ant look to his master, so our eyes are toward Thee, O God!" This is the attitude for me as a preacher, for you as an elder, for every man or woman who is trying to win souls. To catch that kind of fish we must look to Christ. We must not trade upon past experience. We have no wit; we have no wisdom. It is our greatest folly to think that we have. So the Lord gives us leanness and emptiness in order to bring us to a better mind. It is only when we come to our wits' end—and that is no great way from home-that we go down upon our knees and say: “Lord, come and help me; give me some real success. I do not want to go through the mere mechanics of manfishing-it is wearing work-but, Lord, show me the right side." And He will. Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples knew not that it was He. No; they expected Him, as we all do-but not just there and then. They thought of Him as away somewhere-when, lo! He was beside them. Let us go right here. Lift thy bent back, thou weary toiler, for thy God. See Him; descry the Man upon the shore; hail Him. Cry: Cry: Master, help!" Do not disappoint Him, as these disciples did. Send Him a glad shout of recognition. Then shalt thou have fruit of thy toil; nor yet be spoiled by thy success. Thy heart shall say: "This is the Lord."--MCNEILL.

Preaching and Feeding Sheep.

I had an old friend who was nearly forty years a shepherd. He lived till he was eighty years old. He was nearly forty years a minister. have had two flocks.

One day he said:

"I

The first forty years I fed sheep,

and the second forty years I fed men; and the second flock was a deal more sheepish than the first." I can vouch for the latter part; not that all of you are sheepish, for there are some of you who are easily fed, but there are others who are not.

I remember a young brother who left the church because, he said, I never gave him a bit of bone on which he could try his teeth. Well, now, I thought if I took out the bone and gave meat alone I was doing the best thing possible; but this foolish youth wanted something which he could not digest. I save that for my dogs, and bring the meat for the people I have to feed.—Spurgeon.

A Vexed Question Transposed.

When Christ was preaching by the sea, at the time He borrowed Peter's boat for a pulpit, the question of the hour was not "How to reach the masses?" Then it was: 'How shall the masses reach the Master?" The Lord borrowed Peter's boat, but He never remains long in any one's debt. Peter filled two boats with the subsequent draft. And our capacity would need to be doubled to receive His blessings, did we consecrate to His use what we have and what we are. -HASTINGS.

:0:

PROFANITY.

Profanity in the Army.

Many and pointed orders have been issued against the unmeaning and abominable custom of swearing; notwithstanding which, with much regret, the General observes that it prevails, if possible, more than ever. His feelings are continually wounded by the oaths and imprecations of the soldiers, whenever he is in hearing of them. The name of that Being from whose bountiful goodness we are permitted to exist and enjoy the comforts of life is incessantly imprecated and profaned in a manner as wanton as it is shocking. For the sake, therefore, of religion, decency and order, the General hopes and trusts that officers of every rank will use their influence and authority to check a vice which is as unprofitable as wicked and shameful. If officers would make it an inviolable rule to reprimand, and, if that won't do, to punish soldiers for offenses of this kind, it would not fail of having the desired effect.—George WashiNGTON.

PURITY.

Pure Speech.

A clergyman was waiting for an answer to some inquiry at the door of the village inn, where a cart with two pails of the refuse called "pig-wash" was standing, while the driver was refreshing himself at the bar. A man came hurriedly up to him and asked: "Be you the gentleman that belongs to the pig-wash?" "No-I am not!" indignantly exclaimed the clergyman, with a vehemence which the moment after made him feel amused at himself.

Yet it is simply amazing to see the number of men who, when they get together, appear anxious not to disclaim but to proclaim that they be the gentlemen that belong to the pig-wash; who seem to think that the dirty story, the unclean jest, the coarse word, the talk utterly lowering to women, stamp them as fine fellows who have seen the world, and who know a thing or two.—SPUR

GEON.

Nature of Purity.

I would have you attend to the full significance and extent of the term "holy." It is not abstinence from outward deeds of profligacy alone; it is not a mere recoil from impurity in thought. It is that quick and sensitive delicacy to which even the very conception of evil is offensive. It is a virtue which has its residence within; which takes guardianship of the heart, as of a citadel or inviolate sanctuary, in which no wrong or worthless

imagination is permitted to dwell. It is not purity of action that we contend for. It is exalted purity of heart, the ethereal purity of the third Heaven; and, if it is at once settled in the heart, it brings the peace, the triunph and the untroubled serenity of Heaven along with it. I had almost said, the pride of a great moral victory over the infirmities of an earthly and accursed nature. There is a healthful harmony in the soul-a beauty which, though it effloresces in the countenance and the outward path, is itself so thoroughly internal as to make purity of heart the most distinctive evidence of a work of grace in time, the most distinctive guidance of a character that is ripening and expanding for the glories of eternity.-CHALMERS.

READING.

A Reading People.

It can not be that the people should grow in grace unless they give themselves to reading.

A reading people

will always be a knowing people.—JOHN WESLEY.

The Influence of Reading.

If I were to pray for a taste that would stand me in stead under every variety of circumstances and be a source of happiness and cheerfulness to me through life, and a shield against its ills, however things might go amiss and the world frown upon me, it would be a taste for reading. I think of it, of course, only as a worldly