them through the crowd, broke up the roof, and let them down into the presence of fortune and glory.

What we can do for our friends circumstantially is even exceeded by what we can do for them touching character. A German writer justly observes: "Esteem your brother to be good, and he is so. Confide in the half-virtuous man, and he becomes wholly virtuous. Encourage your pupil by the assumption that he possesses certain faculties, and they will be developed in him." In moral attainment and efficiency vicarious faith, working by love, avails much. We must remember this in dealing with children. Let your child know that you believe in him, that you are satisfied as to his capacity and ability for goodness, without prophesying smooth things anticipate good things, and you have gone a long way toward making him all you could wish him to be. Your faith makes it easy for the child to believe. In the treatment of young persons generally this canon of education must be followed. Esteem them to be good, confide in them, assume that they are genuine and sincere, and your faith on their behalf stimulates and saves them. In dealing with the lapsed never forget this secret. The morally impotent and palsied, the blind and crippled, the leprous and dying, are saved by hope, and our hope may kindle that of the most forlorn and despairing. Seeing our faith the shipwrecked brother, perchance, takes heart again, and struggles into that higher life our charity painted for him. In our intercourse with one another let us always proceed on these grounds of mutual faith, love, and hope. And there is nothing quixotic in this belief in and for one

another, in and for the worst. All men have a great capacity for salvation; and faith, sympathy, and sacrifice work wonders.

The very best way in which we can serve our fellows is to get them to Christ; believing in Him and in His power to save those who come to Him, let us despair of no one. Let us imitate the courage of these bearers of the sick of the palsy. They dared much, and their boldness and aggressiveness carried the day. Let us imitate the sympathy of this ambulance corps. Without a real love to men we shall never undertake anything desperate on their behalf. Let us emulate the sacrificial spirit of these helpers of the helpless. After Christ has borne the cross for us we ought not to shrink from any burden that implies the salvation of the lost. Finally, let us be instructed by the combination of these heroic friends in the interest of the palsied. "Borne of four." Co-operation goes far in the salvation of men. Parent, teacher, preacher, and friend must unite if salvation is to come to the house. Iron chests holding great treasure are sometimes secured by three or four locks, and it is only by the concurrence of those who hold the several keys that the chest can be opened. Thus again and again the treasures of grace are reached only as two or three agree in prayer and effort. When Epworth parsonage was burnt, the child John Wesley was saved through an upper window by neighbours who stood on each other's shoulders. Thus the soul itself is often a brand plucked from the burning by the combined sympathies, supplications, and sacrifices of those who have caught the spirit of the Master.

XLVIII

THE GRANDEUR AND GRACIOUSNESS OF GOD

For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. For I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth: for the spirit should fail before Me, and the souls which I have made.-ISA. lvii. 15, 16.

He is the supreme One. The "high and lofty One." He stands above nature, law, necessity, fate, power, destiny, and all other such names as men have been pleased to give to the world, its laws, and its forces. He stands above humanity, dominating us, whatever may be our power, pride, or wrath. He stands above the unknown world, and its principalities. "God over all.”

He is the unchangeable One. "Inhabiteth eternity.' The eternally dwelling One. The hoary sea is a morning dewdrop; the stars are glittering fireworks; and the earth itself a vapour.

They melt like mists the solid lands;

Like clouds they shape themselves and go.

But with our God is no shadow of turning. He transcends time and space.

He is the holy One. "Whose name is holy." The very essence of God's grandeur. The levity, lust, and cruelty of pagan paradises are unknown in the heaven of revelation. Its Deity is the just One, the true, the righteous, the good, the merciful.

How impossible to speak worthily of God! of Him who fills the universe with His glory! A little while ago a great painter went out to paint the sunset. He prepared his palette, but the sight was so beautiful that he waited to examine it better. All about the skies and hills were rich shadows, resplendent colours, purple flames, golden lustres. The painter waited, waited, absorbed by the vision of glory. Said his friend, impatiently, "Are you not going to begin?" "By-and-by," replied the artist. And so he waited, paralyzed by the splendour, until the sun was set and dark shadows fell upon the mountains. Then he shut up his paint-box and returned home. But if we faint thus in the presence of God's lower works, how impossible is it to speak adequately of Him whom no man hath seen nor can see! Yet it is well sometimes to recall the grandeur of God. Let us shun familiarities and sentimentalisms, and live in wonder and reverence. 2. The GRACIOUSNESS of God.

"With him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit." "God has two thrones," says an old writer; "one in the highest heaven, the other in the lowliest heart." He is not power only, not intellect only, but love, tenderness, sympathy. He comprehends all the pathos of human life. He is full of pity. He is

patient. He is ready to forgive. He waits to be gracious. He is Creator, Ruler, Judge, but Father always, full of mysterious sovereign love.

This thought is precious in the days of penitence. God is great and terrible in majesty, and in the days of repentance we think of Him and are troubled. We are afraid of His knowledge, holiness, and power. Our own heart condemns us, and He is greater than our heart and knoweth all things. Full of sin, shame, and misery we shrink from the glory of His Presence. In such times remember the latter part of the text: "I dwell with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones." He will moderate His anger; He will be gracious unto us. As the sun lifts. up the grass and flowers beaten by the storm, gently, caressingly, availingly, so the good Spirit comforts and raises the soul bruised and bowed down in penitence. Fear God, but do not be afraid of Him; take hold of His strength that you may make peace with Him, and you shall make peace.

The knowledge of the divine graciousness is precious, as it finds expression in all the education of the soul. "For I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth: for the spirit should fail before Me, and the souls which I have made." It is the same idea as that of the psalmist: "He will not always chide." In human training there is far too much chiding. The parent too often indulges in irritating, disheartening criticism. The schoolmaster succeeds, insisting chiefly on the pupil's forgetfulness and blundering. The apprenticeship of the youth leaves nothing unsaid about