tion! What
a heaping together of similar tender "words" with that which is here
addressed to us? The Gospel seems like a palace full of opened windows,
from each of which He issues an invitation, declaring that He has no
pleasure in our death--but rather that we would turn and live!

Let the melody of the Shepherd's reed fall gently on your ear,--"It is
your Father's good pleasure." I have given you, He seems to say, the
best proof that it is _mine_. In order to purchase that kingdom, I died
for you! But it is also _His_: "As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in
the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered, so," says God,
"will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where
they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day." Fear not, then,
little flock! though yours for a while should be the bleak mountain and
sterile waste, seeking your way Zionward, it may be "with torn fleeces
and bleeding feet;" for,

"IT IS NOT THE WILL OF YOUR FATHER WHICH IS IN HEAVEN, THAT ONE OF
THESE LITTLE ONES SHOULD PERISH."

14TH DAY.

"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"--

"If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink."--John vii. 37.

The Unlimited Offer.

One of the most gracious "words" that ever "proceeded out of the mouth
of God!" The time it was uttered was an impressive one; it was on "the
last, the great day" of the Feast of Tabernacles, when a denser
multitude than on any of the seven preceding ones were assembled
together. The golden bowl, according to custom, had probably just been
filled with the waters of Siloam, and was being carried up to the Temple
amid the acclamations of the crowd, when the Saviour of the world seized
the opportunity of speaking to them some truths of momentous import.
Many, doubtless, were the "words of Jesus" uttered on the previous days,
but the most important is reserved for the last. What, then, is the
great closing theme on which He rivets the attention of this vast
auditory, and which He would have them carry away to their distant
homes? It is, _The freeness of His own great salvation_--"If any man
thirst, let him come unto me and drink."

Reader, do you discredit the reality of this gracious offer? Are your
legion sins standing as a barrier between you and a Saviour's proffered
mercy? Do you feel as if you cannot come "just as you are;" that some
partial cleansing, some preparatory reformation must take place before