peace? All other ways are beset with robbers of our peace, with plunderers of our joy, even of this world; and with the destroyers of our . peace and joy in the world to come. Here is our only safety. "There is singing for joy in the ways of the Lord'," says David. And, "the way of the Lord is strength to the upright," says his son Solomon; all other ways, however pleasant they may seem for awhile, are ways of destruction; and the noise of the viols of their merry-making, which entices the traveller into them, is exchanged, as soon as he has gone too far to return, for the sound of lamentation, mourning, and woe.

3

This is the last day on which our Church more especially directs us to turn our faces towards the second coming of the Lord, when the way which was directed towards Him in the perseverance of well-doing through faith shall end in glory, and every other way shall be closed with judgment. And then there can be no changing of ways. In the way in which a man is found, in that he must then continue. If it lead up to heaven, to heaven he shall go. If it lead down to the bottomless pit, to the bottomless pit he must go. And the adversary of his soul, whose misdirection he followed through life, will make his words heard indeed from behind, as he pushes him

1 Ps. cxxxviii. 5.

2 Prov. x. 29.

3 Last Sunday in Advent.

on towards it, and mocks him and is the way, walk thou in it.”

says, "This

Let not then this season of warning be lost upon any one; but let every one, giving a heedful ear to the word which Christ, the Word, spoke at his first coming, and which sounds behind us in the ages that are past, so look forward to the word, in the days to come, which He shall utter to every one as he is brought before Him, and acquit him or condemn him for ever. Blessed will they be whom He shall invite to follow Him up into his Father's house, saying, "This is the way, walk ye in it."

SERMON II.

JOY OVER THE PENITENT.

(Third Sunday after Trinity.)

LUKE XV. 10.

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

CAN there be more joy in heaven than there is already? Not so, perhaps: but still there may be continually fresh occasions for calling it forth. Only consider then what occasions these must be, how abundant in the mercy, how full of the glory of God! How very nearly they must touch those heavenly beings, that they should minister to their happiness in the very midst of their blessedness in the presence of the King of kings, on the throne of his glory! Such is, we are here told, the repentance of a sinner. It fills the very angels in heaven with joy. Surely then it must be an event of the greatest consequence upon earth, far greater than the rise and fall of kingdoms. What then is it? The parable which follows the text explains this to us most clearly.

Repentance means a change of heart and mind, so that a man should turn from the world and its wickedness unto God and his righteousness, hating and casting away that which he before loved, and loving and reaching after that which he before hated. Thus he quits the strange land of sin, abandons its service, and turns his face homeward towards Almighty God, his Father, who made him, and gave him every thing to make him happy. And he would have been happy if he had continued in his Father's family, and spent his substance there, where it would have brought him more substance, instead of squandering it where he did, and coming to the most wretched beggary. This return is the occasion of joy in the presence of the angels of God. Most of you must have experienced the joy of hearing from a dear brother or sister, who has been long and far absent, that he is about returning. Home has immediately put on its brightest face, and joyful preparation immediately begins for receiving the long-lost member back again into the bosom of the family. So when the sinner forsakes the evil of his ways, and turns his heart and face. towards the house and family of his heavenly Father, the joy of the family in heaven immediately begins. We can imagine them saying of him, as of a younger brother, Welcome home, O my brother! Welcome, after your long absence and distant wanderings! We thought

you lost, we had well nigh given you up! Oh, therefore, doubly welcome now! Again you are become one of us; again you join the family of the children of God; again you have like affections with us. You love God our Father as we do. You long to serve Him as we do.

You hate his enemies as we do. You seek his glory as we do. O welcome back again! We can now enjoy your company, for your thoughts are now our thoughts, and we have pleasure in the same things. One more is added to our blessed company. One more has been saved from the enemy, and is safe among us again. The joy of heaven is increased by the joy of one more. One heart more feels with us; one voice more swells our song of joy, blessing, and thanksgiving, before the throne.

So we may imagine the angels of God in heaven to rejoice over a sinner's repentance. They are not like that elder brother in the parable, who was jealous of his younger brother, when he saw so much made of his return. No! that elder brother was a figure of the prejudiced Jew. But the angels are all purity and love. And the more that is done for their younger brother, man, the happier are they.

At the same time we may conceive their disgust at the claims of the impenitent sinner, who thinks that heaven will receive him in the end, although never through the length of his life has he turned a serious look thither. This is too common a delusion. Too many leave the

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