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herself and those she leaves, if, though leaving us, she was not going to the one she loves best in all the world; one who has promised to meet her, the very moment the ship arrives; who doubtless will be waiting and watching for her; one she can trust as well as love; and so she goes without fear or sorrow to the unknown land where he is."

Mary's eyes glistened as he thus spoke of her husband; but there were others who could not repress a sigh.

Mr. Vernon added: "It seems to me that this explains why it was our Lord went away, and the words of comfort he spake to his disciples in their sorrow. There he is in heaven before us, ready to receive us. We cannot fear to go there, when we have such a Friend, so loving and so powerful, there waiting to meet and welcome us.

"Then John has been doing his very best to get a nice and comfortable home ready for his little wife, has he not ?” "That he has," answered a sister. "He has worked late and early to have it ready. He remembered all she liked, and tried to have everything to her mind. He is only sorry he was not rich enough to get a great many other nice things for her."

"Is not that just what Jesus, our Friend and Lord, is now doing? Another reason for his going away: 'I go to prepare a place for you.' It may be that we do not know a great deal of heaven; where and what it is; but we may well be content when we remember who it is that is preparing it for us. The God of power, the God of love, our Saviour and our Friend."

"I often think," said the old man, "that one little verse tells us plenty to satisfy any one as to what heaven is.” "What verse, my friend ?"

"Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when He shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.' With Jesus, and like him, would make heaven anywhere for any one who hates sin and loves the Saviour."

"That's true, indeed, dear friend; and it just takes us on

from

to another reason for his going away. It would be little good that he was preparing a heaven for us, if he were not preparing us for heaven. Mary would not like to go her home with old worn-out dirty clothes on herself and baby. Miss Emily was telling me this morning of all the new and pretty things she had been getting ready these past months. So with us and our heavenly home; only that preparation we cannot make for ourselves. Jesus says, 'It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart I will send Him unto you.' It is the blessed work of that Holy Ghost to teach us how deeply we have sinned against God; how full, and free, and complete a salvation has been provided for us, -God giving his only Son to bear the punishment that we deserved, to die instead of us. He brings us to that Saviour that our sins may all be washed away; He puts love to him, and longings after holiness, and power to serve and please him into our hearts, so that at times it seems as if heaven had begun on earth to the humble, loving, and trusting child. "He went away, too, that He might make intercession for us: you remember a verse that says so. 'Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.' How blessed to think of such a Friend in such a place! pleading for us with his Father and our Father, presenting his precious death as a satisfaction for all our offences, and sending all blessings out of the fulness of His grace!"

"We may well thank God and rejoice at our Lord's ascension."

"Yes, Mary; but not only for our sakes, but for His too. For another reason is given for his departure, 'Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into His glory? Surely that is but a selfish religion that will dwell with thankfulness on the birth and death of our Lord, and has no heart to rejoice in his ascension. He himself says: If ye loved me, ye would rejoice because I go unto my

:

Father.' The words have often touched my heart such a tender, gentle rebuke to those who share not in His joy; His work all finished, His sufferings all over, His sorrows all passed.

"Can there ever have been such an hour of rejoicing and of triumph in heaven before or since, as when He was welcomed back there, while the hosts of heaven sang,‘Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in! Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty; the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors, and the come in. Who is this King of glory? He is the King of glory.'

King of glory shall
The Lord of Hosts,

"Oh, heaven can never be a strange place to the child of God; it never can be hard to leave all to go there, for Jesus, our Lord and Saviour, is there before us."

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All Things.

E that giveth a talent will certainly give a mite: He that giveth "His Son" will also give salvation, will give all things that may work it out.

"He

that delivered His Son," is followed by the question, "How shall He not-How shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" It is impossible that it should be otherwise. Christ cometh not naked, but clothed with blessings. He cometh not empty, but with the riches of heaven ; the treasures of wisdom and happiness. Christ cometh not alone, but with troops of angels, with glorious promises and gifts. Nay, it is His nakedness that clothes us, His poverty that enriches us, His diminution that maketh us great, and His emptying of Himself that filleth us; and "His being delivered for us" delivereth to us the possession of all things.-Farindon.

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HE that follows the Lord fully, will find goodness and mercy following him continually.

If ever God had failed one who trusted in him, you might doubt; but he never has, therefore you should be confident.

God is to be trusted, but not to be tempted.

If the eye of thy faith is fixed upon God's Christ, the eye of his love is fixed upon your person.

Wherever you go, endeavour to carry with you a sense of God's presence, his holiness, and his love; it will preserve you from a thousand snares.

God's word is the best possible security; it is the unchangeable word of the unchangeable God.

Every event, rightly viewed, will furnish us with matter for prayer or praise.

If God has chosen our way, depend upon it, it is the best that could be chosen it may be rough, but it is right; it may be tedious, but it is safe.

While you disbelieve God's word, you cannot enjoy his love, nor walk comfortably in his ways.

God only carries his people when they cannot walk; he pities our weakness, but not our sloth.

He that walks uprightly before God, will walk honourably before men; and is safe in every place and condition.

The very thing men fear is often brought to pass by the means they use

to prevent it.

HRISTMAS was past, and the days were slowly lengthening, so slowly, however, that the factory girls, as they passed to their work in the chill of a damp January morning, said to each other that the days were colder and quite as dark as three weeks before. Certainly the streets of the city looked dreary enough in the grey, misty darkness, as, from church-tower, town-hall, and post-office, clock after clock rang out their six strokes, which were mingled everywhere with the sound of many a factory bell. The workers who thronged the streets were of all ages, from married women to girls of ten or twelve, some strong and active, some listless and careworn; but they passed in one wide stream from the damp, raw air of the street and factory-yard to rooms warmed and lighted, where soon each had taken her place, while the machinery took up its monotonous whirr just where it had left off the evening before. Midway in a row of girls near the door stood one whom a stranger would have been almost sure to notice, not for her good looks-for she was decidedly plainbut for the life and energy of her quick eyes and expressive mouth, and for the marked character of every look and action. She seemed a recognized leader among her companions. She it was who started the tunes which those near her took up; she it was who contrived numberless little bits of mischief when the overlooker was at a distance; and it was her whispered remarks and criticisms on any new hand which caused the suppressed laughter constantly to be heard in her neighbourhood.

Kate Roper was about seventeen years old; but, like many who have been obliged to make their own way in life, she was beyond her years in her knowledge of many of its worst and hardest features. She was an orphan. Her mother had been the good influence of her childhood, and love for her memory was the soft spot in Kate's heart; but that mother's death had left her, at ten years old, to the care

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