might rest without wanting; men, too, for whom the world has found no home-whose business is uncongenial to them, if not repulsive, and who ply it from youth to age, without expectation of success or hope of change-and yet they work.

Duty works; works on principle, and seems at first sight to miss, scarcely by a hair's breadth, the higher, the highest attainment, the working of a principle which is not of this world—the spiritual gift and grace of faith.

FAITH WORKS.

Let me now go to the field and glean ears of corn after him in whose sight I have found grace.

1. The work of Faith looks within.

Nothing can be plainer, and yet nothing is so often forgotten, than that out of the heart (in all senses) are the issues of life. Speech, Christ says, is the mere overflow of the heart, and its action is nothing but the expression of an inward principle, the coming out of something which is first within.

So before Faith can set out upon her gleaning, she must find grace in the sight of One unseen. One half of her work, and that the primary and the most essential, has to be done within. Not indeed that the outward work can stand still until the inward work is accomplished. Day by day a man must fulfil the duties which grow out of his circumstances. Still we say that the inward comes first-first in importance, first (in a sense) in order. No man's day's work will be interfered with by prayer and watching. On the contrary, the day is lengthened for effective labour by every moment taken from it at either end for deep communing and earnest wrestling with Him who is alike God of Nature, God of Providence, and God of Grace. Look well to the condition of that soul, the health of which, the prosperity of which, will evermore communicate itself to the work and to the life. Neglect that, and then, whatever else it may be, yours will not be the work of Faith; it will not have the benediction of God; there will be nothing of it left when the thoughts of earth perish.

2. The work of Faith looks upward. Faith does not make that broad and deep line which some draw between religious work and unreligious. And though we have spoken of the

work of Faith as beginning within, this is not to be understood as though Faith first looked to the heart, and then went out to attend to the life. Faith is a thing which moves altogether where it moves at all; pervades everything, and makes all things of one piece and colour; in so much that prayer is concerned much about matters of duty and conduct; and action in its turn, whatever it be, draws all its strength and vitality from the Divine communion.

The work of Faith throughout looks upward, not in seasons of worship only. I have set the Lord always before me: because He is on my right hand, I shall not be moved. The eye of Faith is upon God, even while the hand of Faith, and the foot of Faith, is moving among the things of this world.

The motto of the work of Faith is a double motto. One part of it has been given: I have set the Lord always before me. The other is, I delight to do thy will, O my God. The one is the spiritual side, the other the practical. God is at my right hand—that is, the strength. My work is God's will—that is, the motive. It is the will of God that I should this day go forth to my work and to my labour until the evening, furnishing my little quota to earth's toils and to man's happiness, serving my generation in the humble offices, at home and abroad, in which God has set me towards my fellows, until the long night cometh when I can no more work.

Thus Faith looks upward in working.

3. The work of Faith looks around. Faith says, Let me go now to the field, and glean ears of corn after him in whose sight I have found grace. The work of Faith is the imitation of Christ. The work of Faith is the following and gleaning after Christ. No words could be more expressive. It is but a gleaning which is left to Faith. The work of Christ Himself is the harvest. It is He who wrought entirely by love. It is He who carried unselfishness to its limit, and left to those who come after, only, as it were, the gleaning grapes when the vintage is done.

But the Faith which looks within, and which looks above, does really look around also. Faith does look not only on her own things, but on the things of others. The working of Faith

is through love. By this shall all men know that ye have faith if ye have love one to another; for the faith which works not by love is in God's sight no faith at all.

Oftentimes would

4. The work of Faith looks onward. Faith faint if it had not an onward aspect. Faith sees at present so few results. The labour of days and weeks and months and years seems all gone for nothing. Then I said I laboured in vain. I have spent my strength for nought and in

vain.

Now Faith has in itself the antidote of despair. Efforts are mine; results are God's. Though Israel be not gathered yet my God shall be my strength. Only by Faith could Christ Himself see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied. Even thus must it be-and well may it be—with the work of Faith below. The disciple is not above his Master. What He counts worth the waiting for, well may we wait for and faint not. These all died in Faith, not having received the promises. But they had seen them afar off and were persuaded of them and embraced them. God grant us all that grace of patience which is the very crown and glory of the work of Faith!

What have we done for Christ, that we should expect to reap while He is yet awaiting the early and latter rain? Looking within, that there be no ruthless growth there; looking upward that there be no forgetfulness of the source and spring of life; looking around, that there be no listless idling and no selfish complacency; let us look onward, also, that there be no short-sighted reckonings and no irrational disappointments! Happy is he to whom it shall be said, "Go thou thy way till the end be for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days!"-Extracts from "Voices of the Prophets."

FOR LONDON BIBLE AND DOMESTIC FEMALE MISSIONS. Money received between Nov. 15th and Dec. 16th, 1882.

Examined and certified by me, as duly entered in the books of the Mission, JAMES WADDELL, F.C.A. (of J. WADDELL & CO.), 1, Queen Victoria Street, Mansion House, E.C.

Received for the Bible-women and Nurses, with thanks :-Clothing, new and old, crossovers, and petticoats, pillows, quilts, boots and shoes, from Lady Peto, Mrs. Perry, Mrs. George Brightwen, Miss Sainsbury, Miss Steedman, Miss Stringer, Mrs. Marriage, Mrs. Booth, Anonymous, Mrs. Baker, Miss Hankey, Mrs. Campbell-Colquhoun, Mrs. Harrison, Miss Jeffrey, Miss Penfold, Mrs. Roby, Miss Birch. Reynardson, Mrs. Vine, Miss Manning, Miss Child, Miss Farrar, Miss M. Engleheart, Mrs. Cochrane; blankets from Mrs. Robert Barclay and Anonymous; toys, Christmas cards, text cards, and lavender bags, from Mrs. G. Brightwen and Mrs. Dawson; respirators from Mrs. Penley; scrapbooks from Miss Gill; periodicals from Mrs. Preston and Mrs. Cox; groceries from Lady Emily Williams; hospital letters from the Countess of Harrowby and Mrs. J. Alexander.

Contributions to the LONDON BIBLE AND DOMESTIC FEMALE MISSION can be received by Mrs. Selfe Leonard (niece of the late Mrs. Ranyard), 2, Adelphi Terrace, Strand, London, W.C.; by Lord Kinnaird, addressed to the Bank of Messrs. Ransom and Co., No. 1, Pall Mall East; also by Messrs. Barclay, Bevan, and Co., 54, Lombard Street and by Messrs. Nisbet and Co., Berners Street. Money Orders should be made payable at the Post-office, Charing Cross, W.C., in the name of E. Selfe Leonard, and cheques crossed Ransom and Co. Should any sums be unacknowledged in the above list, friends are requested to write at once to Mrs. Leonard.