The strong men in this world have been strong, not in their own heart, but in their reliance upon something higher and stronger than that. You must get at the heart to find the spring and power of nobleness; but when you get at it, the strength is not there; it comes from something higher. So there is great force in the words of the Psalmist: "When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that is higher than I”— feeling as though when the heart went, everything went. The intellect may become dim, but we can wait till the light breaks through it; our moral purposes may grow weak, but we can try to do better; but when the heart is overwhelmed—the timid, shrinking heart-when sorrow comes upon us, when the daylight of God's goodness darkens and blackens, and the heart seems gone, then we must cry, "Lead me to the rock that is higher than I." Yes, that is a grand prayer— is there a man who does not need to utter it? Is there a man who can say, "I am contented with earthly good, I am strong in my resources, I need nothing higher than myself?"

"Lead me to the rock." It is the fittest comparison in the world. There are times when we need shade like the shadow of a great rock. Prosperity, I think, is the greatest trial that a man can go through-worse than adversity. The trial of faith in prosperity is terrible. We talk of trial in trouble. That is the time faith is born. Look at those who have the most faith, and they are not those who have the most hap

piness. That poor old widow, wrapped in her weeds, who has laid her last son in the grave, what a beautiful faith she has, burning like an eternal lamp in the sepulcher of the loved ones! That heart that has been scarred and crushed, only holds its trust more firmly in the Infinite. But the man who has been fed and crammed with worldly good is often prone to say, "Who is God, that I should praise him?" If man knew his danger, while he would thank God for prosperity, he would pray always, "In my prosperity and happiness be with me, like a rock that is higher than I, and give me a cool and sanctifying shadow."

Then there are times when we need a rock for shelter. When troubles, cares, and oppositions come upon us, and we find ourselves unable to withstand them, we need something like a rock to cover us. When pelts too fiercely the storm, and too great a torrent of sorrow is poured out upon us, then we need the shelter of a rock that is higher than we.

There are times, too, when we need something like a rock, upon which we can lean. Our friends are passing away, disappointments come upon us, we are re-. minded of the mutability of human life; we want something solid, like a rock, to support us, a foundation for the soul to stand upon. Wealth is uncertain; we want something enduring-something that can not be shaken or removed.

There is a great deal of significance in the saying of the ancient mathematician, that if he had a point upon

which he could place his lever, he could move the world. If a man can get one fact, and not the semblance of a fact, he can move the world. We want something solid, something high, that shall lift us up above all transitoriness-something strong, upon which we can depend. And when changes come, as they will, when death's touch is upon us, making us to feel that our hold on earth is giving way, then shall we not pray, "Lead me to the rock that is higher than I!" Now and ever, in joy and sorrow, in good and evil, while we are in life and strength, let us cling to that sure support; and when earth itself is dissolving beneath our feet, let us look up with steadfast hope to the Rock that is higher than we.

CONCEPTIONS OF RELIGION.

I

What went ye out into the wilderness to see?-Matt. xi. 7.

TAKE these words in their connection with the

three or four verses following, in which the same question is reiterated. They were addressed, you will remember, to the multitude, after certain messengers whom John the Baptist sent to Jesus had accomplished their mission and retired; and the repeated question refers to that great preacher and reformer. Our Saviour asks the people for what purpose they had flocked to the ministry of John. Was it merely to see a reed shaken by the wind that they had gone out into the wilderness of Jordan? And he inquires again, Was it to see a man clothed in soft raiment? And again, Was it to see only a prophet? Each of these questions implied a negative answer, and Jesus goes on to say, "A prophet? yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet; for this is he of whom it is written, Behold 1 send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee." And then he proceeds to unfold the proper character of John, and his intimate relations to the expected Messiah.