and should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand, and also much cattle?"

Ah! Jonah, the lesson was not for you alone, but for heady, reckless, selfish, obstinate human nature everywhere.

If God were as strict to mark iniquity as man, where should we appear? We often speak of His justice, but God's justice is better than man's mercy. Not a sparrow falleth to the ground without his notice. The little dimpled arms of the Ninevite babies, stretching blindly out to him, took hold of his strength, and held back the blow. Nay, more than this, his loving kindness heard the bleating of the sheep, and the low of the unconscious kine, and for

"The young lambs bleating in the meadows,

The young birds chirping in the nest,

The young fawns playing with the shadows,
The young flowers blooming toward the west,"

he repented him of the evil, and spared the city.

In old time, a test question was, "Are you willing to be damned for the glory of God?" One rather inclines to ask some of our modern sons of thunder, "Are you willing that men should be saved for the glory of God?" It is difficult to believe that all will eventually be redeemed to holiness and happiness. So far as the Bible goes, if any one thing is therein clearly taught, both directly

and by implication, it seems to be that there is a limit to probation. But the more clearly this is seen to be a fact, the more terrible does it become; and when I hear the tone which is sometimes adopted in speaking of, and with, those who hold opposite opinions, I wish to ask, "Are you willing, my Orthodox brother, that the world should be saved? If, when you come to the gate of heaven, you should find the sacred portals flung wide open to all, would you not feel a little disappointed? Would Would your heart give one great bound of sudden and unlooked-for joy, or would your first thought be, "Well, well! here is a pretty dilemma! Everybody pressing in, and what is to become of my arguments and positions?" I suppose we are willing that men should go to heaven, but we wish them to go our way. So far as one may judge from appearances, if they will not go our way, some will not feel much satisfaction at seeing them there at all. We should be more disconcerted at the sudden discomfiture of our system, than we should be rejoiced at the accession of unlooked-for happiness. Jonah thought himself extremely orthodox. Armed with a special command, he felt quite secure in launching his denunciations right and left; and it did not in the least agree with his idea of the way things ought to be done, to have God strike in, and baffle all his calculations.

Blessed be God that he does strike in. Jonahs

may fret and fume and pout and sulk, but he will do of his own good pleasure. They cannot hold him back from mercy, though that mercy dash their theories to pieces. They cannot monopolize truth, and force all purchasers to their stall. They cannot barricade heaven, and refuse admittance to all whose passports are not viséd at their office. They may hew out turnpikes, and say to the Most High, "This is the way, walk ye in it"; but He that sitteth in the heavens is not confined by our boundary-lines. His path is in the great waters. His footsteps are not known. Are God's people willing in the day of his power?

-

O that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and speak and practise his loving-kindness! As the mantle of Elijah fell upon Elisha, so may the mantle of God's charity fall upon us, making us more gentle, and considerate, and kind, and thoughtful, and loving, that we may win back the wanderer, instead of driving him farther on in the by-ways of sin,—console the downcast, instead of adding to his despondency by harshness, -and in all things follow Him whose feet are beautiful upon the mountains, and whose messengers are anointed to preach good tidings unto the meek, to bind up the broken-hearted, to comfort all that mourn, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.

XI.

THE LAW OF CHRIST.

W

oxen.

E observed, not long since, a man, endeavoring to drive a load of wood into a neighboring yard. The team eved consisted of a horse and a pair of The yard was up-hill, the load was heavy, the horse balky, and the man furious; so, instead of "a long pull, a strong pull, and a pull altogether," they gave each a separate jerk in his own direction. The man passed from passion to profanity, the horse dashed right and left, the load. grew palpably heavier, and the yard more and more up-hill. Meanwhile, the patient oxen were the chief sufferers. They pulled with all their might whenever they had a chance, but the wilful, selfish horse backed and twisted and pawed, and prevented their exertions; and though all the drawing that was done was done by them, the long, fierce whip, in the hands of the enraged and indiscriminate driver, came down on the back of horse

and ox alike. It was a great pity. The task was not intolerable. One strong, steady, continuous effort would have accomplished it; but the selfishness of one member of the firm, and the injudiciousness of another, spoiled the whole. So the man shouted, and the whip cracked, and there was a great irritation, and the work was not done, after all.

Then through the din and discord came softly stealing the sweet words of Paul: "Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ." "Bear ye one another's burdens.” The way is long, and a troop passes over it continually. There is no point where we cannot find lamentation and weeping and great mourning. There are weary feet, feeble knees, bending shoulders, aching hearts. There are broken hopes, disappointed ambition, frustrated plans, mortified pride, wounded vanity, slighted love, delayed success, detected guilt, misplaced confidence, shallow affection, loneliness, poverty, shame, desolation, disease, death. these we can pass by with a sneer, with indifference, or contempt, or disgust, and so make the burden heavier. It is in our power, if we will, or if we are not careful to will otherwise, to give an added bitterness to the cup that already overflows. We can stand still, and keep back the helping hand, the encouraging smile, the reassuring tone, and thus make up-hill work for the struggling saint or the returning sinner. We can go further, and,

All