As Mr. Hall's eye glanced first around the room, with its elegant furniture and its beautiful pictures, and then on the conservatory outside the window, and on the well-kept garden beyond, he could not help feeling how much those words expressed, "I've lost my all!" Everything betokened substantial comfort, and even luxury. He remembered, too, that Mrs. Blanshard had always given liberally in proportion to her means, and that it had manifestly been a pleasure to her to give. Indeed, she was one of those from whom it is a pleasure to ask for the support of beneficent objects, because they give so cheerfully and ungrudgingly.

The poorest cottager cannot lose his all without a bitter pang; but the sense of desolation and ruin is deepened as people rise in the social scale, and become accustomed to the conveniences and elegances of life. They are less fitted to endure the privations of poverty than those who have been always poor; and besides, it is often felt to be a hard thing to be looked down upon by those with whom they have been wont to mingle on equal terms.

"It makes the thing more disastrous," Mrs. Blanshard continued, "that we are all involved,-my sons, and my daughters' husbands as well."

It may be readily imagined how difficult Mr. Hall felt it to administer consolation in such a wreck. He had not gone, however, without lifting up his heart in earnest prayer that he might be enabled to suggest appropriate thoughts, and that the Lord Jesus himself would comfort his sorrowing friend.

"I need not repeat to you, Mrs. Blanshard," he said, 'how deeply sorry I am on account of your trouble, and how sincerely I sympathize with you. Let me assure you that amongst all who know you with whom I have spoken, there is a deep feeling of heartfelt regret on your account. Numbers, too, who are personally strangers to you, and many who would scarcely venture to express their sympathy, sympathize with you most kindly."

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I am much obliged to them all, sir," she replied. "One needs at such a time all that the kindest Christian sympathy can give; for I thought that even before this stroke came, what with the loss of my dear husband, and some other troubles that you know about, my cup was quite full. Yet, much as I feel the kindness of my friends, I feel that it must all prove poor and unavailing without higher help. But there is now my difficulty. Oh, dear sir, I do find it

hard to trust in God's promises, and to believe that all is for the best."

"I hope, however, Mrs. Blanshard," said Mr. Hall, " you can say, like Job, The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away blessed be the name of the Lord.' We are apt, when we suffer through the mistakes or the wrong-doing of others, to think only of them as the immediate causes of our calamities; but we must see in them, above all, the hand of God. You have nothing in this matter with which to blame yourself. Your dear husband, on whose judgment you had so good a right to rely, thought he had made an excellent provision for you, and everything seemed to promise the continuance of comfort and prosperity. What has happened has come to you, then, plainly as the discipline of your heavenly Father."

"I feel all that, sir, in my better moments," was the reply; "but sometimes my heart rebels. Yet I do see that He who gave me all I ever had has a perfect right to resume any of his gifts. I learned to acknowledge that when he took my dear husband; and I hope I am learning to say it with all my heart, though it seems as though he were taking all. He will, I trust, bear with me and forgive me, though I am slow in learning it."

"Yet excuse me, Mrs. Blanshard," said Mr. Hall; "do

you not say too much when you say that you have lost your

all?"

"No, sir," she replied, not at first apprehending his meaning, "I really do not. For anything that I can seeincome, house, furniture, everything must go. But how stupid I am! I understand you now. Yes, you are right -the best remains."

"Our

"And what a comfort that is!" said her pastor. treasure in heaven is beyond the reach of harm. Neither moth nor rust can corrupt it, nor thieves break through and steal. If the apostle Paul could speak to you about your losses, he would very likely address to you some such words as those he addressed to the Corinthians, and say: 'Still all things are yours, whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours, and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's.' God is still your Father, and his ear is ever open to your cry. Jesus is still with you, the Holy Spirit is still your Comforter; and, looking up to heaven, you can still say, 'There is my everlasting home!'"

"I try to think of all that, sir, and I hope I can say I believe it all, and rejoice in it. My lot would be hard indeed if I could not."

"It seems to me," continued Mr. Hall, "that you are like a man who, travelling home to enter on the enjoyment of a rich inheritance, and having some rare jewels in his possession, is beset by robbers, and spoiled of everything except his jewels, which he kept so carefully concealed that the robbers could not find them. He is troubled by the annoyance and inconvenience occasioned by his loss; but he soon learns to treat it with comparative indifference, as he remembers that he has his jewels still, and that the inheritance to which he is going is untouched."

"No doubt, sir," said Mrs. Blanshard, "God has taken these earthly things from me, that I may set my affections more entirely on things above; and I trust that, through his blessing, such will be the result. I ought not to doubt. Oh for more faith !"

"Then, Mrs. Blanshard," said her pastor, "you must not look too gloomily even at present things. You have had good reason to trust in God's gracious providence, have you

not?"

"Indeed I have, sir. When my dear husband and I began life we had nothing beyond the furniture of our cottage and two pairs of hands, and strong hopes; yet, by God's blessing, we were enabled to bring up our family well, and to lay something by. Thank God, neither we nor our children ever wanted.'

"Nor do I believe you ever will want. Trust in God, and in some way or other, of which neither you nor I have any idea at present, your wants will be provided for.

You

remember the words of Jesus in reference to this very thing: Therefore take no thought-that is, no anxious thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (for after all these things do the Gentiles seek :) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of these things.'"*

After a little further conversation, Mr. Hall commended the poor widow, and all who were involved in the same calamity with her, to the loving care of God, entreating him at once to comfort their hearts and to supply all their need."

"I am afraid, sir," she said, when they rose up from their * Matt. vi. 31, 32.

knees, "that I have been very selfish. Here have I been thinking only of my own loss; and there are most likely many who are even more deeply afflicted and more desolate than I am.

وو

It was quite as Mrs. Blanshard feared. Everything she had barely sufficed to meet the claims made upon her by the official liquidators of the bank. Without any reserve, however, she relinquished all. But, unknown either to herself or any of her relatives, a few friends of her late husband made an offer on her behalf to the creditors of the bank for her household furniture. It was accepted; and they begged her to receive the furniture from them, as an expression both of their respect for her husband's memory and of their esteem for herself. They would have done still more; but her sons and sons-in-law, hearing of it, expressed their warmest thanks for their kind intentions, but entreated them to desist. Though they had lost considerably, and though their own establishments must be very greatly reduced, they resolved to take on themselves the cost of Mrs. Blanshard's maintenance. A small cottage was rented for her, as she preferred, if it were possible, having a home of her own, though it were an exceedingly humble one, to taking up her abode with any of her children. There she remained till her death.

Mr. Hall visited Mrs. Blanshard frequently after her reverse-more frequently, indeed, than in the days of her prosperity. Though as attentive to all his flock, rich and poor, as his numerous occupations would permit, he made a point of paying special attention to the afflicted and poor. Besides, he often said it was both a pleasure and a benefit to visit Mrs. Blanshard. The little four-roomed cottage, containing only such portions of her furniture as were needful to furnish it, contrasted sadly with her former abode; but she never murmured, and was always cheerful. She said, indeed, that she enjoyed the presence of Jesus there as she had never enjoyed it before. Unable to give to the poor and to the support of religious objects as she had been wont in former days, she said that as long as she was able she must endeavour to make up the deficiency by more earnest personal service; and many a desolate heart was comforted and gladdened by her visits. Beyond the circle of her family and intimate friends there were many very sorrowful mourners when she died.

KING SOLOMON: THE LESSONS OF HIS LIFE. THE history of a yet greater monarch strikingly, though differently, illustrates this point. The fall of Solomon, while possessing less of the tragic element, suggests far sadder thoughts than that of Saul. Nowhere more fully than in his career do we read the curse which hangs over men who fail to recognise and use aright their advantages. And this all the more that it was not in the loss of outward glory that his punishment lay; not in the spoliation of his kingdom, or in the dishonour of his crown; but in the man himself, in the debasement of his own life, and in the curse which he brought upon the nation. If Saul's career illustrates the words of our Lord, "From him that hath not shall be taken even that which he hath," Solomon's later life painfully suggests the lament of the prophet, "How is the gold become dim, the fine gold changed!"

We can readily imagine that the early training of the future king was in every respect an advantageous one. Не was probably placed at a tender age under the care of the prophet Nathan. His own testimony shows us that he must have had abundant opportunity of acquiring the very extensive knowledge which he possessed. Eastern princes have rarely been renowned for learning, but Solomon applied his heart to know wisdom. The praises of wisdom with which the Book of Proverbs abounds, as well as the wisdom of the proverbs themselves, bespeak a mind trained to observation and broadened by culture. The reverent spirit of his writings, and of the early part of his life, also show that the wisdom which he sought was not only secular learning, or the shrewd wisdom of the world, but the higher wisdom which begins with the fear of God, and which unfolds itself in a life conformed to his will.

What the home influence was to which he was subjected it is impossible to say with any certainty. The conditions of eastern life at that period were so different from our own, that we cannot illustrate the early life of an eastern prince by any of the aspects of modern life with which we are familiar. How far his mother exercised any influence upon his character, to what extent David superintended his education, are questions to which no reply can be given. We may, however, conclude that David took a special interest in *From "Christian Manliness: a Book of Examples and Principles for Young Men." Just published by the Religious Tract Society.