not forward.

Often it seems as if it hung over a

spiritual precipice-as if one step more would leave

it a wreck for ever.

Nay, often it walks in darkness as those that have been long dead "-the line crossed, and itself a lost soul! Such are the waves and the billows which roll over the soul here. But still the soul is growing. The work God has begun He is still carrying on. These are the strokes of the hammer, the chisellings of a loving hand. As we lie down to die we die in the Lord. For many a long day we had, it may be, often looked at death and shuddered. We often whispered, "How shall I endure that trying hour?"

But now the Lord has provided for it. We never felt ourselves such sinners as now, but oh, how precious Jesus is! The soul hangs its head the lowest, for the sight of God's grace and mercy and love bows it down. "I am the chief of sinners was uttered by one who stood on the margin of glory, and who, while he felt his sinfulness, was full of joy in the knowledge of a Saviour's love. They have the deepest joy who have the deepest sense of sin. If ever a Saviour was needed, if ever a Saviour was precious, it is then. It will then be a deep sense of unworthiness and sin, and a deep sense of the value of the blood of Jesus. Jesus will be precious then as He has never been before; and our last breath will be the one with which we shall wake up in glory, "Worthy the Lamb."

Reader, are you in Jesus? Is He your Saviour

from death to life?

пого?

Then let your life Abide in Jesus. Ask

Have you indeed passed Is it all right with your soul? be the life of the righteous. God to banish all unreality from your spiritual life. Be real; and let that reality be the holy influence of one who has just come out of God's presence. The only living reality is that which His presence can give you. This will be testimony-the witness for God in a dying world. If you are not abiding in Jesus, if you are not much in God's secret presence, you can never witness for Him. All testimony without this may be in the letter, but not in the Spirit. It lacks the one thing which can alone give it life or power-the holy influence of God's presence. Seek this. Pray for it. With this you will have power. Without it you will be but sounding brass or tinkling cymbal.

Oh! call it not death-it is life begun,
For the waters are pass'd, the home is won;
The ransom'd spirit hath reach'd the shore,
Where they weep, and suffer, and sin no more.
She is safe in her FATHER'S house above,
In the place prepared by her SAVIOUR'S love:
To depart from a world of sin and strife,
And to be with JESUS-yes,-this is life.

Oh! call it not death-'tis a holy sleep,
And the precious dust the Lord doth keep;
She shall wake again—and how satisfied
With the likeness of Him for her who died!
As He rose again, she shall also rise

From the quiet bed where now safe she lies.
Then cheer ye, fond mourners, who sadly weep,
- For happy are they who in JESUS sleep.

Oh! call it not death-'tis a glorious rest, "Yea," saith the Spirit, for all such are blest; "They rest from their labours," their work is done, The goal is attain'd, the weary race run. The battle is fought-the struggle is o'er, The crown now replaces the cross they bore, The pilgrimage path shall no more be trod"A rest remains to the people of GOD."

Oh! call it not death-it is true, indeed,
The soul from the shackles of earth is freed;
"Tis true, that dissolv'd is the house of clay,
And the spirit, unchain'd, hath pass'd away;
'Tis true, too, the lov'd one hath gone before,→
The home how darken'd, that knows her no more!
He chides not your grief, for JESUS, too, wept
O'er the grave where His friend, a Laz'rus slept.

But call it not death-a few short days o'er,
Ye shall meet her in glory, to part no more;
What a "blessed hope!" lo! CHRIST shall appear
For the restitution of all things" here,

Then (if not till then) ye'll see her again,

When brought by the LORD with His glorious train, Those "sleeping in JESUS" shall be restor'd, "And so shall we ever be with the LORD."

E. E. H.

"ALMOST PERSUADED."

ACTS xxvi. 28.

He

NOTICE how far men may go in the knowledge and reception of the truth, without being truly converted to God. Oh, reader, it is an awful thing to be like Agrippa-an "almost Christian !" To be so like a Christian to the natural eye, and yet to be lying under the verdict of God-" dead in trespasses and sins." So like one as to "deceive the very elect," and yet so far short as "to lose one's own soul." And yet this was the state of Agrippa, and is the state of multitudes around us. Who and what was the man who used these remarkable words? was no infidel, no scoffer at religion, no despiser of God's word, no inattentive listener to the truths of the gospel. Far otherwise. He had been brought up in the holiest religion of the day. He was familiar with the word of God, and believed what the prophets had written. He listened to the most stirring appeals of the ambassador of Christ. Surely these were evidences most remarkable, most satisfactory, most conclusive. And yet, reader, he was never truly converted to God. I believe there never

was a time in the history of the world when His warning was more needed than in the present day. The stream of Christianity is far broader than it used to be, but not half so deep-it is shallow. The Agrippas of Paul's day abound on every side. There are multitudes who, like him, hear the truth, know the truth, believe the truth, and are from time to time subjects of the most serious convictions, but who have, nevertheless, never been truly converted to God. Regular in attendance at the house of God, and on the various means of grace, ready to weep at the recital of Christ's sufferings, the story of Joseph and his brethren, or some narrative of persecution for the sake of the truth, and yet still unsaved. Follow these religious professors into the world. Is there any brokenness of heart for sin, any contrition of spirit at the foot of the Cross? Is there any daily realising of the preciousness of Christ? Is there any watchfulness over sin, over the world, the flesh, and the devil? Nay, in all respects they are of the world, and as the world. around them. Beyond the mere Agrippa-like profession, there is nothing that distinguishes them from others. They have "a name to live, but are dead." Reader, let me affectionately ask, is this your state? It may be that your religion has made you outwardly moral, the member of a Christian Church, active in many of the benevolent and praiseworthy engagements of life. But has it brought you to the feet of the Saviour, as a helpless