the penalty for our sins-it is not that; for nothing but Christ's blood can wash away our sins and obtain our forgiveness: but we should make use of it as a lesson to teach us to humble ourselves before God, and to seek Him, while still we have time for repentance.

There are many whose lives are so busy, so fully occupied by necessary labours, that they have little time for calmly thinking over all the evil they have done, and all the goodness God has shown them; but when He sends them sickness, God is reminding them how needful it is that they should think of these things, at the same time as He prevents them from doing anything else, and so compels them to rest for a time from their daily work. Many a one, no doubt, before now has found the use of weakness, and has gained strength for his soul by it; many a one has had cause to be thankful in another world that He has been laid low here; and you should try to be thankful that you are now weak, if only your weakness be the chosen means of leading you away from the world and bringing you closer to God. God has no pleasure in seeing His people in sorrow or misery, but He knows how soon prosperity, and health, and happiness, and success, may prove to be dangerous temptations, and He wishes above all things to save our souls. Whatever, then, may happen to you, try to bear patiently and willingly all that God sees

fit to send you, knowing that it was through weakness, and humiliation, and suffering, that our Lord Jesus Christ reached His glory; and that you may reach the joys of Heaven by the same way, if you will humbly submit yourself to the mighty hand of God, and pray Him to take you to Himself in His good time.

O

HEAVEN OUR HOME.

UR true home is Heaven. We speak of our homes on earth, we work hard to get or keep earthly homes, and we love them when we have them; but, after all, no earthly place can be home, for the home we all wish to reach is Heaven. Now, if we really do wish to win Heaven when we die, we should never lose sight of the fact that it is our home, and that we ought always so to behave ourselves as becomes dwellers in the city whose builder is God. We know how most men feel when they are living far away from their own land; how they long to return; how they are willing to work if they may bring nearer, but a year or two, the time when they will be able to leave the foreign country for ever, and go back to their home and friends; and we ought to look on our stay in this world in the same way. We

have our duties to do, we have to think of the needs of our families and friends, we have much business to take our attention; but these duties only can last for a time, and at length we must all go to the far country from which we shall never come again.

If we think what terrible news it would be for anyone who is away from his own country if he were told he must never see his country again, but must wander out his whole life far away from all he loves best, we may well understand how dreadful a fate it is which awaits those at the Day of Judgment, who will be told that they have done nothing to deserve to be received into their home in Heaven, but must pass an eternal life in the misery and darkness of Hell; yet so it must be for very many of those who now pass their lives in neglect of religion, in love of themselves rather than of God. On the other hand, it should be the greatest comfort for those who are now suffering from trouble or sickness, or who are bowed down with weakness and old age, to think that these things must soon have an end, that they are but strangers and pilgrims here, and that God is calling them to leave off caring over-much for earthly things, and to prepare themselves for that home which He is making ready to receive them. Surely, if we have any love for God, and if we truly hope and wish to live with Him when this life is ended, it is foolish-or rather, it is wicked

to live on here as if we cared nothing about what may become of this world.

We cannot, indeed, see into Heaven; we know little of the happiness which is there in store for God's servants; but we do know well that those who reach that blessed place will be free from all the vexations which beset this life, and will be at peace in the bosom of their Heavenly Father. Try, then, to win Heaven: let not the thought of your earthly condition hinder you from giving yourself up to God; remember that your treasure ought to be in Heaven, and that if your treasure be there, your heart must be there also; and if your heart be in Heaven, when you leave this world you will most truly be going home.

E

HOPE.

VERYONE in the world has troubles: one

man has them in his family, another in his business or trade, another in his health. Some have them in all of these, but no one is free from them altogether. No one can say how soon they may come, for he who has nothing but happiness to-day may have nothing but misery to-morrow; whilst he to whom all seems dark and gloomy today, may to-morrow have nothing but what is good and pleasant. But though all men at times

fall into trouble, God has provided a medicine which suits everyone, which never ought to fail of giving some ease and relief, and that medicine is hope. While we live, there is always some hope, either for this world or for the next; we are ourselves to blame if we put it away and refuse to take comfort. There are times when earthly hopes grow dim, when we seem to have lost all that is worth living for here; but those times are given us by God to make us value the far better and brighter hopes of Heaven.

We know that those with whom all goes right, and upon whom the hand of God has been lightly laid, are tempted to forget that they owe all the blessings they enjoy to His mercy, and that the day of death, which must be the end of all earthly joys and sorrows, will also bring the time for answering to God for all they have done here; and therefore, from time to time, God takes away some of the things which men most prize, in order to remind them that they must set their affections on things above, and not on the things of the earth, if they care for their souls: but He never takes away hope until life or reason leaves them. Of all the things which it is given to men to hope for, there is nothing to be compared with the hope of happiness in another world; not only because it will be a happiness which can never be disturbed by any cares or vexations, but because it will last for ever.