some £5. She not being accustomed to have much money, it looked like wealth. On returning from their honeymoon, the husband told her that he had placed some money in her name in the bank, and showed her how to draw it out, remarking that she would probably not want to come to him constantly for means. He said to her, "Take care not to spend too much, for, though we are rich, we must be careful." She, wishing to do things very well, spent her own money very carefully-and yet to her it was extravagantly. Soon it was gone, and, drawing a cheque for £10, she ordered the carriage and went to the bank herself, fearing that perhaps it was too much. Ten golden sovereigns were given her. This being carefully spent, another, and then another, was drawn, until some time had past and £50 had been withdrawn.

One day her husband came home and said, "What have you been doing with your bank account?"

She was frightened, and said, "I have really been as careful as I could; but there are so many expenses and calls upon one's purse."

K

He, seeing the trouble, said to her, "You silly little thing give me your cheque book."

And, writing a cheque for £100, he made her sign it, and told her to get the money from the bank, and to remember that she was a rich man's wife, and had to spend her money as such-the poor needed to be fed, the sick to have delicacies; and that she must remember that God had given them there means to use for the advancement of His kingdom. I do not think she ever made the same mistake again.

May I use the illustration ? We are the rich man's bride. We have a great bank, where our bridegroom has placed "unsearchable riches" for us. If we are poor, the reason is, we have omitted to sign our cheques and get them cashed; or, if we have cashed them, they have been but small ones a little joy, a little peace, a little power, a little glory. We take a little, when God wants us to take loads. If you want to please Christ, plunder Him: His resources are infinite, His goodness unending, His treasures never fail. Call upon Him often-the oftener the better. He does not wish us to live at a poor rate

any longer; we are to be the wealthiest in the land.

Let us draw great cheques, and give freely to the poor all round of the unsearchable riches of our Christ-great peace for all time, running over joy, that we may carry laughter, not only to our own hearts but to this sad, mourning world, vast power to remove, not only the mountain of sin in ourselves, but in others. "What art thou, Zech iv. O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain," shall be our watchword; and the glory-light of love already being ours, we will carry a great light as we go our singing journey to the vast caverns inhabited by darkness of sin, and the inhabitants shall join our company of redeemed people, and sing aloud with their new-found joy— and then in a little while we shail walk so far that we shall go up higher to inherit "the rest."

O good Lord, give to us all our lost properties, and give us taking hearts, that we may appropriate Thy riches, and become rich indeed, that we may be used wholly for Thee, and give wholly to Thee.

CHAPTER XI.

"THE DEW OF ISRAEL.”

LET us in the remaining chapters sum up all the
teaching that we have been receiving, and see what
is the real effect of the Spirit abiding upon us.
Let us read carefully the fourteenth chapter of
Hosea, for in this is given the history of failure and
of paths of success. In the first verse the prophet
describes how the children of Israel have forsaken
the Lord they have gone after other gods, and
served them. "Thou hast destroyed thyself."
And now he says, "O Israel, return unto the Lord
thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.
Take with you words,
. and receive us
graciously so will we render the calves of our lips."
We may, in the first place, ask, Do any of us live
lives such as we have been depicting-true man-
hood and womanhood? or is our life a perfectly

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aimless one? We rise in the morning, go through the day, retire to sleep at night, without having done anything worthy of our Creator. We are ashamed of ourselves, we desire to do better. Before doing so we must realize the reason of our failure, and blame the right person. "Thou hast Hos xiii 9 destroyed thyself.' All through this book we see people going away from God, taking up with idols and other things, wilfully turning to their own way, like sheep going astray. But at this point God comes unto us and knocks at the door of our hearts, and bids us 66 return unto the Lord." Truly "His Isa. Iv. 8. ways are not our ways, nor His thoughts our thoughts." Had any earthly friend treated us as we have treated Him, I fear me much we would leave him to lie where he lay.

If we do not understand even yet, why, we are not living as we should. May I give you an illustration that you may see on almost any football field? A young fellow tries to kick the ball; and getting it between his feet, it trips him up. He can kick it no longer : it has tripped him up.

So sin has tripped us up, and we cannot get it out of the way. The thing we ought to have