that He is the true Saviour, able and willing to save all who come. Of course, it means an earnest looking unto Him as our only hope and help, the lifting to Him of the suppliant eye, the breathing to Him the penitential prayer, and the sending out of the heart to lay hold on Him and His word of promise. We are indeed weak, unworthy, inapt, and helpless; but that is no barrier. The more we feel our want the more tender and urgent His invitations are; and His Spirit is ever with His word to help our infirmities and to further our prayers. The sick and wasted child, stricken with death and speechless, can still cast an imploring look into the face of its watching mother; and so may we, even from our deepest extremities, look to Jesus and be saved.

Dear friends, these are precious Gospel truths,truths upon which hang the only abiding peace of burdened souls,-truths which it is a happiness to be privileged to declare,-truths which we should all rejoice in and eagerly embrace. What, indeed, could be more worthy of welcome to sinners such as we?

Are you sorrowful, then, sick of soul, and laden with unhappiness? Is your heart heavy and sad over blasted hopes, or a life wasted in folly? Have you found it a weariness to live, your way overclouded, your heart ready to despair? This Lenten Season brings a word for you. It is the word of Jesus. He speaks it to you. His heart yearns to comfort and help you. And His word to you is, "Come unto Me, and I will give you rest."

Have you been a backslider-an unfaithful servant—a truant from the school of Christ? Has the world allured you from your sacred vows, and silenced your devotions? Have you made a wreck of your once joyful faith, and drifted away from God, and church, and piety? Is your soul burdened with the sad retrospect? And would you really find forgiveness and restoration? Look to the merciful Jesus. His word is to you: "Come unto Me, and I will give you rest."

Or, are you of those who have till now been neglectful of God and indifferent to the things that make for eternal peace? Has Mammon, pleasure, vanity, been your God, monopolizing your worship, absorbing your powers, wasting your energies, and destroying your life? Do you realize how much of a sinner you are, without God and without hope in the world, unable to think of death and eternity without painful misgivings? And is it your honest wish to find shelter and peace for your neglected and needy soul when God shall call you hence? Look to Jesus. His word is to you: "Come unto Me, and I will give you rest."

Thus, then, the message is delivered. God help the hearers of it to take it to their hearts, that they may not fail of the rest that is in Jesus!

Satanic Siftings.

First Sunday in Lent.

And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not.-LUKE 22:31, 32.

S

OME people are pleased to make a jest of Satan, and do not believe there is a Devil. Even Christian believers do not

always sufficiently consider how much they are exposed to the malignant and treacherous wiles and instigations of this evil spirit. The Gospel for to-day speaks of him as a subtle tempter, who even assaulted the holy Christ and sought to destroy Him; and here the Saviour tells of his desire to compass the ruin of the Apostle Peter. It was this evil being who beguiled our first parents, and brought sin into the world, with all its mischiefs. The Bible represents him as a murderer, a liar, and the primal source of all wickedness and untruth. He it is who interferes with the effect of the divine word on men's hearts, who sows tares among the wheat,-who takes on the garb of an angel of light to mislead, deceive, and destroy. And quite a different world

ours would be, if it were not for the doings of this foul enemy of all good.

In the text the Saviour tells of his desiring and asking to have Peter in his power, especially on account of his prominence and bold professions, that he might try and test him.

It was thus that he desired to have Job, because that venerable patriarch was esteemed "a perfect and upright man, one that feared God and eschewed evil." The motive was purely malicious, meaning to put these men to the test, to buffet and try them, claiming that their piety was selfish or hypocritical, and would soon give way if subjected to his rigid sifting.

And a most dangerous foe he is, because of his great intelligence, subtlety, and might. He is an archangel fallen, a leader of revolt that depopulated a part of heaven, a dark and unseen spirit, the head of an empire of evil spirits, having direct access to our minds and hearts, and capable of affecting us from without and from within. The mass of the world's population is more or less under his dominion and control, and he is largely potent in all its history and elements. He has allies in the depravity that lurks in our own nature, and can readily stir up evil thoughts and passions, as well as foment sore temptations from without. There is scarcely an agency or motive by which men are moved which he cannot use to turn souls from God and righteousness.

He is indeed under bonds. He could not touch Job without divine permission, and was obliged

to stop where God commanded him to stop. He had to ask consent to sift Peter. And the Lord Almighty could easily make an utter end of him, as He one day will. But, in the present stage of the divine economies, Satan is allowed to exercise his subtle and malicious power, though in measure curbed, that those who are so minded may, by divine grace, resist and overcome him.

Candidates for favors need to be tested, that they may prove their fitness to receive them. Untried virtue is always uncertain. People must be made to show what they really are, in order to righteous promotion. And as we are called by the Gospel to very exalted dignities and honors, it is but just that our faith and devotion should be put to the test to prove our fidelity and dutifulness. Though the danger is that some will utterly fail, it is due to those who have in them the grace and strength of steadfastness to have the chance. to show the fact.

Besides, there are many fruitful vines which need purging in order to full fruitfulness. There are husks, and chaff, and light grains, and noxious. seeds, mingled with the best of wheat, which only close and trying sifting and winnowing can remove. Trials are not an unmitigated misfortune. Even temporary failures under trial may be the means of correcting errors, helping the good, and strengthening steadfastness. Sore temptation, though for the time it may sadly shake and cloud the Christian's integrity, is often the very best thing that can happen to him. The sifting of