THE PRODIGAL SON.

AND he said, A certain man had two sons : And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living.

And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.

And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty amine in that land; and he began to be in want.

And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.

And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat and no man gave unto him.

And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!

I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.

And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.

And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.

But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:

And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it ; and let us eat, and be merry:

For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.-LUKE

XV. 11-24.

THE GOLDEN TEXT.

"The Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely."-Rev. xxii. 17.

"IN THE MIDST OF LIFE, WE ARE IN DEATH." It was Sunday, in one of our large manufacturing towns. Out of doors, a wild tempest of wind and rain was raging furiously, precluding, apparently, all possibility of venturing outside, even to the boldest and most hardy. Indoors, the prospect was more enticing-thick, soft carpets,

and superb blazing fires. Need I observe that I felt strongly disinclined for walking exercise? I had a class in a Sunday-school, and the time for setting out to join it had nearly arrived, unheeded by me, so entirely a matter of course it seemed, that it was out of the question to sally out into the storm and traverse the considerable distance which lay between my dwelling and the schoolhouse. I knew there was no very urgent necessity for my presence there, as my scholars could easily be drafted into another class for the time being, supposing any of them should brave the weather to present themselves, which I considered more than doubtful. Yet, some strange influence impelled me to go, in spite of inclination and apparent impossibility. It was in vain that I combated the feeling, and, listening to the wind howling in the chimney and the rain beating fiercely against the windows, assured myself it was folly to entertain the idea for a moment, and accordingly ensconced myself cosily by the fire with the Sunday Magazine. But I found myself utterly unable to rest or concentrate my attention, and the impulse grew so strong at length to go to the school, that I yielded to it and set forth, and after much struggling and buffeting with the storm and many vigorous rallyings, I contrived to reach my destination, fairly exhausted.

The class was waiting for me, and proved much larger than I expected to find it; but as I took my place, I perceived that it was augmented by the presence of a strange boy, so much older and taller than the rest, that I asked him if he would not prefer entering one more advanced. "No, thank you, ma'am," he replied; "if I can't stay in yours, I won't go into any other!" As he spoke, I fancied there was something in his face familiar to me, like a halfforgotten dream, and I asked him his name. "Charlie Stuart, ma'am ; and I was in your class here three years ago-I remember you well!" The name brought him back at once to my memory: I recollected him as a careless, happy-looking child, whose attention it was almost impossible to fix, and who never could be roused to take any special interest in what was taught him, yet always manifesting a decided attachment to myself. For some length of time I had lost sight of him. He informed me he had been for the last three years living in the country with his grandparents, but had now come to work in a factory, and on this particular Sunday morning had suddenly "taken the notion" to revisit the school, hoping to meet me, whom he had never forgotten. Just at that moment the superintendent came up, and laying his hand on the boy's shoulder, told him he had found his way into a class too young for him, and desired him to accompany him to one formed of boys nearer his own age. Charlie, however, promptly declined, and declared his intention, fixed and unalterable, of quitting the school immediately if he might not remain with me. Accordingly, after some further debate, he was allowed to take

ceeded. When I arrived at choosing a portion of Scripture on which to speak to the children, I felt unaccountably impelled to take up and dwell strongly on-in opposition to my previous intentions-Rev. xxii. 17 and 20: "The Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely... He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus."

Charlie, who up to this had seemed rather listless, became rivetted at once, and hung with almost breathless attention on my words. He asked many questions which surprised me, and proved how deeply he was interested. I had paused a moment, when he looked up and said, "Do you know, ma'am, I had a strange dream last night! I thought I was in a large field with the whole school. We were playing and romping about, and having a firstrate time of it, but suddenly, while I was standing, the rest of the children all disappeared, and presently I saw them going away down a lane, in a long procession for all the world like a funeral. I wanted to get out too, and go with them, because it was beginning to grow dark, and I wished to get home. But I couldn't get out !—no, I couldn't get out! I ran round the field and shouted, but no one came to help me, and there was no place to climb through; but where I thought the gate should have been I came upon an open grave, dug very deep, with the earth heaped up beside it, and a spade standing as if some one had left it ready to use again. Then I began to feel like a great horror coming over me, and shrieked and tossed my arms, but with that I woke and got myself in bed." I listened attentively to his little narrative, and commented on it. It made a great impression on me at the time. Charlie sat silent for a few minutes, then suddenly raising his eyes, with an expression in them of awe and solemnity which I never shall forget, he said in a low tone of thrilling earnestness, "I have made up my mind to accept that invitation you have been speaking of, ma'am. I will take the water of life, and then I can say, 'Even so, come, Lord Jesus.'' "Then hear the answer," I returned, with much emotion-"Him that cometh unto Me, I will in no wise cast out,' and 'He that heareth My words, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life.'"

At this juncture the superintendent's bell rang, as a signal for the lessons to cease and the school to be dismissed; but as we went out I urged Charlie, before we parted, to visit me during the week, which he promised to do. On the following Tuesday I went out to execute some shopping, and on my way home was overtaken by a shower so heavy, that I sought refuge from it in the office of an uncle of mine, near which I fortunately happened to be at the moment. My uncle and the shower detained me upwards of an hour, when the latter having

cleared off, I again set forth towards home. I noticed that a great many people were hurrying in the same direction as myself, and that they all appeared more or less. eager and excited. Wondering much what the cause might be, I quickened my own steps, and presently, on entering another street, found it so crowded that I turned into a shop, partly to inquire the cause, and partly to avoid the crush. I was informed that there had been an awful explosion in a neighbouring factory, and that nine men. and one boy had been killed in it. Instantly recognising the factory mentioned to be the same as that in which Charlie Stuart had told me he was engaged, I turned sick with the foreboding that my poor boy was amongst the sufferers, and the recollection of his singular dream flashed across my mind with the conviction that it had been a forecasting of the future. My fears were only too quickly verified. The building was reduced almost to a ruin, though the subsequent fire had been got under, and the dead bodies recovered, disfigured past identification. But the one boy who perished was proved to have been Charlie Stuart. It is impossible for me to describe the intense thankfulness of heart with which I recalled the events of the preceding Sunday-that our Heavenly Father had so graciously constrained me to go to the school; for I was convinced beyond a doubt that the dear boy had, through my unworthy instrumentality, been brought to "the knowledge of the truth, as it is in Jesus," and that though his passage through the "shining river " had been sharp and fiery, now he had entered into the "city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God"-no more to toil, nor hunger, nor thirst. It was as if I had obtained a glimpse of

PERHAPS no cry is more striking than that of the watercarrier. "The gift of God," he says, as he goes along with his water-skin on his shoulders. It is impossible to hear this cry without thinking of the Lord's words to the woman of Samaria, "If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water."—From "Ragged Life in Egypt.”