one point, like that solid globe of glass on the drawing-room table, every particle of which presses on the table, but it only rests on the touching-point. But what verses had you to support your side, Mary?

Mary. Especially Psalm evii. 4-7.—"They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way; they found no city to dwell in. Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered them out of their distresses. And He led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation." And then Moses says, "He found him in the desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness. He led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye." (Deut. xxxii. 10.) Do not these two passages seem very clear?

Arthur. Yes, sister, they do; but Israel's course from Egypt to Canaan seemed to me the great type, as I think Papa would call it -in the Bible, of our going on pilgrimage; and when Israel was brought into the wilderness, they were already on their way, you know, to the land of promise. I found how it is said, in Psalm lxxxi., " I removed his shoulder from the burden: his hands were delivered

from the pots: " and how it was promised to them in Ps. lxviii., "Though ye have lien among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings

of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold." And this through all the Bible, even at the heading of the commandments, is made the beginning of their deliverance. "I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage." (Ex. xx. 2.)

Papa. Well, my dear children, I think with Mamma, one figure may have two startingpoints, either being lost in the wilderness, or enslaved in bondage. The great truth, which both will teach, is that, by nature we are lost and helpless; utterly lost, entirely helpless; and that, not until the Lord finds us in the wilderness, or brings us up with a high hand and a stretched-out arm out of the Egypt of this world, shall we begin this heavenly journey. But who found out the pilgrim's call?

Lily. Do you mean Abram's call, Papa,"Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee?" (Gen. xii. 1.)

Mamma. He was indeed a father of pilgrims, Lily. Read also Micah ii. 10. [Lily reads] Arise ye and depart; for this is not your rest, because it is polluted. It shall destroy you, even with a sore destruction." And what was it made Abraham obey his call?

Lily. Faith, Mamma. "By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place

which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out not knowing whither he went." (Heb. xi. 8.)

Papa. And it is just the same faith, dear children, that we want. We do not see now the golden mansions of glory, or the sparkling waters of the river of life, but God has told us of them, and that is enough. But did not the pilgrim fathers want faith to sustain them all the way through?

Mary. Yes, papa; the very next verse says, "By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose maker and builder is God."

Arthur. And the after verses tell us that heaven was the real land of promise they sought. "These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country."

Papa. And the word in the Greek there, Arthur, for country, is a peculiarly beautiful It is "fatherland." Read on.

one.

Arthur.

"And truly, if they had been

mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned; but now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly; wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He hath prepared for them a city." (Heb. xi. 13-16.)

Papa. In these few verses we seem to have a perfect picture,-a "Pilgrim's Progress" in miniature, from first to last. But who found a description of the wilderness?

Lily. I, Papa. (Deut. viii. 15.) "Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought,-where there was no water."

Mary. And I, in Jer. ii. 6,-"That led us through the wilderness,-through a land of deserts and of pits,—through a land of drought, and of the shadow of death,-through a land that no man passed through, and where no man dwelt."

Arthur. And Hosea (xiii. 5) calls it "the wilderness, the land of great drought."

Mamma. And how could they be certain that their road lay through this terrible country?

Arthur. Oh, Mamma, it is said,-"The Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud to lead them the way; and by night in

a pillar of fire, to give them light,-to go by day and night." (Ex. xiii. 21.)

Mary. And such a beautiful account we found in Numbers ix. 22 :—“ Whether it were two days, or a month, or a year, that the cloud tarried upon the tabernacle remaining thereon, the children of Israel abode in their tents, and journeyed not; but when it was taken up they journeyed;" so they never could have been in doubt for a moment that they were in the spot God wished them to be.

very

Mamma. And if we look upward, my children, there is the same blessed guidance for us, for it is said, "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord." (Ps. xxxvii. 23.) How are we guided?

Lily. By the hand, Mamma. "I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not, I will help thee." (Isa. xli. 13.)

Mary. And in the next chapter (ver. 16), "I will bring the blind by a way they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known. I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight."

Arthur. And in Ps. lxxiii. 24, it is said, "Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterwards receive me to glory."

Papa. And in what lamp, Lily, is this light held for the midnight traveller ?

Lily. You mean the verse, Papa, you taught