in; it was His hand which fastened the door. We are also taught that believers are put into Christ by God. I will read to you St. John vi. 56: " He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.” Eating Christ's flesh and drinking his blood is the same thing as believing in Him, so that we dwell in Christ by faith; when we first truly believe in Jesus, we enter into Him as our ark and refuge, and are safe for ever. But we do not believe of ourselves; faith is the gift of God; so it is God who puts us into Christ by enabling us to believe. Do you understand me, Bessie? What you B.-I try to do so, mamma. say reminds me of the lessons you taught me when I learnt the fifteenth chapter of St. John, where it is said that believers are in Christ as the branches are in the vine. You told me that just as the bough of a tree would wither and die, unless the sap of the parent stem flowed through its vessels, so we shall be cut off and cast away as useless branches, if we have not the spirit of God in our hearts; I suppose that in the same way no one is really sheltered in Christ, as the true ark, who has not the spirit of God. M.-St. Paul tells us that if any man have not the spirit of Christ he is none of His. There are many verses of the Bible which speak of God as a dwelling place, and believers as taking refuge in Him. One of these is in Psa. xlvi. "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." The first three verses of the Psalm give us a beautiful illustration of our type. The Psalmist taking refuge in God feels that he is safe and secure, though the waters rage and swell, and toss up their angry waves. There is another verse in Psa. lxxi. which you shall read. B." Be thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort; thou hast given commandment to save me; for thou art my rock and my fortress." M.-And in Prov. xviii. 10, the wise man tells us that the name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous runneth into it and is safe. God has promised never more to destroy the world by a flood, but there is a day coming when it will be burnt with fire, and none will be safe then but those who are in Christ Jesus. B.-Mamma, how can we tell whether we are in Christ, whether we have made Him our ark of refuge? M.-If you keep your Saviour's commandments you abide in Him. If you love to do what Jesus bids you, you will have nothing to fear when he comes to judge the world. These are in his own words, John xv. 10: "If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love." Christ is an ark, and in Him safely borne, J. H. SHIPS OF WAR. THERE are two different kinds of ships; those that are used for trade, and those that are used for war. The former carry corn, and cotton, and other merchandise from one country to another; the latter carry cannon for fighting. England has more of both these kinds of ships than any other country in the world, because she has so much sea about her. But her chief pride is in her ships of war. These are sometimes called "men-of-war;" sometimes, "line-of-battle ships;" and all put together are called the Navy. We have a larger navy than any other country; I cannot tell you how many hundreds of war-ships we have. They are of all sizes. Some are so large as to weigh between two and three thousand tons, which is the weight of a large house. Some are built of wood, others of iron. Some carry as many as thirteen hundred sailors, which is the population of many a little town in England and some of the largest ships have 150 cannon. : 66 They make most of our war ships now with steam-engines inside them, and a contrivance called a screw propeller," which works under the water, and drives the ship along, even if there be no wind to fill the sails. This is a great improvement. You may think that one of these ships costs very much in making. And so it does. They reckon at the rate of a thousand pounds for every gun (or cannon); so that if a ship have 150 guns, she will have cost 150,000%. I do not mean, of course, that each gun cost 1,000/., but that it is at this rate. And when the steam-engine is set to work (for it does not always work), how much coal do you suppose is used, in order to heat the water, and make the steam?-About one hundred tons a day. Now just ask some friend how much coal is used in your house in the course of one day, and you will have some idea of the immense quantity used in a man-of-war. And you will also have some idea of the expense of the coal for one day. Reckon, and suppose that coal is 17. a ton; how much will it cost at the rate of 100 tons a day? It is our Government who build these ships of war; and there are only certain places where they are built, such as Woolwich, Portsmouth, Plymouth, &c. It is a splendid sight to see one of them launched, or slipped down the stocks on which she has just been built, into the water. Thousands of people go to see this scene: and they have rather a foolish custom of throwing a bottle of wine at the ship's head as she slides down, and giving it its name. The picture gives you a view of a launch. We have many ships of war now building in England, and every now and then you hear of one being launched. I think that, under God, they have been the means of preserving England in peace and prosperity; for so long as we have a good brave Navy, our enemies will never dare to try to invade us, and take our country. I should not at all wonder, if before very long, there are some great wars in the world, and then if God fights for us and our ships, we may be saved much adversity and misery. It is a sad thing that there is any fighting at all. But if wicked people try to injure us, we are quite right in being ready to defend ourselves. And the best way of preventing fighting is to be well prepared for it. Just as a wise man puts bolts and bars on his house, and provides himself with arms, as the best way to prevent robbers from coming and doing murder and bloodshed. One of these days, you know, and there will be no more war. O, may that happy day soon come! |