just now, and very simply examine how this truth stands good.

First of all it was said that, to the merely human student-that is much the same as saying, to the materialist-the contemplation of Nature, the constitution of things around him, is beset with insuperable difficulties, and these difficulties are actual griefs and sorrows.

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What is the difference of aspect in the case of the Christian? Just this, that the Christian puts in place of abstract Nature a personal God; in place of Law, God's Providence; and so he is content to say, What my Father doth is well." This is no fanciful case. We know there are those who have outstripped their compeers in worldly knowledge-scientific knowledge-who would give all they know for the simple faith of a peasant or a child. They can read the heavens like a book, they delve for knowledge below the surface of the earth, or of the deep mysterious sea, but of Him who made the heavens and earth and sea their science tells them not; and all must be demonstration for their acceptance. I am thinking of one such who said to me, oh, so sadly! arguing against the survival of man after death, "We are only like waves on the great ocean of existence: we break upon the rock. We are gone. There has been no real personality, therefore there is no survival."

That is exactly how the old heathens worked out the problem. What a sad solution it is. This is the kind of knowledge Solomon terms sorrow. Think of one of those wise men of old lamenting that whilst the flowers that withered in late autumn came again with spring, there was no springtide for man! he died and was lost.

Contrast with such a lamentation the hopeful tears of the simplest Christian over a dead child, or a dear friend, and there we have the most complete picture of the sorrow of mere worldly knowledge, the "perfect peace perfect peace" when that human knowledge is supplemented by Divine revelation. Then, again, we spoke of self, and what dark mysteries we ourselves are to ourselves and each to other. When we come to take into accountwhat only revelation can tell us-morals and metaphysics leave us wholly at a loss-when we come to consider that the dark shadow of the Fall has passed over man's nature, once made "in the image of God," then the mysteries become explained. We see how it is we cannot depend on self or on one another, and why we are such dark enigmas one to the other. Add to this the great fact of redemption, the boundless possibilities opened up by Christ's incarnation and death, and then a ray of hopeful light streams in across the dark picture. Nature, ruined and degraded in the First, is recreated and renewed in the Second Adam.

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We cannot dwell on this as we would wish. Let us go on to the next department of knowledgeman's conception of God. Look at the grotesque ideas which man, unaided from on high, has formed of God; or the most grotesque of all-that, namely, of the fool who says there is no God; and then let us take up the poor man's well-thumbed Bible and open it at any page we will, and again contrast the sorrows of worldly knowledge with the peace passing understanding that fills the heart God has touched! And what do we infer from all this? What does the Ecclesiastes argue from it? That we should depreciate and despise human knowledge? Not at all. His first prayer had been for a wise and understanding heart. He was perhaps the very last man who ever lived that would have been likely to undervalue worldly wisdom. We scarcely dream how largely the heathen philosophy of antiquity drew upon the stores of this wise Preacher. No; what he does is this: he takes his own wisdom-takes the highest wisdom attainable by man-and he asks, What is it by itself? That is the point to dwell upon. Grief and sorrowvanity of vanities. The knowledge of God, and life based on that knowledge, is the only real complement of human wisdom. The problem, as we know, is being agitated at this very hour in our midst. The advantages of worldly wisdom, of secular education, is admitted on all hands. The questions raised are (1) Is it well to combine any religious instruction? (2) If so, how and where shall that instruction be given? Into the complications of that question we are not now going. We speak rather of the culture of the individual soul, and from the words of the Great Preacher warn persons that they want something more than worldly wisdom to make them happy men and women. Worldly wisdom alone may make them great people, may gratify the ends of earthly ambition; but it will not make them happy. Solomon was wise all along, but only late in life. came the knowledge that wisdom must be supplemented with goodness. "Jesus Christ, the way, the truth, and the life," that is the simple lore we find in the Bible. For our worldly learning we must go elsewhere. Stop short at that, and knowledge shall issue in grief, sorrow shall be proportioned to such wisdom. There, in the Holy Book, we may by God's grace gather outlines of that knowledge "that cometh down from above." And then, when the kingdoms of this world shall have become the kingdoms of God and of his Christ, there shall be no such clash and collision between knowledge and happiness, for all knowledge shall be exhausted and absorbed in God, and the text we have considered shall be, or may be altered to its great antithesis, "In much wisdom is much, is perfect bliss; and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth happiness."

ORD Jesus, in Thy tenderness,
Upon this child look down;
Surround him with Thy loving care,
And mark him for Thine own.

In faith we bring him to Thy feet,
Thou Keeper of Thy sheep;

Oh, take this lamb within Thy fold,

And him in safety keep.

Oh, may he early seek Thy face,
And hear Thy living voice;
And hearing-follow and obey,
And following-rejoice.

We know not now his path on earth,
But all is clear to Thee;

Be Thou his Guide, Defender, Friend,
Whate'er that path may be.

We would not ask his portion here,
But in Thyself, O Lord,
That he may live and feed and grow,
In Thy most holy Word.
May he victorious be o'er sin,

Through Thy most precious blood,
And, clad in Christian panoply,
Maintain the truth of God;

That when in glory Thou dost come
Triumphant he may stand,
Robed in the garments pure and white
Of Thine own faithful band;

Singing the song which none may know,
Save those who follow Thee;
"Found without fault before the throne
To all eternity."

CHAPTER II. ARAH looked so pleasant that it was impossible to be afraid of her, and so Katie was just going to tell her what she had come to see when she caught sight of Miss Holgate herself coming up the path, and it seemed to the little girl as if her face was sterner and her blue spectacles bigger than ever. The sight was quite too much for Kate's courage. Without waiting a moment to consider, she started off down the garden as fast as she could, brushing past the startled lady, and getting safely into Dr. Marsden's yard, long before Sarah could tell her mistress who she was.

Both the little girls were out of breath when they reached the nursery again, and found, for a wonder, that Jenny had not missed them. At first they thought they would not tell her what they had done, but I am glad to say the secret lay so heavily on their consciences that they changed their minds, and confessed it all, listening very humbly to the rebuke she administered, and promising never to do so again, which promise was strictly kept, although Katie quite longed for another sight of the fishes.

However, they did not give up watching the garden from the window, and before very many weeks had passed by, one day they saw a little girl, with bright golden hair and a merry face, walking there with Miss Holgate. They did wonder who she could be, and when they saw her day after day, sometimes playing alone, sometimes with Miss Holgate, the desire to know about her became very great. At last Jenny told them she had heard the strange little

IN TWO CHAPTERS.

girl was an orphan niece of Miss Holgate's, who had come to live with her aunt always; and when Katie and Winny heard that, they thought directly how dreadful it must be to be Miss Holgate's niece, and live with her. They prepared themselves to bestow an immense amount of pity on the stranger, but when they saw her the next morning in the garden, as usual, playing with the old black cat, and then throwing crumbs to the fishes, and then dancing about, she looked so happy and merry that somehow or other their pity vanished away.

After a time Miss Holgate's niece, whose name was Jessie Frost, used always to look up and nod to Katie and Winny when she saw them at the window; and, at last, one day Dr. Marsden told his two little daughters that Miss Holgate had asked him to let them visit her niece the next day.

What intense excitement took possession of them when they heard they were to go, to be sure! They hardly knew what they were about. It was certainly very nice to be friends with Jessie, but then it was by no means so nice to venture so near to Miss Holgate.

But when the time came Winny could not go, for one of the bad headaches she was subject to came on, and so Katie had to set out alone.

The servant opened the door, but Jessie was close by, and seized hold of Katie at once, taking her upstairs to her own play-room.

"Auntie's gone out for a little time, but she will be back by tea-time. She said we must play up here, because it is so cold in the garden now. Oh! I am so glad you are come!" was her greeting.

It was such a delightful afternoon Katie had alone with her new friend. Jessie showed her all her playthings, her books and her dolls, of which she had a great number; and they examined, too, a most wonderful doll's house, with doors that would open and shut, and with such nicely-furnished rooms in it. So, long before tea-time came, the two children had told one another most of their various secrets, and had promised always to be friends, which promise was accompanied by some hugging and kissing.

But at last Miss Holgate came back, and the children were sent for into the cosy room where she mostly sat, Katie feeling very shy indeed as she went down-stairs, and wishing very much Winny was with her.

Miss Holgate was sitting very upright in her chair, and Katie thought her back did look an uncomfortable, disagreeable sort of a back; but when she turned round and saw the children, such a nice smile lit up her face, and she kissed Katie so kindly, that the little girl was quite surprised, and began to think Miss Holgate couldn't be so bad as she had thought.

As for Jessie, any one could see that she wasn't a bit afraid of her aunt, and that she loved her dearly; and when tea was ready, she actually was allowed to pour it out.

I really think Katie enjoyed the evening more than she had done the afternoon, Miss Holgate told them such beautiful stories and let them play such tricks. Katie wondered more and more how it was she had ever thought her a cross, disagreeable person, and thought, too, how surprised Winny would be when she told her how mistaken they had been.

The time went very fast, and at last Katie was sent for, and when Miss Holgate bade her good-bye, she asked her whether she would come and see her again. Katie was just going to say, "Oh yes," when there darted into her mind two thoughts. The first was, that her papa had often told her, his little daughter must always be very truthful, and never deceive any one; and the second was that she and Winny had been in the habit of saying rather unkind things about Miss Holgate, which, if she knew, might keep her from letting them come to see Jessie.

Katie felt very uncomfortable, and for a minute or two she did not answer at all, although Miss Holgate was looking at her with rather a surprised face; but at last she summoned up all her courage, and making one great effort, said, "Please, papa told me always to speak the truth, and he said it was nearly as bad to hide wrong things as to tell a real story. Perhaps if you knew Winny and I used to say we didn't like you at all, and that you were ugly and cross, you wouldn't let us come to see you."

By the time Katie had finished this long speech, her face was crimson all over, and she dared not

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look up at all, because she felt so sure Miss Holgate must be very angry with her; and yet she felt glad she had been honest and spoken the truth.

Miss Holgate did not look a bit cross, though; there was quite a pleased smile upon her face, and her eyes were twinkling behind her blue spectacles, just as they always did when she approved of what was going on.

She drew Katie quite close to her, and then said, "You are a brave little girl, and an honest one too, Katie. You and I must be great friends, I can see. Only you must try to learn the lesson, that ugly people are not always cross as well."

So Kate went home, feeling a very happy child; but was rather disappointed to find that Winny was sound asleep in bed, and that therefore she must keep the account of all that had happened until the morning.

Miss Holgate and Katie did become great friends. Nor was Winny left out-indeed, the two children went so frequently to Holly Lodge, that at last they always felt quite as if they were at home when there.

Then, when the bright spring came again, they played about all they liked in the garden they had once so wanted to go in, and they fed the fishes with crumbs until they grew weary of it. They made daisy chains too, sitting on the lawn, under one of the old apple-trees, and were about as happy as three children with nothing to trouble them could be. How happy that is I must leave you children to say; for I am quite sure I must not tell you any more now about Katie and Winny; only if you are any of you inclined to think that, because any one is old and ugly, therefore she must be cross and disagreeable as well, perhaps you will just remember Miss Holgate, and wait until you know for certain.

"THE QUIVER" BIBLE CLASS. 7. A future judgment is plainly recognised in two passages of the book of Ecclesiastes. Give them.

8. Peter's classification of Paul's Epistles with the Scriptures (2 Peter iii. 16) is an argument that he himself did not claim infallibility. How so?

9. After our Lord's prediction to Peter of the manner of his death, what command did he address to him?

10. Quote a passage from the Epistles explanatory of Luke xxiii. 31-"If they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?"

11. From one of the Psalms whose authorship is ascribed to Moses, we may infer that the duration of human life in his day must have been something about the same as at present. Show this.

12. The form of greeting in St. James's Epistle occurs only in one other place in Scripture. Where?

PARABLE is an image or representation. It was the ordinary and most popular method of instruction in Eastern countries, and was most frequently adopted by our Lord as the best method of teaching spiritual truths. Every parable of Christ's is accordingly told with a purpose. It is a natural description of some spiritual fact. We must therefore, in seeking for the meaning of any parable, take care to understand the purpose with which it was spoken, and having discovered that, seek for all the light which the parable was intended to throw on the particular subject which it was meant to illustrate. We must not strain parables, and try to find meanings in, and to build up doctrines upon, every little detail which, in all likelihood, may have been introduced only to fill in the background of the picture, and give the scene a thoroughly natural appearance.

The parable of the sower was the first parable spoken by Christ. It is recorded in Mark iv. 1, and in Matt. xiii. 1 also. The scene described is one to be witnessed daily at a certain period of the year— a sower sowing seed, and the varied results of the droppings of that seed into the earth.

"

"Some fell by the way side." It was the same kind of seed that was sown, or fell in each case; the variety of results was not due to there being any different kinds of seed, but to the different qualities of the various portions of ground where it was sown. "The way side" probably means the side of the footpath, which generally in the East-and, indeed, often at home-ran through the cultivated field; such a path as our Lord and his disciples walked on when they plucked the ears of corn and ate them, rubbing them in their hands, and thus excited the angry hostility of the self-righteous Pharisees. Instead of sinking into the ground, as it did where the soil was softer, the portion of seed which fell here lay exposed on the "trodden" path, and the birds devoured it.

"Some fell upon a rock"-that is, there were portions of the field where there was only a thin layer of earth, and a hard rock beneath-and what fell on such soil withered away the moment it sprang up.

and some of the same kind of grain, but a great cctrast to the seed upon the rocks, or the way side, or in the midst of weeds; for it brings forth fruit a hundredfold. The word hundredfold is not used as expressing a distinct and accurately ascertained result, but as indicating a great and rich harvest.

The lesson of this parable is unmistakably clear. It is contained in these words: "Take heed how ye hear." The meaning of the details is given by the Divine Speaker himself. The seed is his word. That on the way side represents those who hear, but do not let the word enter into them; it lies on the surface, and so the ever-watchful eye of the Evil One sees it and removes it.

The seed which fell upon the rock entered in, but only, as it were, skin-deep, not deep enough to take root. Religion by some people is received with excitement ("with joy," is the description of the way in which it was received by those who fell away so soon), and people think then it must be all right. Religion which begins with mere outward display of excitement, is apt to end there too.

The seed which is choked by the thorns depicts the very sad case of those-alas! how many-who receive the truth, and allow it to grow up and make a certain appearance, but riches, cares, worldliness-those rank weeds-stifle it. Yet riches, worldliness, and such like are thought to be anything but "weeds"stifling weeds-by most of us.

There is a bright side to the picture. Teachers and preachers, sowers of the seed of truth, need not be cast down. If some sowing is so profitless, other sowing is rewarded with an abundant and rich harvest; fruits a hundredfold more than our ability, a hundredfold more than our earnestness, a hundredfold more than our love, a hundredfold more than our deservings-such is the reward of the faithful

sower.

Let us take heed how we "read" God's Word, as well as how we hear it. Few people read their Bibles simply to find out the truth, relying upon God's promise to give the help of his Holy Spirit to guide us to a knowledge of the truth. Many read the Bible as if reading it were a kind of charm, or a task to be performed; or perhaps they only go to it when they want to look up some passage in favour of a particular opinion of their own. Reading the Word, or hearing it in such a spirit, is not sowing the seed in 'an honest and good heart." Take heed how ye hear.