By  and  by  the  boy  springs  into  his  father's  arms  and
says,  "  Yes,  father,  I  did  do  wrong.  I  am  very  sorry ;
will  you  forgive  me?"  Of  course  he  will  forgive
him.  Now  that  is  just  as  near  as  you  can  illustrate
it,  the  case  of  the  sinner.  He  has  gone  away  from
his  God.  He  has  continued  in  rebellion;  and  I  read
in  this  Bible  the  language,  "  God  was  in  Christ  rec-
onciling the  world  unto  Himself."  Now  God  sends
out  ministers,  Sunday  school  teachers,  pious  parents ;
builds  meeting  houses,  sends  evangelists,  puts  under
contribution  the  singing  of  choirs,  and  employs  every
means  to  bring  the  sinner  to  see  that  he  has  done
wrong,  and  to  be  willing  to  submit ;  and  God  the
Holy  Ghost,  by  night  and  day,  presses  home  calls
and  entreats  the  sinner.  By  and  by  you  see  the
sinner  as  he  says,  "  Yes,  Lord,  I  am  sorry  I  have
sinned ;  forgive  me ;"  and  then  there  comes  harmony
between  him  and  his  God.  Now  can  you  see  that
when  that  father  stood  entreating  that  boy,  he  was
not  reconciling  himself  to  the  boy ;  he  was  reconcil-
ing the  boy  to  himself;  and  can  you  not  see  that
when  it  is  declared  that  "  God  was  in  Christ  recon-
ciling the  world  to  Himself,"  He  was  not  reconciling
Himself  to  the  world.  He  was  bringing  the  sinner
to  Himself;  not  bringing  Himself  to  the  sinner.
Now  I  say  this  is  the  first,  the  fundamental  thing.
The  sinner  must  in  his  will  be  ready  to  submit  and
surrender  to  the  great  God,  the  Heavenly  Father,
against  whom  he  has  sinned.
