Mrs. P. What did you hope for?

O. I hoped to have my sins forgiven, and to go to heaven. I thought I must do the best I could now; but I did not understand about help or blessings now;-I thought I must do it all by myself.

(Mrs. Payne reads these texts:-Titus iii. 5-7; 1 Cor. xii. 12, 27; Gal. iii. 26, 27; John i. 12, 13; Rom. viii. 17; 1 Pet. i. 3, 4.)

O. But I am such a poor, neglected creature; and those verses are for good people, who can read good books, and hear what is right all their lives.

Mrs. P. These promises are for all people; and, from the moment you were taken into the Church of Christ, and made one of His family, they became yours. And nothing but wilful sin can take them from you. Now, are you in the habit of any known

sin?

O. I do not know. If you lived with me, you could tell.

Mrs. P. Do you always speak the truth?
O. I always mean-O yes, I hope I do!

Mrs. P. Do you never steal-even the least thing? O. No; I am not so bad as that. I never stole myself, and I do not say bad words; but I am cross sometimes, and I often feel very discontented. The Bible tells us about being thankful; and I know I do not feel thankful,—it seems as if all went hard with me.

Mrs. P. Do you always feel discontented?

O. No, only sometimes, when Aunt Molly is cross; then I get better after a bit, and sometimes I go out all alone, when I have done my work; and that seems a comfort.

Mrs. P. Mr. Morton called in yesterday evening. He inquired very much how you got on. I told him that you seemed so anxious to learn, that I hoped you would be quite fit to go up with the other girls next month. And, as he was not in a hurry, I thought I would tell him a little about your troubles.

O. Did you? but I cannot expect gentlefolks to care for my troubles.

Mrs. P. It is the office of a clergyman to care for the wants and trials of all his flock; and the poorer and more friendless they are, the more they need his kindness. It is his right and his duty to comfort them and instruct them. You know Who is called in the Bible the good Shepherd ?

O. Our Saviour.

Mrs. P. And now that He is in heaven, His ministers are shepherds under Him, and instead of Him. We call them spiritual pastors, which means shepherds for our souls.

Ó. O, I wanted to ask you that.

Mrs. P. And He told St. Peter to feed His lambs; that is, the young Christians of His flock.. No one, I am sure, could do his duty more by his people than our good clergyman. He would never think any one beneath his care or notice; he only asked me to teach you first, because he thought you would be shy with him. Now you understand that you need not be ashamed or afraid of his knowing all about you.

O. It is very comfortable to think this; but I should always be afraid to talk to him.

Mrs. P. Well, then, you can listen when he instructs you, and you can remember what he says. I told him about you, as I said just now; and he felt for you very much, and said you had great trials, and that it was only through God's mercy that you had been kept from habits of sin, which would have made it very hard for you to turn to God, and to learn and practise the duties of your Christian calling. He said it was a mercy your trials were from without, rather than from an evil heart; and that, if you were sincere and stedfast, there need be no real hinderance to your being á true member of Christ's Church; and that, if you had stood against temptation while you were yet very ignorant, he did not doubt that you would still

be kept safe when you came to know and feel more of your high privileges. He said a good deal that was very beautiful.

O. O, do tell it me all, if you can remember.

Mrs. P. He said there were many who, like you, have little to make this world pleasant to themwho have fightings without, and fears within-who can find no resting-place- who are despised, and find unkindness where they seek for love. But what they cannot find in the world, they will find in the Church of Christ;-that will be their home, their refuge, and their comfort; and it is much better for them not to have found their rest here. Do you understand what he meant?

O. It is because I am stupid, I daresay, but sometimes when people speak of the Church, it puzzles me whether it means Christians, or the church where we say our prayers-the church that is built, I mean. And did Mr. Morton mean that I should feel more rest and comfort at church than in our house? or did he mean the Church in that other way that you have been speaking of?

Mrs. P. My dear, I have but a poor way of speaking, and I daresay I often make a confusion; but the word means, I think, first, the house of Godthe place where He is worshipped; and besides, it also means Christians-all Christians together, because they are likened to a building made for holy uses, and belonging to Christ. So, perhaps, the word often means both at once. I think Mr. Morton's meaning was, that by belonging to the whole body of Christians, and partaking in their privileges, you might find that resting-place which was denied you in your own home and among your own friends. But I think he meant, too, that the house of God would be to you a place of exceeding comfort. Indeed, he said that you might bring your griefs and cares there; and that if you felt oppressed or troubled, there would be your comfort. The church is the place most like heaven; and to those

who are Christians in heart as well as in name, it is a foretaste of heaven.

At this time very little happened to Olive, except that she went on regularly under Mrs. Payne's teaching; and you will understand more about her if you read some of the conversations they had after the lessons were over.

One day Olive began thus:

O. Is it wrong to wish to die? Two years ago I was very poorly; and aunt said, she should not wonder if I went into a decline. Then I thought it would be so pleasant to get away from all troubles, and have no more cold or hunger, or cross words. I thought I should be still and be quiet; and I often felt glad when I was worse, and sorry when I was better.

Mrs. P. Did you think only of getting away from troubles?

O. I believe that I thought about heaven and the angels, but I knew very little then. And after a while a great fear came over me, that I was not fit to die, and I begged of God to let me live. And when I got well I went to church; but it hurt my leg so, that they told me not to go till the new church was built. But is it wrong to wish to die?

Mrs. P. It is very right to look beyond this world to the blessed and eternal home of God's people. "And every man that hath this hope purifieth himself, even as God is pure." But we must not wish to go sooner than God pleases. We must be content to stay here, and do the work that He has given us; and any humble Christian who feels the burden of his sins will be thankful for the time given him to grow more holy and fit, by God's help, for that blessed place. But while content to wait God's time, we may, when we are weary of this world, look beyond it, and think that the sorrows of Christians are only for a time, and receive thankfully the blessings given us as pledges, and promises, and likenesses of greater ones the holiness of God's

house, the beauty of His works, the signs of His grace in the characters of good people.

O. Do you think when people are in great want, that they can thank God for His blessings? It is so hard not to think most of what one has not gotclothes and food; and then one seems to have no time to think of things beyond.

I do

Mrs. P. I have seen people who were in the greatest distress able to thank God for the blessings left them, and to find even in this world the signs of what His goodness had in store for them. We must try to get this spirit, and God will help us. not wonder that you are cast down in times of great want, and it is natural even to wish yourself safe out of what the Burial Service calls this troublesome world. But you must take care that with this wish there is also a wish, and earnest prayer and struggle, to be more fit for the other world.

A day or two after, Mrs. Payne began before the lessons.

Mrs. P. I was afraid you were ill, my dear, not seeing you at church yesterday.

O. I am very well, thank you, ma'am.

Mrs. P. Then you were busy, I suppose. O. I am afraid you will be angry with me. Mrs. P. Perhaps you may have had some good reason?

O. Why, it was aunt that kept me at home, because the baby was bad.

Mrs. P. I should say you were quite right to obey

her.

O. I was very much vexed about it; for she might have minded the child herself, as she was at home. And Jane had nothing to do. I thought it might have been contrived; but I did not like to say so.

Mrs. P. As your aunt never goes to church herself, she cannot of course feel the importance of your going, and so she did not contrive it. So, you were kept at home all day.