the weather was wet or dry, he never was absent from the place of worship. There was a bank about half way between the cottage and the church-a pretty sunny bank it was—there we used always to rest, if the day was fine, both in going to church and in returning from it. That bank is associated in my mind with peaceful thankful feelings, for there grandfather delighted to dwell upon the ten thousand mercies that were in his lot and in ours. Indeed the whole Sabbath from morning till night his mind seemed to be more filled with thankfulness and praise than on any other day. Could we have more of his loving thankful spirit, our Sabbaths would be holier and happier too.

The second Sabbath that we spent at our grandfather's was one of those very lovely days that we used to see so often in childhood, but see so seldom when childhood is past. In the afternoon grandfather stayed in the house, while we children went out to the garden to sit. While George and I were busy with our Bibles, Johnnie slipped away from us unobserved. We did not miss him till we were called to tea; then George went to seek him, and found him playing on the roadside with some other children. Johnnie came in crying, because George had told him how angry grandfather would be. Grandfather did not look angry, but he seemed sorry, very sorry; for he thought that those who misspent the Sabbath were to be blamed certainly, but to be pitied much more. He truly loved the Sabbath himself, and his earnest desire and constant endeavour was, that every one about him

should love it too; and he knew that we could not love it better than any other day if we did not spend it better than any other day. He took Johnnie into his own room, and spoke to him very seriously, and often afterwards Johnnie said that he never thought what a Sabbath day was till then; but the words he heard then had taught him something of the love grandfather had for it himself.

While this conversation was going on, George and I prepared grandfather's seat on the green, and there we seated ourselves, and waited till he came. When grandfather was seated in his chair, and Johnnie on the grass beside us, we heard the story that we had been promised for that evening.

Grandfather. In the days when the Midianites oppressed the children of Israel, we are told that an angel of the Lord came and sat under an oak which belonged to Joash, who was of the family of Abiezer, and the tribe of Manasseh, that half of the tribe which was settled west of the Jordan. This oak was in a retired spot, and near it Gideon, the son of Joash, was thrashing his wheat. In ordinary times that was not the place he would have chosen to thrash in, but he was glad to do that work in any out of the way corner, that the Midianites might be less likely to see him at it; for he was sure if they did see him, that they would steal his grain. He was busy at his work when the angel of the Lord appeared to him. This teaches us that if we would have blessings from Heaven to descend upon us, we must be

diligent in business.

"The Lord is with thee, thou

mighty man of valour," were the first words spoken to

:

The son of Joash ex"If the Lord be with

Gideon by his heavenly visitor. pressed surprise at this address. us," he said, "why is all this evil come upon us." The angel addressed him alone, but he identifies himself with the whole people of Israel. He did not think anything could be a blessing to him if it did not also bring relief to his suffering brethren. His example here teaches us to love others as we love ourselves. "Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites have not I sent thee?" were the next words spoken by the heavenly being who sat under the oak, who was no created angel, but the eternal Son of God. The humility of Gideon made this speech seem no less strange to him than the former one. How could he save Israel, he said; his family was poor in Manasseh; it was a family of no note even in Manasseh, and the tribe of Manasseh was not powerful; besides this, the son of Joash pleaded that he was the least in his father's house. The reply of the Lord conveyed the very strongest encouragement, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man."

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Humility would have been misplaced after this. Gideon had not been in the least exalted by the praises bestowed upon him; he had not been inclined to trust in his own valour and might; but when the Lord promised to be with him, the difficulty of the task was nothing to him; he shrunk not from it. Here he sets us an example of

faith. Gideon wished to shew respect to the visitor who had honoured him so greatly. He went into his house and brought out a piece of a kid, and cakes of flour, and broth in a vessel, and presented it. His heavenly guest told him to lay the flesh and the cakes on the rock that was near them, and to pour out the broth upon then. Gideon obeyed. Then, with the staff he held in his hand, the visitor touched the food which had been prepared for him. The touch of his staff brought fire from the rock, which consumed the things Gideon had prepared; then the worker of the miracle vanished.

Johnnie. What did he mean, grandfather, by burning the meat and the bread?

Grandfather. It shewed Gideon that he was no mortal man, but a spirit from heaven; it shewed him too that his offering had been accepted by the Lord. At first when the angel vanished he felt alarmed, but the Lord spoke comfortably to him, so he built an altar there, and called it Jehovah-Shalom, which means the Lord peace. That night the Lord spoke to Gideon, commanding him to cut down his father's sacred grove, and throw down the altar of Baal, and build an altar to the Lord on the top of the rock near which the angel appeared to him. There he was to burn the wood of the grove, and offer for a sacrifice his father's young bullock. This was a dangerous task, yet it was performed by Gideon. He did not do it by day, lest he should be interrupted in the doing of it by the idolatrous

men of that city; he took ten of his servants to assist him, and did it in the night.

Marianne. Did Gideon's father worship Baal?

Grandfather. It is plain that he did, and some think that he was a leader in the worship of that false godperhaps a priest,—and that the altar he had near his house was for the use of the whole town. When the men of that town rose in the morning and saw that their idol, altar, and grove were destroyed, they made a point of discovering by whom this had been done. That could not be very difficult to find out, and as soon as they knew they called on Joash to deliver up his son that they might put him to death.

Marianne. To death, grandfather, because he worshipped God?

Grandfather. For no other reason, so far sunk were these Israelites in idolatry. By their law the man who worshipped false gods was to be put to death. They reversed it here, and would have put to death a man for refusing to worship false gods. Joash would not allow his son to be put to death. He said, if Baal were a god he would avenge himself, and he gave Gideon a new name, Jerubbaal, which means the antagonist of Baal. Probably Gideon had before convinced him that he had a divine commission to do as he had done. About this time the Midianites, Amalekites, and Arabians came from the east in great force, and pitched in the valley of Jezreel, not far from Ophra, the city where Gideon lived. Then a spirit of valour from heaven came upon Gideon ;