we carr· about him, we watch his career; we are specially glad if he takes a wiso course aud are specially grieved if he goes astray. ' III. A YOUNG MAN WITII SOME OF THE NOBLER QUAl.ITIES OF YOUTH. 1. We note his reverence. Youth should be reverent. Ignorance and inexperience should pay to kno'l"l"ledge and wisdom the regard which is their due. We like this youna man because he saw in that homeless Teacher a wisdom superior to his own, and ca~e and prostrated himself before him in becoming homage. 2. We note liis ardour. He came running (Mark x. 17) to meet and to learn of Christ. Youth should be as in the person of this inquirer it was-eager, ardent, enthusiastic, sanguine of good thin"8, 3. We note his religfousness. "Heaven lies about us in our infancy," etc. Youtb"'is the time when heavenly visions are most and best seen; when Divine claims spiritual realities, are strongest and clearest to the soul; then "life eternal" has the deepest meaning. So was it with him. To him life held something larger and better than all his lands and houses; other and higher voices than those of debtors and stewards reached his ear; he had a vision of a holy service in which he might be engaged; of a Divi11e life be might be living; and running in his eagerness, and kneeling in his reverence he looked up into 1he face of Christ and said, "Good Mru,ter, what good thing shall I do' that I may have eternal life?" ' IV. A YOUNG MAN IN THE PRESENOE OF CHRIST, exciting his special interest. A young man, with his life before him and a soul not yet stained by the evil which is in the world, standing in the very presence of him who knew what human life might include and what the human soul was worth, who could tell him how to enlarge the one and how to ennoble the other, and who (Mark x. 21) took a tender and loving interest in this earnest spirit,-what could we have more profoundly interesting than this? V. JESUS CHRIST REVEALING TO HIM THE TRUE STATE OF ms HEART. Our Lord's treatment of inquirers differed much; it was, no doubt, determined by the state of their heart, as lie alone knew it. Be replied to this young man as be did, because he wished him to know where he actually stood; he wished to show him that, in order to be prepared to lay hold on eternal life, it was not only necessary to have such sincerity as he had, and such earnestness as he had, but such earnestness as would make him ready to yield everything to the Lord of his life; and that this he had not. So, after leading him up to the point, he said, " Sell all that thou hast," etc. And then the inquirer knew that he lacked one thing-one essential thing ; he wanted that thoroughness of purpose toward God which made self-surrender possible to him. It was a glorious, golden chance, then used or then lost when this interview was held. It must have been the crisis of Ms career, on which everything hung for all the future. Similar in its nature, though not alike in its circumstances, is the opportunity offered to each one of us. 1. All the life of Christian privilege is the golden chance of our existence. "Now is the accepted time," the period when everything is open to us, when a. noble and immortal future stretches out before UB and is within our power. 2. Youth is the golden chance of life. It is in the days that are now passing, when the heart is warm, and the mind is open, and the conscience tender, and the life unburdened and unembarrassed, that Christ should be approached and his lasting friendship gained. 3. 'l'he day of Divine visitation is the golden chance of youth-that day when the truth and the grace of Jesns Christ are most powerfully felt, and a voice from heaven is heard saying of the path of life, "This is the way: walk ye in it."-0.
Ver. 24.- Wealth and piety. Wherein lies the difficulty of a rich man entering the kingdom? This young ruler shrank from parting with his property; but Jesus Christ does not ordinarily ask men of wealth to "sell all that they have, and give to the poor." His difficulty, therefore, is not the common one. 1. It is not that the rich man is not as welcome to the friendship of Christ as the poor man. He does not make distinctione in his invitation, or in bis desire that men should come to him. In him in whom is neither male nor female, bond nor free, there is neither rich nor poor. The poor as much as the rich, and also the rich as much a6 tlie poor, are the objects of his love and of his seeking. The Lord of our nature regards us, and concerns himself for us, not on account of our circumstances, but because he knows the valuo of our souls. 2. Not becalllle the rich man cannot illustrate the distinctive graces of Christin.uity. OH, xvm. 1-43.] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. LUKE. 127