when "wandering from the fold of God," He has graciously and lovingly restored us, and brought us back.

We

We shall require guidance. are ignorant, and do not know our way; often perverse, and unwilling to walk in the way, when we know it; therefore He leads us both by his providence and his grace.

Overlooking for a moment temporal things, David's thought passes on in verse 4, to the last conflict. We may have to meet the last enemy this year. The special features of such circumstances are fear and sorrow; fear of the suffering, though not of the consequences of dying; sorrow at leaving those we love, and with whom we have enjoyed so much happiness. The necessities of a dying hour shall be met. We shall not want either the Lord's conscious presence to dispel our fear, or the comfort which his own precious promises afford to the sorrowing heart. David looks at his worldly condition. He was surrounded by enemies; still God would provide for him. He should have the table in the wilderness; nor that alone; his Shepherd would give him more than necessaries. He sees comforts and luxuries coming too, "Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over."

Looking over his whole journey, he sees two blessed attendants,-" Goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life;" goodness to provide for and direct, mercy to pardon and restore.

Nor is this all; faith looking beyond this life, and piercing the gloom of the shadow of death, beholds the home, the Father's house; and ads with joyful anticipation, "I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever."

It will be a happy new year for us, if the feelings of our hearts go with this Psalm, if we can feel, that come what may in 1860, we shall want no manner of thing that is good, because

The Lord Himself, the mighty Lord, Vouchsafes to be our Guide;

The Shepherd by whose constant care Our wants are all supplied.

Let us be thankful for the care He takes of us, the provision He makes

for us.

Does He provide in Holy Scripture green pastures for our food, still waters for our refreshment? Let us use them; make the Word of God more and more our study; desire the sincere milk of the Word, that we may grow thereby.

Does He restore the soul when wandering? Let us adore his mercy; return to Him at once, and carefully watch against those things which led us astray. Take special care that Satan does not pervert the goodness of the Lord in restoring wanderers, to his own evil purposes. When thus tempted, think of Ps. xcix. 8.

Does He lead in paths of righteousness? Be ready and willing to walk therein; may our prayer ever be that of the Psalmist, Ps. cxix. 35, 36.

Is the thought, "Perhaps this year I may die," causing any one anxiety ? Christ says to you if you are His, "Fear not, I will never leave thee;" no, not in the valley of the shadow of death. My grace is sufficient for any emergency; “As thy day, so shall thy strength be."

Do worldly circumstances make any thoughtful and troubled? These may be left with our gracious Shepherd. While we use all proper means with quietness to work and eat our own bread, let us not be over anxious; let us cast all our care upon Him who careth for us.

Some may say, I cannot enter into this; the Lord is not my Shepherd. Why not? What hinders ? Certainly nothing on his part. He is willing to be your Shepherd; He is waiting to receive and bless you; His complaint against you is, that up to this time,

though He has called, you have not answered; though He has invited you to come to Him, you have hitherto refused. Begin this new year with a firm resolve in God's strength to have the Lord for your Shepherd. Go to Him to-day, just as you are; plead his own promise, to cast out none who come to Him; and be sure there is forgiveness for you and for all, "who with hearty repentance and true faith turn unto Him." 1860 finds some of you in a different position to that you occupied at the beginning of 1859. Then you were not openly the disciples of the Lord Jesus; you had not then made a public profession of attachment to Him. I speak to those who were confirmed last year. You are under new obligations. The vows of God are upon you. How are you discharging them ?

Have the serious impressions you had while preparing for confirmation deepened, or faded away? Watch narrowly against declining in the Lord's ways; seek day by day the help of the Divine Spirit, that you may be enabled to grow in grace, and to be fruitful in all good works.

1860 finds us all nearer the end of our journey. How blessed to have the assurance, that all our days, goodness and mercy shall follow us, like loving parents behind their children; looking

ever on them; guarding them from evil, directing their steps in the right way, gently restraining when they are disposed to wander, graciously restoring when they have strayed from the right path.

1860 finds us, however, still in the enemy's land. We are still in the battle field. Let us remember that we must act as Christ's soldiers. Be faith-ful to Him; hold no conferences with his enemies. Shut our ears when they speak to us about laying down our armsand making peace. Let us be earnest in prayer that the Lord the Spirit may make us wise to detect all the attempts which Satan will make to induce us to leave off contending against sin.

Striving against sin must be our daily work, let us engage in it in the strength of the Lord. It is hard work, selfdenying work, but we need not fear the issue. The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. Only let us wait upon Him when, conscious of weakness, we. are obliged to go forth against the enemy,. and our thankful hearts will by and bye adopt as our own the word of the Psalmist, Ps. cxviii. 1, "In the day when I cried Thou answeredst me, and' strengthenedst me with strength in my soul,"

W. H. C..

T. In this history, our Lord's feet only were anointed; in the other, his head also; so that we are sure there were, at least, two instances of this mark of lowliness and love being shown towards Him. Our Lord had been preaching in the cities of Galilee. A portion of his discourse is given us in the previous part of this chapter; and we have a fuller account in the 11th chapter of St. Matthew. We find there that He closed his sermon with those words of blessed invitation which are so sweet to the weary and heavy laden still. Do you know the verses I mean?

C. "Come unto Me all ye that labour and are heavy laden."

T. When our Lord had finished his discourse, who invited Him to come to his house?

C. One of the Pharisees.

T. What kind of people were the Pharisees?

C. A proud sect of the Jews.

T. Their character is described to us in the 18th chapter of this same Gospel, and at the 9th verse. Turn to it, and tell me what was their character.

C. "They trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others."

T. We find from this parable which follows that it was the Pharisees who were thus described; but if you wished to speak of them in one word, what would you call them?

C. Proud.

T. Why do you think this proud Pharisee asked the meek and lowly Saviour to come to his house?

C. Perhaps he wanted to see what He would do.

T. Well, it might be from curiosity

only; but he might also have been somewhat impressed with our Lord's words, and have wished to hear more. We should always give people credit for the best motives we can. At all events, what do we find our Lord did?

C. "He went into the Pharisee's house, and sat down to meat."

T. Do you remember what Jesus said to his mother, when she sought Him at twelve years old?

C. "Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business."

T. Then what do you think led Him to go to the Pharisee's house?

C. To do some work for God.

T. Yes; and let this be a guide for you when you are invited anywhere. Is there any work there that you have to do for God, and that you can ask Him to help you in? When we read that our Lord "sat down," we must not think of the party assembled as sitting round a table, as we should. What was their custom, do you know? C. They had a kind of sofa, and laid round.

T. Here is a picture, by looking at which, you will understand exactly how it was they reclined. (An engraving shown to the class.)

C. They have no shoes on, teacher. T. No; you remember what they wore on their feet in those countries. C. Sandals.

T. Yes; and they were in the habit of pulling them off before meals, which explains to us how easy it was for the woman to act as she did. While they were engaged at their meal, who came in?

C. A woman.

T. Suppose I had some company to dinner, would it be very easy for any poor creature that I knew nothing about to get into the room where we were sitting?

C. Oh no, teacher.

T. Why not?

C. Because the door would be shut. T. But suppose she knocked?

C. The servant would say you were particularly engaged.

T. Then how do you think this woman came in where the Pharisee was entertaining our Lord?

C. Perhaps the doors were open.

T. Well, the houses were much more open in that country than they are in ours; but beside that, they had a custom of leaving a bench in their living rooms for the poor; so that it was no unusual thing that happened when this woman came in. And it is interesting to find that the same custom still prevails in the country where the Bible was written. A few years ago, some ministers went from Scotland to inquire many things concerning the Jews. Where do you think they would go to for this purpose?

C. To Jerusalem.

T. Just so; and one of them wrote home, that while they were dining with one of the missionaries there, the door opened several times, and people came in from the street. They took their seats by the wall, and entered freely into conversation. This, he said, helped them to understand the scene in the 7th of Luke. Now, what are we told of the character of the woman who came in on this occasion ?

C. She was a sinner.

T. Was there anything remarkable

in her being a sinner?

C. No, teacher.

T. Why not?

C. Because we are all sinners.

T. Find me a text to prove this.

C. "All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." "There is none righteous, no not one."

T. And when we confess our sins together in God's house, and acknowledge that "We have done those things which we ought not to have done, and have left undone those things which we ought to have done, and that there is no health in us," how do we go on to plead for mercy?

C. "But Thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us, miserable offenders."

C. Because she was a great sinner.

T. I think it was because she lived in the habit of committing sins, which even those around her knew to be such. All have sinned before God, but all are not equally sinful in their outward conduct. This woman was what we should call an open sinner. But what proof did she give that she was weary of sin?

C. She came to Jesus.

T. Yes, we are told, "When she heard that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee's house," then she came there. What words do you think she had, perhaps, heard which would encourage her?

C. "Come unto Me all ye that are weary."

T. What did she bring with her?
C. An alabaster box of ointment.
T. What is alabaster?

C. A white stone, resembling marble.
T. Where did she take up her stand?
C. At his feet, behind Him.

T. What was she doing as she stood there ?

C. Weeping.

T. What else?

C. She began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head.

f. Now look again at the 38th verse, and let us see what it teaches us of the disposition with which she came to Jesus. Where did we say she was standing?

C. Behind Him.

T. Yes, she took at once a servant's place; and when she had washed the Saviour's feet with tears, what did she then do?

C. Wiped them with the hairs of her head.

T. Repeat to me, all together, the three dispositions which this woman displayed.

C. She came to Jesus humbly, she came to Him sorrowfully, she came to Him lovingly.

T. Yes, her actions spoke, though we do not read of any words she said. It is well sometimes to speak of our sorrow for sin and our love to Jesus, but it is always well for our actions to show these feelings. This woman said in her deeds just what the prodigal son said in words, when he arose and went to his father; you can tell me what these words were.

C. "I have sinned against heaven and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son."

T. Dear girls, has the sense of your sin ever brought you to Jesus? You cannot, indeed, stand behind Him now; for where is Jesus now?

C. At the right hand of God.

T. True; but is He different now to what He was when He dwelt below?

C. No, teacher.

T. How do you know He is the

same?

C. Because the Bible says so.

T. Can you give me a verse which tells us Jesus is ever the same?

C. "Jesus Christ, the same yester day, to-day, and for ever."

T. Oh no, there is no change in the love of Christ; as a poet has beautifully said, "Well may He change his place, but not his heart." You must come to Him in faith and in prayer; you must come to Him humbly, sorrowfully, and lovingly; you must come to Him in the spirit of these sweet words:

"Just as I am, without one plea,

But that Thou bids't me come to Thee,
And that Thy blood was shed for me,
O Lamb of God, I come!"

You must thus come to Jesus, if you would be saved.

Now, tell me, if you wished to speak of this woman's state of mind in one word, what would you call her?

No answer.

When we speak of such a sorrow for sin, as leads to turning away from it, what word do we use?

C. Repentance.

T. Then what would you call this woman?

C. A repenting woman-a penitent. T. Yes. And where would there be joy as she bowed at our Lord's feet in such penitent grief?

C. In heaven.

T. Can you give me the passage which tells us so?

C. "There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth."

T. Who would rejoice besides the angels ?

C. The Father-Jesus-the Holy Spirit-the disciples.

T. Yes, these would all feel holy gladness when they saw the sinner come to the Saviour. But who had no share in this joy?