fame as of our own, as lenient to another's faults as we are prone to be to our own. Yes; in social life, there is an ample range for the application of the Golden Rule. In religion, too, and in politics, this rule will teach us that we are to give those who differ from us ever so widely that credit for sincerity which we claim for ourselves; and bigotry can exist no longer in the heart, when the Golden Rule becomes the heart's law.

And, in conclusion, let me ask, What was our Saviour's own mission to the world, but the sublimest fulfillment of the Golden Rule? He did for us exactly what, in our circumstances, he would have wished some gracious being to do for him. He saw that we were sinful, that we were helpless, that we were ignorant, that we were lost; he felt that, were such his position, he would stand in need of a saviour, a sacrifice, a teacher; and, in conformity with the Golden Rule, he did for others what he would have wished to be done for him. Jesus is no mere theorist, who comes with rules and maxims teaching others what to do, and then leaving them to do it. He is himself the noblest embodiment of his own laws. did not give us one precept which he did not himself observe; and in his self-denial, in his sufferings, in his death for sinful men, we see this glorious precept written in characters of celestial fire; and behold how he achieved that crowning victory over self to which this law conducts us-the entire surrender of all personal interest and advantage, when only by such surrender the welfare of others can be secured. Such a sacrifice we cannot make, and are not required to make; but still, "let us walk by the same rule." The precept which we have discussed,

He

if it teach us anything at all, teaches us that, if we see a brother man ignorant, depraved, vicious, wretched, we should do all in our power to instruct, reclaim, and save him. Apply this principle, then, in all business matters, and in all social life; but remember, also, that it has a wider and a higher sphere of operation, to which it calls us; and it is not satisfied, its claims are not honored, unless we cheerfully give ourselves to every work of self-denial, activity, and toil, by which a fellow-creature can be blessed, in mind, body, or estate; for, as I have already said, the Golden Rule requires of us more than strict and even-handed justice-it tells us that we must be generous too. Human moralists teach us that we are not to inflict any injury which we should be unwilling to suffer; this Divine Teacher shows us that we are to confer every benefit which we can reasonably wish others to bestow. My friends, you know the rule is good. You often quote it, often remind others of it. Let us practice it. If you understand this rule, if you perceive the amplitude of its range, you will not be so foolish as to say that you have observed it, or that the observance of it is by any means an easy matter. Instead of lifting up our heads in proud self-ignorance, boasting that this is our practice, it behooves us to confess to Almighty God our innumerable departures from Christ's Golden Rule, and to ask Him to help us henceforth to keep it diligently, even unto the end.

THAT greatest and best of all teachers, Jesus Christ, very often threw his instructions into the form of parables, or similitudes; he made the commonest facts of every-day life the representations of great moral and religious truths, and availed himself of those things which the people well knew, to teach them many things of which they were altogether ignorant. In these homely illustrations there is a great variety, answering to the variety of truths which the Great Teacher judged it proper to impress upon the attention of his hearers, upon the attention of all the world. Each parable has its own particular lesson; no one of them teaches every truth of religion; but if we take them altogether, it is probable that we shall find that every great Christian principle is represented under some one of those well-known forms. But of all the parables, that which we call "The Prodigal Son" is perhaps the most beautiful; is that to which a man, who knows that he is a sinful creature in the sight of God, will most readily turn for instruction and for comfort, because it does so gloriously set forth God's love, and his willingness to forgive, to receive, and to

bless every penitent and returning soul. This parable is recorded in the 15th chapter of the Gospel according to St. Luke. I shall not read it at length, because most of it will be read, verse by verse, as we proceed with our comments and explanations.

The fact upon which the parable is based is unhappily one of very common occurrence; it is one of the ordinary incidents of life, peculiar to no particular nation, to no particular age. Prodigal sons are to be found everywhere; sons like this young man in the parable, impatient of parental discipline, defiant of parental authority, determined to enjoy the world in their own way, wild, reckless, wasteful, licentious, unwilling to work, taking advantage of a father's kindness, of a father's weakness, extorting from him his hard-earned savings, and squandering the money in taverns and in brothels; and, at last reduced to want, compelled to engage in the most humiliating occupations. This parable presents us with a very graphic description of a fast young man of those times; in most respects the picture is equally true, considered as the representation and the portrait of a fast young man of the present day. But while the parable is so true, regarded simply in this light, it contains a far deeper and more important truth. It seems to speak only of an idle, good-for-nothing wastril, who brings himself to grief by his folly and excess; but it does in reality speak of all who break away from the authority of God, and spend their lives in sin; and there's many a man who never had a patrimony to squander, and who never through extravagance and vice came to want, but who, nevertheless, is represented by

It

this prodigal-who has treated his Heavenly Father much after the manner in which the lad in the parable treated his earthly parent. For I think that there can be little doubt that this is the first thing that the parable is intended to teach us-that God is our Father. commences thus, "A certain man had two sons." That man is the representative of God; those sons are the representatives of men. We need not inquire, Whom does the elder son represent? We have now to do with the younger; and he is the representative of all who set God's authority at nought, and follow the devices and desires of their own evil hearts. Still, God graciously calls himself the Father even of such. This youth, though a prodigal, was still a son, and was loved with all the fullness of a Father's love. It is not said, "A certain man had two servants," or "a son and a servant," but "A certain man had two sons ;" and thus every prodigal, every wanderer is encouraged to believe that he, too, has a place in God's heart. Therefore, what I have first to do is to entreat every one who hears me, whatever his character, his conduct, his belief, his state of heart, to believe that he has a Father in heaven, and never to give up this belief, never to allow himself to suppose that God hates him, and is unwilling to forgive him, and to welcome him back from his wanderings. For although a truly good man, who loves God, and strives to become like Him, has special reasons for calling God his Father, still Christ, in this parable and elsewhere, encourages us all to hold fast by this principle, and to believe that God has a father's love and a father's blessing for us all. The prodigal, with all his prodigality, was