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and loving. Some day thou wilt teach me to love Him as thou dost thyself; yet while I have thee I think I'm content.'

J. B. Never be content until thou canst rest thy heart upon God, and be at peace either with or without earthly friend or comfort of any kind if He wills it.'

Sarah. Is that possible, John?'

J. B. 'Yea, it's possible, and I believe it's sure if we get a right knowledge of Him, for peace is not the same thing as comfort; it's a better thing, and can reign even in the midst of pain and sorrow.' Sarah. You spoke just now of how you might be taken from Is there any peace that would be deep enough to give comfort in such a sorrow as that would be for me?

me.

J. B. 'Yea, dear wife, the peace of God passeth all understanding.' Sarah. And I suppose folk who get that can be patient even with such a neighbour as Eliza Cole. Nothing puts them out, does it?' J. B. Oh! being flesh and blood they can be "put out" like other folk, and perhaps have to suffer a deal of pain, but they don't give way to it, or let it master them. Remembering how weak they are left alone, they just turn to Him as can make them strong, and He does it; and His peace comes of trusting Him.' M. C.

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BY S. REYNOLDS HOLE, M.A., VICAR OF CAUNTON, NOTTS,

CANOL OF LINCOLN, AND CHAPLAIN TO THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. THINKING.

St. Luke, xxiv. 38.-Why do thoughts arise in your hearts?'

E preachers commonly address you concerning your words or your works, because He, who would be your Saviour, and must be your Judge, has told us, that by our words we shall be justified, and by our words we shall be condemned; and that, when the Son of man shall come in the glory of His Father, with His angels, then He shall reward every man according to his works. And it is therefore our duty, as Christ's messengers and priests, constantly to put you in mind, that lying lips are an abomination unto the Lord; and so are all profane, impure, malicious, unmerciful words. As for works, why this may almost be said to be the text on which all the Bible preaches: Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of Heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in Heaven.'

And yet I am about to speak of something yet more important than our words or works: I mean, our thoughts.

There are some very striking words on this subject, spoken to us from God by Isaiah (lv. 7); 'Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him.' Whereby we are taught, that not only those who live in habitual sin are living without God; but that they whose thoughts are unrighteous, who have unholy desires and imaginations, which they entertain and cherish, and would

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realise, if they were not afraid of discovery and of losing their character (as they call it), and their place, and worldly comforts- that these men are also living without God, and that unless they seek and find Him they will perish. In that day of wrath, that awful day, when the secrets of all hearts shall be revealed, many a man who has been lightly esteemed by the world because he has been overtaken in a fault, or because he has made no loud professions, will be found to have loved the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, and to have sought His pardon, to have kept His sayings in his heart and life, and will take his place with the saints and angels; and many a man who has passed among his fellows as a good-natured, inoffensive, and even religious person, will be found to have had no real love of his God, to have done no real, prayerful, penitential, practical work for God and for his soul, to be unprepared and unfit for Heaven.

To save God's chosen people from this miserable deceit and doom, Isaiah called on both these offenders, the open, brazen reprobate, and the clever, cautious hypocrite, to seek the Lord while He may be found, and to call upon Him while He was near; and for the same end, lest your soul or my soul should be lost for ever, let us search and try our ways, let us think about our thoughts, ever remembering that whatever they are, bad or good, spiritual or carnal, chaste or impure, humble or proud, gentle or harsh, generous or mean, forgiving or revengeful, God knows them all O Lord, Thou hast searched me out and known me; Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising: Thou understandest my thoughts long before: Thou art about my path, and about my bed, and spiest out all my ways.'

1. There are a great many who never think seriously, except when God in His mercy forces them. Perhaps they have tried to think, but they found that, as concerned themselves, there was nothing to dwell upon with much pleasure, nothing really bright or beautiful in their lives-that the past was not a subject for much congratulation, and as to the future that was very uncertain, except in one respect, namely, that it must bring decay and death. And so they left off thinking at all, and persuaded themselves that they had no time for it. Even when God forces them to think, and His voice thunders in their ears, 'Awake, thou that sleepest!'-when death comes into their homes; or when some accident or some fever takes them to solitude and to silent hours-when the music seems to leave the old songs, and the sweetness goes out of the old fruits, and the grass withereth and the flower fadeth, and we are forced to think, 'Is this really the end? is the light of love gone out for ever? is this death really coming to me? is there nothing sure and lasting? is there no such thing as happiness here or hereafter?' Oh, how many there are who resist and struggle and will not wait for the answer.

'How many who, though they find this world is vain,
Yet from this world they break not free,

And though they've friends who give them pain,
Yet will not seek a Friend in Thee!'

How many who, when God's voice says so clearly, 'Stop, traveller' sit down within the shadow of this rock and think awhile whence

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ye came and whither wending. Soon ye must to darkness go, to inherit bliss unending or eternity of woe.' How many who say, 'I cannot stop to think--oh, it makes me miserable to think-'I must get away from this melancholy scene; the silence, the sadness, is terrible! Let me join the world again! Surely that funeral was distressing enough, that loss was heavy enough, that accident was painful enough, without dwelling upon it now that it is over! Surely the realities of sorrow and sickness are bad enough, without the additional miseries of recollection or anticipation!'

2. And if they are numerous who refuse to think, are afraid to think, they are still more numerous who pervert and abuse the grand faculty of thought; and it may be said of the multitudes now as it was written of the days of Noah, when the wickedness of man was great upon the earth, namely, 'that the thoughts of their hearts. are only evil continually.'

What are the subjects which occupy the thoughts of many who profess to believe that they are immortal and responsible beings, and not only have an account to render to the Most High concerning their gifts and their duties, but are solemnly pledged as Christians to follow the example of their Saviour Christ, and to be made like unto Him; that as He died and rose again for us, so should we, who are baptized, die from sin and rise again unto righteousness, continually mortifying all those evil and corrupt affections and daily proceeding in all virtue and godliness of living? Is it not a very terrible fact that thousands and thousands of such persons, who would be astonished and indignant if you told them that they were not Christians, yet never think about Christ, their sins, their souls, death, judgment, heaven, or hell, but allow their thoughts to be absorbed and engrossed by mere worldly matters?

And what are the thoughts which we permit to enter into our soul, to drive out all those holy reflections of which God made it capable, and to turn the garden of the Lord, wherein might grow all things pleasant to the eye and good for food, into a wilderness of thorn and weed?

How many hearts are occupied by an intense craving to get money, and as riches increase set themselves more and more exclusively upon them? Gain and loss are the two subjects which shut out all others.

How many think only of their ease and indolence-how they may pass the time,' as they say; what they shall eat or drink, and what they shall put on!

In some hearts Pride suggests and colours every thought. I am cleverer, richer, stronger, better taught, better looking, better dressed, than my neighbour. I am free from his faults; I can do many things which he cannot do.'

Envious thoughts, jealous thoughts, are in many a soul supreme. No kind words, no words of praise, no allowance made for circumstances or temptations. On the contrary, a constant suggestion of bad motives even for good actions, an unwillingness to hear defence, a resolution to defame, disparage, and drag down.

Thoughts of hatred, malice, and revenge. We hear men pretending that they can forgive but they can't forget, which means

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really that they won't forgive and have no wish to forget. They never think of the lesson which they learnt as children from the Catechism, to bear no malice nor hatred in their hearts. They have never realised the risk which they incur in regretting the warning o. their God-And his lord was wroth and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.'

Thoughts of doubt and unbelief are uppermost in many minds. Instead of praying, 'Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief!' the desire of many seems to be, I cannot free myself altogether from believing; but I am doing my utmost not to believe I am searching diligently to find out any contradictions in revelation; I am most anxious to prove that the miracles were deceptions; I delight in exposing the infirmities and inconsistencies of those who are attached to religion. If you ask me what is my motive, it is a desire to discover and declare Truth.' Are you quite sure? Have you no secret conviction that religion would interfere with your pleasure or your ease; and that if you can only prove Christianity a fiction you can live as you please and not be so very much afraid to die? The fact is, in most instances, that men allow their passions to prevail over their faith; they allow their fleshly lusts to have the mastery of their spiritual love; they live as unbelievers, and when conscience condemns, or anticipation of death and God's righteous anger frighten them, they find it easier to argue than to acknowledge error, easier to make excuse than reparation, easier to dispute their debts than to pay them. Where honest doubt and investigation make one infidel, self-will and self-indulgence make a thousand.

So it comes to pass, that first of all men begin not to think so often, or so reverently, or so lovingly of God, as they were wont to do; they think of Him least when they need Him most, in their chief anxieties or temptations, and finally forget Him. Reminded of Him by His dispensations or His messengers they are angry (really with themselves, but this they will not acknowledge), and seek to justify themselves as best they can. Christ stands at the door and knocks, and Conscience whispers, It is the Lord, rise up and open ;' but the Flesh says, "Why disturb your rest? yet a little more sleep, a little more sluinber, a little more folding of the hands to sleep; and the World says, 'We are your friends; there is no room, no welcome for this intruder;' and the Devil says, 'Some other time -not now.'

3. And now let us pass from those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to those who walk in the Light; from those who never think, or think vainly, to those whose one great desire and longing it is to think more and more of their Heavenly Father, their Saviour, their only Guide and sure Comforter, that they may know Him, and love Him more.

Now how do those endeavour, and, though they may fail of it, still persevere in their endeavour, to set God always before them-to make the thought of God a perpetual sunlight in their souls? First of all they put themselves under His protection; they kneel down in prayer and say: O God, Who seest that we have no power of our

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selves, give us grace, we humbly beseech Thee, to think and do always such things as be rightful. Keep us from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul; cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of Thy Holy Spirit. And so, when those bad thoughts come, as they come to us all, thoughts of discontent, disobedience, lust, covetousness, anger, self-conceit, they are prepared to resist and repel them. And that is the only way to overcome them -never to parley, never to admit them within the gates, but to meet them as they approach, and in God's name defy and destroy them. Say to every evil thought the moment it suggests itself, Get thee hence, Satan!' Look up to the hills, from whence cometh your help, and say, ‘O Lord, I am oppressed; undertake for me!' and David's song of victory shall be yours, also: Thou hast thrust sore at me, that I might fall; but the Lord was my help.' 'Resist the devil, and he will flee from you;' no delay, no dallying, no saying 'There's no harm in a thought. One spark will destroy the citadel if it touches the powder in the magazine, and if you admit the first thought of evil it is as when you open the flood-gates of a reservoir-only just open, but the torrent will do the rest. No power of evil can prevail against you without your own assent. It is written, Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any man: but every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then, when lust hath conceived' when the thought has found a home-it bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.'

And as we shrink from evil as from the breath of one who has some virulent and infectious fever, so we must welcome all good, and noble, and sacred thoughts, as though they were the visits of angels. They will come to us if we pray for them, and God Himself has told us what they are. 'Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.' Think on things bright, and brave, and beautiful, until thine own life is bright, and beautiful, and brave. Think on truth, until thou canst not lie; on honour, until thou canst not steal; on holiness, until thou hatest sin.

Say to every thought which seems to breathe sweetness, peace, hope into your soul-say to it, because it is the Voice of the Holy Spirit, Speak, Lord; for Thy servant heareth. Lord, what wouldest Thou have me to do? I will follow Thee whithersoever Thor goest.'

Above all, when you have, or should have, your spirit stirred by the best thoughts which it can ever think, when you are nearer not only to the angels but to their Lord and your Lord in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar; then, when some deeper, purer yearnings, some more heavenly ambitions, are whispered to thy soul; then say, as the disciples said when He made Himself known to them in breaking of bread, Abide with us; all is dark-thought, word, and deed, without Him-'Jesus, Jesus, I am lost without Thee; but with Thee I am safe.' Safe, happy, come what come may. Amen.