Then shone forth the character of the minister; he came to the chamber of disease, his presence was unnoticed now, for reason was obscured. He at once decided to take the little girl to his own home that she might be out of the way of infection; he strengthened the sorrowing wife and prayed with her. The little girl was received as a sacred loan by the minister's wife, who determined to make the most of the short time she might be with her, and teach her lessons of truth. She found her an apt and willing learner; she took her to the Sunday School, where, for the first time, she heard the word of God read and explained to the assembled children. She was allowed to be present at family worship, and heard with delight her loved father prayed for that he might recover.

Ere long God, in His infinite mercy, arrested the hand of death; the fever abated, then was subdued; the poor man was pronounced out of danger. The wife's heart overflowed with gratitude, the minister praised God in the congregation. The first request the sick man made was that his treasured little girl might be brought to him, and the doctor promised that if all went on well in a little time he might see her. Days passed and the sick man gained strength, but he shewed no gratitude to God, and his eyes still fell on the words of that terrible board at the bottom of his bed, for his wife had not dared to run the risk of exciting him by removing it. At length permission was given for his little girl to see him for only a few minutes—those few minutes were pregnant with eternal import! She was placed on a pillow near her father, and that heart, which was at enmity with God, was softened with the tenderest emotions towards the child.

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"Well, my pet," said the carpenter, where have you been while father has been lying ill?”

"Oh!" said the little one, "I've been so happy; the minister's lady is so kind; I love her so: the minister took me away, and has been so good to me: and they have

taught me to read, and given me a book full of beautiful pictures; and I can read ever so many little words.”

The father listened with delight to his sweet, artless prattler; then said, "You can't read much yet, I should think could you read to me the words on that board at the bottom of my bed?"

"Oh, yes, father, let me try," said the little one; and she began slowly spelling and repeating each letter-G O D I S-she then stopped, got very red, looked again, then said, "Oh, father, I've got it- GOD IS NOW HERE," and added, "Yes, father, so He is, and He's been here all the time you've been so ill."

"You must go now, darling," said the father, in a low, choking voice. The door was closed, a burst of repentant tears followed; and sounds, blessed sounds, which rejoiced the angels in heaven, came from that sick man's room— sounds of prayer, sounds of deep contrition for sin. The requests of the loving, praying wife, long ungranted, but not forgotten, were now fulfilled: the atheist became a penitent. Satan was taken in his own snare; the very same letters he had tempted the sinner to write, were the selfsame letters employed for that sinner's conversion! He now called on God, the living, the prayer-hearing God, for mercy; he was awakened to a sense of his transgressions, he was broken-hearted before God, and he now earnestly desired to see the minister. That messenger of love and kindness at once went to him, shewed him the way of access to Jesus, and had the joy of beholding him rise from that bed of sickness a new man in Christ.

IN Romans, Colossians, and Ephesians we get three stages of advance; in Romans, dead with Christ and alive through Him; in Colossians, dead with Him and risen with Him; in Ephesians, dead in trespasses and sins, quickened together, raised up together, made to sit together in Him in heavenly places.

CORRESPONDENCE.

90. "G. S.," Tasmania. We have read your kind letter, with considerable interest, and we desire to thank you, most heartily, for your encouraging and loving words. We cannot quite agree with your interpretation of the "foolish virgins" in Matthew xxv. We believe they represent merely nominal christian professors. They have the lamp of profession, and the wick of religious routine; but they lack the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. There would, in our judgment, be an insuperable difficulty in applying the parable to the Jews. We believe it refers to Christendom. There is a good deal of force and interest in all you say as to the 'cry," &c., but we are most fully convinced that the foolish virgins apply to mere professors. Thanks for your loving enquiry as to our circulation. We are greatly encouraged.

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91. "S. D.," Chichester. We should recommend you to procure a copy of "Lectures on the Gospel of Matthew," by W. Kelly, published by "Broom, Paternoster Row." They can be had also through our publisher, Mr. Morrish, or any bookseller. Accept our sincere thanks for your very encouraging letter. While it is our earnest desire to work quietly on, believing assuredly that our labour shall not be in vain in the Lord, and that "the day" will reveal the result of every man's labour; yet we esteem it a very great kindness, as it most surely is a comfort to us, for any one to let us know of blessing and profit received through our pages. Were we to notice, in particular, all the cheering communications which reach us, it might seem like puff and boast, which we regard with most thorough disgust. May the Lord greatly bless you, beloved friend!

92. "M. H.," Scarborough. We regard your note as being anything but presumptuous; but we must persist in saying we see no foundation in scripture for a person breaking bread alone. It is distinctly an act of fellowship to the integrity of which the presence of two is, in our opinion, absolutely essential.

93. "Ventnor." We cannot see exactly the ground of your difficulty. In the opening of Exodus xix. the Lord evidently refers to a covenant already existing, and that is the covenant with Abraham, the only one we read of until the covenant made at Horeb. It was the fact of the people's undertaking to "do" anything that marked the moral ground on which they stood, the true character of which was so fully brought out by the law. "The law

entered [or, came in by-the-by], that the offence might abound." God used the law, in His governmental dealings with Israel, in order to raise the question of righteousness; but it was never according to His loving heart to put His people at a distance from Him, or to set up barriers to keep them off. We must just add a word in grateful acknowledgment of the kindly spirit and tone of your letter. Would that all could state their difficulties and ask their questions in a like spirit!

94. "E. S. K.," North Brixton. It was perfectly consistent for the disciples, previous to the day of Pentecost, to pray for the Holy Spirit, inasmuch as He was not given till that memorable day, and could not be given until Jesus was glorified. (Comp. John vii. 39; xvi. 7; Acts xix. 1—6.) We believe the form of prayer given to the disciples was suited to the transition state in which they were until the coming of the Comforter. From that time it holds good that, "We know not what we should pray for as we ought; but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered." Where would be the force of this, if the Church of God were confined to one definite form of prayer? It is well for Christians to consider, most attentively, the vast difference between God's people—their standing their calling-their hope, before and after the death and resurrection of Christ, and the consequent descent of the Holy Ghost. This is very little seen or thought of: and hence the low spiritual condition, the darkness and doubt, the legality and distance, the cloudiness and mistiness so painfully observable among many of God's beloved people. How rarely do you find souls enjoying accomplished redemption, and the indwelling of the Holy Ghost! There is, everywhere, a strong tendency to take merely Jewish ground. People are under law, as to the state of their conscience. But little is known of the conscious possession of eternal life, sonship, and the sealing of the Spirit. It is deemed presumption for any one to have the full assurance of salvation. And yet, by a strange inconsistency, persons who speak thus deem it possible for some who have made great attainments in holiness and the divine life, to have assurance. Now this is, in reality, presumption because it bases assurance upon something in us, even though that something be by the Holy Ghost; whereas scripture bases our assurance and peace, not on aught in us, but upon accomplished redemption by Christ. This makes a grand and all-important difference.

THE SALVATION OF GOD.

"Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and they will hear it." (Acts xxviii. 28.)

What glorious words for us, sinners of the Gentiles! What solemn words for the house of Israel! They form the close of Paul's address to his brethren, according to the flesh, whom he had invited to meet him in his lodging at Rome. It is now eighteen hundred years since these words were uttered by the blessed apostle-that true lover of Israel; but they have lost none of their freshness, none of their living depth, none of their heavenly power, by the lapse of ages. They fall upon our ears with the same force of application as if we had been standing outside the apostle's door at the moment in which he uttered them, "The salvation of God is sent to the Gentiles."

It may be well for the reader to glance at the circumstances under which those precious words were spoken. The apostle Paul, having arrived as a prisoner at Rome— the grand centre and seat of Gentile power-the fourth of Daniel's great empires-calls his much loved and longed for brethren together; and when they assembled at his lodging, according to appointment, "he expounded unto them, and testified of the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning till evening. And some believed the things which were spoken, and some believed not. And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed, after that Paul had spoken one word, Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers, saying, Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive; for the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and