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Who shall Roll away the Stone?

E careful for nothing," says the Apostle; "but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, make your requests known unto God." The Christian who does this in all circumstances, and amid all causes of anxiety great and small, has learned the secret of peace. "The peace of God keeps his heart and mind, through Christ Jesus" (Phil. iv). The following incident, communicated by a friend, may seem too trivial to mention, because it is so very common; yet the commonest illustrations of this truth are the most valuable, just because they are

common.

It was a bleak, cheerless day, without anything to remind one that it was the month of September, save the leaves that were still untouched by decay. The air was chill, and heavy rain fell in torrents; while fierce gusts of wind beat against the windows of a room, where a lady sat ever and anon looking vainly for a break in the clouds. She was to set out on a journey next day, accompanied by an invalid relative, who could not without risk of much suffering be exposed to the severity of the weather; and their joint pecuniary resources, diminished by circumstances at that time, did not warrant either a delay of the intended journey, or any more expensive mode of travelling that would protect the invalid from harm.

"What a relief," she thought, "it would be, to have this journey over, and not have one's mind on the strain for so many hours!" But there was speedier mental relief. Some verses, lent her by a friend, entitled, "Who shall roll away the stone?" came like a messenger of cheer to comfort her. of them

Here was one

"Many a storm-cloud, sweeping o'er us,
Never pours on us its rain;
Many a grief we see before us,
Never comes to cause us pain;
Ofttimes in the fear'd to-morrow

Sunshine comes, the cloud has flown;
Ask not, then, in foolish sorrow,

Who shall roll away the stone?"

Weighed down by a number of little cares that in the aggregate were burdens, these brave words revived the lady's drooping heart, by reminding her that the Hand that moves the universe could roll those burdens away. Trusting that almighty Hand, she resolved to leave to-morrow's cares alone, and retired to rest that night, soothed and calmed. The storm continued to rage with such increased violence, that towards daybreak she decided that, at whatever inconvenience, it would be better not to attempt the journey in such weather. But she was no longer anxious or troubled. Awakening a few hours later, refreshed by a deep placid slumber, she found that a marvellous change had taken place while she slept. The rain was over: under the sunshine's sweet spell, all outward objects were touched with beauty, and the cold night wind was now lulled into a soft balmy air, most invigorating for the invalid.

The day so auspiciously begun was throughout marked by a succession of mercies. A Heavenly Father's providence had gone before them to remove

obstacles; and it followed them with mercies, so that things that looked very dark in anticipation, became in the retrospect stones of grateful remembrance. How foolish are we! We implore God's mercy at some momentous hour, or great crisis in our lives, to remove the stone away; but we forget that the same Almighty power that rolls away the great stone, can remove the small, rough pebbles that distress our weary feet.

And how ungrateful are we! There are many who, in their trials, great or small, are ready enough to say "God be pitiful to me," who, when the threatened evil is past, altogether forget to say, "God be praised for all His mercies."

Prayer.

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Prayer is an artesian well, that goes down deep as the being of God, and that is exhaustless as eternity.

THE HIDDEN VIOLETS.

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HEN I was resting in the south, I wandered by the side of a flowing stream, gathering handfuls of maiden-hair fern from the verdant bank; and as I walked along, I was conscious of a most delicious fragrance all around me. I cast my eye downward, and I saw blue eyes looking up from among the grass at my feet. The violets had hidden themselves from sight, but they had betrayed themselves by their delicious scent.

So doth a Christian reveal his hidden life. His tone and temper and manners bespeak his royal lineage, if indeed the Spirit of God be in him. Such are the people of God; they court no observation, but are like that modest flower of which the poet says:

"She ne'er affects

The public walk, nor gaze of mid-day sun;
She to no state nor dignity aspires,

But silent and alone puts on her suit,
And sheds a lasting perfume, but for which
We had not known there was a thing so sweet
Hid in the gloomy shade."

I want you, dear Christian people, to be just like this; to have about you a surpassing wealth of blessing, and an unrivalled sweetness of influence by which you shall be known of all men. Is it so with you? Or are you as rough, and stern, and repellant as a thorn bush? Are you as selfish and as quarrelsome as the unregenerate? If you shed yourself away in sweet odours of self-denying kindness in your families, and among your neighbours, then doth Jesus say of you, "As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters."-Spurgeon.

THE POTENT SPELL.

BOUT two years ago, in the beautiful island of Ceylon (the Taprobane of the ancients), a converted native, now a missionary, was seated in his study, when there entered a man who had a history of his own. He had been the dread of the neighbourhood, and of the village in which he lived. He professed to have some terrible spell at his command; and he threatened the unsuspecting and credulous villagers that if they did not subsidize him largely, if they did not give him their substance to enable him to live in luxury, he would work upon them the incantations of his terrible spell. He had succeeded in getting large tributes from different persons, and had actually lived by this sort of wizard terrorism for a considerable time. Well, he came, upon this errand intent, into the hut of the native Christian who has been mentioned, and stalking up towards him with his most majestic way, he said, "Sir, I have a spell, and if I work that spell upon you, that spell will cause you great and terrible mischief."

The missionary looked at him. Converted to the faith of Christ, and now earnest and eloquent in the utterance of "the glad tidings of great joy," he was not likely to be daunted by a man of that stamp. He looked at him and said, “And I too, sir, have a spell; and if I work that spell upon you, it will subdue you utterly; and if you resist that spell, it will grind you to powder."

Well, the man did not understand anything of this particular fashion, and thought that he had unwittingly come into the presence of a greater magician than himself. It was the slave of the ring, in the "Arabian Nights," who had just happened unwittingly to trench upon the province of the slave of the lamp; and he was quite ready to apologize for his intrusion. "Oh!" said he, "tell me about that spell."

There was nothing in the world the missionary wanted more than that; and so he began and took him to the shores of the lake where the Gadarene maniac was dispossessed, and he showed him how, under the influence of this wonderful spell, the man was clothed, and in his right mind at the feet of Jesus. And then he took him off again to the gates of the city of Nain, where there was a young man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she a widow; how there came a silence suddenly over the sounds of woe, because the Son of God was passing by. The poor woman wept not noisily, but all that looked upon her saw that her heart was crushed; and the Lord pitied her, and He went and said, "Young man, I say unto thee, arise," and he that was dead stood up and began to speak, and oh, inimitable tenderness! He delivered him to his mother. And then he showed him that vine-latticed cottage by Bethany, and the agony that was in the hearts of those weeping sisters, as they mourned their beloved brother, a four days' dweller in the tomb. And then he painted a grave-side scene, pathos and power blended in the Divine-human Saviour, and then the words, "Lazarus, come forth;" and in whatever portion of the universe the spirit was reposing, it heard its Maker's fiat, and obeyed the call.

And while he was speaking about these instances of healing and of blessing, the spell began to work; and

it wrought, as it often does in the first instance, anger, astonishment, awe, affright, amazement; then, unable to endure it, the man rushed out of the place in despair. But the spell was over him. He could not go far. He came back again by-and-by. "Tell me about that spell again."

So then the missionary took him to the great place the place of divinest sorcery; the place where, by that exquisite magnetism of the Gospel if He were lifted up, He would draw all men unto Him; and he showed him the sacrifice of the life, crowned by the deeper and costlier sacrifice of the blood. And while he was speaking, the spell wrought again. It was working all the while, and it wrought, wrought, wrought, until it wrought all the devil out. The man became a witness for the truth that he had formerly despised, and is now himself an energetic, earnest pleader for the dominion of the Crucified.

-Dr. PUNSHON.

TENONS AND SOCKETS.

MAN once called upon me who had been rescued from the depths of ruffianism, and who was carrying on a mission among the outcasts in the lower wards of the city. He was telling of the prayer meetings they held there, and how they were not unfrequently disturbed by drunken rioters, who broke into the room and had to be put out by force. Said he, "When anything of that kind happens, we just strike up a hymn, and I go as quietly as I can and get them out of the room. Sometimes they are very 'ugly,' and strike at me; but you know I was a fighting man myself once, and pretty well used to taking care of myself with my hands, and it's astonishing how handy it comes now.'

The illustration is all the better because it comes from so low down, of the fact that God has a place for every one of His children. He had a place for the mere brute power and training which had made a ruffian a pest of society, and could turn it to use, on occasion, for the protection of His own house and worship.

True godliness does not reduce men to a dead level. The variety which God stamps upon nature He means to have reproduced in character. It is often supposed that, by becoming a servant of God, a man loses all his distinctiveness, sacrifices many of his peculiar modes of power, and shuts himself up to a comparatively narrow range of activity; whereas, the truth is, that no man finds out the variety of uses to which human talent and power can be put, until he begins to work under God's direction. The power and the opportunity are never in contact until then.

One reason why the human race presents so many of what we call oddities of character, is because these are out of the place which God made for them. When a thing is in its place, it ceases to be odd. Hundreds of men and women are in contact with society like tenons which have no socket. They are protuberances which press against society, and irritate it, and make, by dint of much rubbing, a kind of ill-fitting place for themselves. Let God once put such people in His places, and all the tenons find their sockets.— Vincent's "Gates into the Psalm Country."

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E once heard a minister, a man of quaint style and original thinking, as well as of deep piety, preach a discourse on the single word, "nevertheless”—the nevertheless of God's grace. His subject was taken from the history of Israel, as summarized in the second chapter of Judges. They "did evil in the sight of the Lord they forsook

the Lord, and served Baal and Ashtaroth and the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel and the hand of the Lord was against them for evil ... and they were greatly distressed: Nevertheless the Lord raised up judges which delivered them" (Judges ii. 11-16). And in the 106th Psalm, "They understood not God's wonders in Egypt, they remembered not the multitude of his mercies, but provoked Him at the sea, even the Red Sea : Nevertheless, He saved them for His name's sake, that He might make His mighty power to be known." In like manner is it with the salvation of every sinner. Salvation is against his deserts, against all that mere justice demands, against what his own awakened conscience fears. "The wages of his sin is death :" Nevertheless God has found out and has opened up a way of mercy, and delights to save him.

There is another scriptural application of the Divine nevertheless, with which we have of late been impressed —that which we have quoted at the beginning of these

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answer—“ nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are His, and, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity."

It is an unspeakable privilege in times of doubtful disputation, to believe and be assured of this. Such a time is the present. Many new opinions are afloat in the world, many disputations on matters of old belief; these have overthrown the faith of some, and are unsettling the faith of more. What are plain people to do, who are unable to follow professedly scientific or learned arguments, so as to test their force. Of course, Christians who are learned and scientific are bound to use these gifts in Christ's cause; but it is the privilege of the plainest to be assured, independently of all recondite disputations, that the "sure foundation of God standeth, and that Jesus Christ, is the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever." This being sure, they need not wait for the settlement of other questions, however important, in order to find rest to their souls, and they ought not to allow their faith to be disturbed by any such questions. The sure foundation standeth; and the Lord knoweth them that are His, therefore, "Let every one that nameth the name of Christ" follow Him fully, and "depart from all iniquity." So doing, they "Shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." And they have this special promise, that "what they know not now, they shall know hereafter."

OURS.

THE late Mr. Arnott, commenting on the words, "They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness when he removed his family to a new residence, where of Thy house," says, I once heard a father tell that the accommodation was much more ample, the substance much more rich and varied than that to which they had previously been accustomed, his youngest son, yet a lisping infant, ran round every room and scanned every article with ecstasy, calling out, in childish wonder, at every new sight, "Is this ours, father? And is this ours?" The child did not say yours; and I observed that the father, while he told the story, was not offended with the freedom. You could read in his glistening eye that the infant's confidence, in appropriating as his own all that his father had, was an important element in his satisfaction.

What a beautiful comment this upon the Apostle's words, (1 Cor. iii. 21, 23), "All things are yours, and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's." The child of God has no need to linger on His Father's threshold, nor to knock humbly. How differently a child and a beggar come to your office or study.

FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH.

Sabbath day a company of wicked fellows, mostly older than Kund, laid hold of the young Christian in a quiet road, when he was on his way to church. They insisted that he would go along with them and

"Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of steal fruit from a gentleman's garden. He could not

life."-Revelations ii. 10.

BY A GLASGOW MERCHANT.

HERE was a little drummer boy among the British troops during the Crimean War. He wrote to his mother during the siege, and told her of the dreadful frost, and piercing wind, and hunger and nakedness which he, as well as the other soldiers, had to endure. He had a noble spirit withal; for in spite of all he had suffered, he closed his letter with the words, "But, mother, it's our duty; and for our duty we will die."

This is the kind of faithfulness which the good soldiers of Jesus Christ should ever show-a determination to die rather than deny their Lord, or break His commandments.

Polycarp was thus faithful. He was minister of the Christian Church at Symrna. Arrested and taken before a magistrate, in the year 168, because he preached the Gospel, he was offered release if he would deny Christ. Noble was his reply:"Eighty and six years have I served Him, and He hath never wronged me. How can I blaspheme my King, who hath saved me?" The judge threatened to have him thrown to wild beasts, but he would not yield. Condemned to be burned, his last words at the stake were these:-"O Father of Thy beloved and blessed Son, Jesus Christ, I bless Thee that Thou hast counted me worthy of this day and of this hour."

Margaret Wilson was also one of the faithful confessors of Christ. Two hundred years ago she was condemned, at the age of 18, to be drowned in the Solway Firth, because of her religion. An old woman of 63 was the companion of her tribulation. Margaret's stake was nearest the shore. When the cold waves were gurgling round her, the cords were cut, and she was brought again to the beach. Here life was offered her if she would say but a few words. But to utter them would be a sin. "I will not, was her reply. "I am one of Christ's children. Let me go!" Cruelly was she taken back, and tied to the stake amidst the waters. Like Stephen, the first Christian martyr, she breathed her last in prayer.

His

There was once a boy in Chicago called Kund Iverson. He was only ten years of age, but already had he become a faithful follower of Jesus. minister had seen it right to let Kund come to the Lord's table, though he was so young; and the life of the lad proved that he had made no mistake. One

-he would not. His firmness and uprightness only maddened them. They dragged him to river near by and drowned him there. "Faithful unto death," and early crowned, was he.

We may never have to die for Christ, but we can be faithful in living for him-doing His bidding always because we love Him.

So lived the silk-mercer's apprentice, who would rather lose his situation than hide a damage in a dress which a lady was going to buy. So lived that boy at a public school, who bowed the knee beside his bed, and prayed in the presence of his comrades. It is hard to bear the sneer and the laugh of those who surround us, harder, sometimes, than to bear their blows. Whatever happens, let us stick to Christ and

the doing of his will. Idling at our lessons or our work, Sabbathbreaking, lying, and swearing, let us put away. Let us zealously serve the Lord, and refuse to give up.

Thus, by his grace, we shall obtain "a crown of life." "Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown" in this sinful world; but the crown that Jesus gives is thornless and unfading. It shall shine "as the stars for ever and ever."

But are you, my reader, yet upon Christ's side? Have you enlisted under His banner? Have you taken Him for your Saviour and your King? If you are not with Him, you must be against Him.

Satan promises much, but can give nothing that will be a blessing. His servants go with him at length to the blackness of darkness. But Christ and His service will give peace now, and joy that will last throughout eternity.

"Choose you this day whom ye will serve."

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BIBLE MEMENTOES.

FOR THE YOUNG.

BY THE REV. ALEXANDER ANDREW, GLASGOW.

you

"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive."-Acts xx. 35. THESE words of St. Paul, which he addressed to the elders of Ephesus, are like a window through which get to see that Jesus said and did things that are not recorded in the Gospel. We have only some things, not all; for John, the last of the four Evangelists, tells us in the closing verse of his Gospel, that "there are many other things that Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself would not be able to contain the books that should be written." So that, what the Queen of Sheba said about King Solomon, may be said about the Lord Jesus, that the half has not been told us. A great deal more might have been told; but the good Spirit saw that what was told was quite sufficient to show us what the Saviour was, and why He came into this world; and if we make a good use of the Gospels as they stand, they are abundantly "able to make us wise

unto salvation."

The lesson taught by the Lord's words is, that when we have the privilege we should seek to enjoy it, of helping those who need our help; that we should culti vate the habit of giving-not simply money, but anything and everything that we may have to give-share it with our neighbours round. For

God is always Giving!

Every day He is opening His hand liberally and supplying the wants of every living thing, not merely in this world, but in all the worlds He has made. Thirteen hundred millions and more live and move on the face of this earth, and yet, is it not wonderful that no one is overlooked? Even the wild beasts that seek their food from God get it, while the birds, though they don't sow or reap, or gather into barns, yet have all their wants provided for; and not a sparrow can fall to the ground without His notice. And if God is thus always giving, should not we seek to imitate His example? Then, look,

Jesus went about doing Good,

giving help to all that came to Him. Nobody was refused. He scattered blessings with both hands. His life fed many, and like the sun His warm benevolence shone upon the just and unjust. Even the nettles behind the garden wall got a share of His kindness-the publicans and sinners were blessed by Him. He denied Himself, and even laid down His life to benefit and bless the world. "And greater love hath no man than this that He lay down His life for His friends." He lived and died to do good. "Let that mind which was in Him, be also found in you." Besides, don't you see how

Everything is made to Give

how the sun pours down his wealth of light, and how the moon and stars take up his plan, as best they can, during his absence. Then see how the clouds act as benefactors, sometimes shading us from the burning heat, and sometimes showering down their drops of rain like pearls; and how the rivers in reply send | their fertilizing streams throughout the land. Why, even the tall, barren hills, though they cannot moisten and refresh the earth themselves, yet help by arresting the passing clouds and scattering their treasures all around. And the birds-how they sing and fill the air with melody; and the flowers-how they perfume our So that all nature gives: and why not we? For that was God's intention, as you can easily see. Some are healthier than others, some are stronger, some are richer, and some are more intelligent; and why this distribution of gifts unless for this purpose, that all should have the blessed privilege of sharing their gifts with others.

houses!

"The sea gives ever to the earth: what it can give, so much 'tis worth,

The ocean gives in many ways, gives fishes, rivers, bays.
So, too, the air it gives us breath: when it stops giving, in
comes death;

Give, give, be always giving; who gives not is not living:
The more you give, the more you live.

it is more blessed to give. It is a higher privilege and But, perhaps, you say, it is blessed to get. Yes, but honour. Joseph gave corn to his brethren, and put their money into their sacks; which of the two had the greater honour? Was it not Joseph, who gave the corn? And so with you, when you bestow any kindness upon your brothers and sisters.

But more. God has so arranged it, in the constitution of things, that when we try to do good

It makes us happy.

Jesus said to His disciples, after He had blessed the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well, that He had felt such joy in the act that it was like meat to Him-it brought such satisfaction to His loving heart. And I remember a good man saying, when he sent a gift to me for the poor, that it helped to make him enjoy his own food better, and to "make his blankets warmer."

George Herbert, the quaint old English preacher and poet, made a beautiful remark one day. He was going along a road, and meeting a poor man whose horse had stumbled and fallen beneath its load, he cast off his coat and tried to help. Then drawing his purse he gave the poor carter something to enable him to refresh both himself and his horse. But in the midst of all this, his dress, always neat and clean, got stained; whereupon some of his musical friends reflecting somewhat unkindly on his conduct, he said, "The thought of what I have done to-day will be sweet music to me at midnight."

Misery follows those who are selfish and unkind. Oh, what a disliked creature is a selfish person.

"The wretch concentred all in self,
Giving, shall forfeit fair renown,
And doubly dying shall go down
To the vile dust from whence he sprung,
Unwept, unhonoured, and unsung."

But giving is "twice blessed; it blesseth him that

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