you leave behind a night of which freedom's foes eagerly avail themselves. Where men are deprived of it, they are soon deprived of their rights also. Its blessed truths are so opposed to tyranny, that despots forbid its entrance into their dominions. Speech is gagged, thought is thwarted, independent action is almost impossible in its absence. Contrast England, faulty and wicked though it is, with Spain or with the Papal States, and the difference is visible at a mere glance. Why such a distinction? Because the former have, and the latter have not, the wide circulation of the Scriptures. Well might Garibaldi say, as he held up the sacred volume, "This is the sword with which to liberate Italy."

Perhaps the reader has heard of the testimony which our beloved Queen once bore to the worth of Holy Writ in regard to the temporal interests of England. Some African princes having visited our country, were struck with the evidences of prosperity which almost everywhere abounded. They wished to know the secret of it all, and asked her to explain it. She sent them a copy of God's Word, with a message to this effect-"Here is the source of Britain's greatness." Few of us will be disposed to question the correctness of the royal reasoning.

What is thus true of men collectively, is true of them individually. Reverence for the Old and New Testaments will secure earthly as well as heavenly blessings.

Is health a blessing? The Bible bids us give heed to it. In no disparaging terms did the Saviour refer to our bodily nature. On the contrary, "he spake of the temple of his body." He who lives virtuously and temperately, according to the laws of the Bible, is likely to keep a healthy mind in a healthy body.

it.

Is education a blessing?-The Bible enjoins us to secure "That the soul be without knowledge is not good." "Every prudent man dealeth with knowledge." "Give attention to reading." Again and again are we told to "meditate," "search," "think," "consider," "ponder," "remember." If minds are not well trained, it is not because the importance thereof is overlooked in the "lively oracles."

Is commercial success a blessing ?-The Bible does not disdain to show the method of its attainment. There is no better guide to safe and lawful prosperity than the Book of Proverbs. It has been well called "inspired common

sense." Immense riches may not be the result of obedience to the commands of revelation; but its tendency is to put men beyond the reach of want and anxiety. Many a one who is now ruined would have been kept from disaster and failure if he had been a diligent scholar of God's Word. Industry, integrity, perseverance, prudence, dependence on Providence these are staves in the ladder of true secular progress, and they are all enforced by Scripture.

But there is a far more important sense in which the Bible is our defence. It secures safety of soul. It guards us from the foes of our highest interests. For example: safety from condemnation is one of its blessings. Future and eternal ruin must be ours except we are pardoned. Unforgiven sin will drag any man down to hopeless perdition. Reason and revelation alike tell us that mercy is our first want. Is there mercy for us? If so, how can we get it? Questions of deepest interest to the whole world, and questions which only the Scriptures can answer! Take the Bible away, and there is no reply to our inquiries but a mocking, hollow echo. It is fashionable now-a-days for certain teachers to point to nature, assuring us that she gives us all the religious knowledge that we need. Oh, miserable delusion! Woe unto us if we had but her help! Not that she is useless as an instructor. She tells right eloquently of the Divine power and wisdom, righteousness and goodness; but she has no clear, distinct promise concerning the remission of sins. If, burdened with an intolerable sense of guilt, you beseech skies and stars, seas and suns, to say whether there is salvation for you, they cannot return a satisfactory response. Indeed, there is much in creation which seems to encourage despair rather than hope. There are birds and beasts of prey; there are horrible earthquakes, volcanoes, pestilences, tempests, in which thousands of lives are suddenly destroyed: surely these do not speak much of God's grace. does? The Bible. It is a revelation to the fallen, whereas nature speaks mainly to the unfallen. The gospel cries, "There is forgiveness with thee." "God is rich in mercy." "He is not willing that any should perish." It gives us the matchless story of redeeming love,

"How guiltless blood for guilty man was shed,
How He who bore in heaven the second name
Had not on earth whereon to lay his head."

What

It reveals the sacrifice of Jesus as the foundation of our peace, and says, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us."

Were this all that the sacred volume did for us, we should be laid under perpetual obligation to it.

But there is security of a yet higher nature which it offers us. It not only stanches the wound and removes the pain, it also destroys the dire disease which is at the root of our misery and danger. A certain Jew formed a design to poison Luther; but he was baffled by a faithful friend of the latter, who sent him a portrait of his enemy with a warning against him. By this the reformer knew the murderer, and escaped his hands. Such a faithful friend have we all in the Bible. Threatened with destruction by sin, it gives us the power of protecting ourselves against it. This it does by bidding us seek the renewing influences of the Holy Spirit. Once let the heart get under its power, and the affections being right, all else will eventually be right. There was profound wisdom in the advice of Solomon, "Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life." Yes, "the issues of life," good or evil, are out of the heart. Where the love of a human being goes, his whole naturebody, soul, spirit-will soon go also; where the former keeps away the latter will not be found. "Whom having not seen we love," is the explanation of every Christian's life. Temptation is conquered, self-denial practised, work done, difficulty overcome, through the force of gratitude to him who died for us. Fervent attachment to the Saviour invariably produces willingness to obey him. "Set your affections on things above," is a command soon obeyed by those who have set their affections on him who is above. Not more poetic than truthful were the words of a pious Hindu. Witnessing a display of fireworks, he touched the shoulder of a missionary who stood near, and said, “Do you see that rocket? As long as it burns it goes up, up, up towards the sky; but when the fire goes out it comes down, down, down to the earth. It is so with us. While the flame of love to Christ is alive within we go up, up, up to the very gates of heaven, in peace, purity, and joy; but when it dies out we come down, down, down to sin and worldliness."

Again, if the Bible defends us from sin, it also affords us comfort in sorrow. What a remarkable tribute is unconsciously paid to it by the fact that it is the grand resort

As

and refuge of all in time of trouble. Those who never read it at other seasons fly anxiously to it then. has been well said, "When the traveller starts by the railway, on a bright summer day, his attention is drawn to the friends who stand to bid him good-bye; and as the train moves on more and more rapidly, the mile-posts seem racing past him, and the objects in the far distance seem quickly to change their places, moving off the scene almost as soon as they have been observed. At length the long train like some vast serpent, hissing as it moves swiftly along, plunges underground. The bright sun is suddenly lost; but the traveller's eye observes, for the first time perhaps, the carriage lamp." God's promises are like that light. The traveller has them always, but too often he does not notice them. Let trial come, however, and he sees and cherishes them. Let scoffers say what they may about it, this old book is the unfailing solace of the afflicted when all other springs of consolation are dry.

When the writer visited the Tower of London he saw much that interested him. There were venerable relics of antiquity in grim casque and chain armour; there was the tragic evidence of barbaric days in cruel implements of torture, used upon hapless heretics; there were the magnificent regalia of England, studded with flashing stones and sparkling gems. But though these things were curious and splendid, one thing eclipsed them. On the wall of a narrow, dismal dungeon, in which some unfortunate creature had been forced to pine away his life, was the following verse, scratched rudely with a nail : "He that endureth to the end shall be saved." Poor prisoner, how our souls yearn in brotherly pity for thee! Who of us would not have rejoiced to lessen the griefs of thy captivity, by looks and language of compassion? But what we cannot do this grand old book did. Weary and sick at heart, the promise of God sustained him. Nor is this an exceptional case. The bereaved, the sick, the disappointed, the forsaken, find themselves, as by an invisible magnet, drawn to the volume which more than all others has "the oil of joy for mourning." The experience of David has been that of thousands: Unless thy law had been my delight, I should have perished in mine affliction."

Thus is the Bible man's great protection. It guards us from temporal ills and eternal woes. Two or three thoughts arise out of this glorious fact. Surely the book that can do all

this must be divine. In the present day a fierce onslaught is made against Christianity in general, and the Old and New Testament in particular. As when besiegers attacked a castle in olden times, they sought to make themselves masters of the keep, because it was the enemy's stronghold, so, and for the same reason, the foes of religion assail the Bible. The cry of the adversary now is that the book is human-merely the production of devout genius—a volume full of beauty and instruction, but not inspired more than any. other. The best refutation is a practical one :-If this book is merely human, how comes it to pass that it is unequalled in power to strengthen and console? Were it only of man's creation, it is reasonable to suppose that it would not be the only one of the same order. Why should not the same power which produced this work produce others as good? "No man can do the miracles that thou doest except God be with him," said Nicodemus. "No book can do the moral miracles that thou doest except God be with it," we may well say to the Bible.

Moreover, if this wonderful volume can do so much, ought we not to read it? During the persecution of the Covenanters, one of Claverhouse's dragoons overtook an old woman who was going to celebrate, in secret the Lord's Supper. Being suspicious, he stopped her, and demanded to know where she was going. "I am going to hear my elder brother's will read," was her reply. Christ is the Elder Brother of his people, and the Scriptures contain his will. What a testament! The wealth therein bequeathed to us no words can describe. Earth's glories fade and the treasures of life grow valueless in comparison with it. Then let us read the will. Here is our title to everything worth possessing for eternity. Be it ours to examine it.

It must never be forgotten, however, that we need and may have help in reading it. The Spirit that inspired it is promised to those who ask. Prone to misunderstand God's word, our minds fallible at best, our judgment often mistaken, we require Divine help. Very different does the Bible seem to him who has, and to him who has not this most gracious Quickener. Go outside a church, and look at one of its painted windows. There is no beauty in it. Go inside when the sun is shining, and then what lovely colours, distinct outlines, striking figures, appear on those panes ! It is so with the window of revealed truth. Without the