thought about going to London, and of my having written to my brother Tom. "Eh!" said he; "I did not know you had a brother in London, in our trade too." "But I have," said I. "Where does he work?" he asked. I told him; and I fancied that a change came over his countenance. 66 Perhaps you know him ?" I said. “Oh, no, I do not !" he replied; and then he left me. The next morning he came to me and called me aside. He asked me to lend him some money. It was an unfortunate thing that my wife was out of the way; more unfortunate still that I had so little firmness, and was so liable. to be over-persuaded. To be sure, Collins made out a very fair story for himself, and proved to me, very satisfactorily, as I thought, that money was coming to him the following week. There is no need to go into particulars, however; and I am ashamed now to recollect how soft I was; but the end of our conference was, that I broke into our little remaining store, and put two sovereigns into Michael's hand. I was so conscious at the time of having done a foolish and wrong thing, that I did not care to tell my wife of the transaction for several days afterwards. (TO BE CONTINUED.) 44 e is not there Himself." USED at one time to attend a London church, the rector of which was a highly-gifted, far-famed preacher. Strangers came from all directions to hear him, so that often there was barely standing room in his church. One Sunday morning he was unexpectedly absent; and when his fellow clergy issued from the vestry without him, one of two ladies who had been accom modated in a pew just in front of me turned to her companion with a look of dismay, and said in a whisper, loud enough to reach my ears, "He isn't there himself;" and after a little more conversation, they walked out of church, just as the congregation rose for the beginning of the service. name 1. "He is not there himself." What significant words, I thought, as to the absence of any understanding of the real purpose of public worship! Such forgetfulness of God would not be surprising in a scene of worldly amusement, even on the part of those professing His name; but in His own house of prayer, where with our lips we are addressing to Him confession, supplication, thansgiving, it seems the very climax of hypocrisy. Yet which of us is without sin in this matter? Are we not all, even those whose religion is a living faith in the Son of God, apt to feel a chill of disappointment from the absence of those whose ministry we have learnt to value? This would never be so if the fulfilment of our Lord's promise to those who gather in His were the central point of our desire in the services of the sanctuary; then we should never feel that the object of our church-going is defeated-never have to say, "He is not there Himself," for He has said, "Ye shall find me when ye shall search for me with all your heart." "Let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord." "If my people seek my face. . . . mine eyes shall be open and mine ears attent." And these were words spoken in Old Testament days, when Jehovah was known to His people only as a God whose personal glory none could behold and live; when glimpses only, by type and shadow, were given them of the coming in the flesh of the Son of God for us, to whom has been manifested the Incarnate Saviour, to whom has been granted the gift of the Holy Spirit, to show unto us of the things of Christ; how much easier should it be to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ! "There am I in the midst of them." And if it is thus dishonouring to our Lord and Master that we should be disappointed, where He Himself is present, it is not less dishonouring to Him that we should ever be satisfied in any outward ordinances in which we fail, by reason of darkness and deadness in these, or in ourselves, to see Jesus Himself. I remember standing amongst a crowd of spectators before a memorial monument, just erected in honour of a German prince, whose life had been spent in benefiting his country. A nation's offerings had been expended upon it, and it was perfect in all that money could procure or art accomplish. All were admiring its beauty of allegorical design, of marble sculpture, of decorative gilding; when one standing beside me exclaimed in a tone of surprise and disappointment, "But he isn't there himself!" and then I saw that the pedestal which formed the apex of the splendid structure was unoccupied. It appeared that the great artists engaged in executing the statue of the prince had not yet completed their work; but it had been decided to uncover the memorial to public view without further delay. The speaker was one of the many who had known and loved the good prince and received favours at his hands; and just as to such an one the monument, with all its grandeur, was but an empty pedestal without the crowning figure of his prince, so, I thought, in measure as we truly love our Lord, will any service held in His name be mere formality, unless He Himself, realized by faith, stand in the midst.. True, indeed, "He is not here Himself," in the way which can alone fully satisfy His people; and as we struggle on, conscious how much within us and around us is "not yet put under Him," we keenly realize that even the "heavenly places," wherein we are "blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus," are not heaven; that to fight the fight of faith, to "endure as seeing Him who is invisible," is not "The joy of our Lord;" and we long for the blessed time when it will not be needful for us to "walk by faith and not by sight"-no longer expedient for us that He should be away; but we know that the preparation of heart for that everlasting satisfying joy is in the "trial of our faith more precious than gold which perisheth;" the training of our spirits to rejoice, even while in heaviness, through manifold temptations, in Him whom, having not seen, we love. Words to the Troubled. "And He said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in "W" your hearts ?"-LUKE xxiv. 38. HY do thoughts arise in your hearts? Listen! 'tis Jesus your Saviour who speaks; 66 Why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold me, behold me, 'tis I myself; Can ye doubt any longer I'm here?" Why do thoughts arise in your hearts?" He died-He is risen-He evermore lives "Why do thoughts arise in your hearts?" Lean well upon Him; He careth for you, "Why do thoughts arise in your hearts?” Lord, give us the childlike faith That stays on Thy word, and, strong in Thy strength, "Why do thoughts arise in your hearts?" Soon will the struggle be o'er ; Soon will the tremor and pain be all past Then, when thoughts arise in your hearts, To dwell in His love and be like unto Him, |