VII. LEAPING AND PRAISING.

ACTS iii, 8.

Little did the lame man's friends think that this was the last time they should ever carry their dear one to the spot where he begged his bread.

Perhaps you have offered your last prayer to-day for some one's salvation. He may come home to say, "Carry me no more, but let me walk with you to heaven."

No one could blame the poor fellow for being excited. He had never walked before, and the delight he felt made him use his new found strength. You see he has dropped his crutches. Anyone could light the fire with them now, he needed them not. Reader, do you still use spiritual crutches? Why not look for the fulfilment of the prophet's words, "Then shall the lame man leap as an hart."

HE ENTERED WITH THEM.

He could not have been persuaded to leave them; indeed, we read of him further on standing with the apostles when they were brought before the magistrates. It is a good sign when men stay with those who were made a blessing to them. If Methodism had with her to-day all she has lifted from poverty and degradation, she would need neither testimonials nor benefactors.

VIII. "THE LORD HATH NEED OF HIM."

MARK xi, 3.

What! of an a.s.s? Yes, "G.o.d hath chosen the foolish things of the world."

He gets renown to Himself by "using things which are despised." Let us never despair of the most foolish of men, if he become the servant of Jesus. It is said of the great John Hunt, that when a young man, he gave no promise of the talents he shewed in the work of the Ministry. We have spoken with one who knew him before his conversion, who made us smile as he described his gait and style of life. Yet this ungainly ploughboy became a man whom to know was to admire. It was in Christ's hands, though, he improved so greatly.

DOES THE LORD REALLY NEED AN a.s.s? Yes. The Scriptures foretold that Jesus should come "riding upon an a.s.s." Is it not beautiful to think of the poor despised a.s.s fulfilling so grand a prophecy? "The knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth." We may help that on. Will the young men and women who read this bear in mind that no one ever used this a.s.s till Jesus did? Why should He not be the first to use you? "What!" say you. "Do you compare us to an a.s.s?" Well, if we do, the Bible is before us. "Man be born like a wild a.s.s's colt." And, if you have not remembered the claims G.o.d has upon you, the poor a.s.s has the best of it, for the Lord says "The ox knoweth his owner, and the a.s.s his Master's crib, but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider." Have you noticed that unconverted men and women are pictured in Exodus xiii. 13, where you see a young a.s.s with his neck broken? The Lord needs you that He may redeem you from your fate, and that you may be spared to bear his yoke.

Is not the best way to elevate men, to let the Lord have the use of them?

However coa.r.s.e and mean we are by nature, He can refine and elevate us.

And any part of our life that is in danger of baseness may be lifted to beauty and blessing by putting it under the Christ. What a change came over this animal in one short day! An a.s.s in the morning, but the

THRONE OF G.o.d

before the sun went down!

IN THE WILDERNESS SHALL WATERS BREAK OUT.

Is not that good news for you? After being so long without a revival, would it not be welcome? Welcome you say--welcome as water in a desert.

Yes, and that is just what is promised. A revival in THE MOST UNLIKELY PLACE IN THE CIRCUIT, where even the raciest of preachers seems to be dull, and where there is a monotony which would shame a prison. Yes, there, right there, look out for the water, not stagnant, but water that "breaks out." "Then shall the lame man leap as the hart" that finds the stream it needs, and the "dumb shall sing," for this living water shall quench his thirst, and loosen his dried-up tongue. When shall it be?

Young local preacher, why not when thou preachest the next time? Look for it to the throne of G.o.d and the Lamb.--Rev. xxii., 1.

IX. TWELVE BASKETS FULL OF FRAGMENTS GATHERED FROM THE MIRACLE OF CHRIST FEEDING THE MULt.i.tUDE.

1.--MAN NEEDS HELP. "They have nothing to eat." (Mark vi. 36.)

2.--G.o.d IS BETTER THAN GOOD MEN. "Send them away," said the disciples.

(Mark vi. 36.) "They need not depart," the Lord replied. (Matt. xiv.

16.)

3.--MINISTERS SHOULD ALWAYS BE ON THE LOOK-OUT FOR THE CHILDREN, THEY GIVE HELP AS WELL AS TROUBLE. Andrew said, "There is a lad here." (John vi. 9.)

4.--YOUTH CAN GIVE TO JESUS WHAT NO ONE ELSE POSSESSES. "There is a lad here which hath five barley loaves." (John vi. 9.)

5.--UNBELIEF WOULD FAIN CRAMP THE LOVE OF JESUS. "What are they among so many." (John vi. 9.)

6.--"ORDER IS HEAVEN'S FIRST LAW." The crowd must sit down in companies of fifty before Jesus would feed them. "He commanded them to make them all sit down by companies." (Mark vi. 39.)

7.--CHRIST WOULD NOT HAVE US EAT WITHOUT ASKING A BLESSING. "Looking up to heaven he blessed." (Matt. xiv. 19.)

8.--CHRIST'S HANDS CAN DO NO MORE THAN OURS. It was His touch that multiplied the loaves. If the disciples had kept the one basket, there would have been many faint by the way. Faith is the truest economy.

(Matt xiv. 19.)

9.--THE USE OF THE CHURCH IS TO Pa.s.s IT ON. "Gave the loaves to the disciples, and the disciples to the mult.i.tude." (Matt. xiv. 19.)

10.--EAT WHAT G.o.d SENDS. You cannot be saved by knowing the doctrine any more than looking at bread will satisfy hunger. "They did all eat, and were filled." (Matt. xiv. 20.)

11.--WHEN G.o.d IS THE HOST THERE WILL BE PLENTY FOR EVERYBODY. "As much as they would." (John vi. 11.) "Enough for each, enough for all, enough for evermore."

12.--OMNIPOTENCE DISLIKES WASTE. "Gather up the fragments." (John vi.

12.) "And they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full." (Matt. xiv. 20.) A basketful for each apostle.

WAIT HERE FOR THIRD-CLa.s.s.

Pa.s.sengers on the London "Underground" have often seen the sign-boards, telling the travellers where to wait for the cla.s.s they mean to travel in. And there is sure to be a large group near one--the notice for third- cla.s.s pa.s.sengers. It is so in the road to heaven. Forgetting that the Master has paid first-cla.s.s fare for us, too many ride third, meaning, when they get to the station where tickets are collected, to change into the first, for all want to die happy. Live holy. Be first-cla.s.s Christians, and then G.o.d will see to it that you die so as to bring honour to Him.

X. SPIRITUAL FARMING.--NO. 3.

CULTIVATION.

We have already called the attention of our readers to the subject of ploughing, but we feel we have not pressed upon them with the force it deserves, the necessity of what the Bible calls "breaking up the fallow ground." What the plough and spade do for the land we must have done for the minds of those who sit in Methodist pews. Unsaved men and women must be compelled to look the truth in the face. Farmers know that so long as the land is hard and cloddy, the seed has no chance to get the nourishment by which it lives; besides by turning it over, the plough exposes that which has been hidden to the light of day, and it is by turning it up that it gets the benefit of the atmosphere. The nitrogen contained in the air is filled with that which the growing seed requires to find in the land, if it is to do well for the worker. Have we not thirty-fold crops where we ought to have hundredfold, for want of better ploughs? The heathen who spoke of preaching as "turning the world upside down" hit on the truth; and those of us who fail to turn up the soil are not likely to reap all we might do. The other day we heard an intelligent man tell the story of his conversion. He was awakened under the preaching of Mr. Robinson Watson. He said, "I never used to listen to sermons, I sat in the corner of the pew and thought of business, or any machine I was planning, and did not hear a word, but Mr. Robinson compelled me to think and act."

Does not this man represent many? Are these people to be allowed to come and go, without, in some way or other, being compelled to listen? Let every one of us, from the top to the bottom of the Plan, say, G.o.d helping me, I will break up the ground. Indifference shall become difficult.

Some of us can remember listening to men whom we feared when they opened the hymn book, for if they began the service with one of the hymns in "Exhorting sinners to return to G.o.d," we knew there would be difficulty in getting to sleep, either in the pew then, or in bed, hours afterwards.

Perhaps the greatest want of the church to-day is men who can, by handling the Bible like a gardener does his spade, cause it to be said "The sinners in Zion are afraid, tearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites."

BETTER FEED A FAT PIG THAN A PUBLICAN.