“WHEN YOU KNEEL DOWN, YOU CAN SEE THE SKY." DEATH had separated me from the beloved of my soul; and a few months after that event I had exchanged my dear and once pleasant home, with its rural sights and sounds, and a pretty garden, for some apartments in town; they appeared to me dark and dingy, and the rather narrow street into which they looked was very dirty; and the rain was pouring when I sat down to write to a distant friend, to tell her of my child, myself, and our sadly blighted prospects: the tears unchecked, unheeded, ran down my face: just then, in a cheerful tone, my blue-eyed boy called out, ‘Oh, mamma, look how the sun is shining-look!' I replied, 'I can see no sunshine here, my child.' 'But, dear mamma, if you will stoop, you can see the sun shine.' To please the child I stooped, but without moving from my desk, and replied I can see no sun nor sky, I see only high houses.' 'Oh, mamma, but come with me to this window. Now please kneel down here, dear mamma, then you will see the sky.' I knelt, to please my persevering child, and the posture so often associated with time, joy, and comfort, was so at that moment-a beam of the bright sun seemed as if it shone into my very heart, telling of the 66 WHEN YOU KNEEL, YOU CAN SEE THE SKY." 447 Sun of Righteousness that beareth healing on its wings; and the words, 'If you kneel down you will see the sky,' still sounded in my ears. I clasped my kneeling child, and blessed him for his word in season. When you kneel down you can see the sky.'-Tears flowed afresh, but not of bitter discontent. I then began to yield the treasure which my Master claimed. * * The THE backslider can never again be as happy a man as he should have been, had he not fallen. For, although fully and freely forgiven, and most mercifully dealt with, nevertheless, the temporal penalty is inflicted, even as in the case of David: God forgave his sin, but the sword never departed from his house. punishment follows in the way of natural consequence, and the course of nature is not altered. He who has acted the apostate, can never, in this world, be the happy man he would have been, had he never fallen.Rev. D. Kelly. THE SIGNS AND DUTY OF THE TIMES. Ye say, when fierce red fills the west, Ye deaf, with ears! ye blind, with eyes! Ye scan the portents of the skies, But scorn those of the times. The years decreed have run their course !1 Turkestaun's flood has spent its force ! And Syria's tenth lives lone! 3 The race-elect must triumph in 4 That land where honey drips! What then stay's Tarshish's isle of Tin ?5 1 Daniel viii. 13, 14. 2" He shall come to his end, and none shall time, shall Michael stand up. 4 Isaiah lxv. 8-10. . . . 5 Ezek. xxvii. 12. THE SIMPLE MEMOIR OF THE LIFE AND DEATH OF DEAR LITTLE JENNY.* OUR beloved Jenny became an object of God's peculiar care, almost as soon as she entered into this life, for she possessed that extreme sweetness of temper which afterwards formed the most prominent trait in her character. While in her cradle she was never impatient, she seldom cried, and learned at a very early age to understand the word "be patient." As soon as she could speak, her father and myself attempted to turn her heart to the Lord, and she soon became familiar with his glorious name. I think she was only eighteen months old, when being one day in her father's room, she asked him of her own accord, and without being in the least prompted to do so, to pray to God. Papa!' she said earnestly, 'pray!' Mamma, she again repeated, 'pray!' and scarcely had we knelt down, 'ere she came and placed herself on her knees beside us; she remained silent and serious whilst her father was praying, and when we rose from our knees, she appeared happy and contented, and as if she had really felt the enjoyment which a child of God cannot but experience at His throne of grace. She continued thus until she was two years old; in some respects she was perhaps less precocious than From "Sketches for Youth: By C. Malan, D. D." an interesting volume recently published. other children of the same age, but she was early remarkable for her habitual trust and confidence in God, and in his mercy. Was she sick? She invariably looked to God for restoration to health, believing and saying as of the most natural circumstance, that God could see her, and would be sure to restore her if it pleased Him to do so; and then she would wait patiently and without any complaint until her sickness was removed. How often has this little child's simple and complete reliance upon God, taught my own heart to understand what is really meant by faith in him, and by trusting in his promises, without fear or doubting ! Whatever she knew that God had promised, she was satisfied he See how this sweet child was already taught by the Spirit of God, to honour his Holy Word. The wind blew,' already, as our Saviour said, and we heard the sound thereof, but we knew not whence it came, and above all, whither it was going. At this time Jenny's little brother was born; she was then about two years old. She was extremely delighted with the little babe, and from the first day of his birth she overwhelmed him with the most tender affection, indeed her heart seemed to open to him more and more every day. Every thing she possessed was to be given to this ' dear little brother,' and to be shared with him. She |