courage their children to associate with the lovers of pleasure, who would prepare them to receive the admiration of those who are devoted to the follies of time, do not feel a deep concern for the souls of their children. No soul was ever made better by the foolish talking of the fashionable party and “giddy mazes" of the dance.

Those parents who are so immersed in the cares of business that they have no time to attend to their children, do not watch for their souls. "I wish," said one, "to engage a person to take the entire charge of my sons: I am willing to pay any price to a competent person. My business will not allow me to give them my care."

What was his business? An extensive manufactory. He had time to watch over his spindles, but no time to watch over the souls of his children!

Alas! what revelations will the judgment-day make of the remissness even of professedly Christian parents in this matter! How strangely will the anxieties and efforts made by parents to get their children "respectably settled in life appear, when contrasted with the almost total neglect of the preparation of their souls for eternity! But there are blessed exceptions.

to make their salvation my great concern; and I thank God I have not tried in vain, for now I have good reason to believe that all of them have obtained a good hope through grace."

The statement of this excellent man regarding his children was not made at random.

If Christian parents were more faithful to their children-did they shed more tears over them, pleading for their conversion to God when young, they would often be saved bitter pangs and tears in old age consequent on their children's follies and crimes.

I AM DEBTOR.*

PAUL had a strong desire, as it appears from the context of these words, to convince the Church at Rome of two things; first, of his own commission to preach the Gospel, and second, that he had a very warm heart towards themselves-not only that he had a call to preach to them, but a very fervent desire to do this work. "Oftentimes I purposed to come unto you, (but was let hitherto), that I might have some fruit among you also, even as One reason he among other Gentiles." had already given,-he longed to impart to the believers there some spiritual gift to the end they might be established. But although he expresses this desire, and although the work of establishing believers in the faith is one of the chief every minister of obligations laid on Christ, yet there was no man less willing than Paul to build on another man's foundation, and therefore he greatly desired to have some fruit among the Romans as well as among the other Gentiles.

He had got many a bright gem among the heathen, but he earnestly desired some jewels for his crown of glory from among this people. This desire was very natural to one who had such a warm heart towards the cause and kingdom of the Lord Jesus as had the Apostle; his heart had learned to stretch itself forth to embrace in the bowels of Jesus Christ the whole lost world. We behold in Paul a notable example of Christian zealzeal for the Master's cause-a very different thing from the zeal of corrupt nature. There is such a thing as zeal in the natural heart, and it can sometimes

exist in a human cause for a long life without apparent abatement or declension; but true zeal is quite different from this, and is only to be found in a child of God. It cannot stand, or breathe, or act, or move, far less endure, except in so far as Christ himself breathes, and acts, and moves in the soul. To believers now it is indeed a wonderful sight to look back to the grace that Paul got in this respect, and to see how zealous, active, and persevering he was in the Lord's service; yet, while looking back to Paul, let us be careful to remember that it is not in ministers alone that this zeal should be found. It is just as much the part and the character of private Christians to be very jealous for the honour of the Lord of hosts. There is much zeal in the world, and there is nothing so easy or so pleasing to the natural man as to be zealous in a cause the glory of which is to revert to himself; so much so, that Christ tells us of the Pharisees that they would compass sea and land to make one proselyte who, when gained over, they made twofold more the child of hell than themselves. Yes, and we have had many a proof of this in the exertions made since the days of the Pharisees by men who have had the Pharisees' spirit. How much will they do-how much will they give-how much sea and land will they compass to make a few proselytes! Even to the Jews Paul bore witness that they had a zeal of God, though not according to knowledge. Therefore, my dear friends, you must search out your hearts well, and bring your motives to the light, for we know that zeal for the spread of any merely human opinion or even for the spread of any spiritual truth which is not of a primary kind-is no evidence that we are of the number of God's people. A zeal to gain over men to argue on doctrines, so dark and incomprehensible, perhaps, that God has seemed to place them on a secondary scale, and to the belief of which he has evidently not called all men -a great and mistaken zeal for the spread of particular doctrines or tenets, or of peculiar views, or of sects-does exist without having grace for the spring of it. But there can be no true zeal, having the glory of God and the salvation of sinners for its only aim, without the grace of God in the soul. Oh! how much would be done for God if his true servants had as much zeal in his holy cause, as false professors often have in the propagation of some peculiar opinion.

Now we come to the mainspring and reason of all Paul's zeal for the Romans and all other Gentiles. "I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise and to the unwise. So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the Gospel to you that are at Rome also." I AM DEBTOR. What is his meaning here? Does Paul mean by this that the Gentiles had done anything for him? some services that merited return? No, for though he might have laid claim to much as the due reward of his services, he determined to be chargeable to no man; and he says,-" Though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all that I might gain the more." How was he then their debtor? He was so on two grounds. The first of these was the state in which the Gentiles were. The second, Christ's dealings with himself. He was debtor to the Gentiles because he saw the whole Gentile world lying in sin-condemned, depraved, enslaved, carried away captive by the devil at his will, disobedient and so under the curse of God. This was one thing that brought Paul under a debt, a mighty debt of obligation to them, so that he could say "I am debtor both to the Greeks and to the Barbarians." How so? Because he was not like Cain, saying, "Am I my brother's keeper?" The Gospel taught him on the contrary to love his neighbour as himself. And then, too, he felt that since the Lord had freely saved him, he was bound to be as tender and compassionate for others as of his own soul. How strongly he felt it towards the Jews, these wonderful words bear witness," Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved." "I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh." Now, what do we learn from this? Just that every Christian is a debtor to all who are out of the bonds of the covenant of peace-that they should all be moved by compassion for a perishing world to go forward with this as their prevailing motive, that through grace they have become debtors to all men. And if this be binding on every follower of Christ how much more on ministers of the everlasting Gospel? Oh! that they felt it If we had but more of the grace

more.

of God, we should. When ministers have little grace they cannot feel this, just because they do not see the danger of others. They see men more in the light of being inhabitants of the world, than as going on with speed to death, to judgment, and to hell. But ah! where a true minister of Christ does get a view of the lost condition of mankind he cannot get over it. A heavy weight lies on his bosom which nothing can remove, he has great desires after the salvation of the soul and cannot rest without pulling sinners out of the fire, while hating the garment spotted with the flesh. Thus he is debtor to the world.

But the thought of what Christ had done for him, as well as the peculiar way in which He had called him, made Paul feel this. Even at the time of his conversion the Lord had told him that he was a chosen vessel for this end; making him to know that he was converted for the very purpose of bringing souls to Emmanuel. He got his commission as an ambassador of Christ at the very time he received a pardon. His charge to declare the Gospel of Jesus was written, as it were, on the same parchment with his own pardon-written on the very charter of his salvation. Every way he was bound and obliged to preach the Gospel. Not as a condition of his pardon. God forbid!-Ah no, it was all from love!-love to God and man. He had nothing left to glory in, the utmost he could ever do could not acquit the debt of love. It was laid on him as a solemn duty by the God of salvation, so that he was not only constrained to preach, but to say-"Woe is me if I preach not the Gospel." This feeling of imperative obligation to declare the truth did not belong to Paul alone; every man that has the grace of God within him feels it. There is no such thing as a monopoly of grace; her language and her charge to all is, Freely ye have received, freely give." "And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." Like the woman of Samaria, who left her water-pots and returned into the city, and told them that were in it to come and see a man who had told her all that ever she did, so we see that when one hears of Christ he tells another, and brings another too. A man is bound to do it he cannot help it-he cannot contain it within him; a necessity is laid on his

spirit, and woe is him if he preach not the Gospel.

The Apostle says something more than this," I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise." The meaning of this seems to be,-if I were free to make a choice, I might choose the barbarian or I might choose the Greek, I might choose the wise or the unwise; but Paul says, 1 am debtor, and you know a debtor has no such thing as a choice to make, to whom he will pay his debts. The debtor knows this, and the believer feels it just in the same way. "Whatever my calculations may be, or whatever I might myself desire, the question is not what would I like, but what is my commission,-what are the objects of my embassy? it is not my choice that I have to do with, but God's commission,-what instructions does it contain?" Ah! we would fain impress this upon you, for it's an important, solemn truth; we would do so for the use of God's children present. Believer, do you feel this? Do you know what it is to feel yourself a debtor to a lost world? Have you ever thought of what object Christ had in view when He brought you to himself?—what design He had in calling you? It was certainly, in the first instance, to save you from perdition, but that was not the only end. It's possible to think too much, or, at least, too exclusively about your own case. In one sense you cannot do that; woe be to him who seeks to pull the mote out of a brother's eye, when a beam is in his own; but yet a believer must remember that he is called to know Christ, not only to be safe himself, but also that he may be a witness for Christ in the world. Ah! think of this; don't be selfish in the matter of salvation, and remember above all, that this is not a thing which you may or may not do, just as you like. Some people do much in this way, just because they have a liking to it, and because the employment suits their taste-and it is a happy thing to feel that, but there is a far more unchangeable foundation for a believer's labour in the Lord's vineyard than that. The man is no longer free to like, or not to like, he is a debtor now-a debtor to do it fully, and constantly, and unceasingly, and devotedly, whether he likes or not. Think of it in this light, and then you will be going and hasting to tell your friends and all whom you know, of these precious things of God. Oh, if this were fully felt, and felt universally, how many