reKef. " Master," he says, " I beseech Thee look upon my son : for he is mine only child."
There are many Christian fathers and mothers at this day who are just as miserable about their children as the man of whom we are reading. The son who w%3 once the " desire of their eyes," and in whom their Kves were bound up, turns out a spendthrift, a profligate, and a companion of sinners. The daughter who was once the flower of the family, and of whom they said, " this same shall be the comfort of our old age," becomes self-willed, worldly-minded, and a lover of pleasure more than a lover of God. Their hearts are weU nigh broken. The iron seems to enter into their souls. The devil appears to triumph over them, and rob them of their choicest jewels. They are ready to cry, " I shall go to the grave sorrow- ing. What good shall my life do to me ? "
Now what should a father or mother do in a case like this ? They should do as the man before us did. They should go to Jesus in prayer, and cry to Him about their child. They should spread before that mer- ciful Saviour the tale of their sorrows, and entreat TTiTn to help them. Great is the power of prayer and inter- cession! The child of many prayers shall seldom be cast away. God's time of 'conversion may not be ours. He may think fit to prove our faith by keeping us long waiting. But so long as a child lives, and a parent prays, we have no right to despair about that child's soul.
We have, secondly, in these verses, an example of Chrisfs readiness to show mercy to young persons. We are told in the case before us, that the prayer of the