corns such were the humble materials made use of by one who possessed more genuine taste and talent than half the owners of the most recherché albums can boast of. The envelopes of a piece of Irish linen, with their magnificent gilt designs on a blue or scarlet ground, were inestimable treasures :— happy the person who could obtain a book whose cover shone with these resplendent ornaments!

This lady was staying at a country place on a visit. The avenue gate opened on a high road, along which troops often marched when changing quarters. One day a regiment was expected to pass by on its way to a distant town, and no sooner had the lady heard of it than, always on the watch for souls, she sallied forth with a large basket of books, and stationed herself at the gate. The contents of the basket were distributed to the men as they passed, the lady returned to the house, and the circumstance faded away from her mind.

The following spring she went to Dublin, and one morning, when taking a solitary walk in Merrionsquare, observed a soldier standing outside the railings, gazing intently at her. Wherever she moved he continued to watch her, and on her advancing to an opposite gate, for the purpose of getting out of the square, she saw him walk quickly towards her. The lady felt greatly annoyed at being thus watched by a stranger: she retraced her steps into the square, intending to remain there till the man had gone. But the man did not go: he seemed determined to keep his station near the gate, and the lady, tired of waiting, at last resolved to pass through it.

The soldier touched his cap as she approached, and walking up to her, accosted her respectfully.

6

'Madam,' he said, drawing from his pocket one of her little volumes of tracts, I fear you will think me rude, but I could not leave this spot without thanking you. This is your gift: you gave it to me at an avenue gate in the country when we were marching by. When I opened it, and found it was a religious book, I would have thrown it away at once, but I kept it for the sake of the cover: now I can value the contents. I am a changed man, and I may thank you, madam, for it.'

All these are encouraging facts, if encouragement be needed-if a moment's reflection on the overwhelming value of an immortal soul be not enough to animate us. An immortal, never-dying soul! The toils, the efforts, the unceasing exertions of a whole life, would seem richly repaid by being the means of rescuing even one.

Besides, it is such a privilege to be permitted to labour in the Lord's vineyard. God does not want our poor services-he can do without our humble instrumentality. He will convert souls to himself, and accomplish the number of his elect, and if we do not aid in this great work others will: the very stones will cry out if we hold our peace, "for God is able of the stones to raise up children unto Abraham." Let us not be discouraged if we do, as all must, meet with ingratitude, and checks, and disappointments Our Divine Master had many to contend with.

'The Son of God in doing good

Was fain to look to heaven and sigh;1

And shall the heirs of sinful blood

Seek joy unmix'd in charity?

Mark vii. 34.

God will not let love's work impart
Full solace, lest it steal the heart;
Be thou content in tears to sow
Blessing, like Jesus, in thy woe.'

But why think of discouragements, while there are trumpet-tongued words like these to animate and

cheer us on:

My beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable; always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.'

M. F. D.

POPERY receives the gratitude of the rich, because it makes the poor submissive; and of the poor, because it makes the rich do penance: it makes the rich hypocritical infidels, and the poor superstitious idolaters, using the hypocrisy of the rich to confirm the darkness of the poor. Popery makes the rich obedient by a wink, and the poor by a frown.-Gregg.

VOLUNTARY EXILE.

'How shall I sing the Lord's song in a strange land?' has been not unfrequently the inquiry of the believer in Christ, when placed where, in the subjects nearest his heart, he finds little or no sympathy. And truly there is something very chilling to the heart in the cold assent, or silent check, or careless remark with which the mention of the constraining love of Christ is received by those who have evidently not yet felt its influence.

The

This reminds me of an instance which occurred not very long ago in a country village, and which, although not altogether relevant to the main practical object of these lines, I will introduce here. seventh and eighth chapters to the Romans had been read to an aged bed-ridden woman, and a few words were spoken perhaps with more feeling than ability, by way of comment; from which the only remark elicited was- Very good reading that; I like "Romans " very well myself;' and a number of questions respecting the affairs of the village immediately succeeded. The visitor hastily took her leave, not without earnestly recommending the poor creature to reflect on the 'very good reading' she had heard. I am convinced that none but those who have experienced it can imagine the discouraging and disheartening feeling which fills the heart when, contempt is thus poured on the gospel message, and

which, for the moment, almost gives rise to the determination, "I will hold my peace, I will refrain even from good words-for how can I sing the Lord's song in such a strange land, in the hearing of foreigners who understand not its language, and heed not its portentous meaning!"

A blessed and consoling truth it is to the mourning Christian. I mean not only for the bereaved, the poor, the abject; but the Christian who knows no greater sorrow than sorrow for sin, whose heart bleeds for the abominations committed around him, and for the power the evil principle still maintains over himself; it is a blessed and consoling truth for such an one that this life is but a pilgrimage—that he is in one respect an exile here-that as he was once an alien from the commonwealth of Israel and a stranger to the covenants of promise, so he is now an alien from the kingdoms of this world, and a stranger to its hopes and desires, and has the "bright prospect before him (though he views it sometimes through tears) of that inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for him, and for which, meanwhile, he is kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation. Who that hates sin and loves his Saviour, even though he be zealously and actively employed for him, does not sometimes feel the desire to depart and be with Christ stronger even than the love of active service, till he sometimes lacks patience to abide in the flesh until his work is done. Surely to many of Christ's faithful servants here these words of the prophet may be spiritually applied: "The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed, and that he should not die in the pit, nor that his bread should fail!"