did. Peter gives us His whole biography in five words, "Who went about doing good." Doing good; that was the entire work of Jesus. Good, good, good! nothing but good! Good of all kinds, good at all times, good to all sorts of men. To be His real servants, then, we must distinguish ourselves by usefulness. We can do so. It is astonishing how much may be accomplished. We have before quoted Sydney Smith, we will borrow another thought of him. He argues that if we resolve to make one person in each day happy, in ten years we shall have made no less than three thousand six hundred and fifty happy! Is not the effort worth making? Let us try the experiment. It will not be in vain. Neither shall we go unrewarded. No bliss is like that which attends benevolence. It is said that on a certain occasion a Macedonian soldier led a mule laden with gold. The poor beast became so tired that it could hardly drag itself along. The soldier relieved it and bore the burden himself. Alexander the Great, seeing him, cried, "Carry it to thy tent; it is all thine." The incident contains a precious moral. Whenever we bear another's burden we enrich ourselves. The soul gets wealthy. Our hearts grow in that love which is "the fulfilling of the law.”

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A shadow is soon gone.-It cannot last long.. Speedily does it depart. My days are as a shadow that declineth." Life is short. Our sojourn on earth soon ends. As it has been quaintly put, all are travelling by express train. Some travel first, some second, and some third class. Our positions in society differ, but all stop at the same terminus-the station of death. My unsaved friend, lay this to heart. Do not trifle with the Gospel. Your opportunity of seeking salvation will be quickly gone. Make the best of it. Pray for pardon to-day. Without further procrastination, implore God's mercy. A certain artist requested permission to take the Queen's likeness. A time and place were fixed. When he came, he found, instead of Her Majesty, a message that, as he had not been punctual, she had gone, and should not return. The King of kings offers to give us His image. We may become like Him. But if we pass into eternity before the sublime process is begun, we shall discover our folly too late.

"Sinful wanderer! cease to roam.

Hark! thy Father calls thee home.
Jesus waits thy soul to save;

Now He bids thee mercy crave.

Now the Spirit's help is given

Thee to draw from earth to heaven:

Wilt thou not, with solemn vow,

Yield to God thy Saviour now !"

A WORD WITH AN ANXIOUS INQUIRER.

"How can I believe on Christ? My Bible tells me that I must believe on the Lord Jesus in order to be saved. What is saving faith, and how must I believe ?" If one reader of the VISITOR propounds these questions, there must be others who are perplexed with the same difficulty. In replying briefly to one, we may reach the others likewise.

Friend, have you tried to believe? As to the theory of faith, you have been informed probably very often; you may know already that faith in Jesus Christ comprises three thingsknowing about Christ, assenting to the claims of Christ, and trusting in Christ for salvation. So much for theory; but let me assure you that you never will fully understand faith till you practise it. Would your child ever learn how to walk in ten years if you were to keep him in a cradle, and to talk to him about the laws of equilibrium and the "centre of gravity?" No; you set the timid creature on the carpet and let him practise. He will get a few hard falls, but you pick him up and let him try again. Presently he can make a tour from the sofa to the door without a tumble. So Christ bids the weak, trembling sinner to come to Him. Your first attempts may bring spiritual falls and failures; but there is a more than motherly pity for your moral weakness, and an everlasting arm to help you up. Christ blesses and rewards immediate obedience. "Stretch forth thy hand," said He to the man whose arm was withered from the shoulder. He did not lecture the poor invalid on the nature of paralysis. He demanded obedience, the man obeyed, and his arm was restored whole as the other. One day of faith practised is worth a lifetime of faith explained and expounded.

If a Norwegian were to visit the island of Cuba, a friend there might attempt to describe to him a delicious fruit that grows on that island. He might tell his northern visitor that the fruit was globular, of a deep yellow tint, that it belonged to the genus citrus, that it grew on a tree of glossy green, &c., &c., and I question if the Norwegian would get a very definite idea of an orange. But let his Cuban host only lead him out to an orange grove, and bid him "lay hold" of the fruit for himself, and one moment of seeing and tasting would teach him more about an orange than an hour's botanical lecture. You must lay hold of Christ, and taste the sweetness of forgiving love, and receive the blessings of grace, if you would find out the nature of true faith. If your heart is stubborn and obstinate, cry unto God for His subduing grace. From Him cometh a power that can crush the most stubborn unbelief.

You inquire, "Can an unconverted person pray an acceptable prayer?" I answer that an unconverted man is one who never turned to God, and, while he refuses to turn, his prayer is a mockery. If you honestly admit the wickedness of your present heart, and, coming to Christ in sincere penitence, ask for a new heart, you will be answered. But if you continue to live on in admitted sin, and refuse to give your heart to God, you will never be regenerated through prayer, though you were on your knees for a century. What does God say? "Give me thy heart." "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him." It is when you return that you find mercy, not before. The prayer that you offer while on your way toward God He heareth; but the prayer of him who is deliberately pushing away from God in the path of sin is a mockery. You will "pray acceptably" when you give your heart to God; we dare not tell you that you can do so before.

"Oh! but," you cry out, "if you make me stop praying, you cut off all hope." Not so, friend. I only ask you to stop praying for impossibilities. I ask you to cease praying for a new heart while you hold fast to your old one-t e-to cease praying to be made a Christian while you are living as a sinner. I ask you to stop praying for faith while you refuse to believe. God never promised to save a man's life who swallows strychnine. Nor does He promise to save the sick soul that swallows Satan's anodynes, instead of accepting the spiritual remedies which the Saviour offers.

Finally, my troubled friend, if you are in earnest for the salvation of your soul; if you do, indeed, admit your personal guilt before God, and long for a better life, then take faith out of the cold regions of the head, and put it into the vital region of the heart. Cease to speculate, and begin to practise. You have lost time enough already. Every hour spent without abandoning sin and believing on Jesus is an hour wasted; worse still, it is an hour's additional guilt incurred. Those that tell you that the soul is wholly "passive" in the work of conversion mislead you. Bartimeus was active in coming to Christ, active in praying to Him for restoration of sight, voluntary in submitting to be cured; but in receiving the miraculous gift of sight he was indeed "passive," for he could not be otherwise. When you do for your blind and depraved heart what Bartimeus did for his blind eyes, you will soon be found, like him, rejoicing, and following Jesus in the way."

THE LOVED AND LOST.

"THE loved and lost!" why do we call them lost?
Because we miss them from our outward road.
God's unseen angel o'er their pathway cross'd,
Looked on us all, and loving them the most,
Straightway relieved them from life's weary load.

They are not lost; they are within the door
That shuts out loss and every hurtful thing—
With angels bright, and loved ones gone before,
In their Redeemer's presence evermore,

And God Himself their Lord, their Judge, their King.

And this we call a loss! O selfish sorrow

Of selfish hearts! O we of little faith!

Let us look round, some argument to borrow,
Why we in patience should await the morrow
That surely must succeed the night of death.

Ay, look upon this dreary desert path,

The thorns and thistles whereso'er we turn; What trials and what tears, what wrongs and wrath, What struggles and what strife the journey hath! They have escaped from these; and lo! we mourn.

A poor wayfarer, leading by the hand

A little child, had halted by the well,

To wash from off his feet the clinging sand,
And tell the tired boy of that bright land

Where, his long journey past, they longed to dwell.

When lo! the Lord, who many mansions had,
Drew near and looked upon the suffering twain ;
Then pitying spake, "Give me the little lad;
In strength renewed, and glorious beauty clad,
I'll bring him with me when I come again."

Did she make answer selfishly and wrong

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Nay, but the woes I feel he too must share!"
Or rather, bursting into grateful song,
She went her way rejoicing, and made strong

To struggle on, since she was freed from care.

We will do likewise. Death hath made no breach
In love and sympathy, in hope and trust;
No outward sigh or sound our ears can reach ;
But there's an inward, spiritual speech

That greets us still, though mortal tongues be dust.

It bids us do the work that they laid down-
Take up the song where they broke off the strain;
So journeying till we reach the heavenly town,
Where are laid up our treasures and our crown,
And our lost loved ones will be found again.

HINTS TO YOUNG CONVERTS.

1. Consecrate yourself to Christ completely. Time, talents, opportunities, powers of body and mind, are all to be given to Him.

2. The grand daily question of life is to be, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do ?" The smallest, as well as the greatest matters, are all to be settled by it.

3. Never pick and choose among the commandments of God.

4. To learn duty, read the precepts of the Bible in the light of an earnest piety.

5. Never let mere want of feeling hinder you from following out a plain path of duty. If duty calls, follow, and let feeling alone.

6. Never be afraid or ashamed to say "No."

7. Hold up your light bravely, though it be but a rushlight. 8. Let nothing hinder daily reading of the Bible with prayer. 9. Do not examine too closely your own heart and motives. It is like a child, pulling up a plant by the roots, in order to see whether it is growing. Rather place your soul where the beams of the Sun of Righteousness, and the dews of the Holy Spirit may fall upon it daily, and you will grow in grace inevitably.

10. Speak to the impenitent of Christ and His salvation. Remember the care, the prayers, and the effort bestowed upon you. But remember, too, that the life is more powerful than mere words. "This ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone." Let the two-words and life-agree; so shall your influence be great.

11. See to it that your religion makes you a better son or daughter, a better clerk, a better student, a better friend, a better workman. 66 By their fruits ye shall know them." 12. Strive to show forth the beauty of holiness," by sympathy, by courtesy, by a delicate appreciation of other's feelings, by a constant forgetfulness of self.

13. Do not set yourself up as a standard. Shun all censoriousness, especially towards older Christians, who may not look at things just as you do. Remember that each one "to his own Master standeth or falleth," and not to you.

14. Let nothing keep you from the Saviour. Never be tempted to stay away from Him by unbelieving doubts, by past neglect, by present fear, by anything. Remember the "faithful saying," "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." Be more intimate with Him than with any earthly friend.