The spirit of slumber is upon them; they are eating the fruit of their own doing, and all because they knew not the time of their visitation.

To us the Jews are to be a warning example. Therefore St. Paul writes: "Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in. Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear: for if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee." Rom. 11, 19. God had selected the Jews for His special people; they were like unto a tree planted at a water-brook and grown with much labor and care, yet when they proved unthankful they were cast away. Surely, if God spared not the beloved city of Jerusalem, neither will He spare others, if they will no more appreciate His mercy, and began to put His gifts from them as a vile thing.

Awake, thou that sleepest, and open thine eyes that thou mayest recognize the time of thy salvation. Jesus weeps over the impenitent sinners at Jerusalem, and not over them only, but over those also who inhabit the Valley of Virginia. God caused you to be born in a Christian land, perhaps of Christian parents, in a region where you find a Bible in every house, and where church steeples point to the sky. Is not now the day of your visitation? Now you are called on to repent of sin; now you are urged to turn to the Lord; now He pleads for admission to your heart to dwell therein and to adorn it with His merits. Will you say Him nay? Will you bid Him go away? O

Admit Him, lest His anger burn,

And He, departing, ne'er return ;
Admit Him, or the hour's at hand
You'll at His door rejected stand.

To-day repent, to-morrow might be the day of God's vengeance upon you. To Jerusalem the Lord said: " If thou hadst known in this thy day." When the Lord spake these words it was yet Jerusalem's day, yet time for repentance; but when the apostles had turned to the Gentiles, when the few Christians who remained at Jerusalem had shaken the dust of that city

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from off their feet and had fled to seek a place of safety beyond the waters of Jordan, then Jerusalem's day was over, and the Lord's day of wrath was upon it. Then it was a doomed city, those within it were given over to a reprobate mind" and there was no more room for repentance. The closer the city was invested, the harder the Jews were pressed, the more raging and desperate did they become. Now, friend, now is your day; now while you are young, healthy and of a sound mind. If you are taken sick and your mind wanders, then your day is over. Improve your day while it is yours and forestall the Lord's day of vengeance. To-day if you will hear his voice, harden not your heart." Heb. 3, 7. Behold the Jews! They would not know the day of their visitation, they rejected the Holy One of Israel and their day passed away. Now they have been sitting in night since nearly two thousand years. If you neglect to improve your day the night will come upon you, and it will remain night with you forever.

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Seek the Lord while He may be found and call upon Him to cast out those evil passions ruling in your heart, as He drove out the traffickers in the temple, denouncing them for having "made it a den of thieves." As those dove-venders and moneychangers profaned the temple of the Lord, so the love of money, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life defile the heart. If these are trafficking in your heart cast them out. They are robbers who rob you of peace with God. They are thieves who steal your good conscience from you. Cast them out and let your heart be a temple of the Spirit of Christ, and the Spirit of Christ will bring in the Spirit of prayer, and the Spirit of prayer will introduce the Spirit of praise.

This Spirit of prayer and praise will cause you to love "the house of prayer," and when you turn your feet to this house He will teach you to do what is said at the end of this text: "All the people were very attentive to hear him." Improve your day to sit at the feet of Jesus attentively to hear His words, and you shall know the Lord and it will be said of your soul as of Mary: "She hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her." Luke 10, 42. AMEN.

XI. SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY.

TEXT: And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in them. selves that they were righteous, and despised others: Two men went up into the temple to pray the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other : for everyone that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.-Luke 18, 9-14.

IN JESUS CHRIST WHO IS OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS, DEARLY BELOVED FRIENDS:—" I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other," says the Lord of the two men, the Pharisee and the publican, who went up into the temple to pray. The words do not mean that the Pharisee was also justified, although not so fully and completely as the publican; for so it might appear to some from our English translation; the meaning of the words is: the publican went away justified before God, but the Pharisee went away not justified; he remained under wrath and condemnation.

Justification, the justifying of the sinner, is the central doctrine of all Scripture. Just this is the object for which the Scriptures were given, that we should learn from them how to be justified before God. Therefore the word justification is the sweetest and most comforting word in the whole Scripture, namely to him who has learned what justification is; who has learned it, not like this Pharisee that he can gabber much about the doctrine of justification, but who has learned it like the publican in the school of the Holy Ghost. A hypocrite or heathen may commit to memory what the Scriptures teach about justification, but only he can truly and fully appreciate this word

who, through repentance and faith, has himself experienced it; who has experienced what the Lord preached, coming into Galilee and saying: "The kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the Gospel." Mark 1, 15.

If therefore we would have the key for the understanding of the whole Scripture we must understand this text rightly. Why was this Pharisee not justified? He was certainly a pious man who kept the law as far as any man can keep it, who thought to make up for his deficiency in keeping all the law by doing some things more than the law required; for he says: "I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.' He fasted more and he gave more tithes than the law required; for the law did not require a man to fast twice a week and to give tithes of everything.

This man walked into the temple like one who is conscious of his virtues and his integrity, and he did not lie when he stood and prayed: "God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican." This man certainly behaved and spoke as one having a good conscience and able honestly to say that he had walked in the commandments of the law. On the other hand the publican behaved and spoke as one having a bad conscience; for "standing afar off, he would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner." If the people who were present in the temple at that hour would have been called on to judge between the two they must certainly have said: The Pharisee is justified by his works, and the publican stands condemned by his own confession. But the Lord's judgment is just the reverse.

What was wrong with this Pharisee? O there was much wrong with him, as the words show with which the parable is introduced: "And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others." In the 14th Psalm it is written of the children of Adam: "They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one," but this Pharisee came into the temple of the Lord, trusting in himself

that he was righteous, and he began to recount to God how much good he did. By this action he directly contradicted the Word of God and treated it as a falsehood. This Pharisee despised that publican and all who were not as good as he thought himself, but in the 14th chapter of Proverbs it is written: "He that despiseth his neighbor sinneth." This Pharisee was proud of his piety and good works, and the Lord declared of him: Every one that exalteth himself shall be abased." He trusted in himself and his own works, and therefore he was not justified; for, say the Scriptures, "by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight." Rom. 3, 20. The Pharisee was not justified, because he sought righteousness before God at the wrong place, namely in himself, and by the wrong means, namely by his own works. We will let him pass for

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to-day.

Why was the publican justified? That is the main point in this text. Let us therefore consider:

THE JUSTIFICATION OF A POOR SINNER BEFORE GOD. Justification being a legal term used in courts let me present

to you:

I. The court, or the persons coming into consideration; II. The procedure in the justification of a sinner; and III. The conclusion that justification is by grace and not by

works.

I.

In a well constituted court there are at least four persons, or four kinds of persons necessary: a judge, whose duty it is to examine the witnesses and to pronounce sentence on the accused according to the laws of the land; 2nd, the accused, or culprit, who must appear before the judge to hear his sentence; 3rd, witnesses to testify either to the guilt or the innocence of the accused; 4th, a lawyer to plead the cause of the accused. In our courts the functions of the judge are divided, the jury exercising part of them, and for human courts this arrangement is very wise and very right, but here it does not come into con