keepers was hit over the head, and young Fred and another was taken. They tried 'em at Reading 'Sizes; and the keeper was like to die, they said, and there'd been so much poaching, an example must be made. So young Fred got ten years, and t'other one seven."

"Poor old Fred! So he lost wife and son together."

"Yes, sir," said Will. ""Twere very hard on old Freda harmless creature that never hurt a fly! He sold all his sticks o' furniture-'t warn't much, to be sure, sir, but 't were all he had, you see—and give it to a lawyer chap to try and get the young 'un off, but the evidence was too clear again' him. Old Fred went to Reading to see the lad after he were sentenced-the parson here took him, and was very good to 'em both; but I did hear the young 'un was very sulky, and they couldn't get him to say more than that he didn't mean to hurt the keeper, and he didn't believe he had hurt him. So then, you see, sir, they took young Fred over seas-that's about eight or nine year ago come next harvest. Fred! he never were extra sharp, and I think the trouble 'most dazed him. He was getting old, and a'most past work, so I let him sleep in the loft, and give him his victuals, and a trifle o' wages, and he ferries over when he aint laid up with rheumatism, and helps in the stable."

"Is he very much changed since his trouble?"

Poor old

"Well, sir, he were always one o' the quiet ones, and he didn't say much, but I think he felt more nor he should. Poor old fellow! he's seemed stunned-like ever since."

(TO BE CONTINUED `

The Name of Jesus.

o a believer's ear there is no music on earth, nor in the golden harps of heaven, like the name of Jesus. Music in its sound, there is ointment in its meaning. Fragrant as the spikenard of the alabaster box, "His name is as ointment poured forth." Dr. Guthrie.

This is the

Here is God, the Creator; and the Christian, the created: God, the Parent; and the Christian, the child. double relationship, or bond of union.

Now, no doubt, it may be said of all beings that the first of these relationships subsists between them and God. He is the Maker of them all. He as much made the people of Babylon as He made the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And so, the brawling blasphemer, and drunkard, and libertine, from whom the pained and shocked beholder turns away with loathing, is as much-in a certain sense-the creature of God as the holiest man on earth.

And in the same certain and limited sense, too, God is the universal Father. So the apostle Paul acknowledged when he adopted the declaration of a Grecian poet, and founded an argument upon it: "For we are also His offspring." God is the Father of all men. His very Creatorship makes Him so; and while He shows His care for His children of the whole family of man by providing for them, He also exercises His parental prerogative in fixing the bounds of their habitation, in making them, either willingly or unwillingly on their part, subservient to His will, and in punishing them for unfilial conduct. In this sense the Canaanites of old were as much the children of God as were the Israelites; and He is, by natural ties, as much the Father of the ungodly as He is of the saint.

But here the similitude must be said to end; for, by spiritual ties, God is both the Creator and the Parent of a Christian in a way that He is not of an unbeliever. He said of His ancient people, "This people have I formed for Myself; they shall show forth My praise." He chose them from among, and took them out of, the category of other tribes and families, in order that they might perpetuate the remembrance of His name, and be, to Him, a peculiar people, and the recipients of peculiar privileges. "Come

ye out from among them," He said; "and be My sons and daughters; and I will be to you a Father. For thou art a holy people unto the Lord thy God; and the Lord hath

chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto Himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth."

Just in the same way, God, in Christ Jesus, chooses His spiritual children. Already His by natural creation, He brings them nearer to Himself by regeneration and grace. Thus the apostle Peter describes all true Christians as being "a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that they should show forth the praises of Him who hath called them out of darkness into His marvellous light."

And without further expanding the above train of thought, one reflection or deduction plainly presents itself to the mind, namely, that the change is ascribed to God Himself. "I have made," He says.

Is it asked why God chose Abraham's family in preference to others? The answer must be: We cannot tell. Is it further asked, why God's peculiar blessings are bestowed on some now, and not on all? Again the reply meets us : We cannot tell. The Christian can only re-echo the question, and say

66 3 Why was I made to hear His voice,
And enter while there's room,

While others make a wretched choice,
And rather starve than come?"

Of two things, however, we may be satisfied. We may be sure that God does righteously as well as wisely in all these matters; and we may be equally sure that, if we are excluded from spiritual sonship towards Him, it is by our own criminal neglect and rejection of the gospel of His grace.

"None are excluded thence, but those

Who do themselves exclude;

Welcome the learned and polite,

The ignorant and rude."

Another train of thought arises: How exceedingly great and precious are the promises made to every believer in Christ, in the words of the prophet.

There is, first of all, constant love and parental tenderness; then, enduring and exemplary patience; then, successful championship; and last, merciful continuance to the end. It seems as though four stages of Christian life and experience were plainly depicted here. There is infancy and weakness, when the lambs must needs be carried in the Good Shepherd's bosom. There is youth, with its ignorance and petulance, when the great Teacher takes Ephraim by the arms, and guides him in the way he should go, bearing him onward, and putting up with his waywardness. There is vigorous manhood, with its conflicts and dangers; and when the enemy comes in as a flood, then the Spirit of the Lord lifts up a standard against him, delivering the harassed and distressed soldier of the cross by the strong arm of His mercy. And there is the time of old age, with its returning weakness and timidity; when the tenderness of the nurse is once more required and promised: even to hoar hairs," and under the burden of years, "will I carry you." Think then—

66

"How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word!
What more can He say than to you He hath said,
You who unto Jesus for refuge have fled?

E'en down to old age, all My people shall prove
My sov'reign, eternal, unchangeable love;
And when hoary hairs shall their temples adorn,

Like lambs they shall still in My bosom be borne."

Think, therefore, of the immense difference there is between the refuge and support of the worldling and the Christian. One makes his own idol, and worships it and trusts in it; but it fails him in the end. "Their idols," said the Psalmist, referring to the idolatrous heathen, "are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they speak not; eyes have they, but they see not; they have ears, but they hear not; noses have they, but they smell not; they have hands, but they handle not; feet have they, but they walk not; neither speak they through their

throat. They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them.”

On the other hand, the Christian has for his object of adoration. One who fainteth not, neither is weary. "Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God? Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of His understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might He increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."

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Aged Christians especially may take encouragement from the sweet declarations of Jehovah. "You have been borne by Me," He says; you were nursed by Me when in your childhood, and guided by Me in your youth; by Me you overcame in the conflicts of your manhood; and now, even to your old age, I am He. Even to your old age, when you are compassed with infirmities, and when others, perhaps, begin to be wearied of you, and to speak or think disparagingly of your second childhood; yet I am He-the same that I ever have been. You change, you have changed; but I am the same. I am all that I have promised to be—all that I ever have been-all that you have ever found Me to be-all that you would have Me to be. Hoar hairs are upon you, but My strength never fails. You have borne the heat and burden of the day; and I will now bear you. I can do it, for I made you-made you what you are: I will do it, for I love you, being what you are. I will carry you; I will bear you up, and bear you through, and bear you out; will carry you on in your way; and will carry you home at last."

Reader, is this God your God?