behind; for how often has their salvation been instrumentally brought about by the death of those they most fondly loved! How many can testify to this from their own experience! The death of a parent, a child, or other loved one, has not unfrequently been the means, in the Spirit's hand, of gathering in a whole family to the Lord.

When mourning an early removal, we should remember that God sometimes shows his kindness to his own by taking them away from the evil to come. "God takes There is rich com

True, to the eye of

them soonest whom he loveth best."
fort in this to bereaved mourners.
sense, the sickness of their loved ones was unto death; but
to faith, how different! Instead of being unto death, it
was unto life; yea, a richer, fuller life than ever before
enjoyed.

"A voice is heard on earth of kinsmen weeping
The loss of one they love;

But he is gone where the redeemed are keeping
A festival above."

For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I wot not. For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better.-PHIL. i. 21-23.

October 9.

SOMETIMES THE MOST HOPEFUL OF SYMPTOMS IS
A CLOSED LIP.

So long as they are callous and impenitent, men usually

are very free in their utterance and self-justifying.

When grace, however, begins to operate, it is very different. They then become still before the Lord, and open not their mouth. Not a word of self-defence, or of artful

palliation, or of murmuring complaint, is ever whispered by them. If they open their lips at all, it is to say, with Ezra of old, "O my God, I am ashamed, and blush to lift up my face unto thee;" or, with the publican, “God be merciful to me a sinner.”

Now, a closing of the lip like this is always a hopeful token, yea, a sure sign of awakened thought and begun contrition, and when witnessed in saints it is not unfrequently a blessed mark of ripening grace. When the son of Jesse was under the chastening hand of God, much as he felt the stroke, yet he neither excused himself nor accused the Lord, but bowed before him in sweet submission and holy silence. "I was dumb," he said, "I opened not my mouth; because thou didst it." So, too, was it with Aaron, the high priest, when his two sons, Nadab and Abihu, were struck down at the altar, because of their sin in offering strange fire before the Lord. We cannot well conceive a sorer or more crushing affliction, owing to the closeness of the relationship and the solemnity of the event. Yet such was his holy, unmurmuring submission that, even in the depth of his sorrow, "he held his peace."

Many, it is true, hold their rather in amazement and

Such an attainment is rare. peace in affliction, but it is sullenness than in true and sweet submission. Though the tongue is silent, the heart is clamorous, and "there is no voice louder than a speechless repining of the soul." But in true submission, the heart is silent as well as the lip. It owns God's sovereignty, feels its deep unworthiness, and longs rather to have the chastening sanctified than removed; anything rather than to be let alone in sin.

Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.-Ps. xlvi. 10.

I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; because thou didst it.-Ps. xxxix. 9.

It is the Lord: let him do what seemeth him good.-1 SAM. iii. 18.

IF

October 10.

A TRUE GOSPEL MINISTRY IS A CHOICE

HEAVENLY GIFT.

F men do not destroy the wheat to get rid of the tares, so neither should they set aside the true in spiritual service in order to get rid of the false. It should not be forgotten that if, on the one hand, there is no greater curse than a dead ministry, who neither preach the gospel nor live it, there is, on the other hand, no greater or richer blessing than a living ministry orderly set up, Spirit-quickened and Spirit-owned. Indeed, it is one of Heaven's choicest gifts to men; for thousands and tens of thousands in every age have thereby been savingly brought to the Lord; yea, and sweetly sustained in their pilgrimage heavenward.

It is true, in themselves ministers are but earthen vessels, easily broken, and with many a chip and flaw; nevertheless, it is golden treasure they carry and saving work they do. It is on this account that the apostle says so earnestly, "Know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake." "The great Head of the Church," says one, "has ordained three grand repositories of his truth: in the Scriptures he has preserved it by his providence against all hostile attacks; in the

hearts of Christians he has maintained it by the almighty energy of his Spirit, even under every outward token of general apostasy; and in the Christian ministry he has deposited the treasure in earthen vessels, for the edification and enriching of the Church in successive ages.'

But as even the most gifted of labourers can do nothing of themselves without the constant presence and power of the Spirit of God,-for," Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man ?"-they should ever be specially remembered at a throne of grace. "Pray for your ministers," said a saintly man, "that they may be made faithful and wise stewards. Whether they plant or water, learn not to despise any of the true servants of God. Are all apostles? are all prophets? He hath appointed some to stand at the door, and some to break the children's bread: despise neither."

And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.-EPH. iv. 11, 12.

Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine.-1 TIM. v. 17.

October 11.

BEWARE OF UNCERTAIN THINGS.

USUALLY riches are least true to those who trust

in them most: hence Paul's words to Timothy, "Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy;"

and the no less striking words of Solomon, "Riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven." Who is not familiar with examples of this among all classes, and in every variety of circum stances? Can any man," says an old writer, “say that the wild-fowl in his grounds are his, which suddenly take wing and fly away and for a while make a stay in another man's field, and thereby give a little property to the second, as they did to the first? No more can any man call riches truly his which, like winged birds, are ever shifting their owners."

But riches are not more fleeting than unsatisfying. We are told of the wise king of Israel that he withheld not his heart from any joy that riches could yield; yet he emphatically declared in the end that all was "vanity and vexation of spirit." Indeed, outward things never yield less than when we press them most; and this is wisely ordered, for otherwise riches would often fatally ensnare. Very solemn are our Lord's words, "How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!" Doubtless it is possible,-for, like Abraham, some of the saintliest of believers have been among the richest; but it is difficult, for great wealth from its very nature strongly tempts us to minister to the flesh rather than to the Spirit, and to foster earthliness and unbelief, to the serious peril of the soul.

It is a startling fact that eighteen centuries ago, when the Son of God was on the earth, while the common people heard him gladly, the rich and the mighty, with rare exceptions, turned to him a deaf ear. The very thought of this might well moderate the eagerness with which all are so apt to seek higher social position and greater wealth.