CHRIST WITHIN.

HRIST does not offer to be simply an occasional shower of blessings to the faithful believer; He promises to be a living well: "The water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life" (John iv. 14). The deepest and the most urgent wants of the heart He promises to satisfy.

In true conversion Christ enters the soul. This is the very essence and touchstone of conversion. With Him comes light; with Him comes love; with Him comes peace. The radical change of heart in conversion is just as truly a supernatural work as was the resurrection of Lazarus from the cave in Bethany. Christ then enters the soul, not as a transient visitor, but as an abiding guest. While He abides there He gives perennial life and beauty and strength to the believer. "Because I live, ye shall live also." "Yet not I," said the happy, hale-hearted apostle; "but Christ that liveth in me." And that was the reason why Paul remained a Christian (a Christ's-man) long after the first excitement of the scene at Damascus had passed away. A well was opened up in Paul's heart that day, and its deep, cool, living waters never ran dry.

Men could always predict how Paul would act in any emergency, because the principle that ruled him was always the same. "The love of Christ constraineth me." "For me to live is Christ." The only reason why any good man continues to be a good man is that the well-spring in his soul never runs dry. Reckless, slave-hunting John Newton ceases to swear and scoff, and begins to pray. Twenty years later, John Newton is still praying, still preaching, still overflowing in beneficence among the haunts of busy London; and solely because the Lord Jesus dwelt in him, a source of holy affections and an inspirer of noble and godly actions. On Sunday he preached to rich bankers and titled ladies. On a week-day evening he would sit on a three-legged stool in his blue sailor jacket, and open up his rich experiences and wise counsels to the poorest who came to visit him. a wild beast on the coast of Africa once," he used to say; the Lord Jesus caught me and tamed me, and now people come to see me as they would go to look at the lions in the Tower." What people came to see and to hear and to love, in the sturdy sailor-preacher, was the Christ who dwelt within John Newton.

"I was "but

What a transcendent idea that is in Paul's prayer for his brethren-"That ye might be filled with all the fulness of God"! When, therefore, we meet with a man or woman who almost never disappoints us; who is "always abounding" in the work of the Lord; who serves God on every day as well as the Sunday; who is more anxious to be right than to be rich; and who can ask

God's blessing on the bitterest cup; when we meet such an one, we know that down in the clefts of the soul is Christ, the wellspring.

In a thousand ways will the inward fountain of Christian principle make itself visible. We see it in the merchant who gives Christ the key of his safe, and never soils it with a single dirty shilling. We see it in the statesman who cares more to win God's smile on his conscience than a re-election to office. We recognise it in the minister who is more greedy for souls than for salary. We see it in the young man who would rather endure a comrade's laugh than his Saviour's frown; in the maiden who obeys Christ sooner than fashion. I sometimes detect this wellspring of cheerful piety in the patient mother, whose daily walk with God is a fount of holy influence amid her household. I know of poor men's dwellings in which grows a plant of contentment that is an exotic rarely found in marble mansions. Its leaves are green and glossy; it is fed from the well.

In dying chambers we have often heard this spiritual fountain playing, and its murmur was as musical as the tinkle of a brook,

"In the leafy month of June."

Perfect love had cast out fear. Peace reigned. Joys sparkled in the sunlight of God's countenance. There was a Well there which could not dry-the "Well of water springing up into everlasting life."

T. C.

THE SURE FOUNDATION.-What is the foundation of the Christian's hope? Not innate moral excellence; not enlarged and critical knowledge of the sacred text; not punctual discharge of relative duties; not diligent use of the ordinances of religion; not sacraments, nor fastings, nor prayer, nor almsgiving; not forced progress in the way of holiness; not past excitement, nor present peace and enlargement of heart; not visions, nor graces, nor expediencies, these do not constitute the foundation of the Christian's hope. Of some of these, his judgment is that of Paul, -"What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ." Of others he makes the lawful, the scriptural, the believing use; while the language of his unfeigned self-renunciation ever is, "Lead me to the Rock that is higher than I." That Rock is Christ. To expand the ideas condensed in that one word, "Christ," -the foundation of the Christian's hope is the promise of Jehovah, recorded in His word, confirmed by His oath, ratified by the blood of the everlasting covenant, evidenced by the Resurrection, secured by the Ascension of Jesus, and revealed to the hearts of His chosen by the Spirit of His grace.-The late Bishop of Carlisle.

THE FIRST OF "COOK'S VOYAGES." HE discoveries of Captain Cook, the great navigator, were owing to a peculiarly marked shilling. Young Cook was a native of Yorkshire, and served as an apprentice to a merchant and shopkeeper in a large fishing town in that county. Some money had been missed from the till, and to detect the delinquent, a very curiously marked shilling was mixed with the silver, which was accurately counted. On examining the till shortly after, this peculiar shilling was missing, and Cook was taxed with having taken it out: this he instantly acknowledged, stating that its peculiarity had caught his eye, but affirmed at the same time that he had put another of his own in its place. The money was accordingly counted over again, and found to agree exactly with his statement. Although the family was highly respectable, and therefore capable of advancing him in his future prospects, and also much attached to him, and very kind, yet the high spirit of the boy could not brook remaining in a situation where he had been suspected; he therefore ran away, and having no other resource, entered as a cabin-boy in a collier-ship. And this was the beginning of Cook's voyages.

FAITHFUL IN A VERY LITTLE.

N the summer of 1866, a Christian woman was afflicted with a malignant cancer, and became an inmate of a London hospital. She felt herself to be a dying woman, but trusted that whether for life or death, God had brought her to the hospital for some wise purpose. Laid upon her sick bed in the upper ward, she obtained permission from those around to read her daily portion of God's word aloud. Feeling it to be the joy of her own heart, she longed to sow some of the good seed, and to lead others to rest upon the same staff which supported her in her time of need. Having received permission to do so, she drew forth, as often as she had strength, from beneath her pillow, her well-worn and much-loved Bible, and read aloud without comment.

In a few days a young woman, who had attempted her life by cutting her throat in a drunken quarrel with her husband, was brought into the same ward. She refused to speak; was sullen, and would give no heed or reply to the kind inquiries of the Sisters who visited the hospital, and at last rudely refused to listen when they attempted to advise and admonish her for her good. This was discouraging. Still the dear afflicted one lying near daily read on from God's word, praying God that His gracious Spirit would bless it and make it a solace to all the suffering ones around, as it had long been to herself. That poor young woman recovered from the effects of her self-inflicted wound, and the time came for her to leave the hospital.

She still seemed unmoved by the kindness of those in attendance; but before quitting the ward, she came to the bedside of this faithful Christian, and said, "I do not know who you are, but I have heard the gospel from you for the first time in my life, and I am going home to try and do better." She would not be detained, but hurried from the room, and was soon gone from sight.

With such an instance before us of God's promise being sure, that His word shall not return unto Him void, should we not be more in earnest in that blessed work? Let us never lose an opportunity of saying a word for Christ when we can.

HINTS FOR THE HOUSEHOLD.

BOOKS RECEIVED.

Henry and his Bearer, twopenny edition.-Children's Treasury (Book Society). Sunday School Times (J. Clarke & Co.). Tract Magazine.Cottager and Artisan (Religious Tract Society). Family Friend (Partridge & Co.). Children's Record (Nelson & Sons). Sabbath School Messenger (Peter Drummond, Stirling).