"I saw you, my dear doctor, as chairman of the private meetings of the Congregational Union. I had not seen you since the occasion I have adverted to: your presence revived (it could not heighten) all my love and respect. Your rising to take leave was a sad blow to me, for I had intended, after the meeting and business was over, to have sought a moment's interview with you at Mrs. H—'s, at your leisure. I should have asked you to preach that sermon over again; or, if you cannot recollect the particular sermon, my request is that at all events you will incorporate the part I have related in another.

"God has given you, dear sir, many, many proofs of his blessing on your labours. Here is another. Here is another. I mention it from a desire that you may be refreshed by it in your work; and my reason for asking you to preach that sermon again, is the desire and confidence I have that it will again be blessed to some soul, or souls, for doubtless others beside myself must have profited.

"I do not withhold my name and address, because I should thereby be shutting myself out from the possibility of a line from yourself. That, however, is a favour I am far from asking, as I know the multiplicity of your engagements would render any such request unreasonable.

"That the son should bless the father, seems reversing the order of things; but you, my dear father, have taught me that I may pray for a blessing on you, and I do so now most sincerely.

I remain, my dear sir,

Yours,

Faithfully and gratefully,

J. L. W."

LUKE.

Youthful Disciples.

"In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight."-LUKE x. 21.

`HE new feature in the history of religion which had

THE

been foretold as characteristic of the Christian dispensation is here brought prominently to view. It was to be a universal religion, providing for the wants and wellbeing of the whole human race. While it overlooked no class of society, it poured its blessings in profusion upon those who were the most destitute. The poor and needy, whom all other religions, except the Jewish, disregarded, were especially sought out and befriended by the religion of Christ. It was among these that it found its first votaries and propagators. It sprang not from the high and mighty, thence to descend to the unlettered and despised; but began with the latter, and made its way by their means to the nobles and princes of the earth.

Who does not perceive in this fact proofs of the Divine wisdom and goodness worthy of the devoutest acknowledgment? And who would not seek, in his humble measure, to participate in the complacency of the Saviour whose spirit, in contemplation thereof, was filled with a joy that for one short hour dispersed by its radiance the clouds of sorrow in which he was enveloped.

The more seriously we reflect on the benign aspect and provisions of the gospel, the greater cause shall we find to love and adore its great Author, and the more deeply shall we feel the obligation that is laid upon us individually to fall in with his gracious designs. We shall seek to follow in the footsteps of the Master, who, when he first stood up to read in the Synagogue at Nazareth, found the place where it was written, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; who took little children in his arms, put his hands upon them and blessed them, and said rebukingly to his disciples, "Forbid them not to come unto me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven." When "the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying Hosanna to the Son of David, they were sore displeased, and said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise ?" The proud Pharisees were silenced by an appeal to their own Scriptures, and to the words of David, their king; but in their hearts they hated and despised this manifestation of infant homage. Let us take heed that we despise not one of these little ones.

The power of the Holy Spirit is never more magnified than when by his gracious influences, in connection with the word of God, very young persons are made recipients and dispensers in their measure of its most precious truths, as well as possessors of the most exalted hopes and aspirations. "The promise is unto you and to your children," and never, I believe, has that promise been pleaded in vain by any whose prayers have been accompanied by the diligent use of appointed instrumentality and the force of a holy example.

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On one occasion, when I was called to preach in the south-eastern part of England, I stayed at the house of a respectable family, where I witnessed a touching but most encouraging illustration of the power of the gospel to sustain and cheer a youthful sufferer under great affliction, and to fit him early for the skies.

He was the eldest child of my kind hosts, who from his birth had watched over him with a love that found its highest bliss in the thought that to them God had entrusted an immortal soul to be trained for heaven. His constitution was delicate from childhood, but he had manifested a lovely disposition and great docility, especially in relation to Divine things, with which his pious parents were intimately conversant. As the powers of his mind unfolded themselves, they took the greatest delight in watching their development, and both by instruction and example surrounded him with the holiest influences. He had been thus prepared for the visitation that overtook him at an early age.

When a child at school, and while playing with his companions, he sustained an injury in the back, which at first was thought to be slight, but which, after some time, resulted in hopeless disease of the spine, rendering it necessary for him to be placed in a horizontal position, in which he continued without knowing any change of posture for the period of nine years and six months. Amply, now, did he repay his fond parents for their tender and unwearied care; for although no greater calamity of a bodily kind could have befallen an active youth, it was in this instance, by the state of the sufferer's mind, divested of all sorrow and gloom, not only to himself but to all who saw him. Of course, every alleviation was afforded that affection could devise and supply. His couch was so constructed that he could be

drawn from one apartment to another with facility, and his attendants found all their labours made easy and delightful by the peace and tranquillity of his spirit, often rising to cheerfulness and joy. He had been so "nurtured" in Divine things that it is not presumptuous to say that the "good work" was begun in him by the Spirit of God before the corrupt nature had had time to form habits of evil: and that in consequence of this, no severe struggle was necessary to mark the change from "death unto life." But although the work was wrought so imperceptibly, its reality was not the less conspicuous. The fruits of the Spirit most. clearly prove His glorious indwelling, and these abounded in the life of this dear boy. Though so early deprived of the privileges of public worship, his thoughts often reverted to the time when he was taken by his parents to the house of God, and he would quote with feeling the words of a favourite hymn :—

"I have been there, and still would go ;

'Tis like a little heaven below."

His love for the Bible was very observable, and his memory was so well stored with hymns and sacred poems that he taught his nurse more than forty, in order that she might repeat them while dressing him. So far from being engrossed with his own sufferings and privations, he was deeply interested in all that concerned his friends. It was once said to him, "You make all our troubles yours." To this he quickly replied, "I ought to do so, I have none of my own." He was often asking the all-important question, "How can I glorify God?" And when he was told, "By passively enduring your affliction," he exclaimed, "Oh, if that be glori fying Him, I hope I shall lie here as long as I live." He was, however, permitted in other ways to bring honour to his Saviour. A young woman who lived in the family first