I WILL IN NO WISE CAST OUT. 89

prayed for his murderers, and on the day of Pentecost saved them, although they had, with wicked hands, cruelly slain him. He saved a blaspheming Saul of Tarsus, who calls himself the chief of sinners, and to you he is saying, "I will in no wise cast out."*

"But I am a great sinner," sayest thou; "I will in no wise cast out," says Christ. "But I am an old sinner," sayest thou; "I will in no wise cast out," says Christ. "But I am a hard-hearted sinner," sayest thou; "I will in no wise cast out," says Christ. "But I have served Satan all my days," sayest thou; "I will in no wise cast out," says Christ. "But I have sinned against mercy," sayest thou; "I will in no wise cast out," says Christ. "But I have no good thing to bring with me," sayest thou; "I will in no wise cast out," says Christ.

What more canst thou need, O anxious sinner, to assure thee of the forgiving mercy of thy injured but compassionate Lord and Saviour? You need no other friend, you can find no other Saviour than Jesus, and JESUS ONLY.

* John vi. 37.

Welcome!

PRECIOUS word to a poor outcast sinner! Blessed news, wretched prodigal, to your soul! Your God bids you welcome to himself, welcome to pardon, welcome to heaven! Jesus has died for you; and for his sake you are this moment welcome to the friendship of your God. Yes, your offended, but now satisfied God, yearns over you with infinite affection, and bids you welcome to his bosom. He is far more willing to save you than you are to be saved. "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord; and though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." Oh, realize this wondrous truth!

Dear reader, whoever you are, however sinful you have been, you are this moment welcome to the pardon and love of your God. Jesus makes you welcome, for he has answered for your sins. Yes, you are

as welcome as you can be. None were ever more welcome than you. Paul was not; Peter was not; Mary Magdalen was not; the dying thief was not. No sinner was ever more welcome to God's love and to salvation than you are at this moment. For you are as welcome as an infinitely loving God can make you. You are as welcome as a pleading Holy Ghost can make you; "the Spirit says come." You are as welcome as you ever will be. You are as welcome as though you were to become holy as an angel. Your bad deeds do not make you less welcome; your good deeds cannot render you more welcome. Oh, believe, that for Emmanuel's sake, you are this moment welcome to the friendship of your God. Realize this; enjoy this. Drink deeply of this "river of life." Live happy in this realization; look forward to death through the medium of this blessed truth, and see it shorn of its terrors; and abiding in this good hope steadfast unto the end, joyful angels shall carry you to that bright and blessed world where you shall understand more fully than your limited powers now can perceive it, what it is to

be welcome to the pleasures which are at God's right hand for evermore.

And now, dear reader, how does this word welcome affect you? Does it give you joy? Does it soothe your griefs? Does it allay your fears? Does it bring you peace? Why doubt any longer? Why linger on the brink of this ocean of bliss and fear to bathe in it your weary soul? Oh! take God at his word, and even now, as you read these lines, lift up your heart to him in confidence, and believe that, for Christ's sake, he does receive you, and that he does, according to his word, blot out your sins when thus you ask him.

Peace, troubled soul, whose plaintive moan
Hath taught each scene the note of wo;
Cease thy complaint, suppress thy groan,
And let thy tears forget to flow;
Behold, the precious balm is found,
To lull thy pain, and heal thy wound.

Come, freely come, by sin opprest,

On Jesus cast thy weighty load;
In him thy refuge find, thy rest,
Safe in the mercy of thy God:
Thy God's thy Saviour, glorious word;
O hear, believe, and bless the Lord.

Hever taken away.

SUCH is the portion of the soul that has chosen the "good part," the "one thing needful." In its very nature it must be permanent. The happiness and habit of a regenerated soul are so interwoven with the very fibres of that soul's being, that it cannot be taken away, until light becomes darkness, holiness becomes sin, and God himself shall change. It shall “never be taken away." It cannot be by God-it shall not be by Satan. Never taken away! because guaranteed by promise and by blood. "No man shall pluck them from my Father's hand." "Neither life, nor death, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate from the love of Christ." "They shall never perish." "He that believeth in me shall never die." Never taken away! Though all else shall fail; though all other cisterns be broken, this― never! All other anchors shall fail; but this-never! All other props shall sink; but this never! All other friends shall