other hand." Dick obeyed, as though he had been the little child. Prayer over, Mr. Grey said: "You know, my friends, that this is not church; but as I always like to begin with God's Word, before I speak any of my own, I will say a text, and ask you all to repeat it after me. It is a very simple one-very clear, very gracious, very loving, very sympathising, very pressing, very full of power, very full of tenderness, and very full of Christ !" This last word he spoke out with the full force of his fine voice, and all the men looked towards him with faces that seemed to say: "He don't speak that there loud way for show, but because 'he can't help it, when he speaks of Jesus Christ." "Listen, my friends," said Mr. Grey, "to this text, and remember they were spoken by the very lips of the Lord Jesus Christ; they proceeded from His guileless lips, just as what I am now saying proceeds from my lips. Listen. "Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.' "Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.' 1 66 Now, my friends, as we have met to read, write, and cipher, I shall not preach a sermon, but only say something appropriate to the object in view, namely, learning. I will, therefore, take three words only from the text, leaving the whole of it for your solemn thought when you return home; and I am sure, if you do think seriously over it, you will find that each 'very' I applied to it is not only true, but does not half express its hidden treasures. The three words are-Come,' 'Learn,' 'Rest.' Each of these is adapted for scholars and school use." Here Mr. Grey saw one man looking as though he did not understand the meaning of adapted, so he said: "Each of these three words is a school word; take the first-Come.' Do we not always say this to you, my older friends? And do we not say it to the 1 Matthew xi. 28, 29. younger ones who attend in the morning? And do we not say it more earnestly still to those who will not accept our invitation? Do we not say 'Oh, come, come and welcome? The doors are open free and wide for all, young and old. Come to this school.'" The men all answered, "Yes, sure, none can say as how 'Come' wasn't said to them; and sure all of us would find 'em a seat if they would just come―ay, that we would, if we stood for to give 'em room.” "The next word is 'Learn.' Ah, my friends, this is the very root of the matter. We are entreated to come that we may learn. Learn of whom? Who is the teacher ? None other than the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory! He has lessons to teach that none else can teach, unless they have first been taught of Him; then they can tell others all about it, and strive to bring them, too, to hear the words of love and wisdom that proceed out of the great Teacher's mouth. In olden times, when He was here upon earth, in this same world in which we now are, a great multitude gathered together to hear the wonderful teaching that He only could give; and what do you think they exclaimed, or rather what they thought of His words? They were astonished.' And when this same holy and Divine Teacher was to be brought before His persecutors the officers sent to take Him said, 'Never man spake like this man.' This is He who invites you to come, that you may learn from Him. You, too, will be astonished when you hear what He has said, and what He still has to say. You, too, will be obliged to confess that 'Never man spake like this man.' Come, then, my friends; learn, then, my friends. 72 "Rest' is the last word we will speak of before we open our copy-books or bring out our slates. Rest! Ah, I see what my friend Joe Benson is thinking of; he thinks learning a queer way to take rest-and Joe is right. In earthly matters learning is anything but restful; the head gets weary, the limbs ache, and the whole body feels 2 John vii. 46. 1 Matthew vii. 28. fatigued. But the sweetest, purest, holiest rest is the result of coming and then learning of the Lord Jesus Christ, even rest to the soul; and when the soul rests, be the body never so tired, there is a peace and quiet that the world can neither give nor take away. Whilst I hope, then, none of you know the terrible unrest of a soul persisting in sin, I hope many of you experience that sweet, pure, holy rest of soul, which makes you forget even the fatigue of a hard day's work. Such a soul-rest arises from obedience to the entreaty, I will not say command, of your great, your Divine Teacher: 'Come-learn-of Me." Another little rap on the desk, and Mr. Grey descended, went amongst the men for a few minutes, and then passed out, just in time to meet old Dick hobbling away. But he knew the poor man was subject to bronchitis, and therefore would not keep him in the cold wind; he took the dark side of the road, and so let Dick go by unnoticed. "Mat, child," said Dick, "you shall eat a bit o' supper long wi' me, if you'd read them there words again to me." "Sure, sir; but no need to read 'em, I can say 'em right off, and other textys too." She repeated the text we have so often quoted, and then, with a sigh, said: "I wish I was sure I'd comed. Mother has, and father did years agone, and he's got real rest for ever so long, rest up in heaven; and so has sister Jane and brother Harry; all gone up to the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, I wish I'd real comed." Dick had not expected this turn to the conversation, and as it added not a little to his mental discomfort, he said, somewhat hastily : "Come now, lassie, if I'm too old, you're a trifle too young to talk that 'ere way." But Matty, with a shocked look, said: “Oh, maister, I'm not old, but I'm not too young to die. I must come and learn, as well as you, if, if" Her mother's voice, calling, "Mat, Mat, it's getting late," put an end to the conversation, and she ran off to her excellent parent, leaving old Dick muttering, "I be no scholard." X. Y. Z. “They desire a better Country.” HAT has been the great and what is now one of the strongest and most influential powers or motives in the human heart? A desire to find some better place, some lovelier spot, than we now have. For what does the tradesman toil? for what does the physician practise? for what does man hope at the decline and the close of life? Some sheltered nook, some quiet spot, where, if he cannot have a rest that will never be moved, he may have, at least, a foretaste and foreshadow of it. What was it that carried Columbus across the western wave, amid insubordination within his ship, and unexpectedly wild waves that roared and curled around and without? What sustained him on the unsounded sea, amid the untraversed waste of waters? The hope of a better country. What was it that sustained the hearts of the Pilgrim Fathers when, driven forth from this land by stern ecclesiastical persecution, they went to the far distance, and across the western wave, and feared not the iron-bound coast or the rugged and unknown territory on which they set foot? It was the hope and prospect of a better, even a free and peaceful country. WR Gone Before! Dr. Cumming. E are going fast down the hill, wifey; 'Tis fifty long years now and more, Since first I caught sight of you knitting Outside the low-thatched cottage door. I loved you at first sight, my wifey, That rose-bud is in my desk, wifey; Ah! those were bright, happy days, wifey, When we planned out a future for Jack; We did not think then God, who sent him, Would ask us so soon for him back. But He left me my own darling wifey, Sometimes as I sit alone, wifey, When you are away from my side, And I see it move now and then, wifey, 66 Come, father, you've Johnnie to find!" And just as that chintz curtain, wifey, And as after a feigned search I found him, So will it soon be above, wifey, When God draws the dark curtain back, Then father and mother will find him, Their lost little angel-boy Jack. 'Twas his Sunday-school hymn at first, wifey, Made us think of the bright home above; And taught us God spoke not in anger When He asked for the child of our love. |