lost child, and calling gently to him; filling the air with his name; hoping that his ear may catch those loving accents by which a father would draw him from his lurking-place and entice him back to his home. Adam, where art thou? My child, whither art thou gone? In what groves art thou hidden ? Beneath what shadows of sin is thy soul sleeping? In what grave art thou buried? Through what wilderness dost thou wander? Over what waves art thou sailing, and on what lone island art thou cast away ? Where art thou, that I may find thee and restore thee to the happiness which thou hast lost?'

God is always seeking sinners; not to punish them, not even to reproach them, but to restore them and save them from their sins. The Bible, God's own book, is full of promises and gracious invitations, which have it for their single object to draw men back to God's presence. Before ever the curse was pronounced upon Adam the promise was spoken in his hearing that a son of his should bruise the serpent's head. And the substance of all Jewish prophecy was that in a son of Abraham all nations should be blessed. And when at last that son was born into the world, what were His own words and what the spirit of all His teaching but,-" Come unto Me, and I will give you rest?" Was not this the Father saying, 'Where art thou, Adam? Come, thou lost and weary one, to my Son, whom I have sent to save thee, that may know where thou art and find thee again once more in Him.' What is the whole Gospel but the voice of love calling upon men and saying that there is safety for the lost? For what did our Lord come to earth? Was it not, as He Himself assures us, “to seek and save that which was lost?" What did He

I

say Himself about the purpose of His mission ?— "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." And does He not paint Himself in parables seeking the lost? Who but He was that good shepherd who went into the desert after one sheep, and when He found it brought it home saying, “I have found my sheep which was lost?" Who else was that woman who, having lost one precious piece of money, lit her candle and swept the house and searched diligently; and when she found it cried, “I have found my piece which I had lost?" And none but the Eternal God is that loving father who, when the lost prodigal came back ran out to meet him, and fell on his neck and kissed him, and cried, "This my son was dead and is alive again; was lost and is found?" All these are but differing forms of one truth. They show us that God loves us all, though sinners, and is looking for His lost children, if haply He may find them and draw them from their hidingplaces back to happiness and home. The tone of all is," Adam, where art thou?" 'How can I recover thee? How can I re-establish thee in righteousness? How can I strip thee of thy rags and cover-thee with the best robe of goodness? If we extract the essence of all revelation we may express it all thus :-man is lost, and "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Man is lost by nature, and when he turns from sin God finds him, and brings him back from the dark shades of sin to the open ways where God's presence is and the straight paths of righteousness. For nigh six thousand years, from the day that Adam fell to this present hour, God has been seeking for the lost

Adam, has been looking for his hiding children and calling to every separate one among them, "Where art thou?"

And thus this simple question, asked in Eden first, and echoing still among the trees of Paradise, is one of momentous interest to every one of us. To us, my brethren, to each of us, God has called, saying, "Where art thou?" The voice of our loving Father, since the day that He gave us our name at the font of Baptism, has called us by that name, and asked us, in tones of gentleness and mercy, to come forth from our hiding-places and turn ourselves to Him? Have we heard Him? Have we obeyed Him? He has called by promises of pardon, scattered freely over the pages of His Holy Word. He has called by kindness, day by day bestowed upon us, to win and draw us to Himself. He has called by chastisements, falling heavily upon our heads, to make us feel our sin. He has called by inward thoughts, and warnings of conscience, and mysterious strivings of the Holy Spirit in our wayward and rebellious hearts. Many and various have been His calls to every one among us. Has He found us? In answer to His call, "Where art thou?" have we cried, Here I am, O Lord. Here thy servant is ;' "speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth?" Have we come forth out of the darkness of sin and cast ourselves before His searching eye, and confessed that His laws have been broken, and laid hold upon His promises of grace and mercy? Has His fatherly call had power to draw us to Him as it drew Adam? or are we still hiding, still burying our shame in the darkness of sinful living, still wandering throughout the world naked and unclothed, because without the robe of righteousness? "Where

art thou?" in God's name, I would say to each of all Where art thou? among you, beloved brother.

Art thou in death or in life? Art thou living in sin, or living in goodness? Art thou a prodigal or a penitent? Art thou far from God or near Him? Art thou a sheep wandering throughout the wilderness, or a sheep safe within the fold? Art thou lost, or art thou found? Where art thou? It makes all the difference whether thou art here or there. If thou art here, in God's presence, returned to His favour, washed from thy sins in the blood of His Son, being purified from all thy dross through the refining fires of His Holy Spirit, then thou hast here on earth such happiness as God sees fit to give thee, and hereafter thou shalt have endless joys, and reign as a king beside the throne of Christ for ever. If thou art there, among the trees, far from God, in that distant country where God is not, living for the world, wasting the substance of thy precious soul on things that perish, losing thyself more and more in that vast forest of sin which is a pathless region and a land without a sun,-then, whatever the deceit which Satan may throw around thee, or the selfdelusion with which thou mayest cheat thyself, thou art miserable; thou hast no good here; nothing that can comfort or sustain thy soul, nothing which can feed thy kingly spirit, nothing which can satisfy thy thirsting heart. And hereafter, when the day of judgment comes, when thou must come forth and stand before the eye of Him who hitherto has called thee to Him, but called in vain, then, in that most fearful day, when thou who have rejected mercy shall find vengeance; then, oh, who can tell thee what thy misery shall then become, when the worm

that never dies shall begin to gnaw thee, and the reproaches of a vexed and angry conscience shall be the fuel which for ever feeds the fires of hell? Far let that doom be from any one of us. Still, it is not too late to hear our Father's call-" Adam, where art thou?" Dost thou not hear that call, my brother? It is to thee that God is calling, Where art thou? That soft, delicious music, that sound which seems as though it fell from heaven, that loving, melancholy cry, is for thee, my brother, if thou art still a lost child of thy Eternal Father. Hear it, if thou hast ears to hear. Hear it, and follow it till thou findest Him whose voice it is,-thy Maker, thy Father, thy God. Hear it, and go to that Spirit-land from which the voice issues. Go, return to God; for in God's presence there "is life, and at His right hand there are pleasures for evermore."