intended not merely for the enlightened few, or a select circle of the learned, but for all men, without distinction. His words are no dainty luxuries for the rich, but the bread of life for the world. The golden grains of truth He would not close up in the courts of the temple, or in the schools of the philosophers, but brought them into the market-place of humanity and offered them freely to the throng. There are no secret doctrines for the initiated. The Sun of Righteousness shines not only on the lofty mountain-tops, but down into the recesses of the valley. It floods the whole landscape with glory, and quickens into life every separate tree and every lowly flower, so that there is "nothing hid from the heat thereof." Blessed indeed are the eyes that see the things that ye see," for we behold in Christ "the Light of the World."

II. There was in Christ a perfect manifestation of the nature of God, an embodiment of all that was divine. Truth in itself, however elevated its range, is but a cold abstraction until we can connect it with One of whose nature it is a transcript; and law is stern and forbidding until we recognise in it the expression of a personal will. Our hearts, in their weakness and weariness and fear, cry out for God, even the living God.

To this cry Christ responds, for He was God manifest in the flesh, "the brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image of His person." It is this fact which gives a supreme worth to His revelation, and vindicates the greatness of His claims. We shall never understand Christ simply by placing His words side by side with the words of other teachers. The philosophers of Greece and the sages of the visionary East, had glimpses of "the first fair and the first good." The utterances of the inspired seers of Judæa may contain the germ of much which Christ afterwards made luminous with new light. But in allowing this we detract nothing from His glory. were before Him had but the disjointed fragments of truth, from which they could not develop its perfect form. He took the fragments which were scattered abroad-the hand, the arm, the headplaced them in their proper relations, and presented them in their perfection. He breathed into every truth the breath of life, and was Himself its highest embodiment. He revealed God not so much by what He said as by what He did, by His life rather than by His words. He lived what others only taught, and in this way He declared unto the world that God whom otherwise no man had seen.

All who

The character of Christ was perfect. In the serene purity of His nature, in His tender and generous sympathy, in His unwearied patience and persistent love, we see as in a glass the glory of the Lord. His very presence made men ashamed of their sins, and yet filled them with the

inspiration of hope. He saw, in the lost and abandoned, possibilities of restoration, and led them by a sure path to a recovered home of righteousness and peace. He so identified Himself with our race as to bear our sicknesses and carry our infirmities. There was no sorrow which He did not console, no misery which He did not relieve. The very sins and ingratitude which opposed Him, brought into stronger light the disinterestedness and magnitude of His love. Pure, sinless, and unselfish, He was yet grossly misunderstood and cruelly persecuted, but when "He was reviled, He reviled not again." He harboured in his mind no resentment, despised not His bitterest enemies, but forgave and welcomed all.

The

The miracles of Christ, in which He asserted His lordship over nature, were all miracles of mercy. They were never wrought to gratify an idle curiosity, or to create a feeling of astonishment, but are the natural outcome of Christ's almightiness in view of the world's needs. Luther has said that Christ did with miracles as parents do with apples and pears-threw them before their weary children to tempt them home. There is in them a wonderful attractiveness. boundless powers which Christ possessed He exercised only for the good of others-never to supply His own needs or to further His own ends. Even His enemies felt themselves safe in His presence. He could with a word have swept them from the earth, but nothing could arouse Him to vindictiveness. The most ungenerous criticism and venomous hostility did not quench His love or turn Him aside from His gracious purpose. Although men knew Him to be possessed of such terrible powers, they were bold and defiant, for they also knew that He would not destroy them. This unique greatness, this marvellous patience, is a conclusive proof of the Deity of Christ. A career such as this is, in the strictest sense, divine. As every word of this great Teacher breathed the inspiration of truth, so His every act had on it the impress of righteousness. He moved among men as one who was not of them, and as we see the mingled purity and power, the gentleness and might, the holiness and the compassion, which, in Him, were never estranged, we voluntarily exclaim, "Surely God is here"-"My Lord and my God."

Even the bitterest foe to truth can scarcely fail to see in the Saviour's life an irresistible charm an attraction which is not of earth. It needs no critical acumen to detect an unwonted tenderness in His relief of human suffering, His cleansing of the leper, His restoration of sight to the blind. The love that stopped the bier, and restored to the widow of Nain her only son, the tears which He shed at the grave of Lazarus, the surrender of His life for the salvation of the world, the self-forgetfulness which

barrassments, distresses, thus occasioned. Of the 300 letters found in his possession several were to a gentleman whose last hours had been saddened by their non-arrival; such an incident speaks eloquently -by the force of contrast-of what we owe to the industry and punctuality of our postmen.

Great, then, was my satisfaction in hearing lately of patient, loving, and Christian labour bestowed on these hard-working public servants, in connection with the London City Mission.

"For seven years," said one of the three mission

containing money and articles of great value, as often as not unregistered-that bank-notes are often sent between the leaves of books and papers-small wonder is it that our men, especially the young among them, sometimes betray their trust. The wonder is that cases of dishonesty are not much more frequent. I can truly say, that in many instances the men are kept faithful by high Christian principle, the only real safeguard from sin. Our work for God among them has been greatly blessed. Four postal districts, including the half of London

East, East-Central, North, North-West-are in my charge. In twenty post-offices we have a monthly Bible reading, and some of the men who have joined these classes are always on the look-out for newcomers, whom they earnestly invite to attend. Touching it is to hear the prayers of these Christian men, who often plead at our meetings, 'Lord, bless the words I tried to speak for Thee, to such and such an one, to-day.' One young man from out the ranks of our Christian letter-carriers is now studying for the ministry, and, on his leaving the Post Office, his Bible-class friends gave him a handsome present of useful books.

"It may be asked, How do you manage to get hold of such busy men? Well, of course much management is required; and I am thankful to say not one complaint has ever been made of our interfering with their work. All the overseers show us kindness. We watch our opportunity. Very early in the morning we await outside the offices the arrival of the mail-carts; then, when all inside is business and bustle, we speak to the drivers in charge of the carts, and give them tracts and papers. The letter-carriers gone, we converse with the officials, and are always met with friendliness. We have many a chat with the men in the kitchens, which they frequent for their meals, and thus gain an opportunity of leading their thoughts to heavenly things."

Mr. P., another of the missionaries, labours exclusively among the boy messengers and assistant sorters. He told us how in past years the great snare for these lads was impure literature; again and again they were brought up before the inspectors for reading immoral books. Now such a thing is unknown among them. This evil has been swept away by the circulation in the post-offices of good magazines and other wholesome reading, partly furnished by the London City Mission, partly by the liberality of the present Secretary to the Post Office, whose sympathy and active help in their Christian labours is a tower of strength to these humble missionaries.

"I have in my care," said Mr. P., "4,581 boys from fourteen to seventeen years old. I've held sixty-five meetings with them this year-real Biblereadings, not the tea-and-cake business; though we 're glad enough when any kind friend enables us to give them a tea-party."

The missionary had evidently gained the confidence and affection of many of his somewhat wild

crew.

With the inspector's leave, he had dealt with one bright little fellow about to be dismissed for irrepressible love of mischief; and a little quiet talk, during which the boy promised to pray daily to his Heavenly Father-and kept his promise-so subdued him as to avert his threatened disgrace. The Christianity of some of these young lads is almost quaintly practical. One of our Bible-class boys volunteered to travel with the night mails.

"You'll get your neck broken," said some of his companions, who were in the habit of

"pecking at him" -to use his own language-for his religion.

"Well, even if I do," he replied, "my soul's saved, and my life's insured; and if my neck is broken, I shall go to heaven, and my mother will get the insurance."

"My friendship with these boys opens the way to my visiting them in sickness. One of them fell into rapid decline some time after he had passed out of my department. My superintendent, a gentleman connected with the Post Office, asked me to visit him, saying

"You will have to feel your way. It's even possible he will not admit you. I used to find him disinclined for religious subjects.'

"Great was my surprise to receive a hearty welcome, and to find this young man of twenty-three fearless of death, quite at peace in his Saviour.

"What made you turn from Mr. S.?' I inquired. 'Were you under the influence of bad books or infidel lectures?'

"No, sir, but I always carried in my pocket a low sporting paper, and I knew it wouldn't go with the Bible. When I gave that up, the difficulty was gone.'

"He soon passed away, and I learned from his sister that his mother had found life in Christ through the happy death of her Christian son."

And cheering instances there are where the reality of such turning to God under the chastisement of sickness is proved not by a happy death but by a changed life.

"A short time since," one of the missionaries tells us, an overseer, speaking of a man who had been ill, said, 'I don't know whether it was what you said to him during his illness, but he has been quite an altered man ever since he resumed his duty.'"

"We have now," went on the boys' missionary, "through the influence of the Chief Secretary, a room available for religious meetings in every postoffice in the City; whereas, in the first years of our work, we often paid 8s. 6d., sometimes 30s., for the use of such a room. Our first tea-meeting on postoffice premises was in the new Fleet Street building. Twenty-five lads were present, concerning whom we learned that seven were Sunday scholars, eighteen regular church-goers, eight teetotalers, sixteen in the habit of daily prayer."

Some time ago a tea was given by the Postmaster, to which all the telegraph boys of the City were invited, and where, after tea, good words were spoken to them, and rewards given for industry and punctuality.

Not long ago an overseer sent a request that a certain stranger would call on him.

you know this?" And he produced a pocket-book containing bank-notes to the amount of £640.

"One of our boy messengers picked this up in the street," said the overseer, "and brought it straight to me; and we found your name and address inside."

Equally startled and delighted, the owner of the pocket-book made the honest little finder a suitable present.

All the statements of that day were fully confirmed, and the cause of Christian ministry in the post-offices earnestly pleaded, by one well acquainted with the circumstances of the letter-carriers, and the labours of these missionaries among them. As the Chief Secretary to the Post Office told us how ten thousand men, half of them at the central office, are now employed as sorters and letter-carriers for London, and reminded us how only a special agency

can reach these toiling men, absent from their homes in our service long before daybreak and till late at night, we wondered not to hear him add that there is room for ten times three missionaries in this wide field. And then, as he went on to show how many of the sore temptations to which these men are constantly exposed arise from the thoughtlessness of the public whom they serve, and spoke of the encouragement already received in this Post Office mission, the readiness to listen to the Word of Life, the striking fact that, since the beginning of this work, 2,136 men from our London offices have been added to the Church as communicants, we felt that a stronger claim on the Christians of London there could hardly be than for support and increase of a work already costly out of proportion to the hardstrained resources of those who carry it on.

A. J. T.

IN

N all ages of the world the Lord Jesus Christ has had His witnesses. The old prophets bore witness of Him, of His sufferings, and the glory that should follow. And after His Ascension, the Apostles gave witness of His Resurrection; and from that time onward He has had those who, by lip and life, by word and deed, have borne witness to His resurrection power, His saving grace and love. These have been found in all ranks of society; men and women who, devoted to Christ and faithful to their heavenly calling, have nevertheless left their mark on the world's history, have made their lives sublime, and have left examples worth imitating, of diligence, energy, courage, perseverance, and all those elements of character which insure success. Men of this stamp have been found in all the learned professions, in the realms of literature, in the walks of science, in the fields of nature, in the regions of poetry and the arts, in the centres of business enterprise, in the senate, at the bar, on

the bench, in the ranks of naval commanders, and among those who have become illustrious as military leaders.

The profession of arms is not in itself favourable to the development of a life of earnest practical godliness. There are connected with military life many mighty temptations to evil, and at best many serious drawbacks to walking with God in holiness and righteousness. And yet not a few have been found to whom may be applied, with strictness and emphasis, in reference to both earthly duties and heavenly claims, the grand encomium of the Roman veteran, "Called, chosen, and faithful."

The passing generation has heard little, perhaps, and the rising generation still less, of Colonel Gardiner, who for several years was the attached friend of his eminent biographer, Dr. Doddridge. A century and a half ago he was in the height of his distinguished career; and when the British army was in a very different condition as to religion and morals from what it is at the present time, he stood forth as a faithful witness for Christ, when such were much fewer in the army than now, exerting a considerable influence for good upon his brother officers and among the rank and file of his own regiment.

He entered the army, as ensign in a Scotch regiment, at the early age of fourteen, and served in Holland. He bore a conspicuous part in the war with France, under the Duke of Marlborough, specially in the battle of Ramillies, when, leading the Forlorn Hope, he was severely wounded, a shot entering his mouth, passing through his neck, and coming out on the left side of the vertebra. It was two days before his wound was dressed, and then by unskilled hands, so that he ever regarded it as a