last seen her, as quite to erase my recollection of her. Having other friends to call upon before I took the train, I was compelled to make the interview as short as possible; otherwise I would gladly have tarried, in order to have had more conversation with that dear boy. However, I again sought to test him upon what he felt in regard to Jesus and the affliction under which he had so long laboured. " Why is Jesus worthy of our love?" "Because He died." "But why did He die ?" "To save us. "But why did we need saving ?" "Because we had sinned." "But what does away with our sin ?" Oh, His blood." These answers were given so promptly, and with such a glowing smile, as those who saw it cannot forget. I then sought to bring the subject home still closer to his own heart and personal experience. Here I found it hard to draw him out. He was mute, but it was clearly from modesty and self-distrust, the more especially as there were others in the room beside ourselves. I, therefore, sought to encourage him, as well as to satisfy myself; and, in order to prove that Jesus heard the prayers of the little ones, and was as well pleased with their coming to Him now as when He was upon earth, I spoke of a very little boy who used to be afraid of his father's temper, because he was hasty and passionate. Although he never heard him say a bad word in his life, still he was afraid of his temper. He would sometimes be sullen with the one with whom he was angry, and not speak to him for a week perhaps or more. So one day he became angry with some one at dinner, and the little boy jumped up from the dinner-table, and ran out into the countinghouse, and fell down upon his knees, and, in a few simple words, begged of God that He would subdue his father's temper. Scarcely had he done so, ere he heard the door of the room opened where his father was; he came out, and not only did he pass by him calmly and unexcited, but he never saw the least sign afterwards of that particular time of his displeasure. All had passed away as though nothing had happened. Thought he, "This is very strange. I never knew such another instance of my father coming round so soon. How is it? Why, surely God must have heard my prayer; and would He have heard my prayer, if He had not had intentions of mercy towards me? Now, he had long known himself a sinner, and had long felt that, if his sins were not forgiven, where God was he could not come; but he was afraid that his sins would not be forgiven. This circumstance, however, gave him hope; the first hope that little boy ever had. "Now has not Jesus given you some hope, too?" I asked. The dear child was silent, at the same time (after listening with the intensest interest to what I had been telling him) his countenance bespoke the greatest emotion. The tears stood in his eyes, and it was evidently a great effort to suppress his feelings. "Now haven't you ever asked Jesus to give you patience under affliction ?" Still he was silent, at the same time ready to burst into a flood of tears. your The silence was now interrupted by his mother saying, "Haven't you you told me, how asked Jesus to enable you to get your lessons?" Still he was mute; he only responded by a touching glance at his mother. "Have you never had some text upon your mind? Now what was the last Scripture you thought of?" Again looking towards his mother, with a renewed and most speaking smile, he said, "The last I had was what you gave me, Casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you.' "Ah!" thought I, "that precious portion will do for both mother and child, too. Her wan countenance and wasted frame bespeak her days as numbered. Her far-distant soldier-son that she speaks about, and this dear little sufferer, whom in all probability she will have to leave for others to nurse, all claim an interposing hand; an arm on which to lean-a wisdom to guide-a power to sustain-grace to submit-and words to soothe and comfort. We bowed the knee together. I was once more the mouthpiece at the throne of mercy to entreat, on their behalf as well as my own, all needed grace and strength. Unitedly we besought the Lord to give submission to His will-grace that we might "walk by faith and not by sight," to believe that "what we know not now, we shall know hereafter;" that we might be able with the apostle to "reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us;" that "this light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;" and that amid all, we might be yet more and more earnestly "looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ." Once again kissing that precious boy, and bidding him good-bye in all probability for ever in this world, the poor mother followed us to the door, exclaiming, "Oh, those precious Scriptures! How I thank you for calling," she added. Then she began to speak of what was before her. "Leave that," we could but reply. "We have nothing to do with the morrow. It is written, Take therefore no thought for the morrow; for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof;" and again, "Thy shoes shall be iron and brass; and as thy days so shall thy strength be." We might have added the Lord's most gracious promise, "My grace is sufficient for thee; for my strength is made perfect in weakness." That She then waved adieu from the window, as we drove from the house. "Farewell, poor sufferer," I mentally exclaimed, “until we meet in that happy world where suffering and sorrow are unknown; where 'the inhabitant never says, I am sick, and where the people who dwell therein are forgiven their iniquity.' countenance I shall never see again, as now, furrowed with care and anguish and disease; but illumined with the glory of Him in whose blessed image you shall arise from the refreshing slumbers of the tomb: for when He shall appear, you shall be like Him, for you shall see Him as He is.'" "Your flesh shall slumber in the ground, St. Luke's, Bedminster, April 8, 1869. THE EDITOR. Scarborough. "ESCAPE FOR THY LIFE." "ESCAPE for thy life!" poor sinner returning; 66 To safety and peace the forlorn and opprest, Escape for thy life!" nor wait till to-morrow; 66 Escape for thy life!" the pity of Jesus Outmeasures thy sins, in its fathomless flow; Though far from His presence, returning, He sees us, "Escape for thy life!" the robe of salvation Was woven for sinners, poor, helpless, and base; W. S. R. CONSISTENCY. "Him would Paul have to go forth with him; and took and circumcised him because of the Jews which were in those quarters: for they knew all that his father was a Greek" (AcTs xvi. 3). How may Paul's conduct in the case of Timothy be reconciled with his conduct in the case of Titus, as set forth in Gal. ii. 3? This can be better answered by quoting Paul's own words in 1 Cor. ix. 20—“ Unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law." Also chap. xxi. 22. Paul was anxious that Timothy should be an efficient and acceptable preacher of the Gospel, therefore considered it wisest to conform to the little prejudices of the Jews in some instances where it did not interfere with matters of faith. He was concerned that ministers of the Gospel should be void of reproach among men, even to the fulfilling of the letter of the law, and submitting to outward observances which were not necessary, in order that they might, as in the passage Paul circumcised But in the case already referred to, be the means of saving some. Timothy because of the Jews which were in those quarters. of Titus it was very different. Paul would not compel him to be circumcised, for just an opposite reason. While he was at Antioch there came down from Judea false teachers, who said, "Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved" (Acts xv. 1). So when he went up to Jerusalem and took Titus with him, he wished to show his disapprobation of this false doctrine by permitting Titus to refrain from the customs of the law, and more especially, as Titus was a Gentile convert, and Paul went up to Jerusalem to communicate "unto them that Gospel which he preached among the Gentiles," which was a Gospel of uncircumsion, and gives a very good reason why he did not urge Titus to conform to the law of Moses in Gal. ii. 4, 5, " and that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage: to whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour; that the truth of the Gospel might continue with you." Paul, by his conduct in these two cases, teaches us that, however we may become "all things to all men minor matters, yet the truth of the Gospel must always be dearer still, and admits of no compromise. " in W. LINES ADDRESSED TO AN AFFLICTED SAINT ON HER BIRTHDAY. Unfolds His gracious plan, Where sorrow cannot come : Birmingham. The thoughts He thinks towards thee And while Jehovah liveth, That love will never cease! Of that secret still small voice, Then fear not, child of suffering, Thy troubles soon will cease, E. B. M. *To be had post-free of Mrs. Moens, 47, Bath Row, Birmingham, 6d. per doz. or 3s. 6d. per hundred. Believers are not to build upon frames and feelings, as if they were to be saved by them; but they are permitted to look back upon them, and draw comfort from them in a season of darkness and desertion, as being evidences of the inward workings of the Spirit of God. They are, in short, the very essence of all religion and the consolation we gather from them, even when they are past, is this: "He who hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." : Wayside Notes. LOOKING TO THE EVIDENCES. "The infirmities of the weak."-ROMANS XV. 1. Ir is the glory of God to conceal a thing, and doubtless the most glorious concealment it was His will to make was the godhead of our Saviour veiled in His humanity. "Great is the mystery of godliness, God manifest in the flesh;" and there is this striking feature about our Lord's life, viz., that though He was the very God of very God, yet He manifested the greatest regard to, and sympathy with, the weak, the feeble, and the lowly. Yes; He who had all power over the natural world, so that He had but to say to the barren fig-tree, "be withered," and it was so, would yet place a little child in their midst, and tell them: Except ye be converted, and become as this little child, ye cannot see the kingdom of God." He who had all power over the elements, so that He had but to stand up in the ship which was covered with the waves, and rebuke the wind and sea, and there was a great calm, was yet found going about the villages and cities teaching. He who had all power over death itself, so that He had but to cry with a loud voice: "Lazarus, come forth; and he that was dead came forth," was yet found saying, "Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of heaven," verifying the prophecy made concerning Him seven hundred years before: "He shall gather the lambs with His arm.' Beloved, we want to drink into the spirit of the Master. The weak ones form a large portion of the flock, and need special sympathy and tending. He sympathized with them-so would we. How many little ones there must have been following in the trail of the children of Israel, when the Lord brought them out of Egypt; and yet all of them were preserved, and their little wants supplied, and not a hoof was left behind. Let us consider, then I. Some of the infirmities of the weak in connexion with the salvation of their souls. II. Some of the infirmities of the weak in connexion with the dispensations of God's providence concerning them. III. Lead them to some substantial realities that will tend, by the Spirit's blessing, to strengthen their faith, and bid them take a firmer foothold on the Rock of ages. Dear Lord, help us to comfort Thy weak ones. Let the sweet influence of the Spirit rest upon us as dew upon the branches, and grant, we beseech Thee, that some doubting child of Thine may be strengthened in faith, and Thine own name glorified and honoured. I. SOME OF THE INFIRMITIES OF THE WEAK IN CONNEXION WITH THE SALVATION OF THEIR SOULS. And we will draw attention First. To that of their doubting whether they are children of God. Beloved, among the family of the Lord, we may frequently meet with those who we believe are as safe for glory as Christ can make them, but are yet writing bitter things against themselves, and doubting if they have any part or T |