To me it opened a new source of gratification, a new means of usefulness, and a new way in which to honour the Lord Jesus Christ.

And now I should like to speak a word for the poor blind. Theirs is a sad privation. A life of darkness. They hear of beautiful objects, but never see them. They hear others read interesting works, but they cannot read them. To them, night and day, darkness and light, are alike. What a source of enjoyment, what a means of improvement, is opened to them when they are taught to read! More, what a means of grace is set before them, when they are enabled to read God's most blessed word. If Solomon would have us open our mouths for the dumb, surely he would have us also stretch out our hands to lead the blind. If we cannot open the eyes of the blind, as our beloved Master could, we can now teach them to read without eyes; and if we can, surely we ought.

My dear friends, look around you, are there any poor blind creatures in your neighbourhood? If so, could you not spare a little time, first to acquire the ability, which is easily done, and then to use that ability in teaching them to read of Jesus-that Jesus whom you love, and who is both able and willing to save their souls. We were told of a lady at Loch Lomond, who taught a poor blind man to read by giving him three lessons, when on a tour. And of a clergyman's wife, who taught a poor widow, who had been blind for 13 years, by the use of Moon's raised letters,

in two or three weeks. What a pleasure it must be, to a benevolent mind, to open such a source of enjoyment to a poor, dark, lonely fellow-creature! And what a comfort it must afford a Christian, if by such means, as has in several instances been the case, the souis of the blind should be won for Christ! My dear Christian friends, look around you, make inquiries about the state of the blind in your towns and villages, and see what can be done for them; do it for Jesus' sake-out of love to his dear name, and great will be your reward.

But before we close, we ought to remind each other, that we are all blind, in a spiritual sense, by nature-blind to our own state and danger-blind to our need of a Saviourblind to the adaptation and glories of Jesusblind to the real meaning of God's most holy Word. Our eyes must be opened by the Holy Spirit, or we cannot see the kingdom of God. We must be taught to read our own hearts, and to understand God's Gospel, and to confide in the Lord Jesus, or we cannot be saved. Have we experienced this change? Have the eyes of our understanding been enlightened? Have we been turned from darkness to light? Has God shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of His own glory in the face of Jesus Christ? Important questions these: the Lord help us seriously to consider them, and honestly to answer them.

A MEMORABLE DAY.

"

WHAT Christian, in looking back, cannot call to mind some memorable days in his history? I can recall many. I consider the day of my natural birth a memorable day; but of that, of course, I know nothing, but from others. But there is another day, and another birth, of which I have been thinking, more memorable to me by far. What a mercy it is to be "born of God," "born of the Spirit,' "born from above!" and it is very blessed, when we can look back, and remember how the Lord met with us, renewed us in the Spirit of our minds, and saved us by his grace. In my case, grace, and grace alone can be seen. Never was one more unlikely to be called than me. Never did I appear farther from God, than on the day the Lord came near to me to judgment. O my soul, as I call to mind God's mercy, I charge thee to praise the Lord! And it was distinguishing grace, too, for one was taken and the other left; and it was the worst, and the most unlikely, that was taken. By the grace of God alone, I am what I am! As grace did the work, cf

fected the change, and made me a new creature in Christ Jesus, let grace have all the glory.

At Old Brentford, Middlesex, on the 28th day of February, 1819, in a large room fitted up as a place of worship, might have been seen two lads, sitting together on the Lord'sday morning; an aged man occupied the little desk, to preach the word of God. А ресиliarity of manner tickled the fancy of the lads, and instead of listening to the word, with a view to profit by it, they were employed in ridiculing and making sport of this aged servant of Christ. They went from the little sanctuary without remorse, hardened in sin and afar from God. In the evening of that day, the same lads were in the same place, but the desk was occupied by another, and a younger man. He was evidently from the country-a plain, unlettered man." His manner was solemn, his voice unmusical, but his message was Divine. After reading the Word, he prayed devoutly, and when the second hymn was sung, he arose and gave out for his text, Mark viii. 36, 37, "What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or, what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" Solemnly did he speak of the value of the soul, of its danger, and the importance of seeking its salvation. The attention of the writer was arrested, the arrow of conviction pierced his conscience, and penetrated his soul. He sighed deeply, but unconsciously. He went

home sorely depressed in mind. He went to bed, hoping to fall asleep and forget all; but sleep fled away, and sad and distressing thoughts were his companions. He was

filled with tossings to and fro, until the dawning of the day. When exhausted nature fell asleep, the mind found no rest, and in the morning he arose unrefreshed. That was a gloomy morning, and a distressing day, for the arrows of the Almighty were within me, and the poison thereof was drinking up my spirits. I tried to pray, but could not. I sunk in deep waters where there was no standing. Conviction was attended with temptation, and temptation almost drove me to despair. No human hand could extract that barbed arrow. No works of the creature could satisfy the enlightened conscience. Ignorant of the way of salvation, by simple faith in Jesus, the soul was groping in the dark, like the blind for the wall, until at last it came to the conclusion, "There is no hope."

But as in nature, when the darkness is greatest, the light is nearest, so it was in this case; for when all hope that I should be saved was taken away, then Jesus was revealed, faith was wrought in the heart by the Spirit, and salvation by free grace was received and enjoyed. Faith in the atonement removed guilt from the conscience; and the applica tion of the word chased away darkness from the mind. Instead of bitterness, there was now peace; instead of gloom, there was sweet