Oh, friends, I bid you to this glorious consummation. May God Almighty put into your hearts the spirit of emulation to say, "I will not let thee go except thou bless me." He sends none empty away. May the Lord bless his own truth. AMEN.

A SERMON

BY

THE REV. MARCUS RAINSFORD.

"Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. 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. Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David."-ISAIAH lv. 1-3.

WONDERFUL words, and truly they present to us a

strange and marvellous state of things. Here we have, in the first place, man made in God's own image, with all his immortal powers, his longings and aspirations for eternity, devoting his energies, and spending his time and his labour in the attainment of things which cannot satisfy, and must disappoint him; and this, notwithstanding all the experience of the past, and all the records of our race, notwithstanding the testimony of God himself, that "the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing;" notwithstanding that, in order to seek after these things which perish with the using, man has to turn his back upon the full provision of the Father's home and the Father's heart, acting over again the New Testament history of the Prodigal, "spending his money for that which is not bread and his labour for that which SERM. XX.

satisfieth not;" and doing worse than the Prodigal, for the thought of his father brought him back, while, alas! many amongst ourselves still continue to wander further and further from God. Here we have, on the other hand, God himself, surrounded with the fulness of covenant blessings, life, salvation, rest, joy, righteousness, opening out all his treasures, and calling, nay, more-entreating with loving earnestness the return of the far-off wanderer, and that in such language as I have just read to you, "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread ?" May God, the Holy Ghost, open our eyes that we may see, and unstop our ears that we may hear; and, even now, while his poor unworthy servant strives to speak from his own blessed Word, may many amongst you hear the voice of the Son of God and live.

Observe, first, the description given here, by the Spirit of God, of the persons invited to the waters, to the living bread, and to the covenant mercies, lest any amongst us might be discouraged.

They are described as those who have no moneybankrupts; as those who have no expectation of money; for the people called are invited without any reference to the consideration of price, "without money and without price;" they are described as those who have been spendthrifts; all they got they spent,-spending their time, their strength, their opportunity, their influence, their talents, their energies, for that which is not bread;

and they are described as slaving, labouring with both hands after the attainment of that which cannot satisfy them; then, in the 7th verse, "wicked," and, again, "unrighteous," they are called, and the language of the text implies that they are far off; "Ho,-Ho, every one that thirsteth," the expression implies that they are unsatisfied thirsting ones. On many of you this world has bestowed much, but you are not satisfied, and you know that you are not; your titles do not satisfy you, you want something else; your wealth does not satisfy you, you want something more; your home circle does not satisfy you; there is a root of bitterness, a worm in every gourd.

The expression must not be understood to imply that the persons invited are thirsting for God. Oh, my friends, if only those who thirsted for God were invited to come to God, it would be a very limited invitation indeed. No, no; but God is here addressing immortal hearts with immortal desires, and immortal affections, which are striving to fasten upon, and to be satisfied with, broken cisterns which can hold no water. We are all looking for happiness, every one of us; we are all longing for rest,-alas! we are striving to make our rest here, but God tells us it will not do. He calls us,it is a loving call, a faithful, a commanding call: "Arise ye, and depart; for this is not your rest." We are going here and there for a place of rest and happiness, but the waters will fail.

Some people seek their rest in the attainment of power: was there ever a human heart on earth that the attainment of power satisfied? We read of the great Alexander weeping

when he had conquered all the known world, because he had not another world to conquer.

Others seek their rest in wealth,—has any one ever seen a heart satisfied with the attainment of wealth? Do the annals of our race contain an instance of any one whose immortal longings were satisfied with the attainment of amassed wealth, —the thick clay of earth,—of which we brought nothing into this world, and of which we can carry nothing out?-diamonds may be very beautiful, jewels may be much admired,—but these things cannot satisfy; nay, on the contrary, have we not seen that the greater the amount of wealth amassed, the more shrivelled the heart becomes; so that it needs a double amount of grace for the rich man, or he is sure not to enter the kingdom of heaven. Rest not then in wealth.

Others take a nobler stand,—the acquisition of knowledge; they can weigh the stars, tell the number of the planets, note to an instant the beginning and ending of an eclipse, they can tell you of the wonders of the material universe, they can grasp all science, and they understand all phases of doctrine. Knowledge cannot satisfy. "I may have all knowledge," says the Apostle (and I suspect that is more than the most learned men have attained to)-"I may have all knowledge, so as to understand all mysteries, and yet be nothing;" a very small matter puts the extinguisher upon all human knowledge: something going wrong in the brain-a blast of death, and it is all gone; we cannot rest here.

Others take a grosser stand. They seek rest in pleasure, and from morning till night their one aim and object is how to kill time. Oh, friends, I am addressing many who know