than I have hitherto done, reckoning much more upon the effect of that than on my own labour; which, at the same time, it is our duty never to neglect, but which has no strength but in as far as it is animated by prayer. Prayer is the key God places in our hands to open a communication with the invisible world; with it we have everything, without it nothing. God answers prayer, and waits for prayer before He blesses. Chief of all, let this prayer be ours, Lord, teach us to pray.' 5. Solicitude about trifling interests.-How many of last regrets are concerned with our profuse waste of thought, and feeling, and exertion, lavished on matters how trifling and unworthy! And how slight at the last appear those which once filled all our horizon. When Henry Martyn obtained the highest distinctions which Cambridge could offer him, he writes, "I obtained my highest wishes, but was surprised to find I had grasped a shadow." M. Monod draws a very acute distinction between little duties and great duties. The great duties-so called-are often less than the other for in great duties we are nerved to the point, the eyes of many are upon us, and our pride finds satisfaction in our achievements; but in little things we have only God, our family, and our friends for witnesses. "Oh, my God, how few in number are If you knew, my friends, how, consistent Christians! when we see ourselves at the point of death, all these illusions disappear, how all that is little then appears in its littleness, how that alone appears great which is great in the sight of God, how we regret that we have not lived for God, even as Jesus lived, and how, if we had to go through life again, we would desire to live our life in a manner more solemn, more full of Jesus Christ, of His word, and His example-if you knew it, at this very moment you would put forth your hand to the work, you would beseech God to cause your conduct to correspond with your opinions and your faith; you would succeed in your efforts, as so many others have succeeded, because they have cried to God, and formed sincere resolutions in His sight." O help us, Lord! each hour of need Help us in thought, and word, and deed, O help us when our spirits bleed And when our hearts are cold and dead, O help us through the prayer of faith, For still, the more the servant hath, THE ANSWERED PRAYER. T was a time of difficulty. Christmas had come and gone, and the new year opened in great perplexity; for with it the usual bills came in, and how to meet them was the question. We did our best; all except a few were settled; but these fairly overtasked our means. We turned over this plan and the other. No; they would not answer. Our family was large, our income small; and where was forty pounds more to come from after all resources had been drained? Let me recall an early morning hour. All as yet was quiet in the village. An early cart or two had rattled by, and I had heard the labourers go up the lane to get things ready for the day. My work, too, must be set in order, and the Master's blessing sought. I knelt before the Lord, and among other matters (as was reasonable), the necessity then oppressing us was, as it had been previously and in secret, much upon my mind in prayer. Here was a want we knew not how to meet; would He be pleased to guide us, as in former days, and to afford us some new proof of His providing mercy. Family prayers were over; we were sitting round the breakfasttable when the postman came, and out the children ran to fetch the letters. There were three or four that morning; but one of them attracted more attention than the rest. It was directed in a sort of printing hand, meant, apparently to prevent our discovery of the writer. The envelope was opened, and within, the same feigned hand was displayed. The note now lies before me, somewhat creased and faded; but still it fills my eyes with tears, so near akin are the tokens of our grief and joy. "Dear Sir, "Two of your clerical brethren and neighbours, to whom you are personally all but unknown, out of respect for you as one faithfully devoting himself to the work of the ministry, have to request your acceptance of forty pounds, as their joint contribution to your finances, in the hope that your domestic comforts will thereby be increased, and your mind be rendered more free to attend to your great Master's work without distraction. "Your sincere, though unknown friends, Such was the letter. Our secret benefactors we are not sure of to this day. But whose hand touched the springs of their benevolence? Whose providence ordered that exact amount to reach us in the very hour of need? Does not God answer prayer? Could I be surer of the fact if I had seen His hand stretched out of heaven? Might we not seem to hear Him saying, "Children, ye have spoken to me of your wants, and I send you a supply. Here is the forty pounds that you require." Surely we gave Him our united praise; surely we felt encouraged for all time to come to rely upon our gracious Father in the skies, who holds the keys of all earth's treasures! And many a time since that He has made good to us His word of promise by Christ Jesus, "Ask, and ye shall receive ;" and often has He shown that He has both the power and the will to "make all grace abound" to those who, in the path of duty, rest themselves upon His name. THE TEMPLE OFFERINGS. "The last shall be first, and the first last." HE rich man took from the purple fold Cast in the gift, a treasure rare, As he thought of merit justly won The widow followed, with lowly mien,- Cast in two mites, and her thought seemed bold The rich man rolled in his state away, The widow her lonely pathway trod, And her heart was filled with the thought of God, Of the loving-kindness that gave her all Long years have passed, and the rich man's name His deed without love, so cold and dead, Her humble gift was a seed with wings, Her wish that the baser coin were gold, So the promise comes, we know not how, The rich man's deed is but seen afar, Which adown the ages still shall shine, Of Him who reckons each deed apart, can; SERVING." ER fault was not that she had served: the condition of a servant well becomes a Christian. "I serve" should be the motto of all the princes of the royal family of heaven. Nor was it her fault that she had "much serving." We cannot do too much. Let us do all that we possibly let head, and heart, and hands be engaged in the Master's service. It was no fault of hers that she was busy preparing a feast for the Master. Happy Martha, to have an opportunity of entertaining so blessed a guest; and happy, too, to have the spirit to throw her whole soul so heartily into the engagement. Her fault was that she grew "cumbered with much serving," so that she forgot Him, and only remembered the service. She allowed service to over-ride communion, and so presented one duty stained with the blood of another. We ought to be Martha and Mary in one; we should do much service and have much communion at the same time. For this we need great grace. It is easier to serve than to commune. Joshua never grew weary fighting with the Amalekites; but Moses, on the top of the mountain in prayer, needed two helpers to sustain his hands. The more spiritual the exercise, the sooner we tire in it. The choicest fruits are the hardest to rear; the most heavenly graces are the most difficult to cultivate. Beloved, while we do not neglect external things, which are good enough in themselves, we ought also to see to it that we enjoy living, personal fellowship with Jesus. See to it that sitting at the Saviour's feet is not neglected, even though it be under the specious pretext of doing Him service. The first thing for our soul's health, the first thing for His glory, and the first thing for our own usefulness, is to keep ourselves in perpetual communion with the Lord Jesus, and to see that the vital spirituality of our religion is maintained, over and above everything else in the world.-C. H. Spurgeon. ፡፡ THY KINGDOM COME." ISE, Sun of Righteousness, o'er heathen night! 66 Thy kingdom come,"-what mean we by that prayer? Already high in heaven Thy throne is there. "Thy kingdom come,"-on earth, oh let it spread, As the deep waters cover ocean's bed, Till all shall know Thee,-all rejoice to own The world Thine empire, and each heart Thy throne. ww FASHIONABLE WOMEN. Obedience to ASHION kills more than toil or sorrow. fashion is a greater transgression of the laws of woman's nature, a greater injury to her physical and mental constitution, than the hardships of poverty and neglect. The slave woman at her task still lives and grows old, and sees two or three generations of her mistresses pass away. The kitchen-maid is hearty and strong, when her lady has to be nursed like a sick baby. It is a sad truth that fashion-pampered women are always worthless for all good ends of life; they have but little force of character, they have still less power of moral will, and quite as little physical energy. They live for no great ends. They are dolls, formed in the hands of milliners and servants, to be fed to order. If they rear children, servants and nurses do all save to conceive and give them birth; and when reared what are they? What do they amount to but weak scions of the old stock? Whoever heard of a fashionable woman's child exhibiting any virtue and power of mind for which it became eminent? Read the biographies of our good men and women. None of them had a fashionable mother! WHAT MAKES A WOMAN. "Tis not the casket that we prize, These outward charms that please the sight, She who doth all these goods combine, |