prosperous, and it seemed as if nothing would ever go wrong with him. But it pleased God, at length, to add one bitter ingredient after another to his portion, until not a particle of the sweet seemed to be left. It was like the famine in Egypt; it caused all the plenty to be forgotten. But did Job repine? No; he took it as a part of God's providential dealings. "What?" said he, "shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil ?"1 Are we to expect nothing but sweet, and are we only to acknowledge God in the day of prosperity ? Many, unhappily, do act in this way, and thus show themselves to be no better than the heathen, who sacrifice to their gods as long as their circumstances are favourable, but when adversity comes, load them with insults and reproaches. We should remember, too, that our bitters are in a great measure brought upon us by our own sinfulness, so that we have ourselves to blame, and not God. Nothing is sent without a cause, as every ingredient in the medicine has its cause in the disease. Then, instead of becoming angry when we meet with trouble, let us search into our own hearts to discover the cause. "Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins? Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord. Let us lift up our hearts with our hands unto God in the heavens."2 And let us not serve God only for the good things of this life.3 The true child of God cares little for the present.* His hope is in the future; and he welcomes his trials with open arms, because he sees in them the means which God employs to draw His children closer to Himself, and to make them more and more partakers of His holiness.5

One more thought. As God has given us our lifetime in order that we may prepare for heaven, so He has given us His Word, the Holy Scriptures, in order to show us the way to heaven. We may compare the Bible to a bottle of 1 Job ii. 10. 4 Hab. iii. 17, 18.

2 Lam. iii. 39-41.

+3 Jolin vi. 26.

5 Heb. xii. 10.

medicine containing many ingredients, but especially one, without which all the rest would be valueless. That one is Christ Jesus and His salvation. If we read the Scriptures without finding this in them, we read to no purpose. If we read the Bible without learning from it that man is a sinner, and that unless he is saved from his sins he must go to hell for ever; that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, and that those who believe in Jesus will have everlasting life, it has done us no good at all. We have not shaken the bottle; we have taken the water, and have left the really valuable medicine behind. So that, strange as it may seem, a man may read his Bible regularly all his life, and yet not be benefited by it. It may teach him much of history and geography; it may give him much information about men who lived ages ago; it may furnish him with some knowledge of God and His works; it may even inform him of what is to take place in the future: but unless he has learned from it to go as a repenting sinner to Christ for salvation, to cast off all his own fancied righteousness, and to hunger and thirst after the righteousness of Christ; unless he has been taught by the Holy Spirit to see Christ in all the beauty of His person and work, he might as well never have opened it at all. He is only deceiving himself.

Do you read

Have you yet

Is this your case, my unknown friend? your Bible? If so, how do you read it? found out from it your sinfulness before God?1 Until you know this, and believe it from the bottom of your heart, you will not be prepared to value Jesus Christ and His salvation.2 Do not fall into the mistake of thinking that reading the Bible is everything. This of itself cannot save you. It is only Christ who saves. And unless you find Christ in the Bible—which you cannot do till your eyes are opened by the Spirit of God-and go to Him by faith, and accept His finished work done upon the cross on your behalf, you will derive no good, no real saving good, from it.

Let me

urge you, every time you take up your Bible, before you begin to read, to think with yourself, What is my object in doing this? What do I expect to gain by it? Is it only to pass away the time? Is it out of idle curiosity merely, or is it done in all sincerity for the good of my soul? Then lift up your heart to God in prayer for His blessing. Ask for the gift of the Holy Spirit; and if you ask with an earnest desire to obtain His teaching, you will not be refused, for the Saviour Himself has said, "Your Heavenly Father will give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him."1

But, perhaps, you have never read your Bible? If so you are in a sad case. You are like the sick man who will not take his physic. You are afflicted with a loathsome and terrible disease, which, if not cured, will destroy both soul and body.2 That disease is sin, which has brought you under God's curse, and will, in the end, bring you to hell. There is only one way of escape-only one remedy. And God, in His great mercy, has given us the Bible, in order to teach us how to find it. Through Jesus Christ alone you can be saved. And the Bible reveals Christ. But if you do not read how can you learn the way of salvation? For "faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." 3 Read the Bible, then, daily, with this one purpose in view; and may God bless it to your eternal salvation, for Christ the Redeemer's sake!

Trouble.

HERE are so many different sorts of trouble in the world, and so many people are all the time bearing up bravely under this or that burden, that the consideration of how it may best be borne never

comes amiss.

Sometimes you are surprised when a friend, whose path seems all sun-lighted, unveils to you her secret

1 Luke xi. 13.

2 Isaiah i. 5, 6.

3 Rom. x. 17.

anxieties and distresses. Sometimes the whole world of one's personal associates is fully aware that life is wearing a dark face, and that -'s affairs are far from prosperous. Whether it be an unconcealed and open grief, or a sorrow carefully and proudly hidden, the touch of trouble sets a certain seal upon the brow, and the eyes grow sad, and the earth becomes a lonely and desolate place.

There are the troubles consequent upon bereavement. How changed everything is when a dear child has been taken away! It seems so strange, and it is so hard to go on with the ordinary duties of the home and of business when there is no longer the darling's voice to call you in the morning, nor her step running to meet you at night, Whoever it be that God calls home, and however full and even joyful our acquiescence in His will, death always comes with a wrench. Our whole system of life seems uprooted, and it cannot be that we can at once go on as though nothing had happened; yet everybody knows that bereavement is not the hardest affliction which may visit a home.

Far worse are the troubles which spring from the ill-doing of those we love. Near me lives a plain, honest, hardworking woman, widowed, and striving to bring up a houseful of children. Lately there has been a bitter pain in her heart, which the death of all her beloved would not have caused, for her pretty daughter has fallen a prey to the tempter, and has gone she knows not where. What words of compassion can reach a grief like hers? A few months ago I heard words of condemnation freely uttered against a lad hardly out of childhood who had taken money from his employer. I too felt all the wrong there was in his act; but I was full of pity for his weakness, and of sympathy for the mother and sisters, whose hearts were almost broken by the shame which had come on their idolised boy. What a responsibility lies on all who thoughtlessly place temptation any kind whatever in the path of the young!

of

A crushing form of trouble is that which is inwoven with intemperance on the part of some one loved. Perhaps it is

the grey-haired father, who should be full of honours as of years. Who can measure the anguish of the wife, of the daughter, of the son, as the head of the family disgraces himself by his weakness, talks incoherently, and goes with faltering step and stumbling gait through his own parlours? You think this an uncommon case? It is unfortunately too common; and men whose boast it was through youth and middle life that they could "take what they wanted and it would never affect them," find out, as age approaches, that moderate drinking leads to the drunkard's grave.

The troubles which have, through failures in commercial life, fallen on many homes, are of another kind. It is no light thing for a man to have suddenly swept from him the gains of his whole life. It is no small thing for a woman to feel obliged to change her manner of living, and to alter her household economy, when her young people are growing up about her, and all have become accustomed to ease and generous expenditure. But where there are health and confidence and true, warm love, these trials can be endured. Hundreds are going through altered circumstances to-day with a blithe courage and a glad faith in God which are really sublime.

Where shall we carry our burdens? Who shall we take into closest communion when the sword pierces the soul? What shall we do in the cloudy and dark day? Dear sisters who read these words, there is just one Friend who can always aid; there is just one refuge ever open. Let us go to Jesus. He is able to help us, and He is always touched with a feeling of our infirmities. weary, and His gentleness is our defence.

He is never

M. F. S.