'Blessed are ye that Sow beside all Waters.'

Andrewes writes,' To ascend is to Christ His natural motion, Heaven is His natural place. . . . Seeing for the Son to go to the Father is very kindly too, we may not be against it.' Those who are connected by kind or kin usually have for one another what we therefore call natural affection, hence the meaning which kind' and 'kindly' possess now. We may compare 'genial,' which signifies pertaining to a man's genius or nature, but now means kindly and agreeable.

To grudge' is to withhold something from another, or to give it unwillingly; to bear a grudge' is to cherish ill-will. But the earlier meaning of the word was to murinur, 'He eats his meat without grudging' (Much Ado about Nothing, iii. 4); and Hutchinson, We men grudge and repine at God's rod and punishments.' We can therefore better understand such expressions as, 'They will grudge if they be not satisfied' (Ps. lix. 15); or, Grudge not one against another, brethren (Jam. v. 9).

'Presumptuous' has now lost the sense of' premeditated' or 'wilful,' which it has in Ps. xix. 13: Keep back Thy servant also from presumptuous sins,' not sins of pride and over-confidence, but deliberate wrong-doing, as opposed to those secret faults unconsciously committed, of which mention had been made just before. So in Exod. xxi. 14, 'If a man come presumptuously upon his neighbour to slay him.' Chaucer's Parson defines 'presumption' to be whan a man undertaketh an emprise that him ought not to do, or elles that he may not do.'

When the lord delivered the pounds to his ten servants with the injunction, Occupy till I come,' the modern English reader might suppose, if it were not for the sequel, that the command would be complied with by keeping the trust safe. Occupy,' however, meant to 'traffic,' to 'do business with,' and is so used in our version; e. g. Ezek. xxvii. 9, 16, 19, 21, 22. In the 27th verse of the same chapter we read of occupiers of merchandise.' Latimer says, 'It were not meet the treasure should be in the subjects' purses, when the money should be occupied.' In a letter quoted in Froude's History of England, Thomas Cromwell calls Michael Throgmortona defender of iniquity, a merchant and occupier of all deceits.'

'Blessed are ye that Sow beside all Waters.'

HIS abbey, situated in Denbighshire, has its name from a sepulchral cross-the pillar of Eliseg-of the seventh century, once 24 feet but now only 8 feet high, which still stands in the neighbouring valley. Like other sequestered Cistercian abbeys its situation has every charm of peaceful, natural beauty, sheltered by high, wooded hills, and near the clear stream of the Dee.

It was founded A.D. 1200 by Madoc, Lord of Bromfield, and suppressed A.D. 1535. Like Strata Florida Abbey in Cardiganshire, Valle Crucis is an example of the distinctively Welsh variety of the Transitional period and Early English architecture. The church was cruciform, with lateral aisles to the nave, and eastern chapels to the transepts. The north transept and a chapel of the south transept

Winter and Spring.-Our Account-books.

remain. The west end, with three lofty splayed windows, a wheelwindow in the gable, and a deeply-recessed doorway, still stand in picturesque ruin. The refectory and conventual buildings have been converted into a farm-house.

The Abbots Owen Jorwerth and Ap-Owen became Bishops; the former of St. David's and the latter of St. Asaph.

ΑΙ

Winter and Spring.

DIEU! adieu" Father Winter said To the world, when about to quit it;

With his old white wig half off his
head,

As if never made to fit it.
Adieu! I'm off to the rocks and caves,
To leave all here behind me ;
Or, perhaps, I'll sink in the northern

waves,

So deep that none can find me.'

'Good luck! good luck to your hoary locks!'

Said the gay young Spring, advancing; 4 Go take your nap 'mid the caves and rocks,

While I o'er the earth am dancing. There's not a spot where your foot has trod,

You hard old clumsy fellow !
Not a hill nor a vale nor a single sod,
But what I shall have to mellow.

And I shall spread them o'er with grass,
That will look so fresh and cheering;
None will regret that they let you pass
Far out of sight and hearing.

The fountains you've locked up so tight,
When I shall give them a sunning,
Will sparkle in my dazzling light,

And the brooks will set to running.

The boughs you've caked all o'er with ice

'Tis chilling to behold them; I'll stick them round with buds so niceMy breath alone can unfold them. And when the tree is in blossoms dressed,

The bird with her song so merry
Will come on its limb to build her nest,
By the side of the future cherry.

The earth and the air by their joyfulness
Shall show the good I am doing;
And the skies beam down with smiles,
to bless

The course that I'm pursuing.'Said Winter then, I would have you learn

By me, my gay new-comer!
To push off, too, when it comes your
turn,

And yield your place to Summer.'
H. F. GOULD.

Our Account-Books.

HERE must be something wrong with respect to Christian giving in our day, when from the 'ceiled houses' of God's people comparatively few come forth at the cry for help from thousands perishing for lack of knowledge, when luxuries of furniture and dress must first be supplied, and a balance-should there be such a thing-may then be placed at the disposal of the Master.

Oh, if Ye are not your own, ye are bought with a price,' could be written on the first page and as the heading of every succeeding page in our account-books-if it might confront us in letters suddenly made visible on every order for fresh purchases-if Forget not what thy ransom cost' might be worked into our expenditure of time, money, talents-there would not be the need for special appeals; there would not be the outcry of 'failing causes' which now is heard on every side. 'MISSED BLESSINGS'

A Prayer.

LORD, grant me patience when I lie

Suffering here beneath Thine eye!
Oh, gracious Lord, in mercy give
Me strength to die or strength to live;
And let it be as seems Thee best,
But oh, I long so for my rest!

So often, Lord, I've seemed to be
Within a little way of Thee,
As often dragged to earth again,
When almost I had burst my chain;
Lord, grant me strength here still to
stay,

But what Thou wilt is what I pray.
J. E. C. F.

Short Sermon.

RICH AND POOR.

BY THE RIGHT REVEREND EDMUND HOBHOUSE, D.D., BISHOP.
St. James, ii. 5.-'Poor in this world, rich in faith.'

F we count as riches only those things that our hands can
grasp, then let us learn from this text that there are
different kinds of riches and different kinds of poverty.
And then let us see how it comes about.

It comes about partly from the fact that we belong to two worlds, and therefore may be rich either in the things of one world, or rich in the things of another, or both. Then, again, there is another reason. We have within us two natures, flesh and spirit: the nature belonging to the body, or outward man; the nature belonging to the soul, or inner man. We may be well gifted in the things of the body, and things helpful to the body; or we may be well gifted in the things belonging to the inner man, or soul, and in things helpful to it. Look at these two natures of ours, and at the two very different worlds for which we are created, and see. There must, then, be a great variety of gifts in the hand of God, suitable to these varied wants and conditions.

There are at least these several kinds. (a) Gifts of mind, body, estate, to fit us for life among men as men. (b) Gifts of soul, conscience, will, affections, to fit us to receive heavenly gifts. (c) These heavenly gifts-gifts of the Spirit, of the Holy Spirit Himself, and of all that makes the soul fitted for Heaven. But after we have reckoned up all these gifts we have not reached the end of the matter. There are other ways in which we may be made poor or rich. We may be rich in hope, and promise, and prospect, though poor in present condition. The man that has friends to fall back upon, or an inheritance to look forward to, is not to be pitied like one who has nothing of the kind. So, too, on the other hand, those who have abundance now, and nothing to look to when that abundance is gone, are hardly to be accounted rich. Their lot is not one to be envied.

Turn your minds now to those pictures of want and abundance which our Lord has drawn for us in His two parables of Dives and Lazarus, and of the Rich Glutton, and think especially of His expression used in the latter parable-' rich towards God;' and then see how it can profit us to dwell on the manifold ways of being rich and being poor. Surely it profits us to be led to see that, in spite of appearances, there is not, after all, so great a difference as seems to the eye between man and man, either in his natural gifts or in his condition, if you take into account the various kinds of riches and poverty. Could we

Short Sermon.

only judge of the inward gifts as we judge of the outward, could we only read forwards into a man's coming lot, as plainly as we gauge his present lot, then we should see that many a rich one is poor indeed, and many a scorned Lazarus is the happy heir of a grand and blissful inheritance.

But let us narrow our view for awhile to the things of this world. Call them gifts of mind, body, and estate,-look only at these, and see how entirely it is in God's hand to allot them so as to balance one kind against another; and to make, if He see fit, an even-handed apportionment to each man whom He sends into this world. If He so see fit, I say. I do not say that He does see fit, for He may have many reasons, beyond our grasp, for making an uneven apportionment; and certain it is, that with another world in store, He ever has power to make the balance even hereafter, and to give to Lazarus the share of good things to counterpoise his lackings in the gifts of this world. But cast our eyes only on such things as we can judge of. What do we see? We see gifts of one kind given in large measure to a man, to whom gifts of another kind are denied. To one, great gifts of mind are bestowed, along with a weak body or a scanty estate. To another, a stout and healthful body is granted, fitted for a life of labour, but with no power of mind to fit him for the study or the counting-house. Again, the man who inherits a noble name and a coveted estate has no son to carry it on, or he is so poorly gifted in mind that he cannot manage his own weighty affairs, or he has to hand on his possessions to a spendthrift son, who will scatter them. It was Solomon's case. All the fruits of his wise counsels and wise government of his people, his wide-spread kingdom, his heaped-up treasure, were to fall into the hands of a foolish son, Rehoboam, to be rent, and weakened, and scattered.

I have said just enough to lead you to think on the matter for yourselves. If you want any help take Solomon's Book of Ecclesiastes There read what the rich and noble-hearted king observed in his day of God's bestowal of His manifold varied gifts. Then pass on to our Saviour's teaching in the two parables I have pointed out.

Reflect on these, and try to come to some profitable conclusion from the whole. Say, What gifts shall we chiefly covet for ourselves? Whose lot shall we envy? Whom shall we hold to be really best off? Surely we may come to see our true wisdom in some such course as this-1st. To accept all that God has thought good to give us-gifts of mind, body, estate, present and in prospect; to accept it with thankfulness, without boasting over him that has less, without envying him that has more, and with a perfect, ready will, to yield them all up whensoever God, the giver, calls for them again. 2nd. To make the most of what we have by contentinent, and by a faithful use of them for God's glory and our brother's need, remembering always that Godliness with contentment is great gain;' and that without contentment the largest portion of this world's good is only a root of bitterness, poisoning the well-springs of happiness with pride, or boastfulness, or fear of loss by death or disaster. 3rd. To covet earnestly the best gifts;' those gifts which adorn the soul in God's sight, and which make it lovely, not only now among men, but for ever in the favour of Heaven. The meek and quiet spirit, the enduring faith, the brightening hope,