between heaven and earth;-it was impossible. The gracious answer came at once: 'This day shalt thou be with me in paradise.' In the morning, a felon; in the evening, he was in the paradise of God with the Saviour. There was no baptism in the case, and no Lord's supper, and neither was necessary to salvation."

Evidently, then, to the great question, “What must I do to be saved?" the grand and only answer still is, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." None who look to him in faith can miss salvation, and none who turn away from him can find it. Those so saved ever strive to keep all the enjoined ordinances of the Lord.

In Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.-GAL. vi. 15.

For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.-PHIL. iii. 3.

September 23.

MIGHTY AND WILLING TO SAVE.

OWEVER willing to save their fellows, men entirely lack the power. This is true even of the most gifted and gracious among them. But what is too hard for them is never too hard for their loving Lord; for he has a name above every name, and, being invested with a power that knows no limits, he can save to the very uttermost. Even when on earth he gave full evidence of this; for though thousands on thousands applied to him in all variety of circumstances and need, yet at no time was any trustful applicant ever put to shame. Nor is it otherwise

now.

Men may have gone to the utmost distance from God in estrangement of soul, or have sunk so low as to become visibly the very vilest of the vile, yet even then he can rescue.

Perhaps there are no two men in all history whose conversion would have been pronounced beforehand more certainly impossible than Manasseh and Saul of Tarsus; for the one was a man of blood and crime, and multiplied abomination, and the other a daring blasphemer, who persecuted to the death the saints of God. Nevertheless, aggravated as their guilt was, both became blessed monuments of redeeming mercy and power. Verily we should be slow to lose hope even in the worst of cases.

Dr. Krapf speaks of having on one occasion, when much cast down and wearied with the sottish blindness and dulness of the Wanica people, gone out by night and looked up to the starry heavens; and finding all his misgivings scattered by the flashing upon his mind of that text, "Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels, and authorities, and powers being made subject unto him "-" What!" he said to himself, "is this true, and I in doubt of his power to touch the hearts of the poor Wanica? Was not my heart as blind and unimpressed as theirs? and cannot the same divine power which wrought the saving change in my heart convert them also?"

Thou spakest in vision to thy Holy One, and saidst, I have laid help upon one that is mighty.-Ps. lxxxix. 19.

Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? this that is glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save.-ISA. lxiii. 1.

Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liyeth to make intercession for them.-HEB. vii. 25.

IN

September 24.

SUPPLIANTS ENCOURAGED.

N many cases, even when the form of prayer is maintained, its spirit, life, and quickening energy are wholly wanting. One main reason for this is simply the lack of faith in its prevailing efficacy. To meet this unhappy state of mind, our Lord does not only say, “Ask, and it shall be given; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you;" but adds the further cheering word, "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?" He appeals in these words to the fact that depraved as men's fallen nature is, the father spirit is yet strong within them. Indeed, very rarely, even in the vilest of our race, does love for their offspring completely die out; and in times of need their children instinctively rely on it. They feel sure, in making request, that they will not get a stone for bread, or for an egg a scorpion. Now if it is so even with sinful earthly parents, what may we not expect from our heavenly Father, if we only come to him in loving trustfulness; all the more as we are expressly told that he is not merely as willing as earthly parents, but infinitely more so, for thus runs the promise: "How much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?"

Whatever the defects in earthly parents, there are none in him. He is good, and only good; yea, so lovingly generous, that it is his very joy to be ever dispensing with large and ungrudging hand. But the grandest of all

manifestations of his goodness is the gift of his onlybegotten Son for our redemption. After a gift like this, what may his trusting children not expect? Verily, "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" Having so freely parted with the greater, how can he withhold the less?

What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.-MARK xi. 24.

If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.-JOHN iv. 10.

September 25.

A MYSTERY SOLVED.

WHEN the disciples, in trying to heal, fully realized

their utter helplessness, doubtless they communed much, both with themselves and one another, regarding it. As no light, however, was thereby thrown on the mystery that perplexed them, what could they do but just turn to the blessed Master himself and say, "Lord, why could not we cast him out?" It was well they did so well for themselves, well for us, and well for the whole Church of God in every age; for their question drew from the lips of Jesus one of the most precious of his manifold utterances. "Ye could not," he said, "because of your unbelief; for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto

you. Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting."

Now, in connection with the disciples two things must be noted as accounting for the failure here related-the one a special sin to which they yielded, the other a special duty in which they came short.

The special sin was unbelief. Not that they had no faith, for, with the exception of Judas, they were all true and living believers, and knew savingly the grace of God; but though they had faith, unbelief so largely mingled with it that, instead of being able to remove a mountain, they could scarcely lift a little stone from their path. In the very nature of things, where there is little faith there must be little power for any good work.

But besides coming short in faith, they came short also in prayer; for this is clearly implied in the added words of our Lord, "Howbeit this kind goeth not forth but by prayer and fasting." The word "kind" here used may mean the entire species of evil spirits, or it may mean the special kind of evil spirit which infested this child. The latter is the more probable meaning, and we may safely conclude that our Lord designed to indicate that for the expulsion of this sort more than usual spiritual vigour was required.

Now, whatever may be the nature of the fasting here spoken of in connection with prayer, whether literal or spiritual, or partly both, the great general lesson to be drawn is, that when there is any special case of evil to be dealt with, any marked conversion to be sought, or any great and peculiar temptation to be resisted and overcome, then mere ordinary supplication will not suffice. The speciality in the case demands speciality in the watch