And you have such an one, or you may have at any moment: for your heavenly Father careth for you,-careth for the souls for whom Christ died. Never say, "Nobody cares for me," while the Bible tells us of the love of the Father's heart, of the love lavished on His creatures, of the love which gave His only begotten Son to a cruel death, and spared Him not, that a guilty world might be saved from the consequences of its sin. Is there not a yearning tenderness in many of the Bible words which might well touch hearts of stone? You think all the trouble comes to you, and that you are friendless and forgotten in the midst of them; and you forget the words, "A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;" "a brother born for adversity," "a friend that sticketh closer than a brother." Jesus had compassion. The Lord said, "I have surely seen the affliction of my people, I have heard their cry, I know their sorrows." Words which might be multiplied indefinitely,-words which would surely refute your arguments as to a God "afar off," who takes no heed of the creatures of His hand. Words which have been proved true a thousand times over. It only remains to be asked, "Shall they be true for you?"

And this God, who speaks so tenderly, invites you into a place of refuge where you may know yourself safe though you see the storm raging around you; where, though you hear the strife of tongues and the clash of arms, you know your enemies cannot touch

you, "for His children shall have a place of refuge." "The name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous runneth into it and is safe." What is that name? Jehovah, Jesus,-Jesus our Almighty Saviour. Are you safe? Have you fled for refuge? Have you said

"Hide me, oh, my Saviour! hide,
Till the storm of life be past;"
"That, sheltered near Thy side,
I may my fierce accuser face,
And tell him Thou hast died."

Have you said

"Rock of ages, cleft for me,

Let me hide myself in thee."

We were staying up in the North once, in a beautiful part of the country where for miles together there appears a broad flat plain of table land, but where the rivers and streams run in deep gulleys and wooded dells, not to be seen until you get close to their precipitous sides; and where often when we thought we had but five minutes' walk across a field to reach a certain spot, we found we were separated from it by a lovely dell. There the railway passes by fine viaducts over many a " Deep dale," and there are beautiful spots which well repay exploration. We went one day by train to a place some miles off to enjoy the view. Arrived at the station we found ourselves considerably above the place we had come

to see, and judged that a good way to see it, at least in the first instance, was to go on to the very high viaduct near, and then find our way down by the side, and so up another way, according to the time we had. So we inquired our way thither, and whether we could go along the line, as that would save us a long round. Yes: we might go along 't line, they told us, in their broad north-country tongue, but we must take care 't train. And truly we saw such a caution was needed, as the single line was cut through the solid rock with no room to spare on either side, and had a train overtaken us, save in one or two places, there would have been great difficulty in avoiding danger. Whether we should have had presence of mind enough to cling to the rock was happily not tested, as we passed safely; but when the monster mineral train came puffing up the incline over the narrow viaduct and into the still narrower cutting, with its two powerful engines, we were thankful that we were well out of the way.

This walk of ours came into my mind in thinking over that beautiful little story, "Cling to the Rock, Johnnie," which tells of the danger of two little children playing in a similar cutting among the mountains of America. How as the train came on, whistling to warn them out of the way, the little sister caught up the boy of three, and placing him in a cleft of the ragged rock, in which there was only room for one, bid him "Cling to the rock;" then,

rushing across to the other side, had barely time to press herself against the opposite rock, and in her alarm for the child's safety, cried continually "Cling to the rock, Johnnie: cling to the rock!" Had he not clung to the rock he must have lost his foothold and perished. And here is another parable for us. And as I heard it strikingly made use of in a sermon lately; remember there is no safety for us save in the cleft of the Rock of ages: and, blessed be God, there is not room there for one only, but for all who will see their danger and cling to the Rock. My friends, are you clinging to the Rock? "And the Lord said, I will put thee in a cleft of the Rock."

There in that "secret place" may'st thou "abide"
"Quiet from fear of ill:" though all around
Fierce storms are raging, there so safely hide,

And feel that strength in sitting still is found.

II.

HARD TIMES.

"The burdens of life are too heavy, and its duties are too hard for any man to bear by himself alone."

"We can never so much as lay the dust under our feet with our tears; how then shall they soften the sharp stones that we tread on? Better look up to Him who trod the rough way for us, and He will brave up our heart to follow on after Him."

H

ARD times! It is a relative term; and what is for one a very hard time, another can afford to laugh at. And it is even so at different times of our lives. Overtaken by a trouble at one time, we are ready to despair, and say, "All these things are against me," while at another the very same trouble may seem just nothing at all. But which of us does not know something about hard times at some period of our lives? Whether from our own folly and indolence or rebellion, or from what seem to be unavoidable circumstances, we are brought into straits, and things seem to go hardly with us. From our childhood upwards, is not the murmur often heard, "It's very hard"? In poverty