Engraving of Revd. William Arthur, M. A., Engraved by W. Holl from a Photograph.

MORNING WORSHIP.

Gracious Father, increase and maintain in us that faith which is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.  In the exercise of it may we now come to Thee, believing that Thou art, and that Thou art a rewarder of them that diligently seek Thee; and give us to experience that they who seek the Lord shall not want any good.  Hear us for Jesus’ sake.  Amen.

HYMN, or Psalm iv. 3-8.

 COME Saviour, Jesus, from above!
Assist me with thy heavenly grace;
Empty my heart of earthly love,
And for thyself prepare the place. 

While in this region here below,
No other good will I pursue;
I’ll bid this world of noise and show,
With all its glittering snares, adieu!

Henceforth may no profane delight
Divide this consecrated soul;
Possess  it thou, who hast the right,
As Lord and Master of the whole. 

Wealth, honour, pleasure, and what else
This short-enduring world can give,
Tempt as ye will my soul repels
To Christ alone resolved to live.

ACTS V. 1-16.

BUT a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, 2. And kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles’ feet. 3. But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?  4. Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this in thine heart? Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. 5. And Ananias, hearing these words, fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things.  6. And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out, and buried him. 7. And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in.  8. And Peter answered unto her, Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much.  And she said, Yea, for so much. 9. Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out. 10. Then fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost: and the young men came in, and found her dead, and carrying her forth, buried her by her husband.  11. And great fear came upon all the church, and as many as heard these things. 12. And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; (and they were all with one accord in Solomon’s porch. 13. And of the rest durst no man join himself to them: but the people magnified them. 14. And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women;) 15. Insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them. 16. There came also a multitude out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks, and them which were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed every one.

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Prayer.

O THOU Holy One, Ancient of Days, God of our fathers, God of our children, God of the first man, God of the eternity that is past, of the moment that is now flitting, of the eternity to come -- we, the children of time, adore Thee that it is permitted us to draw near to Thee, and that we are not only allowed, but invited to come, and out of the depths of our unworthiness to cry, Our Father.  In the name of thy Son Jesus, we seek thy pardon for every misspent moment, every misused faculty, every opportunity neglected, every act of waywardness, in this our brief but pregnant life.  We seek thy pardon for every stain, every unholy and unsanctified thought, which has this day defiled our souls.  Thou knowest where the world is, in the place that ought to belong to God alone.  May the light of thine eye, piercing earthly mists, set all the objects within our souls before the view of our own conscience.  May that which is vile seem vile, that which is corrupt seem corrupt; and may all things appear to us, not in our point of view, but as thou dost see them.  And O grant that now we may fall before Thee self-abhorring, each knowing his own sin and feeling it, and repenting of it; each penerated with the conviction that unless saved by the power of Christ he must perish.  Father of mercies, give us grace that we may know whether our hearts are thine or held from Thee.  May thine own light shine upon every soul here present, and may the things of sense be kept under by the revelations of thy Holy Spirit.  Open our internal eye, and let us feel the things that are spiritually discerned.  Reveal them, manifest them, make them known by thine evidence; give them substance, give them reality, give them command and power over mind and heart, so that none of us may remain indifferent, but that all, strengthened with the Spirit’s might in the inner man, may resolve to serve Thee better than ever.  If any have hitherto been halting between two opinions, may they now be induced to cast the die, and commit their souls in covenant to God.  If any have never yet seriously looked at the question of their souls’ salvation, O that to-day, O that this moment, they may be brought to Thee.  Thou -- to whom one day is as a thousand years, Thou canst in this passing moment work all the work of a saving change upon any heart here.  Bow down the heavens, and let thy glory appear, and bless us throughout the rest of this day, and keep us unto eternal life.

        And O Thou Mediator between God and man, look upon us, and send thy Spirit to plead in us, and strive with us, and breathe through us; and let the services of this sacred day be marked with extraordinary power from on high.  Touch the heart of hearers, touch that of preachers.  May the word come from the heart and go to the heart! may it be manifestly sent by Thee -- not the word of man, but in truth the word of God!  Let the truths taught be according to thine oracles, and sent by the power of thy Spirit.  Bless all congregations, all preachers, all hearers, and all Christian families.  May thy work throughout the world prosper day by day, week by week, with constant growth and blessed increase, so that great may be the praise of the Lord, and great the joy of the people, for the sake of Christ our Redeemer.  Our Father, &c.  Amen.

THE CHURCH IN THE HOUSE.

        WE beseech of Thee, our heavenly Father, who hath sent thine eternal Son into the world to save us from ignorance, guilt, and sin, so to enlighten our minds and strengthen our faith that we may be truly taught Thy will by Jesus Christ our prophet; receive the pardon of our sins and have our persons and services accepted through Him, our only priest and intercessor; and have our souls renewed and wholly governed by Him our king; so that we may reign with Him as priests and kings for ever.  Amen.

HYMN, or Psalm lxv. 4-5.

To him that in thy name believes,
Eternal life with thee is given;
Into himself he all receives,
Pardon, and holiness, and heaven.

The things unknown to feeble sense,
Unseen by reason’s glimmering ray,
With strong, commanding evidence,
Their heavenly origin display.

Faith lends its realizing light,
The clouds disperse, the shadows fly;
The Invisible appears in sight,
And God is seen by mortal eye.

HEBREWS XI. 23-40.

BY faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king’s commandment.  24. By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; 25. Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; 26. Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward. 27. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.  28. Through faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the first-born should touch them. 29. By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land; which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned. 30. By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days. 31. By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace. 32. And what shall I say more? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets: 33. Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34. Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. 35. Women received back their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: 36. And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover, of bonds and imprisonment: 37. They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goat skins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; 38. (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. 39. And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: 40. God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.

MARK XI. 21-23.

AND Peter, calling to remembrance, saith unto him, Master, behold, the fig-tree which thou cursedest is withered away. 22. And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God. 23. For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain Be thou removed,

and be thou cast unto the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.

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SERMON IX.

“BY FAITH MOSES, WHEN HE WAS COME TO YEARS, REFUSED TO BE CALLED THE SON OF PHARAOH’S DAUGHTER.” --Hebrews xi. 24.

NO incident in any ancient biography has left a trace on the history of mankind so marked, as the one narrated in these few words. This must strike the thinker of every school, the Christian, the Jew, the Mahomedan, the Pagan; and even the poor infidel who believes nothing, in looking up the stream of human events, must feel that the influence of Moses has swayed the thought, the beliefs, the institutions, the laws, the general conditions of mankind, far more than that of any other of the ancients.  And unlike theirs, this is an influence to which time only adds fresh vigour, to which new races, tongues, and nations, are every year contributing an extended range.  One of the most elaborate and searching critical historians of our day, at the beginning of his labour, says, “History was born the night that Moses left Egypt.” Suppose he had not left Egypt -- what then?  Suppose he had consented to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, had lived in a palace, had died on a royal couch, had been buried in a pyramid, and added one more cartoon to the escutcheons of Egyptian notables -- what then?  The answer of the Christian is ready --- God would have raised up another Moses to be the deliverer of the people -- a prophet like unto Him that was to come.  But for Him, to whom Moses was only a natural character, and all which followed but the natural effect of natural causes -- what must the answer be?  It must be this -- Why, then, there would have been no Exodus, no Passover, no Ten Commandments, no Sabbath, no Book of Genesis, no Pentateuch, no Judges, no Prophets, no Hebrew nation, no Psalms, no Messiah, no Chistian religion, no Bible.  The world would have been without any faith teaching the one God; and so far as the test of experience indicates in this our nineteenth century mankind would have stood represented by three types -- China, Africa, Fiji. 

        “By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.”  In the spirit of inspiration Paul looks at the distant horizon of human affairs, and sees the generations of men come up in nebulous indistinctness, and, without ever being defined individually to the eye, they set again in darkness, and reappear no more.  But out of this undistinguishable multitude stand forth a few names, like the stars up in the high north which never set, though they pale in the presence of the sun; and these names continue day after day, and age after age, never setting, always shining, held in the firmament of heaven, pouring a light down upon earth.  How is it that these elders obtained a good report? that, instead of perishing in the multitude, they have received a true immortality, which illuminates their names evermore, while mists cover those of other men? “By faith the elders obtained a good report.”  By faith they wrought deeds which God thought worth recording.  By faith they won a name which He has been pleased to invest with some part of his own immortality.  And among these comes one, stepping out of a palace upon the stage of public affairs, and for the first moment dressed in courtly robes; but what strikes Paul is that, in the midst of princely opportunities, with his own hand he lays off these robes -- choosing for himself to be nobody, and less than nobody, because he has faith in God.

        The subject before us then is --

        The faith of Moses: its Power, its Trial, and its Victory.

        What was the Power of the faith of Moses? This -- it was the “evidence of things not seen.”  It was “the substance of things hoped for.” Man has three sorts of things to deal with -- those that he can learn by his senses, by sight, feeling, and so on; those which he can learn by his reason; and those, the most important of all, that must be brought within range of reason by another faculty, and that is faith.  Faith is to the soul what sense is to the body; or more properly, faith is, for knowing the moral and spiritual world, what sense is for knowing the external world of matter.  The one world is as real as the other; we are made for both, and we belong to both, we live in the midst of both, we are concerned with both, both are acting upon us, and God has given us faculties for discerning both.  We know cold or hot, sweet or bitter, hard or soft, loud or musical, not by reason or by faith, not by any mental or spiritual faculty, but through the organs of sense; and we can never discern God, heaven, angels, spirit, right, wrong, merely by the eye, the ear, or the reason.  These are objects that must be spiritually discerned, and for spiritual discernment the soul has its faculties.  As without the natural faculty of sight, objects may be present, and yet cannot be seen; so God may be here, the soul here, heaven here, the Saviour here, the guilt of sin here, and the great tempter nigh, and yet not be perceived.  In natural sight there is no seeing without an object, an eye, and light.  So in spiritual, the objects are around us, the faculty in us, but until the light of the blessed Spirit shines in upon the human spirit, the man knows not God, knows not his own soul, knows not the world of spirits, knows not the Saviour, knows not the tempter.  Let that light shine, and conceptions of things heard of give place to impressions of things discerned and felt.  The things are no longer ideas, names, doctrines; they are realities, things and beings.  Heaven is not a doctrine to a man that believes, but a place real and near; hell is not a name to the man that believes -- it is a prison; the devil is not an idea to him that believes, but a great foe; the Saviour is not an idea to the man that believes, but his Friend, his Redeemer, his Master, his Lord, his Protector, his All in all; God is not a “notion” to him that believes, any more than the sunlight is a conception to the child who is endeavouring to explain it to his blind father.  To the father it is but a conception existing in his mind; to the boy it is a reality -- the impression of it is pouring upon his eye; he cannot explain it; he feels it, he knows it.  So it is with the soul upon which God’s light has shone and brought to view things that sense does not disclose, and reason does not explain, but which the Spirit of grace makes manifest by the medium of a simple trust in God.

        Now, mark how this faith of Moses was realized.  It was not a conception of things unseen but an evidence of them; not a dim, misty idea of things hoped for, but the substance of them: so that those things, instead of floating before the eye of the soul in distant, cloudy unimpressiveness, came right in upon the thoughts, and feelings, and passions, with the force and incisiveness of a seal.

        What did he realize? Look at the passage.  First, he realized the presence of God in the midst of men.  “Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people” -- what people?  Those poor wretches, those brickmakers, daubed with mud, bowed with care and shame, the taskmaster over their degraded gangs.  Look at them, driven like sheep, and the crack of the lash compelling them to work.  Yet to Moses these are a people!  Not the people of Jacob, not the people of Joseph, good and great man as he was, not even the people of grand old Abraham.  But, by the light that is within, the covenant of God makes itself seen among them, and the presence of God is with them; they have his name, his knowledge, and his worship.  They are God’s people, and let all the world say what it will, He is with them, and not with the world.

        Then there was another human presence.  Seated within halls of polished granite; waited upon by princely retinues, with captains, and poets, and sages at his feet; aloft above the ordinary level of human greatness; invested with all power, speaker after the manner of men; holding in his hand not only the political, but the domestic and mental condition of his people; called a god, honoured as a god -- sits Pharaoh, of all human potentates the most awe-inspiring and impulsive then in the world. “Whom he would he slew, whom he would he kept alive; and whom he would set up, and whom he would put down.”  As to life, he held it of no value; and when the wrath of the king was aroused, whether against a man, a town, or a province, it brought destruction.  Moses had to look upon that presence, but he feared not the wrath of the king, because “he endured as seeing Him that is invisible.” Over the throne he saw a higher throne, above the sceptre a mightier sceptre; and, when the word of Pharaoh commanded death or life, he knew that One was above him in whose hand his breath was, and whose were all his ways.  He realized God in the presence of the king, and God in the presence of the brickmakers, and O how that presence changed everything, and made the glory of the throne-room dim, and the dishonours of the brickfield bright!  For God’s smile was here, and his frown there; and Moses felt that his presence overruled all.

        He also realized the glory of Christ in the midst of reproach: “Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt.”  Mark, when he heard them reproached because they would not worship the gods of Egypt, he did not consider the reproach merely in a family or a national point of view.  God had given them the promise that it was out of their seed the Deliverer, the Messiah, should come.  The Lord had said it: it was settled, and, improbable as it might be, theirs was the great inheritance, that of them, as pertaining to the flesh, Christ should come; and therefore, come what might, that Hebrew people was to be preserved, the line was never to be broken until the world had seen the world’s Redeemer through that line brought forth.  So, that as to us, through eighteen hundred years that are past, faith brings up Christ as the glory, and the beauty, and the strength, and the salvation of men; so to Moses, through the years that were yet to come, faith brought up Christ to view, and he felt that it was only in being a Hebrew he could range himself on his side, and be one to bear part in preparing for the glory of his kingdom.

        Further, he realized heavenly reward in the presence of earthly allurements.  “He had respect unto the recompence of the reward.”  He saw the treasures in Egypt, he saw and felt the bitterness of reproach, he saw the countenances of haughty soldiers and sneering wits; but he had another eye.  He was not dependent for all he knew on what his eyes and ears showed him.  We read in our English version, “He had respect unto the recompence of the reward:” the meaning is, He looked up, looked away, to the recompence of the reward.  He not only looked at these things, but at those -- not only felt these, but felt those.  Like Paul, “he looked not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.”  When the spirit is illuminated, divine things are brought within view.  He looked up: he knew what pleasure was, he did not undervalue it, but then it was not eternal.  He knew what wealth was; but he knew that presently he should be in a world where riches are not counted in diamonds and emeralds, and gold and silver, but in grace, in the love of God, and love of our neighbor.  He knew what reproach was -- he did not seek it; he knew what affliction was -- he would not make it for himself: but then these things were not to last for ever; he would soon be “where the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest.”  He looked at those things -- he looked at these: and the one was substance, the other temporal; the one was made for him, and he made for it -- it would surround him for ever and ever, through all the changes of his never-ending life.  As for the other it affected but the pilgrim-state, would last but while he was on his way home.  He thought of the trouble of the journey; but he wanted a good home -- a home where he should rest through countless ages.

        This, then, was the Power of his faith; it saw, discerned, felt, was conscious of, that world which sense does not bring to view.  It counteracted the influence wielded by sense when it alone brings perceptions to the human soul; predominating over the senses and subduing them, causing the material, mortal, perishable members wherewith man is provided, to take the place, not of masters, enslaving and binding his immortal spirit, but of servants, obeying it for temporal purposes, acknowledging it as their authority and power, as it acknowledges and looks up to the Spirit of the Lord.  Faith realizes God in the presence of men, whether afflicted or exalted -- realizes Christ in the midst of all the trials and reproach of his church and people -- realizes heaven under all the baits of sin and threats of persecution. 

        Now as to the Trial of this faith. -- It came upon Moses in a strange form.  He must either break with the people of God, be false to his own conscience, or refuse to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.  When did the trial come? Not when he was a child, not when a mere youth, when he might easily have been carried away by affection for his mother; but “when he was come to years,” forty years old, sufficiently versed in the world to have escaped from the influence of home.  He had tasted of the pleasures of life -- tasted of pride, tasted of power, tasted of fame.  He was old enough to have a prospect of long life before him; just at the time when his past reputation was beginning to bud into future power and renown. And now it came into his heart to visit his brethren, and to look upon their burdens.  In his own narrative he tells us wonderfully little; and of that, some not to his own credit.  All we know is this, that God made known to him that he was the instrument whom He had chosen to be the deliverer of his people, and that in order to do it he must visit his brethren and look upon their burdens -- must go out from the palace, leave the court circle, compromise his position, and identify himself with the cares, and toils, and shame of Israel.  We know no more than that God made that known: he was called to that sacrifice.

        Few things make sin appear so justifiable to a man as when he thinks it certain “nobody was ever tempted like me.”  We often think, if we can say that, it is often right to do wrong.  Moses might have said, “It is no fault of mine that I became the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; it is no fault of mine that I found myself in a palace, waited upon by a retinue of courtly servants, found the greatest men of the nation crowding to do me honour, found the guards and the officers paying reverence to me, found the whole court proud of my acquaintance and the whole nation looking up to me; it is no fault of mine that my name was written among the princes of the blood, and that I stood near to the throne: it came upon me -- I did not seek it.  And, now that I have been raised to that position, why must I forego it all?  Why must I do what never was required of any human being before? If I am to deliver the people -- might it not be done in some other way?  Might not Providence bring me to the throne, and then I could break their yoke and set them free, and even make them masters of the Egyptians?  Would not that be a grander thing than taking them away to a little country like Palestine? There never was a trial like this.”  That is true, but he saw “Him that is invisible.”  God said, “This is thy work,” and God is Master.  He has a right to appoint what he pleases.

        It tried his faith by the love of pleasure.  It is easy for you and me to think of Moses as elevated far above human frailty.  But he was not.  He had sat at the royal table, had been dressed in royal robes, had been waited upon by princely attendants, had received the acclaims of the people, had felt the charms of the court, the fascinations of the camp, the dangers of struggle, and the pleasures of victory.  All these were awaiting him, wooing him to taste their delights.  Bright eyes were longing for the admiration of the young prince, men versed in pleasure were ready to minister to every appetite, to regale every taste, rowers proud to speed him on the river, horsemen to guide him in the chase, singers to fill his chambers with mirth, poets to set his deeds to numbers.  But God said, Not these things, but affliction with the people of God for thee!  It was hard, but it was duty, and must be done.

        It tried him by the love of riches.  He had already a princely fortune, and what he might have who could tell?  He had seen “the treasures in Egypt” -- those stores of costly gems of rarest beauty.  You remember that when our own great eastern conqueror, Clive, was accused in Parliament of having amassed too much during the period of his conquests, he boldly said, “Why, when I think of that treasure, and see the hills of gold and silver here, and the jewels there, I declare I am astonished at my own moderation.”  Conceive then of this young prince, walking through the treasure-houses, and then going up to a pinnacle of the palace, and looking abroad upon the land and thinking, It may all be mine one day; and then feeling, Must I give it up, and go to be I know not what -- perhaps a brickmaker, perhaps to spend my whole life in the desert, and never have a house to call my own, or a roof to cover me?  Must I?  “Yes, yes, you must!”  that is God’s appointment.

        It tried him by an appeal to pride.  There were many great names at that time in the world, many lordly families, many dynasties called illustrious, but they were as nothing compared with Pharaoh.  He was at the summit of human greatness, and Moses was the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.  How many kings would have given their kingdom for that name!  And was he to come down to the level of that man there in the mud, or perhaps see the very man that had bent upon his knees asking of him a favour, standing over him with the lash of the taskmaster?  No, he might have said, flesh and blood cannot bear it.  And flesh and blood could not have borne it.  It was not flesh and blood; it was the Spirit of God working upon the spirit of man that alone could have rendered it tolerable.

        It tried him by an appeal to his generosity.  What! refuse to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter?  Did she not find thee an outcast in the river, and deliver thee from certain and speedy death?  And was it not she who had thee nursed by thine own mother?  Was it not she who made thee a prince, and caused thee to have the best education the world could give -- who gave thee the proudest name that human lips could utter?  Has she not identified her honour with thine?  And now when there is reason to believe that the future would justify her favour, art thou to turn upon her and make every one who was jealous of her favour for the young Hebrew, point at her and reproach her?  “Ah, the dog has turned to his vomit again.  You thought to make a prince of him, but he was a Jew, and you could make nothing but a Jew of him.  He was born a slave, and he has gone back to the degradation from which you tried to raise him.”  To a man like Moses this part of the trial would cut more keenly than any other.  O Lord, he might have said, call me not to this!  But God did call him to it: it was to be done.  And there he stood -- all, all these forces drawing upon one side; on the other, God, heaven, Christ, eternity.  But God is more than man, heaven more than earth, Christ more than all suffering, and  eternity more than life itself.  Faith gained the victory.

        The Victory is traceable, first in the thoughts of Moses, then in his will, then in his actions.  Mark how the different operations are shown: -- First, in his thoughts, in his views of things -- “Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt.”   His mind was brought to that state that enabled him to form such and estimate of things as made reproach appear better than the treasures of Egypt; made affliction with the people of God better than the pleasures of sin for a season.  Of course, we judge according as we see.  If a man looks at jewels and bits of glass in the dark, he will not make any great distinction between them; how different if he looks at them in the light!  So when a man looks at riches, solid gold and solid silver, and houses and furniture, and good food and good clothes, and friends, and everything the world can give, merely in the light of the dim earthly eye, they look very substantial and precious; but when the heavenly light comes they fade!  I do not mean that their value diminishes -- their real value is quite as great to the man that has faith as to him that has not.  The difference is this -- he takes the glass for glass, he does not take it for diamond.  He knows that it is not diamond, that it will not do the work of diamond, will not bring its price.  And so, when the enlightening power of the Spirit is upon man, then earthly riches and earthly cares have their just weight and value assigned them, but brighter, purer, more precious things, are set beside them, and in comparison with these they seem, not nothing, but next to nothing.  Seeing these greater riches, man says, If in all my life I have nothing but poverty and shame, and yet have Christ, I am a richer man.  I gain a crown that never fades, and lose a toy that may not last a year.  Yes, I will count the very loss gain.  That is the state of mind to which a thorough manifestation of unseen things to the soul by faith acting upon the judgment will bring man.  Now without this there is no foundation for any Christian choice.  Our will can never be carried uness our convictions are carried.  Just in proportion as our perception of spiritual realities is clear, so will our convictions be; and then, when our convictions are firm, the will is impelled to choose.  A man may have a conviction of what is right, and not choose to follow it; but man never chooses the right in preference to the wrong without a clear perception of its superior worth.  First Moses had this conviction; he concluded that the reproach of Christ represented more real value than the treasures in Egypt, and then came the choice.

        He chose “rather to suffer affliction.”  No doubt he would rather have avoided the affliction: he was like you and me; he would rather have escaped it.  But the case was thus -- either he must take the affliction and Christ, or turn away from both Christ and the affliction.  Therefore he chose “rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.”  Wonderful moment in the history of that soul, and of our race, when his heart heaved with the firm resolve, “I will go and visit my brethren!”

        The choice being made, the action followed; he “refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.” This is not always the case.  Ah, some of us, perhaps, could tell of one who advanced so far as to make up his mind, and say, “I will do it;” but when it came to the actual point of doing he thought, “Not this time, I will wait for another opportunity.”  How different with Moses!  He “refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.”  That was the crowning act that sealed the inward victory.

        As to the effects of this decision.  Well, upon Moses the first effect was simply one of sacrifice.   He had to take a last look at the palace; to gaze upon the court, and say to himself, I shall never be in this circle again.  He had to pass the guards, and, as they saluted, to feel, They will never do honour to me more.  And one can see him as he crossed the line between the green land of Egypt and the desert; and then as he went up that barren hill, without a tree or a shrub, without a solitary goat upon it, and from the height looked upon the valley of the Nile, as the sun set behind the river, city, pyramids, and palm trees, he would seem to hear a voice saying, Come back, Moses, greatest of the Pharaohs!   Come and have a pyramid grander than that of Cheops!  And then he turned to the desert, and for forty years had not a roof to cover him, nothing but a herdsman’s tent, not one courtly banquet; the fierce heat of Sinai by day, by night the calm clear sky, and in winter-time the piercing frost.

        O, it was sacrifice.  If any one had gone to the palace, and taken some old courtier, and said, Do you remember Moses, that used to be in the palace nearly forty years ago?  Yes, he would have said, of course, every one remembers him; there never was such a youth; he might have been king, but he threw himself away.  He had some religious fancy about the Messiah coming from the Hebrews, and that he must return to them; he is buried somewhere in the desert.  And so it was.  Up to the time of his death he never had a house of his own, never had a foot of land, and never knew what a day’s ease was.

        And God may call us to sacrifice we know not what.  We have not a palace nor a princedom to give up; but we have our own little world, and it may be large enough to hold us from Christ.  Give it up, give it up, no matter at what sacrifice.

        But, then, if the effect was sacrifice it was also moral glory.  The old man that I have mentioned -- and it is not an imaginary thing, such a thing must have taken place -- said, He has thrown himself away.  Ah! wait a little while: the day will come when Moses will cross the threshold of that palace once more.   The guards do not salute him, but their hearts tremble.  The attendants do not prostrate themselves, but they look as they never looked before; while in all that circle only one head is erect with the consciousness of truth and power; and even Pharaoh becomes suppliant, and asks Moses to pray to God that the plague may cease.  Look at that scene!  God knows how to bring such things about; and if we sacrifice all for him, he will in his own way do all for us.

        I said Moses might have had a pyramid -- might have been laid in one of those houses of glory on which the eastern kings spent the treasures and talent of a lifetime to prepare for their burial.  Well, he never had: --

“No man dug his sepulchre, and no man saw it e’er;

’Twas the angels of God upturned the sod, and laid the dead man there.”

All the stately history of the East never reared a tomb so often read of spoken of, and envied, as the unknown grave wherein the body of Moses was laid to await the coming of Christ.  And in that grave unseen by human eye, in the land of Moab, over against Bethpeor, he has lain covered with a glory and sending forth an influence that never proceeded from the tomb of king, of poet, or of hero.  And every day of every year his name grows greater, stronger, brighter; new tongues repeat his story, new churches read his words.  And Pharaoh now lives only in the history of Moses; and men know and care about him, and all his great courtiers and captains, nothing whatever but what is connected with the history of him who in their view threw himself away.

        Did we judge of Moses’ triumph by the ordinary standard of human glory, why, we should say, what is all the glory of the kings, of the poets, of the soldiers of any nation in comparison with this? for once they are named, quoted, or remembered, Moses is a hundred times.  And why does God give it?  When the Hindoo look up into the sky and see the bright streak called the Milky Way, and then look down upon the earth and see the great Ganges, they say it is the continuation of that river up in heaven, which passes from the sky by the Himalayas, and runs upon the earth.  We see the streams of terrestrial glory, the name, renown, and character, which God has given to his servant Moses; and this is but a dim reflection of an ever-rolling, ever-widening, ever-brightening stream of glory in the skies.  

        Would we seek this glory?  Would we make it our own?  Would we lay hold on eternal life?  If so, we may, “without money and without price,” without delay, in this place, for Christ is here.  Are we ready to become his children, to ask him to be our Master?  Let us lift up our hearts and say, O thou that art life, and wealth, and glory, all in one, take us, pardon us, and make us thine; and let the covenant stand between Thee and us for ever.  -- WILLIAM ARTHUR, M.A.

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THE CHILDREN’S SERVICE.

OF THE BOY WHO HAD DREAMS THAT CAME TRUE.

          THE mother of the boy about whom I wish now to tell you, had been married for some years before God gave her a babe to take care of.  At last her heart was made very glad by getting this child.  She had prayed to God for a son, and he gave her one who lived to be a great and good man.  But his mother did not see his greatness on earth.  She had another little boy some time afterwards, and then she died.  The names of the two little brothers were Joseph and Benjamin, and you may be sure that their father Jacob was the more fond of them both that their mother, whom he had loved very dearly, was dead.  As Joseph grew up, too, he proved a good, wise child, which made him still dearer to his father’s heart.  He had a number of brothers born to his father by other wives (for in those days having more wives than one, though against God’s first law, was allowed), and the boy was often with them in the fields keeping the sheep and cattle.  When there, he used to see the bad conduct of his elder brothers, and when he went home he would tell his father of it.  This grieved their father, but it made the little boy more than ever dear to him  The rest of Jacob’s sons soon saw this great liking for Joseph, and their father made it yet plainer by acts of special favour to him.  In particular, he made him a coat of different coulours, pretty and gay to look at, and liked to have him wear it.  But while it made the father happy, it made the brothers very angry, to see it; and they carried their feelings so far that they began to hate Joseph, and used to speak very harshly to him, though he was but young and tender.

        After a time a strange thing happened which added to the anger of the elder brothers.  You know what it is to dream.  You have often dreamed no doubt; sometimes of pleasant and sometimes of painful things.  Generally it has happened that you fancied in your sleep scenes and occurrences like those when awake; for the wise man says that “a dream cometh of the multitude of business.”  It was the same long ago as to most dreams.  But it pleased God

In some cases to send dreams that were meant to show things to come.  People then had not a Bible to guide them, and God often gave directions by visions, and voices, and dreams.  So he was pleased to speak to Joseph in prophetic sights given him in sleep.  The sights he had were these: -- He thought that he was in the harvest fields along with his brothers, and they were all binding sheaves, when, behold, the sheaf he had just bound rose from the ground, and stood straight up, and then his brothers’ sheaves rose too and came round about his, and bowed before it.  Again, he thought he was standing and looking up to the sky, when he seemed to see the sun and the moon and eleven stars of brightness coming and saluting him.  I do not know whether he had any idea himself what those strange dreams cold mean, but at least he thought them curious, and he told them to his brothers and his father.  They guessed very readily that the meaning of the dreams was that Joseph was to be greater than them all, and the brothers were extremely angry, and could not bear to hear him.  Even his father rebuked him, as if his dreams showed him to be proud; but he was much struck with them for all that, and often turned them over in his mind.  He thought they must surely be from God, though it appeared very unlikely that what seemed to be their meaning could ever come to pass.

        It was not very long before he was made quite to think that they never could have fulfilment.  Shepherds of those times in the East often had to take their flocks a long way from their tents, in order to get sufficient grass, and Jacob’s sons had been away for a while on this errand, when one day he said to Joseph, Go, and see your brothers, and bring me word whether they are all well.  So the youth left his father, and started on his journey to the place where Jacob supposed his sons then to be.  But when he came to the place, he could not find them.  So he wandered about till a man met him who could tell him that his brothers had lately gone to another place.  Very glad to know this, he hastened after them, and before long they saw him coming across the country, with his coat of colours on.  Then very wicked thoughts came into their mind, and they said with hate and scorn in their hearts, See this dreamer! Come and let us kill him, and throw him into a pit, and tell our father that the lions have torn him, and we shall see what his dreams will come to.  One of them however, was shocked at their proposal, and thought of a plan to save them.  He said, Do not let us lay our hands on him to shed his blood, but cast him into the deep pit near by, and let him die there.  His purpose was to go afterwards and take him out of the pit, and take him back to his father.  The cruel brothers agreed to take this course, and when Joseph came to them, with his father’s love, and inquiries about their health, they laid rough hold of him, and took off his gay coat, and though he cried to them to spare him, they cast him into the pit.  They saw his bitter distress, but they did not mind it; a brother’s prayers and tears could not move the hearts which envy had hardened.  So callous were they, that after they had done the cruel deed, they sat down to meat as if they had been doing no evil.  Reuben, the one that wished to save him, slipped away by himself to come round to the pit by and by, and take him home.  But while he was away, things took another turn.  Some merchant men of Gilead came past, going to Egypt with balm and spicery, and the brothers thought they could get rid of Joseph, and make some money as well, by selling him for a slave.  So they took him up out of the pit, and perhaps he thought they were going to have pity on him, and let him go back to his father.  But he soon found they had only changed one cruel purpose for another, for they made a bargain with the Ishmaelites to give their brother for twenty pieces of silver, and the rough men took him away with them to sell him in Egypt.  The brothers, after they saw him borne away out of sight, took his coat, and tore it, and dipped it in the blood of a goat which they had killed, and carried it to Jacob, and said, See, we found this; is it thy son’s coat?  Nor did their father’s bitter, bitter grief bring them to confess their wicked action.  I daresay they were sometimes sorry they had done what they did, but did not like to own it: they even tried to comfort their father; but years went past, and he said, I will mourn for my son till I go down to the grave. 

In the meantime the merchants rode on with their camels, and came to the royal town in Egypt, and among their other merchandise offered to sell the Hebrew slave.  So a high officer of the king’s household wanted to purchase one, and he bought Joseph, and brought him home to his house.  The youth conducted himself so well that his master became very fond of him, and trusted him with all his goods and business.  God blessed him much, and everything went well with him.  But one day his mistress wished him to sin with her, and because he would not, she told a great lie about him to his master, and made her husband so angry that he took Joseph and threw him into prison.  I wonder if when there he ever thought about his dreams.  If he did, he would hardly hope now to get them brought to pass.  Perhaps he had given up thinking of them altogether.  He would not forget his father, however; and I think that in the prison he learned to think of his brethren with feelings of forgiveness.  And strange to say, his going to prison was just God’ way of preparing for making good the dreams of his childhood.  How this came about, however, must be told in another story. 

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QUESTIONS ON THE BIBLE STORY.

        1. Where did Joseph’s mother die?

        2. Can you find a verse from which we may infer that Rachel prayed to God to give her a babe?

        3. Do you know any other mother in the Bible who prayed for a babe?

        4. Do you recollect a circumstance when Jacob was exposed to danger, which showed that he loved Rachel much?

        5. What other father do we read of that sent a younger son to bring him word of the welfare of his elder brothers?

        6. Who was it that was given up, long after Joseph’s time, to a cruel death through hate and envy?

        7. Do you know of any one besides Joseph sold to his enemies for money?

ANSWERS will be easily found by consulting the following chapters: --  Gen. xxxv.;  Gen. xxx.; 1 Sam. i.; Gen. xxxiii.; 1 Sam. xvii.;  Matt. xxvii.; Matt. xxvi., xxvii.

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QUESTIONS ON THE BIBLE LESSONS.

        1. Did not Joseph’s brethren act very wickedly in selling him into Egypt?

        2. Did God overrule their cruelty and wickedness for bringing about his own wise and gracious purposes?

        3.  What was the end which God had more immediately in view in permitting Joseph to be sent into Egypt?  Gen. xlv. 7.

        4. How old was Jacob when he was introduced to Pharaoh? How old when he died? Gen. xlvii. 9, 28.

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Prayer.

O GOD, who lovest little children, hear the prayers of fathers and mothers for their boys and girls, and bless their endeavors to bring them up in the nurture of Christ.  Be very kind to all little ones from whom death has taken away their mother, and let thy tender care make up to them for their great want.  Watch over all orphan children, and be their Father, and the guide of their youth.  Give thy Spirit to brothers and sisters dwelling together, that they may live in holy love.  Hasten the day when men shall do no more cruel murders, and sell and buy no more slaves.  Make all of us kind and gentle and true, like Jesus, in whose name we pray this prayer, and through whom we would offer Thee praise, and honour, and glory, for ever.  Amen.

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EVENING WORSHIP.

Almighty and all-sufficient God, who desirest the good and joy of all who believe in Thy Son, grant unto us Thy grace that we may have such perfect confidence in Thy presence, Thy love, and Thy promises, as to be able to resist temptation, overcome the world, persevere in duty, enjoy peace in Thee, whether in prosperity or adversity, and in every condition of life glorify Thy name by a holy and cheerful submission and obedience to Thy will.  Amen.

HYMN, or Psalm lxviii. 18-20.

Vain, delusive world, adieu,
With all of creature-good!
Only Jesus I pursue,
Who bought me with his blood:
All thy pleasures I forego,
I trample on thy wealth and pride:
Only Jesus will I know
And Jesus crucified.

Turning to my rest again,
The Saviour I adore:
He relieves my grief and pain,
And bids me weep no more.
Rivers of salvation flow
From out his head, his hands, his side:
Only Jesus will I know,
And Jesus crucified.

Here will I set up my rest:
My fluctuating heart
From the haven of his breast
Shall never more depart.
Whither should a sinner go?
His wounds for me stand open wide;
Only Jesus will I know,
And Jesus crucified.

GENESIS XLV. 1-9 24-28.

THEN Joseph could not refrain himself before all them that stood by him; and he cried, Cause every man to go out from me.  And there stood no man with him while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren.  2. And he wept aloud: and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard. 3. And Joseph said unto his brethren, I am Joseph, doth my father yet live?  And his brethren could not answer him; for they were troubled at his presence.  4. And Joseph said unto his brethren, come near to me, I pray you.  And they came near.  And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt. 5. Now, therefore be not grieved nor angry with yourselves that ye sold me hither; for God did send me before you to preserve life. 6. For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and yet there are five years, in which there shall be neither earing nor harvest. 7. And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. 8. So now, it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt. 9. Haste ye, and go up to my father, and say unto him, Thus saith thy son Joseph, God hath made me lord of all Egypt; come down unto me, tarry not. 24. So he sent his brethren away, and they departed: and he said unto them, See that ye fall not out by the way. 25. And they went out of Egypt, and came into the land of Canaan unto Jacob their father, 26. And told him, saying, Joseph is yet alive, and he is governor over all the land of Egypt. And Jacob’s heart fainted, for he believed them not. 27. And they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said unto them: and when he saw the wagons, which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob their father revived. 28. And Israel said, It is enough; Joseph my son is yet alive: I will go and see him before I die.

GENESIS, XLVII. 7-10, 28-31.

7. And Joseph brought in Jacob his father, and set him before Pharaoh: and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. 8. And Pharaoh said unto Jacob, How old art thou? 9. And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage. 10. And Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from before Pharaoh. 28. And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years; so the whole age of Jacob was an hundred forty and seven years. 29. And the time drew nigh that Israel must die: and he called his son Joseph, and said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me: bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt: 30. But I will lie with my fathers; and thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their burying place.  And he said, I will do as thou hast said. 31. And he said, Swear unto me.  And he sware unto him.  And Israel bowed himself upon the bed’s head. 

Prayer.

        GOD be merciful to us, and bless us, and cause His face to shine upon us.  Lord, help our infirmities, for we know not what to pray for as we ought.  May the Spirit of God make intercession for us with groanings which cannot be be uttered.  Grant that within us, O Lord, there may be heavenly longings,  -- a hungering and thirsting after righteousness.  May our souls pant after God; and do Thou give us the desire of our hearts.  May we worship Thee, who art a Spirit, in spirit and in truth.  May we find acceptance through Jesus Christ.  In His name alone we draw near unto Thee, O Lord: we have no righteousness of our own.  Guilty and helpless, we look to Thee for help, we call on Thee for pardon.  Jesus, Son of David, have mercy upon us! We thank Thee that Thou art always waiting to bless, always ready to save, ready to offer Thy intercession in behalf of those who approach unto God in Thy name.  According to Thy gracious word, create in us a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within us.  Lord, we believe; help Thou our unbelief.  Lord, increase our faith.  Lord, perfect that which concerneth us.  If Thou hast begun a good work in us, perform it until the day of Jesus Christ; if that work has not been begun, O that it may begin now.  Above all other things make us earnest about salvation -- to grow in grace, to increase in the likeness of Jesus, to be more conformed to Thy will, to rejoice more in Him who is our Lord, our life, our all.  Save us from being so much taken up with the things that perish.  Save us, we beseech Thee, from loving too much this world; help us that that we may not be overcome by it, but overcome it.  O that we may have that faith which overcometh the world.  Grant us the victory!  Thou knowest our daily conflicts, our daily trials, our daily difficulties.  O be Thou to us an all-sufficient friend and helper.  Strengthen us for that trial, encourage us to that conflict, give us patience to wait and quietly hope for the salvation of God; and if we are called to experience that this is a vale of tears, may we have Thee near to cheer us with Thy presence, to strengthen us with Thy sympathy, to uphold us by Thy Spirit.  So help us to press on from strength to strength, until we come to Thine eternal joy.  Have mercy upon us, O Lord, and hear these our unworthy prayers, as we present them in His name, in whose words we offer up our petitions, and say, “Our Father,” &c. Amen.

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 MORNING AND EVENING MEDITATIONS.

Monday.

Morning.

        He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.

        A soft answer turneth away wrath; but grievous words stir up anger.

        The tongue of the wise useth knowledge aright; but the mouth of fools poureth out foolishness.

        Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith.

        A wrathful man stirreth up strife: but he that is slow to anger appeaseth strife.

Prov. xvi. 32.  Prov. xv. 1, 2, 17, 18.

Evening.

        A wise man feareth, and departeth from evil: but the fool rageth, and is confident.

        He that is soon angry dealeth foolishly; and a man of wicked devices is hated.

        The discretion of a man deferreth his anger; and it is his glory to pass over a transgression.

        Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil-speaking be put away from you with all malice.

        Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men.

Prov. xiv. 16, 17.    Prov. xix. 11.     Eph. iv. 31.      1 Cor. xiv. 20.

Tuesday.

Morning.

        Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings,

        As new-born babes, desire the sincere milk of the word that ye may grow thereby:

        If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.

        Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who is able to stand before envy?

        For all the law if fulfilled in one word, even in this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

        But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.

1 Peter ii. 1, 2, 3.        Prov. xxvii. 4.         Gal. v. 14, 15.

Evening.

        This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.

        For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and they are contrary the one to the other; so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

        Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,

        Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

Gal. v. 16, 17, 19, 21.

Wednesday.

Morning.

        If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain.

        For in many things we offend all.  If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.

        But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.

        But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

        And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace. 

James i. 26.  James iii. 2, 14, 17, 18.

Evening.

        All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

        He was oppressed, and he was afflicted; yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.

        Now I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ.

        Be ye patient; stablish your hearts; for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.

        Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the Judge standeth before the door.

Isa. liii. 6, 7.       2 Cor. x. 1.       James v. 8, 9.

Thursday.

Morning.

        Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hast promised to them that love him?

        Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble.

        The Lord will preserve him, and keep him alive; and he shall be blessed upon the earth: and thou wilt not deliver him unto the will of his enemies.

        The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing: thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness.

James ii. 5.           Ps. xli. 1, 2, 3.

Evening.

        Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.

        The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again; but the righteous sheweth mercy, and giveth.

        He is ever merciful and lendeth, and his seed is blessed.

        Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is the power of thine hand to do it.

        Say not unto thy neighbour, Go, and come again, and to-morrow I will give; when thou hast it by thee.

        He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord; and that which he hath given will he pay him again.

Gal. vi. 2.     Ps. xxxvii. 21, 26.     Prov. iii. 27, 28.     Prov. xix. 17.

Friday.

Morning.

        But the liberal deviseth liberal things; and by liberal things shall he stand.

        He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker: but he that honoureth him hath mercy on the poor.

        Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.

        Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the first-fruits of all thine increase:

        So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine. 

Isa. xxxii. 8.       Prov. xiv. 31.       Eccl. xi. 1.      Prov. iii. 9, 10.

Evening.

        When thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind:

        And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.

        I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak; and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.

        And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward.

Luke xiv. 13, 14.   Acts xx. 35.   Matt. x. 42.

Saturday. 

Morning.

        And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.

        For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye?  for sinners also love those that love them.

        And if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye?  for sinners also do even the same.

        And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again.

        But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest; for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.

Luke vi. 31, 32, 33, 34, 35.

Evening.

        For the Lord heareth the poor, and despiseth not his prisoners.

        He shall judge thy people with righteousness, and thy poor with judgment.

        For he shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also, and him that hath no helper.

        He shall spare the poor and needy, and shall save the souls of the needy.

        He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence: and precious shall their blood be in his sight.

        He will regard the prayer of the destitute, and not despise their prayer.

Ps. lix. 33.        Ps. lxxii. 2, 12, 13, 14.         Ps. cii. 17.