ARE YOU ON THE ROCK?

THE parable of the two builders (Matt. vii. 24-27) was intended to show us the necessity of practical religion,

and warn us against trying our profession of it by any other test than by our works; but it does not ascribe our salvation to anything that we can do. On the contrary, it gives to something out of man all the glory of his safety. Why could not the rushing floods shake the house of the wise builder? Because it was better built than the other? No; simply because it rested on a better foundation. "It fell not; for it was founded on a rock." It was the rock, and the rock alone, which saved it.

We may learn, therefore, the folly of that religion which trusts for salvation in itself. And yet this is precisely the character of the religion which thousands make their confidence. Ask the great multitude who call themselves after the name of Christ, where their hope of heaven rests. They all speak of Christ as the only Saviour; but their answer shows that the ground of their hope is not in Him. It is in themselves; in their faith, their knowledge, their experience, their righteousness; in something that can no more bear the weight of an immortal soul, than a quicksand can support a temple, or a reed bear up the heavens.

VOL. VII. No. 1.]

[JANUARY, 1870.

On what, then, is your hope founded? Are you building on a rock, or on the earth? To ascertain this point, the inquiry now must be, Have I ever seen the utter insufficiency of all I can do, to blot out my sins or save my soul? Am I casting entirely away my own righteousness as a ground of dependence, and resting only on the perfect righteousness, the atoning blood, the love, the grace, the power of Christ? Do I feel that were He to fail me, I should be overwhelmed at last in inevitable ruin? And am I sure that He will never fail me; that He is a "precious corner-stone, a sure foundation?"

It may be that your conscience misgives you, or rather, that the Holy Spirit is at this moment discovering to you the rottenness of your hopes, the madness of your expectations. It may be that, feeling your house shake, you may be ready to ask, "What must Í do to be saved?" The question is very easily answered. What advice should you give to a stranger whom you discovered, in summer, building in a water-course, on a spot which you knew would become in winter the bed of a torrent? What should you say to your brother or your friend who had laid the foundation of a dwelling on shifting sand? Would you recommend him to adorn, or alter, or even attempt to strengthen his walls? No; your language would be, "Down with it, down with it, even to the ground." The same advice we give to you. Painful and humiliating as may be the step, renounce your present hopes. Begin anew. Place yourselves in the situation of a man who has a long eternity before him, without having made the slightest provision for it. Flee to Jesus Christ for safety, as though you had never before heard of His name; and flee to Him at once, as though this very night the rains were to descend and the floods to swell, as though this very night death and judgment were to come. The Lord hath "laid in Zion for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone:" it is Christ the Lord. He tells you that "He that believeth in Him shall not make haste, shall never be confounded." He tells you, too, that if not resting on Him—not "rooted and grounded" in Him, you must fall. "Judgment," He says, "will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding-place."-C. Bradley, M.A.

Whate'er in this untrodden year
May yet unfolded lie,

Let it be "Christ" to us "to live ".

"Twill then be "gain to die."

So shall we well prepared be

For all our God may send;

His peace shall keep our hearts and minds,

His grace our steps attend.

And soon, our years of conflict o'er,

Our joyful souls shall rise,

Our God and Saviour to adore
For ever in the skies.

FAMILY PRAYER.

OWLAND HILL was one day driven by a storm into a village inn, and compelled to spend the night. When it grew late, the landlord sent a request by the waiter that the guest would go to bed. Mr. Hill replied, "I have been waiting a long time, expecting to be called to family prayers." "Family prayers! I don't know what you mean, sir; we never have such things here." "Indeed! Then tell your master I cannot go to bed until we have family prayers." The waiter informed his master, who in consternation bounced into the room occupied by the faithful minister, and said, "Sir, I wish you would go to bed. I cannot go until I have seen all the lights out, I am so afraid of fire.” "So am I," was the reply; " but I have been expecting to be summoned to family prayer. "All very well, sir; but it cannot be done at an inn." "Indeed! then pray get my horse; I cannot sleep in a house where there is no family prayer." The host preferred to dismiss his prejudice rather than his guest, and said, "I have no objection to have a prayer, but I do not know how." Well, then, summon your people, and let us see what can be done." The landlord obeyed, and in a few moments the astonished domestics were upon their knees, and the landlord called upon to pray. "Sir, I never prayed in my life; I don't know how to pray." "Ask God to teach you,' was the gentle reply. The landlord said, folding his hands, "God, teach us how to pray. "That is prayer, my friend," cried Mr. Hill, joyfully; go on." "I am sure I don't know what to say now, sir.' "Yes you do; God has taught you how to pray; now thank Him for it." "Thank you, God Almighty, for letting us pray to you." "Amen! amen!" exclaimed Mr. Hill, and then prayed himself. Twenty years afterwards, Mr. Hill found in that same village a chapel and a school, as the result of the first effort of family prayer at the Black Lion.

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Fathers and mothers, what are you doing for your children's souls? You feed their bodies and clothe them, you talk to them about the things of this life, and have plenty to say about little matters, but what have you to say to them about Jesus Christ? I will tell you what you can do, you can pray for them and pray with them. I was walking along the road and stopped and gave some tracts to a group of children, when an old man came up to me and asked me what I had got there. I handed him one or two little books, and he told me he had four sons growing up at home. One or two of them had been a deal of trouble to him, for they had taken to drinking, and he and his wife had been praying to God to save their poor boys. "And the other night," said he, "when the one that had given me so

much trouble was gone upstairs to bed, we heard some one talking, and I went to see who it was, and there was our Jim down on his knees by the side of his bed, praying God to forgive him." And the tottering old man brushed away the tears from his face as he added, "I thought that was in answer to our prayers.'

ور

Yes, fathers and mothers, pray for your children, and God will answer your prayers, but also pray with them. I shall never forget the prayers of my dear mother, now gone to her long home, as she knelt down by my bedside at night and asked God to bless her boy. I did not care much about her prayers then, and she seemed to be almost discouraged by my indifference, but many and many a time since have I felt the blessing of those prayers. They were recorded in heaven, and they followed her boy through the treacherous paths of youth; they were not lost.

Then gather your family round you and ask God's blessing on them. Gather the children to Jesus. Your prayers may be the means of saving your sons and your daughters from ruin. In the morning bring out the Bible, never let it get dusty, read a chapter to your family, and then wait upon God with reverence and yet with the confidence of a child in drawing near to its father. Oh! what a blessing it is that you and I can draw near to God and say to Him, "Our Father." You need not fear to tell Him all your difficulties, for "like as a father" He pities you. It is not any regular form of prayers that God wants. It is the desire of our hearts that He regards. And in the evening, when the day's work is done, fetch the good Book out again, and all gather round the table to hear the glad tidings of salvation. Get the children to read to you. They will love it all the better for reading it to father; and then let us remember God's goodness to us through the day, and with thankful hearts draw near to the throne of grace.

Many a child can trace its salvation to a father's or mother's prayers. Not long ago, a little boy lay at the gate of death, and his father began anxiously to ask him about his soul. When your little ones are dying, then you think about their souls. Why, then, do you not talk to them about their souls when they are in health and while they chatter away to you so merrily? As this man asked his boy whether he was prepared to go, the little fellow reminded his father of the time when that father had prayed for his children during their family worship, and the boy brightened up and said, "I then saw I was a sinner, and that nothing but the blood of Jesus Christ could cleanse me from my sins, and that if I was not cleansed my soul would be for ever lost! Then, father, I prayed Jesus to forgive my sins, and my blessed Saviour heard me and forgave me. I prayed to God that night before I went to bed, and I praised His holy name because He had forgiven me. I have gone every day by myself and prayed, sometimes aloud, and He has answered my petitions; and when I have done wrong I always asked for His forgiveness."