he listened to the story of his patience in suffering, and of the cheerfulness with which he could look forward, either to a longer pilgrimage in this world, or to the hour of death, his conscience applied the unexpressed reproach, and he exclaimed, "Yes, yes, you wonder I cannot be as quiet and happy too; but think of the difference: he is going to his treasure, and I-I must leave mine." XXXVII. The Love of Money. MATT. vi. 24. "Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” ROBERT HALL once wrote the word "God" on a small slip of paper, showed it to a friend, and asked whether he could read it. He replied, "Yes." He then covered the word with a guinea, and again asked, "Can you see it?" and was answered, “No.” He did this to show his friend how easy it is for the world to shut out of the mind a sight and sense of God. The love of gold may so fill the mind that there is no place in it for the great God of the universe. In the view of such a mind, a guinea is larger than God. XXXVIII. A Great Welsh Preacher. MATT. vi. 28. "Consider the lilies of the field." W. WILLIAMS of Wern was a singularly quiet preacher. Illustration was his forte, and he loved to bring his light from nature, following thus his Master. "Jesus," he used to say, "loved to look at the lily and to listen to the birds; to speak upon the mysteries of the seed, and to draw forth principles from these things. It was no part of His plan to expound the laws of nature, although He understood them more perfectly than any one else; but He employed nature as a book of reference, to explain the great principles of the plan of salvation." This was the use Williams himself made of nature. He was quick in detecting analogies between human and spiritual operations. His illustrations were generally novel, often homely, always pertinent. His sermons were commonly illuminated with light reflected from the apposite use of some metaphor derived from familiar natural objects, or the daily pursuits of his hearers. "How is character formed?" he asked, in a sermon at Bala, where much stocking knitting is done. "How is character formed? Gradually, just as you Bala women knit stockings-a stitch at a time." Again: "The mind of man is like a mill, which will grind whatever you put into it, whether it be husk or wheat. The devil is very eager to have his turn at this mill, and to employ it for grinding the husk of vain thoughts. Keep the wheat of the word in the mind." And again: "Ejaculatory prayer is the Christian's breath, the secret path to his hiding place; his express to heaven in circumstances of difficulty and peril; it is the tuner of all his religious feelings; it is his sling and stone, with which he slays the enemy ere he is aware of it; it is the hiding of his strength; and of every religious performance it is the most convenient. Ejaculatory prayer is like the rope of a belfry, the bell is in one room and the end of the rope which sets it a-ringing in another. Perhaps the bell may not be heard in the apartment where the rope is, but it is heard in its own apartment. Moses laid hold of the rope and pulled it hard on the shore of the Red Sea; and, though no one heard or knew anything of it in the lower chamber, the bell rang loudly in the upper one, till the whole place was moved, and the Lord said, 'Wherefore criest thou unto Me?'" XXXIX. Vanity. MATT. vi. 28, 29. "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: and yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." WHEN Croesus sat upon his throne in all his glory and ornaments, he asked Solon whether he had ever beheld a fairer spectacle. Solon replied: "Pheasants and peacocks; for they are clothed with a natural splendour, and an exceeding beauty." XL. A Despairing Traveller Encouraged. WHEN Mungo Park was travelling in Africa, he was seized by banditti, plundered, and left almost destitute of clothing. In this situation he looked around him with amazement and horror. In the midst of a vast wilderness; in the depth of the rainy season; naked and alone; surrounded by savage animals, and men still more savage; five hundred miles from the nearest European settlement: no wonder that his spirits began to fail him. "At this moment," says he, "the extraordinary beauty of a small moss, in fructification, irresistibly caught my eye. I could not contemplate the delicate conformation of its roots, leaves, and capsula, without admiration. Can that Being, thought I, who planted, watered, and brought to perfection, in this obscure part of the world, a thing which appears of such small importance, look with unconcern on the situation and suffering of creatures formed after His own image? Surely not! Reflections like these would not allow me to despair. I started up, and disregarding both hunger and fatigue, travelled forwards, assured that relief was at hand; and I was not disappointed." XLI. A Voice from Heaven. MATT. vi. 33. "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” THE Rev. Mr. Duncan of Cleish, referring to his leaving the manse at the Disruption, says: "I left the manse of Cleish on the Monday immediately succeeding the General Assembly; and after all my family had been despatched to the apartments prepared for them at Kinross, three miles off, and the last cart was nearly loaded with the remaining furniture, I entered my dismantled study for the last time, and on looking around me, with feelings which I shall not attempt to describe, I saw one of the little printed tickets which I was in the habit of using in the Sabbath school lying on the mantelpiece. Impressed with the idea that the texts which it contained might be charged with a message suited to the solemn occasion, I lifted it, and read the following verses: 'But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you' (Matt. vi. 33). But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus' (Phil. iv. 19). That ticket, I need hardly say, I have carefully preserved, notwithstanding the dingy appearance which, in consequence of its passing through so many hands, it had come to bear. The words came on my heart like a voice from heaven." XLII. Sufficient unto the Day. MATT. vi. 34. "Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." CHARLES LLOYD, a minor poet, was subject to mental aberrations, and was for some time confined in an asylum. His wife, on being asked by Dr. Leifchild what she would do if her husband continued long in the same state of mind, replied: "When you, dear sir, have known life as I know it, you will see the wisdom of the charge-'Take no thought for the morrow; sufficient for the day is the evil thereof.'' XLIII. A Kindness Returned. MATT. vii. 2. "With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again." ABOUT half a century ago, a coach ran daily between Glasgow and Greenock, by Paisley, on a forenoon, and when a little past Bishopton, a lady in a coach noticed a boy walking barefooted, seemingly tired, and struggling with tender feet. She desired the coachman to take him up, give him a seat, and she would pay for it. When they arrived at the inn in Greenock, she inquired of the boy what was his object in coming there. He said he wished to be a sailor, and hoped some of the captains would engage him. She gave him half-a-crown, wished him success, and charged him to behave well. Twenty years after this, the coach returning to Glasgow in the afternoon, on the same road, when near Bishopton, a sea-captain observed an old lady on the road, walking very slow, fatigued and weary. He desired the coachman to put her in the coach, as there was an empty seat, and he would pay for her. Immediately after, when changing horses at Bishopton, the passengers were sauntering about, except the captain and the old lady, who remained in the coach. The lady thanked him for his kindly feeling towards her, as she was now unable to pay for a seat. He said, he had always sympathy for weary pedestrians, since he himself was in that state when a boy, twenty years ago, near this very place, when a tender-hearted lady ordered the coachman to take him up, and paid for his seat. "Well do I remember that incident," said she; "I am that lady, but my lot in life has changed. I was then independent; now I am reduced to poverty by the doings of a prodigal son." "How happy am I," said the captain, "that I have been successful in my enterprises, and am returning home to live on my fortune; and from this day I shall bind myself and heirs to supply you with twenty-five pounds per annum till your death!" XLIV. Seeking for God. MATT. vii. 7. "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find." MANY years ago, and long before any awakening took place in Skye, a young girl, of little more than childish years, residing in a glen, which during the revival of 1812 was distinguished by much of Divine power, became deeply impressed with the idea that God was not in her native isle. At the same time, she was overcome by the feeling that she must go in pursuit of Him where He was to be found. She stole away from her home and travelled across the country to the usual ferry to the mainland. She made no secret of her errand; and as her relations had taken up the opinion that she had become insane, little attempt was made to recall her. So soon as she was out of Skye, she began to ask every passenger where she might find God, for that He was not in her country. Her question excited surprise; but as her manner expressed sincerity and deep earnestness, every one answered her soothingly, and was unwilling to interfere with the hallucination under which they conceived she laboured. At length she reached Inverness. The first person she met in the street was a lady, to whom she addressed her usual question. The lady was struck by her earnest manner, and engaged in conversation with her, until assured of her |