that has nothing but his poverty to call his own, is invited to "come," and "buy and eat." The mode of speaking is peculiar. It is designed to show us that we have no merit or righteousness of our own; and yet we are to come to Christ. It is designed also to show us that as a man who buys an article has a right and title to call that article his own, and claim it as such, so every sinner of the human race, however spiritually poor and wretched he may be, has a right and title, on God's free and faithful invitation, to come and take Jesus as his own-as all his salvation and all his desire (2 Sam. xxiii. 5). The blessings of salvation in Christ are a free table. His flesh is meat indeed, and his blood is drink indeed (John vi. 55); and the soul that is famishing for hunger, the sinner that has not a farthing to pay, is invited to come and take that salvation as God's free gift. As if a convoy of poor pilgrims, without food, or purse, or scrip, were passing through the sandy wastes of earth's wilderness, and all on a sudden a caravansary should start up, abounding in pellucid fountains, and substantial food, and rich viands, and costly

dainties, and a voice should be heard, in the midst of the desolation, addressed to the poorest, weariest, thirstiest, hungriest pilgrim, "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters; and he that hath no money, come ye, buy and eat." "Eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved" (Song v. 1). "Eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness" (Isa. lv. 2). "Thou knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold, tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see" (Rev. iii. 17, 18). "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to God's mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost" (Titus iii. 5).

"Yea, come; buy wine and milk without money and without price." The invitation is repeated with greater intensity; the climax rises; the banquet is prepared still more sumptuously.

"The waters" and things "eatable" are followed by "the wine and the milk." As if the gorgeous entertainment of a Syrian caravansary should spring up unexpectedly, and Eastern servants and attendants should press the wanderers with cheering and incessant invitations to the feast: "The wine and the milk" are there in abundance, and, whilst the lonely wayfarer is invited to " buy," yet all is "without money and without price;" without silver and without barter. Traffic is there; but it is the generous traffic of friendly reciprocity. The mighty Prince of the desert has reared up a splendid banqueting-house, and furnished it with richest viands and wines and delicacies, to be dispensed gratuitously to all who are willing to come and countenance this hospitable reception, this gratuitous resting-place and retreat. It is no fable. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, has provided all this; ay, and more than this, for the lost children of Adam, the lonely outcasts from the garden of Eden: "I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honey-comb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk: eat, O friends; drink, yea

drink abundantly, O beloved" (Song v. 1). "In this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees; of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined" (Isa. xxv. 6).

The free invitations of the Gospel are, in the sacred Scriptures, often represented under the emblems of a feast or banquet, and a marriagesupper (Matt. xxii. 2-14). The persons who are invited are sinners of the human race, without distinction. They are all to come "without money and without price;" the salvation, provided in mercy in Christ, is free and gratuitous. You are to bring no merit, no righteousness, no penance, barter, or commutation of your own. Christ's work is perfect. He hath done the whole. He

came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." "The whole need not a physician, but they that are sick" (Matt. ix. 12, 13). No delay, no hesitation is to be on your part. You do not bring salvation to Christ. He brings sal

vation to you. Believe and live.

"All that the

Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out" (John vi. 37). Amen.

II.

REMONSTRANCE WITH THE CARELESS.

"Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness."-Isa. LV. 2.

THE pursuit of happiness is the natural desire of the human race. Every one is carried along by this blind impulse of our nature. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life (1 John ii. 16), are the gods of this world's idolatry. One man seeks happiness in the lust of the flesh, giving himself up to "work all uncleanness with greediness" (Eph. iv. 19); another man gives himself up to the lust of the eyes, longing to have his belly filled, his appetite satisfied with "hid treasure" (Ps. xvii. 14); and another person still gives himself up to the pride of life, walking in the vanity of his mind, and seeking to make for himself a name among the great ones of the earth. Every one, as the prophet tells us, has turned aside to