JANUARY, 1879.-New Series, No. 1. 29 MAY 83 OXFORD PRICE ONE PENNY. BRITISH MESSENGER. Published Monthly by the Trustees of the late PETER DRUMMOND, at the I THE WANDERER'S DEPARTURE AND RETURN. I. TIRED OF HOME. IT had been written of Christ, that He should "come down as rain upon the shorn meadow, and as showers that water the earth." We have in the teachings of the wonderful parable of the Prodigal Son a beautiful illustration of the deep meaning of this prophecy. What a moral waste spread before the vision of the Great Teacher, as those blessed words distilled from His lips like rain upon the parched earth! Hundreds of years before, in anticipation of all the wondrous love, grace, and truth that should come by Jesus Christ, Moses had been inspired to sing, "Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass: because I will publish the name of the Lord; ascribe ye greatness to our God. He is a rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he." And truly the words of Christ did distil as the dew, and the small rain upon the tender herb, as He published the name of the great I AM, not simply as Jehovah, or a great Lawgiver, King, and Judge, but as a Father; and in this inimitable parable unveiled the infinite compassion, grace, and tender love, the godlike merey and munificence, which He would shed down upon the children of men, and into the hearts of the broken and contrite in spirit. "And he said, A certain man had two sons; and the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living" (Luke xv. 11, 12). This was the prayer of the younger son. It was emphatically the prayer of youth and inexperience. Human nature is ever the same, and constantly repeats itself. It is possible that the son, thinking his father kept his property too long to himself, misconstrued his distrust of his wisdom into selfishness. We frequently see this spirit in young people. In what a matter-of-course way the son asks for his portion: "Father," he says, "give me the portion of goods which FALLETH TO ME." No recognition here of his father's will, nor of the love and labour with which he had ever provided for him; but a peremptory claim is virtually set up "The portion that fulleth to me;" as though that portion had came from some other source, or by accident, and he had a right to claim it at any time or in any way he pleased. "Father, give me," he says,-such was the abrupt introduction of his experiment for the future. Oh! how ready human nature is to claim the privileges of relationship; but how slowly often it moves to acknowledge the attendant obligations! Beware of this thoughtless, uncomely, ungrateful spirit, young friends; and do not take that from your parents as a common thing, far less claim it as a right, which often costs them so much. his eldest son, and said, "SON, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine." He might have said, as God did to His ancient people, "Have I been a wilderness to Israel?" But He did not; he was silent. The grief of injured love is often too great for words. He knew too well the fruit which such conduct must bring. Already, it may be, as he divided his living to his children, he saw his son among the swine in the distance, heard his cry of misery-"I perish with hunger!" and inwardly wept. Oh! dear reader, do not construe the silence of injured love into approbation of your ingratitude and folly. In a like spirit with the prodigal, even a Christian may sometimes ask God to bless him-to give him some portion conditionally promised in the Word, but desired by him at the time for his own gratification and honour: and God, knowing the selfishness that still exists unsubdued in him, may perhaps grant his request with the purpose of making the gift bring sorrow in its train, so that His child's folly may be its own correction. Christian, think well over your prayers; consider both what you ask for, and what your motive is in asking. God's very giving to you, sometimes, may form a part of His method of chastening you. The The young man, fired with the love of adventure, and full of anticipation, was eager and impatient to be gone that he might realize his own ideals. objects of his desire were at a distance, and there was room for that play of imagination which often clothes the future for a time in so beautiful a light. Under this influence, he looked upon his home and its surroundings as very tame. He meant to be something very different from what he had been in the commonplace past. Alas! he little thought that when he got to the place and the objects he sought; when But let us apply this conduct to ourselves and in fact he realized his purpose, he should find to God. Adam manifested this spirit, when listening his sorrow that they were not at all what he exto the Tempter he took of the forbidden fruit. He pected them to be, and that he was not at all the virtually declared that God was an austere master person he intended to be, but something altogether who had withheld from him that which he ought different. not; and that he might, therefore, help himself to correct the wrong. And when we commence life, taking the good things of divine providence as a matter of course, and without any recognition of God's love and goodness in bestowing them; when we set up for ourselves with the intention to do without Him; or when we regard our mental powers as our own, and use them simply for our own self-aggrandizement or gratification, without any recognition of Him from whom they came; we are unconsciously imitating our first parent, acting out again the spirit of the prodigal, and saying, "Father, give me the portion which FALLETH to me." What unnatural conduct, what sin, what practical atheism is this! Well may God appeal to us as of old, and say, "Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the Lord hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider." The father no doubt felt his son's conduct deeply; he might have asked him what was the matter with his home; or what he had done that his son wished to forsake him. He might have appealed to him with such touching pathos as he afterwards did to Dear reader, beware of your own heart, and of the freaks and trickery of a youthful imagination. Too many commence life with high expectations, using both God's gifts and the fruits of parental toil to make them independent, only to find in the end. that their strength fails them in the battle, and that selfishness ends in ruin and desolation. The young man thought that he would have a cistern of his own, from which to drink at will the waters of earthly enjoyment, and so be supremely happy. His imagination had fashioned the cistern; and as his own ideal, he doubtless deemed it lasting and perfect. He little thought that ere long he should find it to be broken, and that it would utterly fail him in his hour of greatest need. And so every sinner finds, whether sooner or later, whether in mercy or in judgment, that the cisterns he hews out for himself, when forsaking God the fountain of living waters, break in his hands; that they can hold no water; and unless Divine love interpose to seek and to save, he must perish of thirst, finding how evil a thing it is and bitter that he has forsaken the Lord, and that the fear of God has not been in him. Brighton. W. POOLE BALFERN. our every faculty-our every opportunity-a conse PURPOSES FOR THE NEW YEAR: crated offering unto Him. It should be an ever IN A LETTER TO THE EDITOR DY THE VERY REV. HENRY LAW, MA., DEAN OF GLOUCESTER. MY DEAR FRIEND,-You have favoured me with a request that should receive a letter from me on you the first day of the opening year. I hope I rightly interpret your desire, that we should thus be mutually raised to higher life-I by uttering, you by hearing, some timely counsels. I comply, then, not as one presumptuous to admonish, but as timid to forego any opportunity of good. If compliance is blameworthy, it results from failure rightly to discern God's beckoning hand. A New Year! What adoring reflections swell this morning in our souls as disciples of the blessed Jesus! Let us not stifle them, but humbly strive, by the Spirit's aid, to fan them into holy blaze. Let us pray God to increase their warmth and liveliness. We look back. We see in ourselves a life-long train of ignorances, shortcomings, and sad transgressions-no day unstained by sin-no thought unblemished by an element of earth. But can we refrain the acknowledgment, that where sin has abounded grace has exceeded? We have always had open access to the fountain of Christ's atoning blood. At each moment we have been free to cry, "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." When confessing our iniquities, how often have we been cheered by a heavenly Father's pardoning smile, and by bright views of the saving cross! When we take this retrospect of the past, shall we not strain every power to multiply thanksgivings? Shall we not gird up the loins of our mind, aud, taking courage from our gospel hopes and God's unchanging love, enter in deep humility, but with undaunted confidence, on the New Year? Therefore, my first exhortation is that, as heirs of faith, we should advance, blessing God for past mercies, and trusting him for all which may be before us. Let us enter this New Year with deep solemnity. It may conclude our earthly course. The last sand may be about to fall. The slender thread which has held us to earth may be breaking. The number of the New Year may be the date on our graves. The thought claims serious impression. But as one with Christ, no apprehensions shall disturb us. To die is to be with Him, which is far better. In closing our eyes on earth, we quit for ever a world in which temptations trouble, difficulties harass, and Satan fights against us with unsparing hate. Let us then cross the threshold of this year peacefully, bearing our lives in our hands, and ready at any moment to surrender them. Let us be listening for our Lord's chariot-wheels. Let the last trump be sounding in our ears. May we realize that if death should come, there is nothing for us to do but calmly to die. If He should knock, we are ready to open to him immediately. present thought that He has bought us to be His peculiar treasure, by the price of His most precious blood. The supplication should not be languid, "Lord, what wilt thou have us to do? Send out Thy light and thy truth: let them guide us." May the past days suffice to have served other lords. We never gained fruit from those services of which we are now ashamed. May it be our effort each day to grow in the knowledge of our beloved Lord.-A volume is in our hands, written throughout with glorious revelations of His character-His work-His love. This Bible should be our unremitted study. Let us read with cries uplifted to the Holy Spirit, "Open thou our eyes, that we may behold wondrous things out of thy law." Let no trivial engagements interrupt our searchings for Jesus in these pages. Thus each day will be a blessed foretaste of heaven. There cannot be greater happiness than now to see Jesus with the eye of faith. It will only be surpassed when sight shall come, and we shall gaze for ever on His unclouded glory. It is important that we should not nullify our desires to glorify our Lord by allowing them to evaporate in vague generalities. It is far better that we should select some distinct object, to which our efforts throughout the year should mainly be directed. A little rill inclosed in boundaries may turn a gigantic wheel, and give motion to large machinery; but streams from a spring, if allowed to spread at random, may only form a swamp. A single ray has slight potency. Rays collected into one focus may ignite a mass. A cable is the union of small threads. Our means and opportunities may not be large, but if well consolidated may effect important good. It is impossible to select for others an especial field of labour, but it is undeniable that a vast expanse is open to us all. Our heavenly Father has signalized this age as a period in which many societies have been organized to advance the Redeemer's cause. Each presents strong and peculiar claims. It is wise to take one for especial interest during the year now opening, and let each day witness some effort in its behalf. Suppose not that I would exclude any from support and prayer, but I would counsel that some especial work should have especial place in our interests and affections. Doubtless we cannot be largely instrumental in promoting all; but surely we may be peculiarly instrumental in one line of operation. The Christian who resolved each day to write an awakening letter, at last could count a goodly company of converts. Let direction here be earnestly sought. The prayer for guidance in our especial course will surely be heard. None can truly seek the way in which he most can glorify the Lord, without receiving clear manifestations of God's will. gen I know not whether your spirit often flies heavenward on the wings of intercessory prayer. I fear that in eral we fail much in the exercise of this privilege. I am not surprised, though I feel neglect of this duty to be a grievous fault. Personal need is so great; the claims of self are so potent; our trials and our pains This first morning should be marked by renewed resolves. are so many, that the power of prayer is exhausted Let it be our anxious hope that we serve our Lord in before we have traversed our individual necessities. newness of life. Let our dedication of ourselves to But let us resolve this year to break down these limHim be fully and unreservedly renewed. May we pre-iting barriers, and to give expansion to our spiritual sent ourselves-our hearts-our minds-our souls desires. Scripture supplies many instances of the |