is a leper? the leprosy is sin: and the leper is the sinner, and so we all are represented by Naaman. "For if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us." And how was Naaman cured? by washing as he was bidden in Jordan ; and what is that a type of? it is the type of the Blood of Jesus Christ, which cleanseth from all sin. He is the prophet of Nazareth-Jesus Christ, who can recover a man of that most incurable plague, the leprosy of sin. As nothing would avail Naaman, till he came and stood like a suppliant at the door of Elisha, so nothing shall avail us, till like humble suitors we sit at the feet of Jesus Christ; and there is salvation in no other. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made white as snow. Though your sins be in God's sight more leprous than the flesh of Naaman, yet if you have faith, if you have trust in the efficiency of Christ's atoning death, you shall be made perfectly clean.

"He will wash you, He will justify you, He will present you faultless before His Father, you shall have peace with God, being justified freely by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus."

SERMON XXI.

COMING TOGETHER

TO HEAR THE

WORD OF GOD.

ACTS XIII. 44.

"And the next Sabbath came almost the whole city together to hear the Word of God."

We have just heard in the second lesson for this afternoon, part of St. Paul's sermon to the people of Antioch-Antioch in Pisidia, a Roman colony whose inhabitants were partly Jews, partly Gentiles. The whole of that sermon is deeply interesting. It shows us St. Paul's method of dealing with the Gospel: and we know what great effect it had on those who heard it. It led to the reception of the Gospel by a large number of the heathen inhabitants. And this brought upon the preacher the hostility of the

spoken by Paul,

Then it was that

Jews: "They were filled with envy, and spake against those things which were contradicting and blaspheming." Paul and Barnabas "waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first be spoken to you"-you who are Jews, the favoured people, the chosen of God, you of whose race the Saviour is born-" But seeing you judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, Lo! we turn to the Gentiles. And when the Gentiles heard this they were glad, and glorified the Word of the Lord, and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed."

Thus in God's ordering, the blindness of Israel opened a way to the enlightenment of the heathen; their loss was the others gain. The wild olive bough of Antioch was grafted upon the stock of Abraham : made a partaker of the root and fatness of the fruitbearing tree. It is an important point in the history of Christianity. Henceforth the Gospel message had a freer course; and the labours of the great Apostle ranged over a wider field. Henceforth till the end of his life we shall find St. Paul no longer restricting himself to men of his own race and religion, but proclaiming far and wide the good tidings. Shewing himself to be, in an especial manner, the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, carrying out the Lord's will respecting himself, that he, once a persecutor, now an Apostle,

"Should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ."

But I will not dwell upon this to-day. My object in taking the words before me for a text is to call attention to the eagerness with which the Gospel was heard at the beginning, how the people flocked to hear it, how attentively they listened, what effect it had upon them, how it changed their whole life for the better, and by contrast the want of interest that men show nowadays-how slack and slow they are to hear the Word of God.

Look then at what is recorded of the people of Antioch. They had heard but one sermon from St. Paul, and that had so moved a part of the hearers that they (the Gentile part of the congregation) besought that the same words might be preached to them the next Sabbath; and when that day came, "The next Sabbath came almost the whole city together to hear the Word of God."

It must have been an interesting sight. Antioch in those days contained a large population-many thousands-the greater part were heathens, they had temples and shrines, images set up in their streets, places for assembling not a few; but all were empty on that Sabbath; all were unregarded, almost the whole city were gathered together in the Synagogue, which stood on the hill above their town, crowded together within its four walls, every corner of

available space filled, some on the ground floor, some in the galleries, some on the window seats, some sitting, some standing, all eager to "hear the Word of God."

Where do we see such a sight now? or anything approaching to it? that which is to us as the Synagogue, the Parish Church, is indeed still standing in every town and village, often standing on rising ground conspicuous to all, with silent finger pointing to the heavens-but when do we see it filled like the Synagogue of old? Where do we see a whole parish collected together in God's House to hear His Holy Word? Alas! seldom, if everthere is a great lukewarmness in religion, a great indifference to hearing and receiving God's Holy Word. The people come, I even think, less eagerly than they did in the days of our fathers to hear sermons. Some are seldom seen, some are never seen in their parish church. Why is this? Why is it that only on very rare occasions our churches are filled? when there is some peculiar or unusual attraction, some club gathering, or some musical service? Why on ordinary occasions is the congregation so thin? Why have we never, the oldest now present, seen a sight like that described in the text, almost the whole city come together to hear the Word of God?

The question is more easily asked than answered: