towns, so with village life, that in many cases is a disgrace to humanity. So with strikes, their causes and consequences. Unless, as disciples and churches, we grapple with these things, and help men to better their condition, the interest of life to many will flow in channels that are not sacred. They will think that their true friends are not in the Father's house, but elsewhere. Can any thought more effectively drive them away from the Father's house. and the Father's children? In the days of His ministry Jesus let men know that he had something for them, therefore they came to Him in the Temple. Be it ours to tread in His footsteps. Then shall we know the blessedness of bearing men's sorrows, and carrying their griefs. Then shall we know the blessedness of sitting in heavenly places with Christ Jesus, when, after a week's service, we tell Him on the Sabbath all that we have done and all that we have taught. Only so can we comply with the condition of presenting an acceptable gift, for (to repeat our main thought) only those who keep close to men during the week can draw near their Heavenly Father on the Sabbath. J. MELLOR. Newcastle, Staff. THE LORD'S SUPPER. SUCH is the apostolic designation of the most solemn and impressive ceremonial of the Christian Church. That it is an appropriate and sufficient designation we see no reason to doubt. To us it seems incomparably better than such words as Sacrament, Sacrifice, or Eucharist. In its essence, the Lord's Supper is a Memorial Service; and attendance upon it is a fitting expression of love to our Divine Master, of gratitude for the saving benefits we receive through and from Him, and of our solemn resolve faithfully to serve Him so long as we sojourn on the earth. The elements used are simply bread and wine. What these elements are when placed on the table that they remain, whatever words are uttered when setting them apart for this sacred purpose. We have not the slightest reason to suppose that any change took place in the elements used by our Lord and His disciples when the Supper was instituted in the upper room at Jerusalem; nor have we any for believing or fancying that either change or addition accompanies what is called "the consecration of the elements" in the present day. When our Lord said of the bread, "This is My body," and of the wine," This is My blood," He doubtless meant that they were the symbolic representations of that spiritual nourishment which is necessary to the health of the soul, and its growth in holi ness. The same truth is beautifully set before us in these words (John xv. 4, 5), I am the vine, ye are the branches. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, no more can ye except ye abide in Me." To understand the words, "This is My body,"-" This is My blood," literally, as some profess to do, is to countenance the absurd and utterly untenable notion, that the cravings of man's spiritual nature can be satisfied by that which is material; a notion as directly opposed to reason, and to the whole tenor of the Christian Scriptures, as can well be imagined. "It is the Spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing; the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life" (John vi. 63). Our Lord is present when His followers assemble to take the Holy Supper, just as He is present wherever two or three are gathered together in His name for any other Christian purpose; and He is more or less consciously present to each spirit, just as each is more or less fitted for communion with Him. The injunction of our Master is, "This do in remembrance of Me;" and when assembled at His table we may meditate with special interest and profit on His divine offices as Prophet, Priest, and King in His Church; on the depth of His voluntary humiliation, the perfect purity of His life and character, the fulness and strength of His love, the sublimity and moral excellence of His teaching, the completeness of His sacrifice, the Divine grandeur of His conquests, the glory of His exaltation, and the prevalence of His intercession. At the Lord's table, if anywhere, Christians should feel that they are brethren; and here, if anywhere," the communion of saints" should be enjoyed. Why, then, is there in some Churches so much stiff, cold formality at the Lord's table? Why is there no friendly and affectionate recognition of each other on the part of those who partake of the same bread at the same board, either during the service or at its close. ? Surely such a state of things cannot be pleasing to the Master of the Feast, who says to all of us, “Ye are brethren," "Love one another." Dollar, N.B. T. BRADSHAW. ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS. THESE be grand words: "I have no objection to prayer, for I believe in it, but I do object to death-bed repentance. I have made it a rule of my life to live each day as if it were going to be my last. In the heat of politics I may have sometimes forgotten myself, but I am no better to-day on my death-bed than I have tried to be every day of my life, and I have no special preparations to make, and no special pleas to offer." So said Alexander Stephens as death approached, and Dr. Irvin wanted to read a chapter in the Bible and have prayer. Mr. Stephens believed God would accept integrity of purpose in lieu of great achievements, and make larger allowance for our sins than we make for one another's. Conscious of his failings, he was conscious of the abounding grace of his God. As the poet says, so said Mr. Stephens :— "I know not where those islands lift Their fronded palms in air; I only know I cannot drift Beyond His love and care. And so beside the silent sea THE LOVE OF CHRIST. "We love Him, because He first loved us." THOU loved'st me, O gracious Lord, 'Tis written in Thy faithful Word, The pain, the shame Thou didst endure Lord, I believe, I am most sure, 'Twas all for guilty me. And, through Thy blood and agony, I'm reconciled to God; My guilt is fully cleansed away, Oft do I wonder, O my God, Why Thou didst love me so; Yet e'en love's mystery is sweet, And I would love Thee, too, O Lord, Since Thou hast first loved me; VOL. LXXXVI. E. T. man. HUMAN PLANTING AND DIVINE Blessing. A VERY little earnest thought makes clear to us that God in a marked degree approves of godly training of the young, and bestows upon it, in special abundance, His blessing. He blesses our labours amongst the aged by saving a few that have grown old and hard in sin. He sometimes regenerates a man when he is old. Blessed be His name; for He, in the salvation of such, shows that His patience is not exhausted; that His mercy is not closed; that the saving power of His seeking love is not thwarted; and that our labours, and prayers, and cares are not rendered useless by the deeply-rooted habits, and prejudices, and tastes of a sinful old Yet, there are many, many facts which make it most obvious that God chiefly rewards our care for the conversion of the young. The facts which make this manifest are such as these, that very few aged persons are converted, and only few in middle life, and that not many are converted between the ages of fifteen and twenty-one, and that most of those we win to Christ are under fifteen years of age. There are other facts, such as these: that it is with few exceptions young Christians that become missionaries and ministers, leaders and local preachers, Sunday-school teachers, superintendents and secretaries, members of our Churches, workers in them, and faithful contributors to their support and their enterprises. Amongst other facts there are these, that by our evangelistic efforts amongst men and women there are not as many souls added to our Churches as were once added by them. Our most flourishing and influential Churches of to-day are almost entirely the results of spiritual care of the young. If the young were not united to our Churches they would rapidly diminish. Out of these important facts shine with all the brightness of a midday sun in a blue summer sky, the truth that whilst God blesses all faithful labours for the conversion of souls, He blesses most commonly and most copiously our work amongst the young. The reason of this is not outside our knowledge. We make a grave mistake if we think God appoints unsuitable means, and equally blesses seasonable and unseasonable agency. God brings failure upon unskilful agriculture, government, workmanship, education of children, Church arrangements, and missionary enterprises. It is a manifest part of the Divine order, a conspicuous principle of the Divine government, that God blesses most richly most suitable and seasonable agency. He gives the sweetest and most beautiful flowers and most delicious fruit in abundance to skilful care of saplings. He gives the most robust body as a reward to the most skilful physical training of our children. God gives the most vigorous abilities and the most useful acquirements to early skilful self-culture. A large fat flock of sheep is His reward of skilful care of lambs. The means God institutes are always exactly and adequately adapted to their ends. The Gospel as a means, preaching as an agency, are perfectly fit for their purpose. The men God calls to a particular service are always suited for it. For serving their generation according to the will of God, patriarchs, prophets, psalmists, apostles, translators of the Bible, reformers, and many others, were pre-eminently suitable. Young souls, the souls of our children, are spiritual plants. To come within the Divine order, we must plant them in the house of the Lord. It is easy to see that there is a Divine propriety in the large blessing that God gives to planting them in His house. Look first at the adaptableness of childhood. Young plants are most easily transplanted, because their roots quickly take to new soil. The chief difficulty in transplanting a full-grown tree lies in its root having with its many long fingers tenaciously gripped the soil, and tightly enclasped large stones or small rocks. When large trees are transplanted, however much skill and success attend their transplanting, they are thrown back for two or three years. It is young fishes and birds and animals that are most easily naturalised in a foreign country. A child can much more effectually adapt himself than a man. Young shoots are most easily and readily grafted. To a new climate a child becomes more quickly accustomed than a The fingers of a child, the voice of a child, the mind of a child, are much more flexible than those of a young man. New habits, new manners, new tastes, are most rapidly formed by a child. The sooner we begin to prepare for a business or profession for which we have native aptitudes, the more happily and usefully and successfully we follow it. In the presence of the lesson and light of these great facts, do we not both feel and see that to obtain God's full approval and richest blessing, we must plant our children in the house of the Lord whilst they retain their adaptableness. It must be most imprudent and perilous to postpone our best efforts to graft souls into the True Vine until they have become stiff and hard. man. Receptiveness is another special element in childhood favourable to its being planted in the House of the Lord. A capacity for receiving impressions is a most important characteristic of childhood. It is during childhood that the soul receives most impressions, the most fruitful impressions; and the most lasting impressions. A child-soul is like wax to receive, like marble to retain. We, perhaps, never lose the whole of our receptiveness; but it lessens year by year. It is largest at the opening of life; it is |