shepherd, or a labouring man-the Bible gives us the history of many people who were employed in such occupations of a country life.

In the book of Judges we read of a man of the name of Gideon, who was first a thresher, and afterwards became a great Captain. While busily employed with his flail, he received a message from God by an angel. It is well to be found diligent in the business of our callings, whatever these may be; and God has often graciously manifested himself to those who were thus occupied, and given them peculiar tokens of his favour. He did so to Gideon, as you will see if you turn to the passage, which you may read, and notice particularly the account that is given of the miracle of the fleece of wool. Gideon, it would seem, was a cautious humble man, and he went to God and said, "If thou wilt save Israel by my hand, as thou hast said, behold I will put a fleece of wool on the floor; and if the dew be on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the earth beside, then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said. And it was so; for he rose up early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece together, and wringed the dew out of the fleece, a bowl-full of water. And Gideon said unto God, Let not thine anger be hot against me, and I will speak but this once let me prove, I pray thee, but this once with the fleece; let it now be dry only on the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew. And God did so that very night; for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground."-Judges, vi. 36.

These wonderful signs were intended to strengthen the mind of Gideon for the important charge that was entrusted to him; but besides this, the signs themselves had a great deal of meaning in them, and the key or explanation of this we find in the peculiar character and history of the Jews. This people had been chosen

to preserve the knowledge of God's name and worship in the world, while all the nations around them lay in darkness and the shadow of death. "Jehovah" was as the dew unto Israel," whilst every other spot was dry indeed. Yet Gideon seems not to have been entirely satisfied with the first sign that was given him, and he entreated that it might be repeated in another form, in order that he might be more sure of its truthjust you know, if you have been taught arithmetic, as, in doing some of the rules, when we want to prove the sum, we try it back the opposite way. The request was granted; and the second miracle pointed out the condition of the Jews, when, for their obstinancy, they were to be forsaken of God, who thus shewed that the dew of the Gospel should be made to descend upon the Gentile ground, while the Jewish fleece would be left dry.

But laying aside for the present this first meaning of the miracle, don't you think that we could find amongst the people we see about us every day, a variety of cases in which the same appearances are as plainly shown? Let us try this; and first in some cases where the dew is on the fleece, while the ground about it is quite dry.

The late Lady of Woodroof Cottage kept four servants.-ANNE the housemaid was much given to the secret stealing of small quantities of tea, sugar, butter, &c. and really looked upon this as a sort of right to which she was entitled. She was once, too, almost found out in having concealed and given to her sister one of her mistress's morning caps, which she pretended had been eaten by the pig, as it lay bleaching on the grass. JANE the cook, was a sad wasteful servant, to say nothing worse of her. Many a good saucepan had by her neglect been burnt to pieces on the

kitchen fire, and not a few good potatoes were daily thrown into the dunghill. She had besides, a wonderful set of idle fellows (all cousins, according to her ac count!) continually coming after her, especially when there was a better dinner than usual in the house; as well as a set of dirty women with old blue and grey cloaks, passing for beggars, into whose lap she threw full many a lot of bread and cold meat-and with an air of great tenderness and feeling too, when it happened to be observed.-JOHN, the footman, was truly a rogue. His good-natured mistress thought him perfectly honest, but this was far from being the case; for besides now and then picking up the halfpence that he found on the chimney-piece, he was once observed by a gentleman, who was on a visit at the house, ransacking the pockets of his waistcoat which he had left upon a chair in his bed-room. Nay, on more occasions than one, the tea parties of some of the servants in the neighbourhood were, by John's means, made to shew off a great deal of china and silver plate, ornamented with a handsome crest and coat of arms. The only one of the servants who was really upright, conscientious, and faithful, was MARY, the laundry-maid. The dew of honesty rested upon her, while all around was dry. The whole of these servants were in the house at the time of their mistress's death, and her brother and executor was not long in discovering the real character of each; and had the curiosity besides, to take a great deal of pains to follow out the future history of their lives, which was shortly this-JOHN first became a poacher, and was afterwards hanged for sheep-stealing. JANE went off to America with a worthless fellow who was suspected of forgery. ANNE, who had a large family, died of a broken heart twelve years after, while her husband was in gaol for debt. MARY alone prospered and was happy, for the dew still rested upon her

fleece; and she became the wife of a most respectable man, who was under-steward on a gentleman's estate of considerable extent. Let other servants find in these cases a warning and an example. A dishonest heart is a dry soil where no pleasant plants can grow; and of those that do spring up, "the root is rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust." But strict honesty and truth are like brotherly love, such as I have seen reigning in Mary's family, and that we know is like the dew of Hermon that descended on the mountains of Zion-There God will command the blessing, 66 even life for evermore."

ANTHONY BARCLAY was a weaver in the village of T-, a place greatly agitated during the political disturbances. HALKET, the carpenter at the west end of the village, was the first that set all this mischief a-going among his poor neighbours, and let them into night meetings, and plots against the Government. Beginning with him, it ran from family to family, till every house was more or less touched with it, except the house of Anthony.. But the dew of sense, soberness, and contentment had fallen abundantly upon his fleece, keeping his mind healthy, and his character pure. Even they who had been the most severely affected by this kind of madness, stood in awe of him, and the knot of constitution-menders never gathered in the neighbourhood of his door. "Tis of no use to try him," it was said at the first meeting, " Anthony is not to be had, and we shall only hurt our own cause by attempting it." The poison, however, had entered into the soul of a brother-in-law of his in the neighbourhood, who had formerly been a well-behaved young man. Coming into Anthony's house one evening, soon after he had been made one of the set, it cut his sister and her husband to the heart to see him for the first time in his life some

what the worse of liquor, and to hear him, for the first time also, utter a horrible oath as he cursed the king's government. "So, so," said Anthony, "there it is-I want nothing else than this to shew me the true nature of all this stir—as surely as vermin are bred in a bog, it has its root in sin; and as vain will it be to think of any good from it as to expect a millstone to sparkle like a diamond, or to smell like a flower,—it cometh of evil, and tendeth only to shame." Anthony spoke but the truth. Oh that men would lay to heart the question, "What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of these things is death." When the people, who have allowed themselves to be led away with the error of the wicked, have felt deeply this solemn question-and when the sweet and wholesome air of the gospel has swept away the misty vapours of human folly, then in truth "shall Israel dwell in safety alone, the fountain of Jacob shall be upon a land of corn and wine; also the heavens shall drop down dew." And with respect to those who, in the midst of many hardships within doors, and the disturbances which they have heard going on without, have still kept their faith and their allegiance-after the season of these things has passed away, all their sufferings and fears will form but the subject of a fire-side family tale, or appear only as the little evening clond which the traveller perceives behind him in the far-distant sky, as he looks back on his paths and steps within the threshold of his cheerful home.

Take a single example more.-Many years ago I had occasion to visit a gaol. It presented a heart-sickening scene. Between thirty and forty persons of both sexes were gathered together in the public hall, indulging in every species of riot. Some gambling, some scolding and swearing, and all of them, as far as I