regarding the Revelation: "My view of the Apocalypse is, that it was intended to be at once the chart, and the pole-star, and the light of the Christian Church over the stormy waves of time, until the great Pilot, who walketh upon the waters and stilleth the waves, should again give himself to the sinking ship, and make her his abode, his ark, his glory for ever."

When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.-COL. iii. 4.

For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's.ROM. xiv. 8.

June 28.

IT IS WELL TO REMEMBER WHAT WE ONCE WERE.

T

IT

has been beautifully said, "Write injuries in dust and kindnesses in marble;" but too often we reverse this, and remember what we should forget, and forget what we should remember. This is true even of God's children. They are prone to forget the loving-kindnesses of the Lord, to let fade from their memory the sin and misery in which they once were when he looked upon them in redeeming mercy; or, as Scripture presents it, they forget "the rock whence they were hewn, and the hole of the pit whence they were digged."

The imagery here employed, "the hole of the pit," fittingly sets forth their former condition of darkness, wretchedness, and helplessness, all of which are true and mournful characteristics of fallen humanity. The unsaved are like men in a deep pit, from which the light and comfort of day are entirely excluded. They sit in darkness

and in the shadow or death, without peace and joy, because wholly estranged from God.

Nor is their wretchedness greater than their helpless

ness.

When Joseph was cast into the pit by his murderous brethren, he could do nothing whatever for his own deliverance. Help must come from above, and from other hands than his own, else very speedily that pit must become his grave. So is it with all who are still in the

pit of corruption and sin.

They are not only without righteousness, but also utterly without strength.

But though there is no help in themselves, blessed be his name there is infinite help for them in the Lord. "Be thy sins never so great," says an old writer, "fear not to come: for he that calleth thee hath stretched out his arms of mercy at length; for they are wide open to receive thee; mercy is ready to all who will receive it, and to them that need it most, most ready."

Ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.-EPH. ii. 12.

He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.-Ps. xl. 2.

June 29.

IN SPITE OF BONDS, PRISON EXPERIENCES HAVE

WH

OFTEN BEEN BRIGHT.

HEN shut up in prison men are apt to settle down into a morbid melancholy, from which nothing can rouse them. Such, however, is the sweetly-sustaining power of grace, that even in closest imprisonments God's

saints have often had their most blessed enlargements of heart and soul.

This was strikingly seen in Philippi; for there, even in the darkest cell and at the dreariest hour of night, Paul and his companion were able to sing so loudly and cheerily that all the prisoners heard them. Nor is this strange, for it was not for any wrong they had done they were so confined, but solely and wholly for righteousness' sake. Men might condemn them, but their conscience did not, nor their Lord, and so they were at peace. It may be a terrible thing to suffer in a bad cause, as a thief or as a murderer, but to suffer as a Christian, in the best of causes, is a distinction and honour that even angels might covet.

Besides, however strong may be the bars of any prison where saints are lodged, they have never been able to keep out Christ. He may be rarely in palaces, but he has, in the fulness of loving sympathy and help, been many a blessed day and hour with his saints in prison when suffering for his name.

When in imprisonment in Aberdeen, Samuel Rutherford said: “No king is better provided for than I am. My chains are over-gilded with gold; for my Lord is kinder than ordinary, and cometh and visiteth my soul."

And so when Madame Guyon was imprisoned in the Castle of Vincennes, in 1695, she not only sang but wrote songs of praises to her God. "It sometimes seemed to me," she said, "as if I were a little bird which the Lord placed in a cage, and that I had nothing now to do but sing. The stones of my prison looked in my eyes like rubies. My heart was full of that joy which Thou givest

to them that love Thee, in the midst of the greatest

crosses.

"A little bird I am,

Shut from the fields of air,
And in my cage I sit and sing

To Him who placed me there;
Well pleased a prisoner to be,

Because, my God, it pleaseth thee."

If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you.-1 PETER iv. 14.

They departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.—Acts v. 41.

June 30.

HE WHO HAS A GOODLY HERITAGE MAY WELL HAVE A GLADSOME HEART.

WE like to see fertile fields, even when they belong to

another; but the pleasure is greatly intensified when we can call them our own. On this account, apart from the wrongness of the time and motive, when the man in the parable said, “I have bought a piece of ground, and must needs go and see it," he said what was both natural and reasonable, and what any other man would have said in similar circumstances. Indeed, for any one to acquire a property, and not go to see it, would indicate either that he had no interest in his purchase or that he regretted having made it.

"When

An inheritance we value we delight to survey. I look out of my manse window," said a valued friend, "I see, beyond the Forth, hills, fertile fields, plantations, and dwelling-houses. Suppose all were declared to be my inheritance, my property, and that as soon as the

I

title-deeds were made out I should be put in possession, I should then look on it with much greater interest. should direct my telescope to every part of the goodly inheritance, till I became familiar with each house and hedgerow."

Now, if it is so with us when looking at an earthly and perishable possession, how much more should we delight to contemplate the heavenly inheritance bought for us by our Lord with his own blood, and of which he will eternally be the light and glory-an inheritance not, as here, ours to-day and another's to-morrow, nor one partially freed from fretting cares. No; the inheritance awaiting us will be one without sadness or care of any kind, and our joy will be enhanced by the presence of all in Christ whom we have best known and loved on earth.

Such an inheritance may be too remote for unbelief, for it cannot see afar off; but happily not for faith, for it is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen. And therefore it can rejoice with joy unspeakable in all that the Lord has promised and will most surely provide.

"Remember," said Matthew Henry, "it is life eternal we have in our eye. Better be with a few in that land of the living, than with multitudes in the congregation of the dead."

In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.-JOHN xiv. 2, 3.

In thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.-Ps. xvi. 11.