practical kind; he was subservient to God as a commissioned servant, and busy with actually doing the will of God.

But the gist of the text lies here. Our Lord Jesus Christ found both sustenance and delight in thus doing the will of God in winning souls. Believe me, brethren, if you have never known what it is to pluck a brand from the burning, you have never known that spiritual meat which, next to Christ's own self, is the sweetest food a soul can feed upon. To do good to others is one of the most rapid methods of getting good to yourselves. Read the diaries of Whitefield and of Wesley, and you will be struck with the fact that you do not find them perpetually doubting their calling, mistrusting their election, or questioning whether they love the Lord or not. See the men, preaching to their thousands in the open air, and hearing around them the cries of "What must we do to be saved?" Why, brethren, they had no time for doubts and fears. Their full hearts had no room for such lumber. They felt that God had sent them into this world to win souls for Christ, and they could not afford to live desponding mistrustful lives. They lived unto God, and the Holy Ghost so mightily lived in them that they were fully assured that they partook of his marvellous power. Some of you good people, who do nothing except read little Plymouthy books, and go to public meetings, and Bible readings, and prophetic conferences, and other forms of spiritual dissipation, would be a good deal better Christians if you would look after the poor and needy around you. If you would just tuck up your sleeves for work, and go and tell the gospel to dying men, you would find your spiritual health mightily restored, for very much of the sickness of Christians comes through their having nothing to do. All feeding and no working makes men spiritual dyspeptics. Be idle, careless, with nothing to live for, nothing to care for, no sinner to pray for, no backslider to lead back to the cross, no trembler to encourage, no little child to tell of a Saviour, no grey-headed man to enlighten in the things of God, no object, in fact, to live for; and who wonders, if you begin to groan, and to murmur, and to look within, until you are ready to die of despair? But if the Master shall come to you, and put his hand upon you, and say "I have sent you just as my Father sent me; now go and do my will," you will find that in keeping his commandments there is great reward. You would find meat to eat that you know nothing of now. Let us have practical Christianity, my brethren. Let us never neglect doctrinal Christianity, nor experimental Christianity, but if we do not have the practice of it in being to others what Christ was to us, we shall soon find the doctrines to be without savour, and the experience to be flavoured with bitterness. Christ found joy in seeking the good of the Samaritan woman. Her heart, hitherto unrenewed, satisfied him when he had won it to himself. Oh, the joy of winning a soul! Get a grip from the hand of one whom you were the means of bringing to Christ; why, after that, all the devils in hell may attack you, but you will not care for them, and all the men in the world may rage against you, and say you do not serve God from proper motives, or do not serve him in a discreet way; but since God has set his seal upon your work, you can afford to laugh at them. Do but win souls, beloved, through the power

of the Holy Spirit, and you shall find it to be a perennial spring of joy in your own souls.

But, notice: our Lord says, in addition to his finding it his meat to do God's will that he also desired to finish his work. And this is our satisfaction, to persevere till our work is finished. We shall never be content

• Till all the blood-bought race
Shall meet around the throne;
To bless the conduct of his grace,
And make his wonders known."

You do not know how near you may be to the completion of your work. You may not have to toil many more days. The chariot-wheels of eternity are sounding behind you. Hasten, Christian! Use the moments zealously, for they are very precious. You are like the work-girl with her last inch of candle. Work hard! "The night cometh wherein no man can work." "I paint for eternity" said the. painter; so let us do, let us work for God as those whose work will endure when selfish labours shall burn as wood, hay, and stubble in the last tremendous fire. To finish his work! To finish his work! Be this our aim. When the great missionary to the Indians was dying, the last thing that he did was to teach a little child its letters, and when someone marvelled to see so great a man at such a work he said he thanked God that when he could no longer preach he had at least strength enough left to teach that poor little child. So would he finish his life's work, and put in the last little stroke to complete the picture. It should be our meat and our drink to push on, never finding our meat in what we have done but in what we are doing and still have to do; finding constantly our refreshment in the present work of the present hour as God enables us to perform it, spending and still being spent. Never let us say, "I have had my day; let the young people. take their turn." Suppose the sun said, "I have shone; I shall not rise to-morrow." Imagine the stars in their beauty saying, "We have for so long a time shot our golden arrows through the darkness, we will now retire for ever." What if the air should refuse to give us breath, or the water should no longer ripple in its channels, or if all nature should stand still because of what it once did-what death and ruin would there be! No, Christian, there must be no loitering for you; each day be this your meat, to do the will of him that sent you, and to finish his work.

III. And now, lastly, I have not strength, neither have you the time, to consider THE GLORY WHICH JESUS CHRIST SHOULD HAVE FROM US, when we know that he could truly say, "It is my meat to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work."

How could he ever have loved us? It is strange that the Son of God should have set his affections upon such unworthy beings. I should not have wondered, my brother, at his loving you, but it is a daily marvel to me that Jesus should have loved me. It is a wonder of wonders that he should come to save us; that when we were so lost and ruined that we did not even care about his love, but rejected it when we heard of it, and despised it even when it came with some degree of power to our hearts, that he should still have loved us notwithstanding

all. ""Tis strange, 'tis passing strange, 'tis wonderful"! Yet, so it is. He has no greater delight than in saving us, and in bringing us to glory. Shall we not praise him? Do not our hearts say within themselves, "What shall I do, my Saviour, to praise? Wherewithal shall I crown his head? How shall I show forth my gratitude to him who found such delight in serving me?" Beloved, may the love of God be shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given to us.

Let every flying hour confess

We bring the gospel fresh renown;
And when our lives and labours cease
May we possess the promised crown.

From this day forth may it be our meat and drink is to do the will of him that sent us, and to finish his work.

I leave the text with you, my brethren in Christ, and may God give you grace practically to carry out its meaning. I leave it with you, ye unconverted, and may it be as cords of love to draw you to Jesus, Christ and his shall be the praise for ever and ever. Amen.

I

Trial of Godless Worldlyman.

FOR THE YOUNG.

BY PASTOR C. A. DAVIS.

CHANCED one day to enter the Court of Conscience, where I witnessed the trial of a notorious prisoner, Godless Worldlyman. The court was occupied in every corner with a crowd of thoughts and memories, who looked on and approved or condemned as the trial proceeded. (Rom. ii. 15.) The judge was there seated on the bench; at the table before him sat the recorder and the pleader Emmanuel; on either side were ranged the officers of the court. Conviction had charge of the prisoner, and the executioner Justice stood sword in hand.

Worldlyman being placed at the bar the clerk read the indictment, to the effect that the prisoner had broken the laws of the king, had withdrawn himself from his service, entertained the king's enemies, and had induced others to do the Like. The prisoner pleaded not guilty; and the judge ordered that the witnesses should be called

First came those on the prisoner's side. Lightheart stepped into the box and said the prisoner was an excellent and harmless man, had committed neither theft nor murder, had never done harm to anyone, and was acknowledged to wear a respectable character; that his motto had been a short life and a merry one, that every one must sow his wild oats, and no sensible man would con demn a little harmless mirth.

Lightheart stepped down and the next witness was called. His name was Neverprofess. He said, as to the charge against the prisoner of having thrown off his allegiance to the king, it was beside the mark, for he had never made any profession of allegiance; he did not see how he could be blamed for not doing what he never professed to do. The judge remarked that this only made the prisoner's guilt the greater.

The next witness was Longface, whose evidence was to the effect that the prisoner lived in Hypocrite Alley, not many doors from himself: that he was a good man, never known to smile; had always been grave, demure, solemn ; and

the man who could pick a hole in his character must be of a thankless disposition indeed. The judge said this witness and Lightheart did not agree, and that a gloomy manner did not make a good man.

Formalist was the next witness. The prisoner was well known to him; he had always been regular in churchgoing, he went through the mud, he closel his eyes during prayer. He read a chapter every day, he never went to bed without first kneeling, and when he rose he knelt again unless he had overslept himself. A man so religious he was sure could never be proved guilty of the charges laid against him. The judge said, "They draw near to me with their lips, but their heart is far from me."

The next witness was named Charity. He testified that Worldlyman had been known to give his old boots and cast-off clothes to the poor, that his name might be seen in large letters in many subscription lists, and he believed that though he had acted imprudently in a few trifling matters, as the indictment said, the judge would in consideration of his charitable disposition, and remembering that charity covers a multitude of sins, acquit him. To which the judge said, "Charity hides from a man the faults of his friend, but almsgiving does not conceal a man's sins from God."

The witnesses on the other side were then called. The first was Homepiety who had nothing good to say of the prisoner. Formalist, said he, had described him as a demure and saintly man, but this was the mask he wore abroad; a home the mask was laid aside. It was said of him that he was a saint abroad and a devil at home, and this was true. He had constantly broken the fifth commandment.

Honest came next. He said the prisoner was accustomed to charge more than the true value for his goods, that he was always ready to take an unjust advantage, that his weights and measures were false, so that though he might never have picked pockets and prowled the highways as a robber, he was guilty of breaking the eighth law of the king.

Next Hatenot was called. He said the prisoner had indulged in hatred and malevolent passions, that he had wished those who displeased him dead and lying in the grave, and this came under the sentence of the law book, "Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer."

Holyday next appeared and said, that the choicest means of grace had been misused by the prisoner, that he had considered God's worship a weariness and had snuffed at it, that he had abused the gospel, had made holy things an occasion of more sin, and had broken thus the fourth commandment.

Purespeech bore witness that the prisoner had indulged in blasphemy, in cursing and swearing, and in taking God's name in vain, for all which he would not be held guiltless.

Cleanheart said he had fostered impure imaginations, and though he ventured not upon the sins themselves, yet the delighting in this impurity of heart was the breach of the seventh commandment.

Last came Love-God. He said, "My Lord, had the prisoner been innocent of these things, he could not be acquitted; for the first and great commandment has never been fulfilled by him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy mind and with all thy soul and with all thy strength.'"

The prisoner was asked if he had anything to say. He blushed and wept, and when he could control his grief he cried with sighs: "My Lord, I am guilty. Every word of the accusation is true, and more. I have broken the laws and rebelled against God. I am undone and deserve to die; but, O my Lord, mercy! I cry mercy."

The judge assumed the black cap, and said, "The soul that sinneth, it shall die. Justice, take the prisoner."

When Justice laid hold of the prisoner, the pleader Emmanuel rose, and said, "Stay thy sword." He turned to the judge, and said, "Pity the prisoner and spare him." The judge replied, "The law knows no pity." Emmanuel spoke

again: "My Father, the prisoner is thy creature, made in thine image, my heart yearns towards him. I cannot see him die. Let the sword of Justice enter into my soul. I will die for the sinner; my life shall go for his."

The Court was struck with deep silence. The prisoner stood amazed, his eyes riveted on the prince, for he could see no one else. The rest looked at the judge, wondering what turn things would now take.

The judge rose and addressed the prisoner. "Since thou art tried and found guilty, sentence is passed on thee: but my Son has offered his life for thine. Be it so. I accept the substitute. Die, O Emmanuel, and thou, O sinner, live." A burst of emotion sounded through the Court. The divine prince rose and delivered himself to the executioner, and was led to death.

As for the prisoner, I have since heard that he is a new man, that he can think of none but Emmanuel, that he often weeps in secret at the memory of him, and that there is not a man on earth who has so great a love as he for the prince who bled and died on his behalf. And I am not surprised.

Dr. Cuyler.*

THE little eighteenpenny books, now being circulated in this country, by understands the power of short sentences; and good things, strikingly put, abound in his pleasant pages. The Empty Crib, is a biography of a novel Lind, its subject being an infant who died when five years of age. Many a bercaved mother will thank the American doctor for what is a gem of its kind, but for our own part we do not see particularly much in it, except its tenderness. The book was written while the author was learning a lesson in quietness before God, and few will complete the perusal without tears. We now give a selection of extracts from the little works of our esteemed friend.

MAKING MONEY AND PAYING THE FARE.

One man, for example, is entirely absorbed in making money. When this becomes a greedy appetite, the money-lover must pay for it with daily anxiety and worry, and he runs the fearful risk of being eaten up with covetousness. A greed for wealth grows with years. When the rich miser of New York tottered out into the street at fourscore, and a friend asked him how he felt, the old miser replied eagerly, “I feel better to day; stocks are up." Ah! what a fare that old millionaire had to pay for travelling farther and faster than others on the road to wealth! It shrivelled up his very soul. Gold may be a useful servant, but it is a cruel master. It is not easy to own it without its owning us. When one man makes it a rich blessing to others, thousands make it the ruin of their souls. Love of money drew Lot to the fertile valley of Sodom, and he "paid the fare thereof." in the destruction of his family. Love of money made Gehazi a knave: he "paid the fare" in an incurable leprosy. Love of money was one of the two sins for which Judas paid with the suicide's rope, and everlasting infamy. No man can make money safely and wisely, unless he holds his earnings as a trust from God. What would it profit you to win the wealth of an empire, if you should pay for it the price of your undying "What shall a man give in exchange for his soul?"—Heart Thoughts,

soul?

* Heart Thoughts. By Theodore L. Cuyler, D.D. (Hodder & Stoughton.) Heart Life. By Theodore L. Cuyler, D.D. (Hodder & Stoughton) Heart Culture. By Theodore L. Cuyler, D.D. (Hodder & Stoughton.) The Empty Crib. A Memorial of Little Georgie. With words of consolation for Bereaved Parents. By Theo. L. Cuyler, D.D. With Introductory Letter by Rev. Newman Hall, LL.B. (Dickenson and Higham.)