salvation; and such have been heard to say that they did not want the righteousness of Christ to save them, and that if they could not be saved without it, they would not be saved at all; others, of the same spirit, have said of the atonement of Christ, that it was a mere figment of obsolete theology, only fit for the dark ages. Reader, beware of this spirit! One well known to the writer, who once shared in these sentiments, was convinced of sin upon a bed of sickness, and having passed through great anguish of mind in his apprehensions, cast down from the highest heavens of vain confidence into the lowest deeps of conscious guilt and self-condemnation, was glad to take the position of the publican of old, and exclaim: "God be merciful to me a sinner" and at last died peaceably, resting upon that cleansing blood which he had once despised.

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Reader, beware of a proud, vain-glorious spirit, the spirit of self-trust. Anything which lifts you up in self-confidence apart from the salvation which is in Christ Jesus, lifts you up but to cast you down. Like poor De Groof, you may be very bold as you ascend, and say Ready!" sever yourself from the gospel of salvation, and think you are doing a very fine thing; praised, perhaps, by many of your fellow-creatures; but it is only to fall into the abyss of selfdeception, ruin, and despair; for when they shall say peace and safety, sudden destruction shall come upon such, and they shall not escape. With the meek, God declares, there is wisdom; and the meek He will teach His way. Humility, the Scriptures teach, is to be preferred before honour. God knows the proud afar off, and the rich are sent empty away; but the God who thus speaks dwells with the broken and contrite, to revive their spirit. See to it, then, reader, that all your hope of acceptance with God is built only upon the merits of Christ, upon His blood and righteousness; and that you have in your heart the same Spirit who dwelt in the apostle, and led him to say: "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world."

ELL, John, how are you to-day ?" said the village doctor to a man of middle age, who was restlessly

tossing about from side to side on his fevered bed, seeming as if he could get no ease.

"No better, sir. Indeed, I think I get worse, in spite of the medicine."

"Worse, John! How can that be?" said the doctor. "The medicine I gave you ought to have cured you by this time. I never knew such an obstinate case before."

John Robins was a labouring man, with a wife and five children depending on him for their daily bread. He was an industrious, hard-working fellow, and was never seen in the beershop, or in bad company, but regularly carried home his week's wages to the last penny for his wife to lay out, which she knew well how to do to the best advantage. About a month before this he had been taken ill of a low fever; but instead of getting better with all the physic he took, it seemed rather to make him worse.

"I can't understand it at all, John," said the doctor. "Have you done everything I told you?"

"Yes, sir," said his wife, an active, bustling, little woman. "I have given it him exactly as you told me, without missing once. But it seems of no use," added she, with a

sigh.

"Stay," said the doctor, after thinking a moment. "Let me see the medicine."

The bottle was brought, and appeared to contain a liquid without much colour, having a great resemblance to dirty water, at the bottom of which lay something red.

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Now, let me see you take it," said the doctor. "Pour it out for him, my good woman.'

She was proceeding to do so, when he stopped her. "Just as I thought," said he. "Is this what you have always done?"

"Yes, sure, sir. Isn't it right?"

"Right! All I can say is that your husband's not getting well is entirely your own fault. Why did you not shake the bottle ?"

"You never told me, sir.”

"I never told you! What does this label say? How could you expect to be better, man, when you leave behind the powder which was intended to cure you ?”

Then it turned out that neither John Robins nor his wife could read. The doctor had not told them by word of mouth what to do, but had pasted the label on the bottle, which, under the circumstances, was perfectly useless.

As the doctor was leaving he met Mr. Adams, the minister, and told him what had occurred. He said nothing then; but when John Robins-receiving from that time forth his physic out of the shaken bottle-was recovered from his illness, and able to go to his work again, he found an opportunity of speaking to him on the subject. He had been visiting in his parish one day, and met John as he was going home.

"How are you, John ?" said he. "I am glad to see you with your tools again."

"Why, yes, sir," said John, "I like better to be at work than to be as I was lately. The work is hard, but I would rather do it than lie a-bed sick."

"Well, thank God that you are able to work again. But you made an awkward mistake about your medicine. It might have been bad for you."

"It might, sir; but, you see, it wasn't exactly our fault. Me and my wife can neither of us read, being as there were no schools in the parish when we were young, and so, of course, we didn't know anything about it."

"Ah! what a blessing it is to be able to read," said Mr. Adams, "especially as it gives you the power of reading God's Word. Your children are much better off than their parents were in that respect. Pray God that they may know and use aright their advantages. But did you remember to shake the other bottle ?"

"Oh yes, sir. We made no more mistakes after the doctor told us what to do."

That is not what I mean, John. You had a bottle of medicine sent you which did not come from the doctor." "I don't understand, sir. I had nothing but what the doctor ordered."

"Yes, John. Your sickness was itself a medicine sent from God, who is the great Physician of the soul. He saw that you wanted physic, and so He laid you on a sick bed for your soul's good. Now, did you shake the bottle that God sent you?"

"Why, sir, I can't say that I quite make out your meaning."

"Well, John, I will explain what I mean. You know that when we are in health we are often tempted to forget God. Our daily business steals away our thoughts from Him; and Satan and the world and our own evil hearts make it appear as if the care of the body was the chief thing to be attended to. Now this is a state of disease which would cause the death of the soul if it were not cured; and so God sends sickness upon our bodies, in order to draw our thoughts back to Him.

But as you found that there were two ways of taking your medicine, so there are two ways of taking this medicine from God. Many a man rises from a sick bed no better than when he lay down on it, because he only bore the pain, which he was obliged to bear, without acknowledging and submitting to the hand of God. He did not shake the bottle, but left all the good of it at the bottom. But when the bottle is shaken, then the medicine works. Then the man begins to think about his soul. He sees his danger, he feels that death is near him, and cries out, 'What must I do to be saved?' Then comes the answer of peace, 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.' He does believe, and finds all his sins washed away in the precious blood of Christ, and himself 'sanctified and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.'

Then when the sickness has done its work he is able to say with the Psalmist, 'Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept Thy Word. It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn Thy statutes.""

And now, reader, you begin to comprehend my parable, and to see its drift. Are you in affliction, in sickness, or any other adversity? Remember its purpose. It is God's medicine, sent for your soul's good. "Hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it." Do not let it fail by your own wilfulness or thoughtlessness. To see and acknowledge the hand of God in your trouble is the first step to your spiritual recovery. "Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you.'

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There is another light in which this homely saying may be viewed. The bottle of medicine contains different ingredients; some agreeable, perhaps, to the taste, others disagreeable. It may happen that the disagreeable part is heaviest, and sinks to the bottom. Yet, unless the bottle is shaken up before being used, the medicine will fail of its effect. The doctor knew what he was about when he mixed these different things together, and calculated exactly what result they would produce. So it is in life. Our great Physician has mingled for each of us the bitter and the sweet in the exact proportion which He sees will be for our good. To some He gives more of the sweet, to others more of the bitter. But the life of every man, without exception, contains both bitter and sweet. And the right

thing to do is to shake the bottle, in order to obtain the full effect of this spiritual medicine. But how often is it the case that we think ourselves hardly dealt with when we find some more than ordinarily bitter drop in our cup. We are thankful and happy as long as life is sweet and pleasant; but all our gratitude is changed into murmuring, all our happiness to grief, when we come upon the bitter. Is this behaviour reasonable? Take a lesson from Job, the man of patience. His life was for a long time happy and 1 Micah vi. 9. James iv. 8.