst all the instances of necessary severity to this guilty world, does the tenderness of the Parent appear to have struggled with the equity of the Judge!