If he denies that the sun has brightness, or the mountains grandeur, will you believe him? . . . Shall the spiritually blind be more trusted? Shall they be spiritual guides? God has opened your eyes. Satan has blinded theirs. Your testimony is positive. Theirs is negative, and necessarily worthless. A lawyer told his client that two men would swear that they had seen him commit murder. "Ah, but," said he, "I can bring fifty men who will swear that they didn't see me commit it!" And that poor villain, guilty, but merry with his own stupid conceit, is a fair type of infidelity. It can bring men in great numbers, it must be owned, who will swear right lustily, and with no little cursing, that they never saw any beauty or glory in Christ or His Gospel.—Professor Hoge. LESSON XXX.-Points for illustration:-God feeds His people (62)— "Give us this day our daily bread "-Sabbath observance and Sabbath provision-Jesus is the bread of life (63.)

62. God feeds His people.-During the persecution that raged in France at the time of the massacre of St. Bartholomew, when so many Protestants perished, a minister, named M. Merlin, chaplain to the good Admiral de Coligny, hid himself in a hay-loft. Here, however, he was in danger of dying from starvation, and would have perished, but that every day a hen came and laid an egg near where he was, which preserved his life! We are told of another witness for the truth, a godly woman who had great faith in God's providence, that, on being brought before a judge and condemned for her religion, he tauntingly said to her, "I shall send you to prison, and then how will you be fed?" Her reply was, "If it be my heavenly Father's will, I shall be fed from your table." And so it was. The wife of the judge, hearing this, was so struck with the woman's steadfastness and faith in God, that she supplied her with all she needed during her imprisonment, and herself found the same Saviour for whom the other suffered.-Rev. J. H. Wilson.

66

63. Spiritual food.-A little girl said to a gentleman who was never known to enter the house of God, "Sir, why don't you go to church; for I am sure, such as you are, you need food as well as myself?" The gentleman answered her, "Pray, who feeds you, and what kind of food is it that you receive at church?" She replied, Sir, it is God who feeds me there, and His Word is the food I am supplied with; and I assure you that though my mother, being very poor, is sometimes scarcely able to give me food to eat, yet, fed as I am every Sabbath with the bread of life, I never know what the pains of hunger are." The gentleman, astonished at what he heard from the little girl, resolved from that time to attend the service of the sanctuary; and he has adhered to his determination, and now feels and confesses the great pleasure and profit that arises from a constant attendance on the means of grace.-White

cross.

LESSON XXXI.-Points for illustration:-In distress cry unto the Lord -the spiritual Rock (1 Cor. x. 4)—the living water (64)-the efficacy of united prayer (65)-Jesus our Intercessor.

64. Living water.-During a revival in a town in Ohio, a man who

had been very worldly-minded was awakened, but for some time concealed his feelings, even from his wife, who was a praying woman. She left him one evening in charge of his little girl of three years of age. After her departure his anxiety of mind became so great, that he walked the room in his agony. The little girl noticed his agitation, and inquired, "What ails you, pa?" He replied, "Nothing," and endeavoured to quiet his feelings; but all in vain. The child looked up sympathizingly in his face, and said, with all the simplicity of childhood, "Pa, if you were dry, wouldn't you go and get a drink of water?" The father started as if a voice from heaven had fallen on his ear. He thought of his thirsty soul famishing for the waters of life; he thought of that living fountain opened in the Gospel; he believed, and straightway fell at the Saviour's feet. From that hour he dates the dawning of a new light, and the beginning of a new life.-Foster's Cyclopædia.

65. United prayer.—I have been endeavouring to establish among us what are called Aaron and Hur societies, i. e., little collections of four or five, or more persons, who meet before service on Sabbath morning, to spend an hour in prayer for a blessing on the minister and the ordinances. They began on New Year's day, and we seemed to have an immediate answer, for the meeting was unusually solemn, and we have reason to hope that the Word was not preached in vain.-Dr. Payson.

LESSON XXXII.-Points for illustration:-The best reason: the Lord hath need of them-the best response: straightway-Sion's King"Who is this?"--the house of prayer-the children's voice in the service of praise (66.)

66. Children's praise.-A Sabbath school having been opened near Hereford, a labouring man, who had a large family, sent his children there for the benefit of instruction; the good effects of which soon appeared. It happened that, very near to the man's house, a place was opened for the worship of God, where service was held every Sabbath evening at seven o'clock, and this man and part of his family attended regularly. One evening, the weather being very snowy, the man thought prudent to leave his children at home, and went alone. Some of these young ones, disappointed at not getting with their father, thought they would have a meeting amongst themselves. The father, on returning, was surprised to see a light up-stairs in his cottage, and thought they must be retiring to bed. He opened the door, and went softly up stairs, when, to his astonishment he heard his youngest daughter, a child not more than six years old, in humble strains pouring forth her prayers to God, through whose tender mercy it was that she had been taught to "remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy." When she had finished her prayer, she called upon one of her little brothers to pray, (for they were met together for that purpose;) and thus they finished the blessed day, experiencing, it is hoped, the blessedness of that promise, "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."-Biblical Museum.

THE

SABBATH SCHOOL MAGAZINE.

DUNCAN MATHESON,

THE SCOTTISH EVANGELIST.

(Continued from page 152.)

On reaching home, after his work in the Crimea, in the year 1857, he frequently related, on suitable occasions, the story of his experience among the soldiers; and this was often done, as his biographer tells us, "amidst torrents of tears." He had, to a high degree, the facility of turning all he saw and heard to practical account; and many were the salutary impressions made by his allusions to the battlefield. His health, enfeebled by his work in the Crimea, having become greatly invigorated by his native air, he at once embraced whatever opportunities occurred for preaching Christ, and pressing upon the acceptance of sinners the "great salvation." And this he felt called upon to do, not simply by the living voice, but by the printing press. When lying ill at the Crimea, he made a vow that, should God spare him to reach his native shores, he would publish a testimony for Christ; and this took the shape of a monthly periodical, afterwards so well and favourably known as the

66 HERALD OF MERCY."

From the very first this little paper met with large acceptance. Filled with short, pointed, stirring articles, it soon reached a circulation of 32,000; and that it was really a quiver filled with arrows, is clear from the detailed experiences of those who read it. Take a few examples: "A stranger came to Mr. Matheson one day in Crieff, and asked him if he remembered a Herald of Mercy with an article headed, 'Quench not the Spirit?' That, said he, was the means of my conversion. An English lady resident in Constantinople, for whose spiritual welfare much had been done in vain, received from a friend a copy of the Herald of Mercy. The reading of it resulted in her conversion. A tradesman in Berwickshire one day, finding a fragment of a paper on the floor, picked it up, NO. VIII.] [VOL. XXIII.

H

and, as a matter of curiosity, began to read. It proved to be a part of the Herald of Mercy, containing a long article headed, 'Are you converted?* It was an arrow from the King's own bow. Conversion followed."

Now, these facts surely shew that the circulation of tracts and religious papers is not a vain and fruitless toil. Often do they prove to be the silent messages of God, straight from the throne;-the good seed of the kingdom, which, when sown in faith and watered with the tears of earnest prayer, is sure to result in blessed fruit. So Duncan Matheson felt, and hence, with printed as well as with spoken words, he sought to win souls, and build up a “pure and undefiled religion” throughout the land.

During a stay in England, in the year 1859, he married a Christian lady, Miss Mary Milne, who proved a most excellent help-meet; and this he regarded as another answer to prayer. Together most happily they travelled and toiled for Christ; and when their changes were pretty frequent, he would sometimes say-"We'll get settled up yonder, Mary, in the Father's house; meanwhile let us work and win souls." Leaving England he went north to Aberdeen, where he was especially useful to young men. To many his words were as goads and nails fastened in a sure place. His manner attracted them. There was such a manly ring about all his addresses that sent them home with force. "Nail your colours to the mast," he would say; "labour for God, and live for eternity." Returning to Dundee, he was equally successful among the people there; and many striking cases are given in proof of this. On one occasion, “a young man entered the church from sheer curiosity, and stood near the door, in order that he might more conveniently retire, if aught should offend his ears. He heard the text, and heard no more. That led to his conversion. Another was carelessly passing by, and hearing the preacher solemnly repeat the question, 'How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?' was arrested, and brought to the Lord." These are only samples of the harvest reaped in Dundee. And, what must be very interesting, "Of the converts then made some are now in the ministry, some are missionaries, evangelists, Scripture-readers, elders, deacons, students, Sabbath school teachers, and district visitors; while a still greater number are embraced in the less known, but hardly less useful rank-and-file of the King's army."

Gifted with a powerful voice and robust frame, and possessing special aptitude for open-air work, he abounded in it. His diocese emphatically

was

THE DIOCESE OF OPEN-AIR.

At Huntly, and in the neighbourhood of the Castle there, large assem

blages were annually mustered, mainly through his instrumentality, and under the auspices of the late Duchess of Gordon. By these gatherings it is not too much to say that most blessed impulses were given to God's people, and souls were savingly changed. At fairs and feeing markets he plunged into the midst of the people, and vigorously addressed to them the good word of life; and this was not unfrequently done in circumstances that called for extraordinary courage. Occasionally showmen and "lewd fellows of the baser sort" would attempt to drown his voice, or divert the attention of the people; but he was seldom baffled. His quaint humour, and stirring racy anecdote, and lively manner, generally won the day; and when finished with his address, he would go down from the platform among the people, and while distributing tracts or copies of his paper, he would speak "winged words." To one buying an article at the edge of a caravan, he would say, “What shall a man profit," &c.; or, to another, getting himself weighed, "Thou art weighed in the balances and found wanting." Of course, every one could not have acted as Matheson did; but these were modes of usefulness, he thought, available to him, and he used them. God's servants are all different, and each should seek to do the work for which he is best fitted. Moreover, as Dr. Mackay, the present editor of the Herald of Mercy, has so well remarked, "Every evangelist has a something God has given him as a great reality to his own soul, and God uses the evangelist to carry home that truth to do His own work. One, for instance, has this word, 'God is love!'-another has impressed upon his mind, 'It is written;'— a third has to preach oneness with Christ;'-and a fourth, 'Believe and live."" Duncan Matheson's was Death, Judgment, and Eternity;" and most certainly that trinity of truth was proclaimed with a burning earnestness.

But we must now draw this sketch to a close. Besides preaching at fairs and feeing markets, Matheson spent much of his time in letterwriting, as also in seizing every opportunity of darting arrows, or dropping sweet cordial, in the shape of

PITHY SAYINGS,

some of which are worthy of being quoted. "To a timid young Christian he said, 'Be what God meant you to be-a man.' To one whom he saw unpractical he said, 'Be real.' To a flighty one, 'The Lord will clip your wings some day.' To students preparing for the ministry he gave this advice-Lads, tak a guid grip o' God;' and to warn them against the deadening effect of classical studies, he said, 'Mind, Christ was crucified between Greek and Latin.' Then to another he said, 'If you wish to