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man is to stand on the bank and criticise the stroke of the man who is bringing his burden to the shore. If we cannot take off our coats and go in ourselves, surely we can find a bit of cheer in our hearts to give to the man. There is more than one crowd on the bank. There is a crowd standing higher up; a great crowd of witnesses; they are bending over him, they understand it all. Martyrs that were burnt in their day; they say, Well done! And if he does not hear it on account of the babble he will hear it in the good time coming, even though he did not succeed through the strength of the tide, though he flung an empty

hand to heaven, that hand shall be caught in the hand of Christ.

Has God denied you this enthusiasm, which may be partly constitutional and which may not be given to every man? I do beseech you never to argue with the man next you who is baptized with this spirit, nor to hinder him in any way that would not be helpful. Rather thank God that the man next you has got the passion that has come unto great men from age to age, under which they have never been disobedient, and that he has received the fire that burns in the heart of Jesus and burns ever in the heart of the Church.

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Nae wan o' them can fa""; Tell hoo He callit the bairnies,-The dearest thocht o' a'; Read owre hoo the ravin' tempest Seekit silence i' the deep; Sae the surges i' my bosom Are croonin' a' tae sleep;

You maun catch the roll o' Jordan
I' His wards to the Pharisee,
But ye'll hear Him prayin', dearie,
I' the sough o' Galilee;
Dinna fash 'bout Judas' kisses;
Nae greet i' the garden dim,

But joy hoo the dyin' beggar

Foun' paradise wi' Him; Nae hent o' Thamas dootin',

Nae ward hoo Peter fell; It grie's me sair-their weakness, Wha kenned oor Lord sae weel;

Read o' the walk to Emmaus

That long and tearfu' day, An' let oor hearts burn, Lockhart, As we gang the countrie way. Pluck me ane lily, Lockhart, A siller-dew't and sweet; I speer the rose of Sharon, An' smell the growin' wheat; Lat's join the throngin', dearie, An' wait wi' the wee bit ships For the wards, like beads o' honey, That fa' frae His haly lips;

Hoo sad the Gospels, Lockhart,

Wi' His wanderin', hameless life; But there's ane grief fetches comfort, Ane rest that comes o' strife; Noo tak' me, kin', guid Lockhart,— Aye tenner-true tae me !Oot wi' the dear disciples,

"As far's tae Bethany ";

I sair need rest, beloved,

An' the licht's a-wearin' dim; But Heaven's nae far frae Bethany, An' sune I'll be with Him.

-New York Observer.

CHRISTIANITY AND THE POOR.

BY THE REV. MARK GUY PEARSE.

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masses of the poor and destitute are not the creation of modern life. It is said that Cæsar found scarcely less than three-quarters of the citizens of Rome dependent on public succour— the peril and perplexity of the city.

It is the question that every Christian should ask himself—Has Christianity any message, any remedy for the social ills of our time? If it have such a message, what is it?

There is a perilous seething and ferment in our midst. It is as if our great cities were built over slumbering volcanoes, and ominous disturbances now and then remind us that the internal fires may easily break forth and overwhelm us. And yet the Christianity of to-day seems for the most part to go on its way wrapt in its self-complacency, and not greatly concerned about anything beyond trying to make its fortune and then to find its own way to heaven. Vereschagin, the Russian painter, soldier and traveller, whose pictures have lately made a sensation in London, and whose observation and experience give weight to his words, makes this statement in his autobiography: "We shall search in vain for Christian states or communities where the precepts of Christ are really carried out. In this respect the impression which is produced upon me by England— which stands at the head of the civilized world, which assuredly owes a great deal to Christianity, but is hampered with a narrow, official conception of Christ's teaching-is a somewhat gloomy one. Who does

not know the deep contempt for poverty which reigns in England, though poverty is placed by the Gospel so high above wealth?"

And if he had an opportunity of seeing it, as many have, would he not add that the scorn is well repaid --as scorn is likely to be-by the curse of the poor, a curse none the less deep or bitter because it has so little opportunity of making itself heard?

What, then, of the early Christians filled with the Holy Ghost in relation to the poor?

Well, they did not wait until they had some particular remedy, defined and approved, for this particular ill. They did not go forth proclaiming any patent political cure-socialism, communism; much less was there any hint of violence. Most of them did not proclaim anything at all. They never dreamed that they were going to introduce a revolution. It seemed of all things the most unlikely, revolutions are begotten of firebrands, riot, bloodshed, tears. They had two things-the only two things that Christianity requiresthey had the example of Jesus Christ, and they had power to follow in His steps. And that wrought the revolution, just as when God turns the dead world of winter into the beauty of the spring, by the warmth of a new life, a life of love.

Well has it been said: "Socialism's creed is this-All thine is mine; Christianity's creed is this-All mine. is thine." But the Christian's creed is of all mockeries the dreariest unless it is lived. Irritating, aggravating, sickening are such sentiments when they are but pious utterances only and not grand realities. And they of old went forth as their Master did-to live it.

Let us, too, carefully look at the example and teaching of Jesus Christ in relation to the poor.

By his very coming Christ made poverty no more a degradation. Of all men who ever lived Jesus Christ alone had any choice in the circumstances of His birth, and He chose the poorest lot and the hardest fare that ever befell any man.

Henceforth poverty was no part of Divine disfavour. He who became poor was the well-beloved Son in whom the Father was ever well pleased. What wicked folly we utter when we talk as if the "providential path" was always one where men make their fortunes, and as if we could measure God's goodness by the income!

Jesus Christ took away the reproach of poverty. No more should any follower of Christ think poverty is dull, ignorant, unconscious, and incapable of any higher develop ment, shut out from the wisdom and grace and the sublimer aspect of things. But, alas, the great Example does not affect men's estimate of poverty to-day. The dull moneygrubber of whom Tennyson tells utters many a man's feelings towards the poor:

Tis'n them as 'as munny as breaks into 'ouses an' steals,

Them as 'as coats to their backs, an' taäkes their regular meals.

Noa, but it's thim as niver knaws wheer a meal's to be 'ad.

Taake my word for it, Sammy, the poor in a loomp is bad.

Them or thir feythers, tha sees, mun 'a bean a laazy lot,

For work mun 'a gone to the gittin' whiniver munny was got."

Jesus Christ lowered the greatness of wealth by passing it by, and uplifted and hallowed the life of poverty by deliberately accepting it.

But more than this-much more. The one supreme idea which Jesus Christ lived out to the full was this -true brotherliness. For the first time in all the ages Jesus Christ

brought into the world a reverence for humanity. Everything in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ lights up His brotherly kindness. His deeds, His words, His manner, His look, His death all grew out of it; His gracious familiarity, His simplicity, His perfect approachableness and homeliness all proclaimed it. If so varied and many-sided a life can be put into a single word, this is the summary of its earthward aspect it was perfect brotherlykindness. This inspired His teaching and His actions, and His fiercest indignation was kindled by all that made light of this great law of love. His parables, alike in their sweetest tenderness and in their most lurid terror, set it forth again and again. His revelation of the Father established a new relationship amongst men-of old time neighbours only, now all were brought nearer to one another, and now they are brothers. The very word humanity and the idea which it expresses came in with Christ; never before had the oneness of the human race been thought of. It is this sacredness of human nature -its greatness, its dignity-which is declared and secured by the mystery of the incarnation-that God should dwell in man; by the crucifixion—that for man He should lay down His life; by the resurrection -that man should be exalted above all principalities and powers, and should sit upon the throne of heaven beside the majesty on high. This reverence for humanity constantly meets us in the utterances of Jesus Christ. "What shall it profit a man," He asks, "if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" As if He set up the balances, and on the one side he put the round world and all that therein is-wealth, dominion, glory, honour, all things-and the man outweighs them all. Though the man be stamped and branded with vice, though he be too bad for earth and fit only to be nailed to the cross, yet is he so dear to Christ

that such a one is reckoned worth dying for!

And now His followers go forth into a world redeemed not with silver and gold but with the precious blood of Christ. Now was there an awful sanctity and preciousness investing every man and woman and child. No man was any more a mere beast of burden-he was made in the image of God. No woman, whatever her position, was a toy for the passing whim of lustthe great love of God held her dear, and thus endeared her to all His children. Every little child was sacred by the childhood of their dear Lord and Master, hallowed by that hand which blessed the children, bound to the heart of His disciples by the love that had called them His little ones. Of theories, theologies, definitions, these disciples knew perhaps very little; but love is truest knowledge, and with them love to everybody was supreme. What a great outburst of brotherly love fills. these early chapters of the Acts! Before Peter had seen his vision, a great revival has set Samaria, above all places, in a blaze, and burned up old feuds and melted all into a blessed brotherhood. Need and poverty thrust no man down into suspicion or neglect; but as with the Master so with the disciples, in the very need they found their opportunity for service. He who was rich and for their sakes became poor, was their Example, as well as their Saviour; and they could be Christians only as they had the mind which was in Christ.

O for a breath of this Christ-like Christianity! O for a gale of it, like the mighty rushing wind of old! Where is it? We ask what a man is worth, and count the answer by his income. We reverence not the man, but the accidents of his position, titles, liveries, circumstance. The only Christianity which Jesus Christ acknowledges is that which treats every man as brother. The

man's worth is himself, not his gifts. How are we rent and torn asunder for want of this one thing-true brotherliness, reverence for humanity! We hear of the sacredness of property-and it has its sanctities, for that, too, is of God; but we want to hear infinitely more of the sacredness of humanity. And this must reach upward as well as downward. It is not Christianity which blames or hates a man for being rich. The poor man has to love the rich as well as the rich man love the poor. It seems a hopeless thing that men should ever come to believe it, yet it is most true, that all men are bound by the love of God and the brotherhood of Christ into a closer union than any ties of social position can ever bind men. All sorts and conditions of men need this great brotherliness. We are marked off from all other creatures not only by our need of God, but by our need of one another. It is the wild beast only that is independent. The highest are as often shut off from other people by their height as the poorest are shut off by their poverty. There are as many sad hearts and burdened lives in the West End as in the East. And there is an awful mockery in weariness and want amidst such abundance. To have so much and yet to find so little in it! The rich need sympathy, and they get envy -that cruellest regard. The poor, too, need sympathy, and they get it from one another, which the rich do not; but, alas, how often are they dreaded and scorned and suspected! The great middle class, certainly the happiest of the three, is exposed to the envy of those below them, and the scorn of those above them; whilst genius too often sits mocking the wretchedness of all.

Now, for every man and woman who calls Christ Master, the great question is this-What can we do amidst such a state of things-scattered individuals without any great influence?

Well, do not wait until things are set right for us-these early disciples certainly did not do that. They believed that they served One who was come, not coming, to set things right, who was manifested already to destroy the works of the devil. Do not wait until we can find some definite plan that commends itself to every body's judgment. What we have to do is to give ourselves up to Christ for the fulfilment of His great purposes in us and through us. We have in His strength and for His sake to live the life of a Christ-like brotherliness. Do not begin to think of such a life as a lofty ideal too high for commonplace and busy people-that, too, is what these disciples did not do. "Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you," is a promise to us. Let us boldly ask for the glorious portion of good that is ours, and then, having the power, we too can follow in the Master's footsteps.

Let us consider the poor. Think about them tenderly, resolve to help them as wisely and well as you can. Here, too, does the proverb hold good, that necessity is the mother of invention, and the necessities of love alone have omnipotence for their designs. God is love; and it is good as it is true to think that as every sun-ray that touches the earth has the sun at the other end of it, so every bit of love upon God's earth has God at the other end of it. Love, true love, is the only law. When love, true love, says it, it must be; everything in God's universe waits to carry out the bidding. Loving, Christlike, tender considerateness is mainly needed in the world. Here is an extract from a statement by one who knows of what he writes:

"The poor herd together as best they may without even the scanty decency which the artisan, with a single room for a home, manages to secure. Intermixed with the working-class population, in the same. street, next door, not infrequently

in the same house, is the vicious population. From the daily sight and hearing of hideous, loud-tongued vice, the women and children cannot escape. A decent workingman from the quiet country (there are nearly a million and a half of country-born people living in London) must put up with a room. He is amazed at the scenes around him. He cannot escape from them. Alas! he quickly gets used to them and falls into London ways."

"That is very sad," you say; "but what can we do?" How have other great evils been removed but by the great brotherliness that has taken the matter to heart, and thought and prayed and talked until the people indignantly demanded a remedy at any cost? For this, too, which lies at the source of the misery and vice and drunkenness of London, there is a remedy, if only love were widespread and strong enough to compel it.

One result that would follow immediately from such considerateness. is that every church and chapel would have some place open every night-warmed, cheerful and attractive, as easily got at as the publichouse, as comfortable as the barparlour, where men and women and young people could sit and read without being either lectured or patronized-but welcomed simply as brothers.

I believe school rooms, too, would soon be opened as workshops, warmed, and to which girls could bring their work. One good man in the East End of London has set the example, and, by getting the work-girls thus together, has got rid of the terrible. middleman. It would be a simple. matter to have such a "church parlour" in connection with every place of worship. "The streets, the musichall, and the public-house stand to these people in the relation of much that is called home in the country. They have no other resort from the one room, the heat of summer, the fog

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