kind enough to direct him in the road to his home. The youth looked at him with some little surprise, and told him that when he had finished drinking the beer that was in his jug he would do so. He soon drank off the contents of the vessel, and the two went away together. The youth resided in the neighbourhood, and therefore knew it well. On their way they entered into conversation, and the minister discovered that his companion lived a very careless life, and never attended any place of worship. He then told him that he expected to preach in a small chapel in the village on the following morning, and asked if he would come and hear him. He scrupled about it a little, saying his clothes were not tidy, etc., but finally consented to go. "You are

a nice gentleman," said he, “and have spoken to me more kindly than any other minister ever did before, so I will endeavour to be there at eleven o'clock.”

The Sunday morning came; the minister reached the hamlet, entered the chapel, and ascended the pulpit. Looking down upon the congregation, he was thankful to see the young man sitting right before him. He lifted up his heart to the Lord that the Good Spirit would graciously apply the word to the conscience of the youth, delivered his text, and preached Christ crucified. The young man never took his eyes from the preacher, whose warmth increased as the Spirit gave him utterance; and he soon saw him draw his handkerchief from his pocket to wipe the tears from his face. The two-edged sword was at work, and soon the cry for mercy escaped his lips; his stony heart was broken, and in penitence and prostration he sought the pardon of his sins. All day he wrestled in mighty prayer, and at midnight the messenger of hope came in his own chamber, the chains of the prisoner fell off, and he rejoiced in the liberty of Christ.

Henceforth he became constant in his attendance at the chapel which so mercifully became his spiritual birth-place. He forsook his old companions, and sometimes warned them to give up their wicked courses. His voice might often have

been heard in prayer with God's people, and many took notice of him that he was walking with Jesus. He joined the Sabbath school, where he was soon recognized as an efficient teacher, and by-and-by married the superintendent's daughter. He became respected by his countrymen, rising from one degree of honour to another; and for the last thirty years he has been a preacher of the blessed Gospel; and many through his instrumentality have been brought to the Saviour.

Reader, thou art lost without Christ. Before the darkness encircles thee for ever, call upon the name of the Lord. Give Him no rest till thou hast a sure footing on the Rock of Ages, and art travelling towards heaven. In the wide field of truth there is work for all, and what is sown in weakness is often raised in power. He that winneth souls is wise and no wisdom is so grand and exalted as the soulsaving reception of this great scriptural truth, that Jesus Christ by the grace of God has tasted death for every man, and therefore tasted death for me.

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The Unchanging One.

HE Lord our Saviour is not only Jesus Christ the ever-living, who " was, and is, and is to come," but He is also Jesus Christ the ever

gracious, who is "the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever." Amid the mutations of earthly things, and the passing away of earthly friends, and the changefulness of our own frames and feelings, the remembrance of an immortal and immutable Redeemer is unspeakably precious. When we say, "How great is His goodness, and how great is His beauty!" we can cherish the assurance that in these things He is the Lord, and changes not.1 His "goodness" is no early cloud or morning dew which passeth away; His "beauty" is such as never perishes, and never waxes old.

1 Zech. ix. 17; Mal. iii. 6.

In order, therefore, to know something of His present grace, and the grace which He has in store for the future, we call to mind what His past grace has been. In order to estimate more gratefully the everflowing fountain, we trace the refreshing and fertilising influences of its life-giving

streams.

If we would understand what Jesus Christ was "yesterday," or in the past, we learn it first from the history of His life; from the Gospel records, which not only teach of His holiness, wisdom, and power, but also reveal Him as the loving One, who healed the sick, pitied the erring, invited the heavy-laden, bound up the broken in heart, wept with the mourner, took little children in His arms, and blessed them thus ever suiting His heavenly mercy to each one's earthly necessity, whether it were a Bartimeus, a Jairus, a Zaccheus, a Magdalen, a Mary, or even a mere "infant of days."

If we would learn what Jesus Christ was "yesterday," we may contemplate the scenes of Gethsemane and Calvary, which disclose Him as the Saviour, and which unfold the wondrous story of His self-sacrifice, when for our sakes He drank the bitter cup of suffering, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, that He might obtain an eternal redemption," and bring in an everlasting righteousness," and " save to the uttermost" all

them that believe.

We may note further the story of His resurrection as the Divine conqueror of death, and His ascension to glory as the intercessor and forerunner of His people, exalted to give gifts to men as the King, Priest, and Prophet of His Church.

We must scan His messages of mercy, which endear Him to us as the Promiser; His words of free welcome to "whosoever will;" His offers of a full forgiveness; His legacy of a peace such as the world can never give; and His announcement of the Holy Spirit's work as a Teacher, Remembrancer, Helper, Comforter and Guide.

Let us not forget to recall "that same night in which He was betrayed," and mark the feast of love, wherein He so touchingly bade His followers to hold Him in remembrance from age to age through the memorial symbols of the broken bread and the wine poured out.

We may glean further knowledge of what Jesus Christ was, if we pass on to the experience of the apostles and first Christians. They could attest, because they had tested His grace. "Christ crucified" was their theme. Christ was their hope, Christ their strength, Christ their head, Christ their life, Christ their all-in-all. "The love of Christ constraineth us," says Paul; and "I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord." "That which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life," says John, "declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us." "Unto you which believe," says Peter, "He is precious;" "Whom not having seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory."

Not

Consult the long roll of martyrs and confessors. only has Christ been to them so precious that they have esteemed His smile above all earthly favour, His service above all earthly comfort, and His glory above earthly life itself, but in the midst of their sufferings He has been so near to each and all of them,-from the dying Stephen and the imprisoned proto-missionaries at Philippi down to the Madagascar Christians of our own day,-that they have been able to sing in their dungeon, or to take joyfully the spoiling of their goods, or to lay down their life for His sake so peacefully that even the martyr's painful death has been a falling "asleep."

Do we ask again what Jesus Christ was "yesterday?” We obtain an answer, as with one consent, from eminent saints in all ages,―men like Rutherford, who could write of Him thus: "Oh, His weight, His worth, His sweetness, His overpassing beauty! If men and angels would come

and look to that great and princely One, their ebbness would never take up His depth, their narrowness would never comprehend His breadth, height, and length; if ten thousand worlds of angels were created, then might all tire themselves in wondering at His beauty, and begin to wonder anew."

Coming down to more ordinary experiences, we find one and the same to be the testimony of all His people, in all lands, in all times, and under all circumstances. With one accord they sing "Worthy the Lamb." With one accord they exalt Him as "the chief among ten thousand" and "the altogether lovely." With one accord they testify that He has never turned away a single penitent sinner, never disappointed a single believing hope, never suffered a single good word to fall to the ground of all that He has promised.

Lastly cannot some of us bear witness as to what we ourselves have found Him to be? Have we not known how sweet is the voice of His mercy, how cheering the sense of His presence, how sustaining the strength of His arm, how blessed a thing it is to hold communion with Him, to sit under His shadow with great delight, and to be brought into His banqueting-house while His banner over us is Love?

If in these various ways we catch some glimpses of what Jesus has been in time past, let us unite them together into one great argument for the encouraging of our souls. What He has been to us, what He has been to tens of thousands of believers, what He has been to martyrs and apostles, what He was in the "upper chamber," what He was in His promises, what He was in His resurrection and ascension, what He was in His sufferings and death, what He was through the whole of His earthly life,-all this in fulness of grace He still is, and all this He will continue to be world without end.

T. S. E.