intercourse with them. We have an instance of this in the astonishment expressed by the Samaritan woman, that our Lord should speak to her. How is it,' said she, that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.'

"Wherefore, then, should this individual, of a nation abhorred by those whom Jesus was addressing, be selected by him as the representative of amiable and edifying conduct, in preference to the priest and the Levite, whom, as the ministers of their religion, they were accustomed to venerate and look up to? To show us that God is no respecter of persons, but in every nation, he that feareth Him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted of Him.'

"For this reason, as I conceive, was the Samaritan chosen as the representative of that conduct, and those feelings, which recommend a human being to the favour of God, and the good will of his fellow

creatures.

"Let us, therefore, my dear children and people, avoid all that narrow exclusiveness which looks wholly to self, as the priest and

the Levite did, and which passes by on the other side of every thing that may produce us trouble; and let us fix upon our hearts and memories, the sweet and sincere conduct of the Good Samaritan. • And on the morrow, when he departed, he took out twopence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again I will repay thee.' How simple, how unostentatious! how like a man who was doing his work as unto the Lord, and not as unto man! How instructive, not only as to the act of kindness, but as to the right way of performing it! How many are the occasions in life, where such conduct is needed! How lovely are those who practise it! Ah, these are amongst the Lord's hidden ones; little known and less cared for; for they are not to be found in the prominent places of the earth. The sick chamber, the abodes of suffering, and the valley of tears-these are their haunts. 'There they pour in the oil and the wine, there they bind up the wounds, there they pursue their Master's work in their Master's spirit, contented to suffer and to share in the burdens of those who suffer;

for suffering was the portion of Jesus, and suffering is that of his followers.'

"Precious suffering! how much it does for us which nothing else does! How it melts, how it tenders the heart! how it fertilizes every green and growing plant that the Heavenly Father has planted! Therefore, my dear family, whatever you pass by, never pass by an opportunity of sharing in the sorrows of your fellow-creatures. There is a nature, no doubt, in all of us, which resists sorrow, and would always, if it could, be found in the enjoyment of whatever this world has to give of joy; but this is a selfish, low, corrupt nature, which has nothing in it of the dignity that belongs to a renunciation of our own will and our own pleasure. It has been well described by a lovely-spirited Christian in these lines

*

'Self-love no grace in sorrow sees,
Consults her own peculiar ease,

'Tis all the bliss she knows;

But nobler aims true love employ;

In self-denial is her joy,

In suffering her repose.' '

* Madame Guion. See her Hymn entitled "The Joy of

the Cross," translated by Cowper.

Mr. Allen then closed the sacred volume, and concluded the morning's engagement with devout and earnest supplication, that the Holy Spirit of Him whose nature and whose name is Love, might open in all their hearts the lovely nature and tempers of the Redeemer of the world.

М

CHAPTER VIII.

VISITORS.

FROM the period of Gertrude's relapse, alluded to in the last chapter, she continued gradually declining, insomuch that the medical man who attended her could give no hope that she would ever recover from this long illness, although he believed it possible that she might linger some time; the nature of her complaint being usually slow in unfolding its results.

In order to alleviate her affliction with as much variation of scene and circumstance as possible, she had been brought down to a room on the ground floor, from whence she was daily removed for a longer or shorter time, as she was able to bear it, into the family apartment, where she reclined upon