termed the art and machinery of lighter literature, in any feeble attempts to exalt the Saviour and to illustrate the glorious doctrines of the Cross. The writer has felt this responsibility sometimes pressing heavily upon him: but he has not shrunk from it. He does not shrink

from it now. He trusts he has never written a line certainly he has not wilfully done soto lower the standard of Christian morality, to misrepresent the proper and legitimate effects of heart religion, of faith, and love, and hope, or to pander to false tastes and puerile fancies. And he thinks that even those who are “fathers” and "of full age" in the family of Christ, and who have their senses exercised so as to prefer the "strong meat" of the Gospel, will not turn with utter distaste from the mental diet, which, perhaps, is more suited to the capacities of others who are "babes in Christ," and "have need of

66 THESE FORTY YEARS."

PART 1.

"THESE forty years."

"Thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.

One, whose head was sprinkled with gray hairs, and on whose brow were marks of mature age, and care, and thoughtfulness, sat with his Bible before him in the twilight of a spring evening, and read these words; and then he rose and walked slowly to the window of his apartment, and looked out.

In the dim light his eyes rested on a pleasant scene-a grassy lawn-a belt of shrubbery-a walled garden-parterres of flowers beneath his window-the turnpike road in the distance-green fields beyond.

Within was comfort: a fire burned brightly in the polished grate; the carpet was soft beneath his feet; the furniture of the room was almost rich;

Deut. viii. 2.

B

book-cases reached from floor to ceiling, filled with well-bound volumes; on the walls of the room were paintings of some value; on the marble mantel-shelf were ornamental statuettes ;-all told of wealth, at least of easy circumstances; and told truly, for Mr. Stuart was a prosperous man.

The twilight hour is favourable for musing; and in solitude many thoughts find their way into the mind, and many memories are conjured up.

"These forty years !" -Thus ran the current of Mr. Stuart's self-communings-"God led them in the wilderness, to humble them and to prove them.

"These forty years I have been led. God has led me, too. Let me remember.

"Forty years ago I left my father's house. It was a home of struggling poverty, but a peaceful home, nevertheless. I remember what my mother said when we parted-how she warned me against the snares of a great city, and implored me to ' remember my Creator in the days of my youth.'

"I remember, too, when my father put the single solitary guinea into my hand, how he bade me keep up a good resolution, and bravely perform my part in the world, and not be cast down by difficulties; how he wished for me, if it were God's will, that I might be more prosperous than he had been; but beyond and above all, that I might be kept from evil, and have a conscience void of offence towards God and towards men. This was forty

years ago.

"I remember, too, how sad and desolate I felt when I first commenced my struggles in life in that.great that. great warehouse in the city a stranger among strangers-an awkward, inexperienced, and sensitive youth of fifteen, exposed to the various humours of clerks and warehousemen, who looked down upon me with contempt and scorn; how I was hurried hither and thither without respite; and how, when my hard day's work was done, I crept into my poor resting-place, and wet my hard pillow with many tears. This was forty years ago.

"I remember how I strove to do my best, without much apparent success, and felt that my employer looked coldly upon me. I remember, especially, how one day he took me to task severely for some blunder I had made, and threatened to dismiss me if it were repeated. I remember thinking him unjust and unfeeling, and how a hasty reply rose to my lips, and how difficult it was to restrain it. Ah! if these words had been uttered, how different my after course might have been!

"I remember-now at the distance of forty years-what closed my lips then. It was the thought of my care-worn, toil-worn parents at home, and of younger brothers and sisters who were looking to me, perhaps, for future help in their onward course: it was the commandment of my father, and the law of my mother, and the conviction that the words were true words, and

worthy to be noted-A soft answer turneth away wrath but grievous words stir up anger."*

"I remember what a rich reward I had in my own bosom, when, a few hours afterwards, my employer came up to me and apologized for his hasty words, which he felt I had not merited; and bade me persevere in my industry, and predicted that I had in me the materials of which men of the right sort were made. I remember how these words encouraged me.

and

"I remember how I was laughed at and sneered at by and -, when they made the discovery that I kept my little pocket Biblemy parents' gift-in my sleeping-place, and how every night and morning I read a few verses of it, and how I slept with it under my pillow. I have a very vivid remembrance of the feelings which overpowered me with indignation when they tossed my Bible to and fro like a ball, while they laughed at my distress, and called me bitter names. While they were in the midst of their sport, and I of my misery, a young man interfered, and took my part, and compelled my persecutors to restore to me the Bible, and then spoke kindly to me. I have cause to remember this; for my unexpected ally had never before spoken kindly to me, but roughly and arbitrarily but he was never rough to me after that, but always stood my friend, for the short time he continued in the warehouse.

"I remember, when I had been in London a

* Prov. xv. 1.

H