his sight, and could no longer write. He said he would still strive to win the approbation of his Maker, his "Great Taskmaster," who appoints all his servants some work. So he set himself to think grand and noble thoughts, and his daughters wrote them for him; and they now teach us, and lead us on. Like Christ, he strove to be ever about his Father's business, and make people more free, better, and wiser. He said, if any of God's willing servants were quite disabled from active duties, they could patiently "stand and wait" in his presence. And this is no small talent; this patient submission to pain and helplessness, this gentleness and gratitude for kind attention, this faithful leaning on God's promises, given by Christ.

J. A.

THE USES OF LEARNING.

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"PAPA," said Willie one evening, "is every one good who knows a great deal?" No, my son," said Mr. Golding; "why do you ask the question?"

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Because," said Willie, "Mr. Allen told me that if I was not industrious and persevering, I could not be a good and useful man when I grew up. I can see that if I do not learn to read, write, and cipher, I cannot be of much use, except, as Mr. Fuller says, to dig ditches, or something like that; but how, papa, will it help me to be good?'

"In order to be good," said his father, "it is necessary in the first place, to know how to know what is good. Now, while you are a little boy, it is an easy thing for you to know what is right to do, for you have only to do as your parents and teachers direct; but when you come to be a man, you will often find yourself in situations where it will require a great deal of knowledge and judgment to know what is right and best to do.'

"What is judgment?" asked Willie.

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It is the power which the mind has of comparing facts and ideas, and reasoning upon them, and determining what is true and just," said his father. "Without this power or faculty, no one would be able

to distinguish what was true from what was false, or what was good from what was evil. But in order to compare facts and ideas together, and so judge what is right and good, you know we must have the knowledge of those facts and ideas, or in other words, we must know them. The object of your learning to read is, that you may obtain this knowledge; and one reason that you learn arithmetic is, that it will teach you to reason, and thus cultivate your judgment, and make it grow larger and stronger. The knowledge you are now gaining at school is the foundation for that knowledge of what is good and true, which will make you truly wise. By the means of this knowledge, the Lord forms vessels in your mind, into which you can receive good and truth from Him, and thus become wise and good." "O yes, papa," said Willie, "I remember the little hymn says,

'O make me all I ought to be

A little vessel full of Thee.'"

"Yes," said his papa, "you are a little vessel now, and can, therefore, receive but little goodness and truth from the Lord, so little that you do not know what is right or best for yourself; but if you exercise your mind by studying and gaining useful knowledge, it will grow larger, and there will be more room in it to receive the Lord's goodness and truth, and so you may grow wiser and better as you grow older, as the Lord Jesus did when he was a child."

"And if I don't learn," said Willie, always stay little?"

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" will my mind

Yes," said his father, "there are many grown people who are children in their minds, though their bodies may be very large; and while their minds remain so, they cannot be very wise or good. There is no man or woman in the world who does not know something, and therefore there is no one who has not some room in his mind to receive goodness and truth from the Lord; but an ignorant person has not so much room, and therefore cannot be so good as one who knows more. For instance, a man who does not know how to read, cannot read the Bible, and so he has little means

of learning the truth; and if any one reads it to him, he does not understand much of it, because there have been no vessels formed in his mind into which he can receive the truths contained in the Bible. In order to understand the Word of God, we should know a great deal, and not only know it, but have our minds cultivated and enlarged by it, that they may be large enough, and have suitable vessels to hold the truths which the Lord wishes to give us."

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"It is something," said Willie, "like your building a great storehouse, and making rooms in which you can keep things that are worth a great deal.” Yes," said his father, "your learning reading, and writing, and the multiplication table, is the gathering of the tools together, with which you may build your spiritual storehouse. As you go on learning more, that is, gathering materials together, and laying the foundation of your house; and as you grow to be a young man,if you go on learning, and trying to put your knowledge to a good use, your storehouse will go up very orderly; and first one room and then another in the lower story, will be finished off, and filled with all the good, beaubeautiful things which it will hold."

Willie.

"How many stories shall I have to my house?" said Three," said his father; "for there are three distinct parts in our minds; and as you go higher up in your house, the rooms will be much larger and more splendid, and filled with more beautiful and costly things, than those which are lower. It is so in our minds; there are three parts, or stories, one above another, and we must finish off the lower story, and fill it with truths from the Lord, before we can get into

the next story. But hardly any one, now-a-days, ever

gets more than the first story finished off, and a great many do not get more than a little room or two, and often there they shut themselves in; and when the Lord knocks at the door, that he may come in and give them his good and beautiful things, they will not open it, so they have nothing in their storehouse but a little

rubbish.'

"What foolish people!" said Willie.

"Yes" said his father, "those are the people who

learn and understand a good deal, and so have room to receive goodness and truth from the Lord, but because they do not love those treasures, they will not receive them, but shut up their hearts from the Lord, so that he cannot come in to make them good and wise. Goodness and wisdom you know are spiritual treasures, or in other words, the treasures of our souls."

"I see" said Willie, "that it will be of great use to me to study and gain knowledge at school, and I can partly see how what I learn at school helps me to understand the Bible; for Mr. Allen was telling us yesterday how wonderfully our bodies were made, and how the Lord had fitted all the parts together, so that all might be comfortable and not interfere with one another, but help to supply each other's wants and give each other pleasure, so that a man might enjoy himself very much; and then this morning, when you read that psalm about God being so great and good, I could understand something of what it meant."

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"Yes," said his father, your knowledge of the way in which man is made, formed a little vessel, or made a little room in your mind, in which you could receive a little idea of how good and great the Lord is; and this idea may, in its turn, be a vessel in which you may receive more of the Lord's love or goodness than you have before done."

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Yes," said Willie. "I think, papa, that I do love the Lord more than I did before; and I could not do that unless I had received more of his love in my heart; for mama told me we had no love to give but what we receive from Him."

"That is true," replied his father; "and as you learn more, you will be able to understand better how great and good the Lord is; then you can love Him better, because there will be more room in your mind to receive his love."

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Yes," said Willie, my mind is little now; I have not room for any great idea or love."

Mr. Golding smiled, for he saw that Willie understood him. "You see now, my son," said he, “that the reason why all men are not wise and good is, not that the Lord does not wish to make them so, but

either because there is but little place in their minds in which they can receive and store up his goodness and truth, or because they will not open their hearts to receive it."

"Yes," said Willie, "I see it is not the Lord's fault, for He wants us very much to be wise and good; but, papa, why don't He make everybody wise and good? Little Dick Jones tries to be good, I know; but he has to work hard all day, and has no time to learn, and his father and mother have no time to send him to school; and then those naughty people that will not open their hearts to him, why don't He make them do it, papa ?"

"We must remember, my son," said Mr. Golding, "that the Lord knows what is best for us all, and always does what is best, though we may not be able to understand how it is so. There are other ways of gaining knowledge, besides going to school, which poor people can have; and Dick Jones may get to be a wiser man than Willie Golding; but perhaps the Lord sees that Dick and others like him would not make a good use of their knowledge, if they should obtain it. Perhaps He sees that they would feel proud of it, instead of being thankful to Him for giving it to them, which would be laying up evil in their storehouse instead of good; and in that case, knowledge would be an injury to them, and therefore the Lord does not give it to them."

Willie hung his head and looked very serious, for he remembered that two or three times when he came home with the medal round his neck, he had felt proud, and had quite forgotten that all the knowledge and goodness he had, was given him by the Lord, and was the Lord's and not his, though it seemed so to him. His father was in hopes that he was thinking of this, for he had seen with sorrow that Willie was proud of his medal, and for a few moments said nothing. length he continued, "You cannot yet understand very well, my son, why the Lord does not force every one to be good, but I can perhaps give you some idea of it."

At

"Yes," said Willie, "perhaps I have room in my storehouse for a little idea of it."