print of your mind on any around you; and never was truer counsel given to God's co-workers than in the words of Jeremy Taylor: "Do all the parts of your duty as earnestly as if the salvation of all the world, and the whole glory of God, and the confusion of all devils, and all that you hope or desire, did depend upon every one action." But that grand energy in outward action can only spring out of a real, true, constant, and vivid prayerfulness. The soul of the true Christian workman cannot be still while the hand works; but flies to the throne of grace with every thought and every purpose before they are bodied forth in deeds, and at every onward step. Hence the action of the life reveals itself, glistening with the dews of heaven, and bathed in a sacred atmosphere of holiness. All the great workers, who served their generation the best, and who bequeathed the richest legacy of Christian traditions to those that came after, were men of prayermen with whom prayer was not a duty merely, or a thing that one ought to do, but a delight, a privilege, a sweet necessity. It was not a thing to be reasoned about. The soul could not wait the slow deductions of reason; but overleaped all the stepping-stones of logic to reach at a bound its holy object-its grand centre of rest-its place of delightsome fellowship-its fountains of nursing grace. Never, throughout the whole history of God's work on earth, has any man ever stood out prominently as a heroic doer, but you are sure to find him pre-eminently a man of prayer. Luther was so much so, that, looking at the man in the light of his religious confessions, we are apt to conclude that it was prayer that made him what he was; that combined the rugged elements of his strength into a united force, that gave consecration and direction to his whole life; and that projected him into the sphere of Christian action, as the most central figure of his age, and the most typical of its sublime religious ideas. In carrying the eye further along, the bright perspective leads us on to the grand outstanding figures of the apostles. It would seem as if their prayerfulness were the one suffusive element of their whole being. A criticism of them as men of genius, men of talent, men of action, as leaders and chiefs of men, &c., would be an impertinence a mockery. They are men of God-men of faith-men of prayer-whose whole life is a prayer, throbbing up to God in every pulsebeat, and leavening into the world's action by the divine force which prayer is pouring in. Without prayer they had been weak as other men. Indeed, no great thing of all the great things which Christianity has achieved for men throughout all ages, has been accomplished without prayer. Let parents, teachers, and ministers, bear in mind continually, that without prayer not a step in advance can be taken; no great success can ever be commanded; no part of their mission can be truly realised; and no triumphant entry into the divine Master's joy can ever be. Prayer should be offered up continually, with an importunity that takes no refusal, with an earnestness that accepts all conditions, with a persistency that never tires, and with the force and overcomingness of a true faith. To every servant of Christ we say―PRAY,—it is your privilege-it is your safety-it is your armour,-in prayer are wrapped up power, dominion, an honourable future, and a sure success. Pray, as each idea strives to body itself forth in action. Pray without ceasing.-Rev. C. M'Culloch. THE BIBLE IN THE YOUNG HEART. OH! how many there are, among the richest and among the poorest, who can testify alike to the truths of the promises of the Bible. The youngest children have been able at times to realise these promises. Let me just mention a story. I remember once hearing of a little lad in a town in Lancashire, where I first began my work of preaching to my fellow-sinners. He lay upon the steps of a door, in the middle of the night, in the great town of Warrington, and the policeman, or rather watchman, coming up to him, said, "What are you doing here?" The boy replied, "I am without father and mother, I have travelled thus far, and I have no food-no money-no place to lie down in." There was something in the boy's jacket which attracted the watchman's eye, and when he touched it he thought he had found a thief. "What have you there?" he asked. The boy then put his hand into his pocket, and brought out a small pocket Bible. "Well," said the watchman, "if you are so badly off I will give you a few pence for your Bible; I will take it home to my children, and you will be able to get your bed and food for the night." But the lad, young as he was, knew that the Bible was true; he had an experimental knowledge of the Bible, and he was ready at once with his reply. "Thank you, sir," he said; "but I won't give it up." "Why, you are starving," said the watchman. "Yes, but this is the Word of God, and it tells me, 'When my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will take me up."" Here was the experimental knowledge of the power of the promises. The watchman shewed his humanity, his kindness, and gentleness towards the fatherless boy. He took him home and fed him, and God prospered that boy who relied on the promises. And believe me that is just the experience of hundreds and thousands who have found their extremity to be God's opportunity-who had found when they were very low that God could extend to them His everlasting arms, could lift them up, and bless them, and preserve them.-Montagu Villiers. OUTLINES OF SABBATH SCHOOL LESSONS. LIFE OF CHRIST. I. WITH THE DISCIPLES IN CAPERNAUM. PARABLE OF THE SOWER EXPOUNDED. (Matt. xiii. 18-23; Mark iv. 10-20; Luke viii. 9-15.) HIDDEN THINGS REVEALED. (Mark iv. 21-25; Luke viii. 16-18.) PARABLE OF THE TARES EXPOUNDED.-(Matt. xiii. 36-43.) PARABLES THE HID TREASURE THE PEARL OF GREAT PRICE THE GOSPEL NET.-(Matt. xiii. 44-52; Luke viii. 19-21.) II.-ON AND BY THE LAKE. FOLLOWING JESUS.-(Matt. viii. 18-22.) THE STORM REBUKED.-(Matt. viii. 23-27; Mark iv. 36-41; Luke viii. 22-25.) THE DEVILS CAST OUT-THEIR ENTERING INTO THE SWINE. (Matt. viii. 28-33; Mark v. 1-14; Luke viii. 26-34.) RESULTS OF THE MIRACLE. (Mark v. 14-21; Luke viii. 35-40.) III. IN CAPERNAUM. JESUS EATING WITH PUBLICANS AND SINNERS. (Matt. ix. THE DISEASED WOMAN TOUCHING JESUS.-(Matt. ix. 20-22; Mark v. 25-34; Luke viii. 43-48.) CURE OF THE BLIND and DUMB.-(Matt. ix. 27-34.) IV. FROM NAZARETH AGAIN TO CAPERNAUM. UNBELIEF IN NAZARETH. (Matt. xiii. 54-58; Mark vi. 1-6.) MISSION OF THE TWELVE DISCIPLES.-(Matt. ix. 35-38; x. 1-15; Mark vi. 7-13; Luke ix. 1-6.) THEIR PERILS AND THEIR STRENGTH.-(Matt. x. 16-23.) MISSIONARY TIDINGS. SALONICA-ITS MISSIONARIES. THE staff of labourers in this quarter are still prosperously at work. At Cassandra the mission-station is full of interest. Dr. Wolfe, our medical missionary, reports various cases, both amongst Greeks and Jews, of an anxious inquiry after Gospel truth. Every hindrance, both by the priests and the corrupt authorities of the country, is thrown in their way; but we are happy to say that, in Turkey, though it has not yet wrought its full effect, a degree of singular liberty has been granted by the Sultan to Protestants, in the exercise of their faith and worship; and in time we may expect a brave and persevering stand on the part of our mission to reap large fruits. It is even reported, that, very lately, the Sultan received from an English missionary a copy of our Protestant Bible, and received it with much respect and interest. The plan of our mission is now to erect two Presbyteries in Turkey-one embracing all Macedonia, the other, with its seat at Smyrna, embracing Asiatic Turkey. This is thorough comprehensive action, and our whole Church will look anxiously to the plan, wishing it God speed. INDIA-FURTHER DISASTERS. The mutiny of the sepoys all over Bengal, and its tales of unimagined horrors, are still filling every newspaper. The missionary work everywhere has been arrested. We grieve especially to tell our young readers, that in the mutiny of the troops at Sealkote, our zealous and excellent missionary, Mr. Hunter, about whom we have been telling from time to time, was, with his wife and child, cruelly murdered. They were in the act of making their escape at an early hour in the morning, when the mutineers broke into their carriage on the way, and shot them in cold blood. God will avenge His slaughtered saints. Sad has been the blow to the Gospel cause-many, many brave and innocent lives have been sacrificed, and many hearts have sickened and been broken. Yet out of the ruins and bloodshed, haply the cross will rise yet in fairer beauty and success than ever. Meanwhile Delhi has not yet fallen, but troops from England are landing in India fast, and it cannot be doubted but that the days of this anarchy and bloodshed are terribly numbered. Let all breathe out fervent prayers for God's heritage, that has been so wasted and torn down. HYMN. WHEN I survey the wondrous cross Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast, See from His head, His hands, His feet, Were the whole realm of nature mine, |