of times a railway carriage, or the deck of a steamer, or my garden at home, has been my place of worship; and many a happy hour of prayer and praise I have had in London cabs, and omnibuses too."

"But, sir, I can't think how I could ever worship God in all the bustle of the streets."

"How is it," asked the minister, "that you are so quick to see when any one wants to get into the omnibus? I've been watching you since I've taken my seat, and I could almost fancy you had half a dozen eyes, instead of only two; no one seems to escape you."

"Well, sir," said the conductor, "I suppose it's partly habit that has made me so used to it; and partly because, if I didn't look sharp, I'd soon lose my place; and that means pretty much the same as starvation for myself, and my wife, and my five children; for it's easier to lose a place any day than to get another."

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But, my friend, do you know that you may starve your soul, as well as your body? Your soul can't live without prayer any more than your body can live without food; and if you were as anxious to feed your soul as you are to feed your body, you'd soon learn the habit of continually having a moment's prayer to God as you do your busy work."

"But it would be very hard for me to get into the way of it, when I've no one to teach me."

"But indeed you have some-one to teach you; for when the blessed Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, after having come down to this world to suffer and die, that poor lost sinners should be saved, when He went back to heaven again, having finished His work, He sent the Holy Spirit to teach people about Him." 1

"And where is He, sir?"

Everywhere; He is close beside you as you stand on that step."

"But He can't be there, for I can't see Him."

1 John xiv. 26.

"Can you see the wind ?"

"No, sir."

"Then how do you know when there is wind ?"

"Oh! easy enough, sir; I can feel it, and I can see what it does."

"And it is just the same with the Holy Spirit. We cannot see Him any more than we can see the wind, but we can feel Him in our hearts, and there is nothing the Holy Spirit cannot teach you: there is no difficulty in which He could not guide you; there is no sorrow in which He could not comfort you; and He is always at hand ready to help you."

"But how can I get Him for a teacher?" asked the conductor, thoughtfully.

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"By prayer," answered the minister; and taking his pocket-book, he wrote a few words on a card, and then said, "I have written down a short prayer, which I will give you; it is only a few words, easily learnt." And then he made the man repeat after him the prayer he had taught to hundreds: "O God, for Christ's sake, give me Thy Holy Spirit." He then took a small Testament out of his pocket, and gave it to the conductor, making him promise to learn one verse daily; "and begin with this," he said, showing him I John i. 7: "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.' All through the day ask God for Christ's sake to give you the Holy Spirit, and ask the Holy Spirit to teach you the meaning of your verse. Pray to God as freely as you would talk to me; ask Him to give you all you want, to teach you all you cannot understand; and, above all, to enable you to believe that the Lord Jesus loved you so much that He died in your place, and bore all the punishment your sins deserved. If you do this you will find that there is no happier place of worship than the step on which you stand. But now I am at my journey's end; so I can only pray that God may indeed give you His Holy Spirit for Christ's sake. Amen." And with a hearty good-bye on both sides, they parted.

The Two Givers.

T is all very well for you who are sick, Annie, and cannot enjoy the world, to be so religious, but it is quite different with me; if you only knew the jolly life I lead, you would not want me to give it up so soon. I mean to make the best of this world while I can, and when I'm old or sick I'll be religious too." Then, seeing the pained expression on his sister's face, that deepened as he spoke, he added, "Don't be vexed about me, dear child; you'll see it will all come right in the end, never fear."

"Oh, Charley, I am not vexed, but I am so grieved for you, so grieved for the dishonour done to my dear Lord! To think for one moment the world can be a better portion, a better master than He is !" and tears of heartfelt distress filled the gentle girl's eyes.

"But, Annie, look at us both; you so good and so religious, always sick, often moping here half the day alone, too ill to see us, even when we are in the way; while I, who make no profession, have health and strength, and good spirits and plenty of fun. Tell me the truth, would you not change with me if you could ?"

"Change with you, Charley !" exclaimed Annie; "give up my God, my Saviour, my Comforter! give up the joy of His presence here, the joy of serving Him, even a little! give up the sure hope of eternal life in His presence hereafter !—give all this up, and for what? For pleasures which must pass away, which cannot satisfy—you know they cannot even while they last. Oh, dear brother! if you ever

had known one hour of real communion with Jesus, even though it were on a sick and lonely bed, you would not wonder that I should shrink with horror from the thought of all this world can give, but without Him. Do sit down and let us have a quiet talk over it; my head is better to-day, and you are going so soon, we may not have another opportunity."

She looked at him so lovingly, so beseechingly, that although he hated a talk on personal religion, such as she sometimes tried to have with him, he could not refuse, as he remembered how little probability there was that the fragile girl would be there to meet him on his return from India.

For many years Annie had suffered from spine complaint, which at first confined her to the sofa and afterwards almost entirely to bed. Hardly more than a child when her illness began, she had before that learned, beside a mother's dying bed, to know Jesus not only as a Lord and Saviour, but also as a friend; and during those years of sorrow, of loneliness, and of suffering, she had proved Him to be able to make up, and more than make up, for the loss of all else. He had never failed her, never left her, and by the power of His blessed Spirit had enabled her to glorify Him by her cheerful, patient submission, and her unselfish sympathy with and consideration for others.

It was the longing desire of her heart that Charley, her only, her dearly loved brother, might be partaker with her of the great salvation finished on the cross of Calvary; for this she prayed, for this she watched and waited. Her mother had left him to her. The very morning of her death she had said, " Annie, my darling child! I leave Charles to your love, your prayers. I leave him for you to win to Christ; and I doubt not our God will give you this great joy, and I shall yet welcome both my children to the home above."

So Charley sat down, and Annie, lifting up her heart for help and wisdom, said, "Oh, Charley, if you did but know the difference of those 'Two Givers,' God and the world, what they have to give, and how they give it !"

"I don't know what you mean, dear."

She took up her Bible, that was ever at hand, and opening it, said, "Here are two short sentences that will just tell you. You remember how, in the account of the marriage in Cana of Galilee, when they had tasted the wine Jesus had made, they said, 'Every man at the beginning doth set

forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now; and this other word of our Lord, 'Not as the world giveth, give I unto you.'

"The world always gives its best things first; its pleasures, its successes, are all what you can enjoy while you are young, and strong, and thoughtless." He looked incredulous. "Well," she added, "think over the things that you enjoy now; which of them will last when sickness, sorrow, and old age come? which of them will prove a stay and comfort in the hour of death ?"

He was silent, as in his mind he rapidly went over society, sports, music, dancing, novel-reading; and as they passed in review before him, he had to confess to himself not one of these can stand that test, and he said so, but added quickly, “There's time enough; a few more years of pleasure, and I'll think about it."

"There is not time enough. Sickness and death may come any day, and who knows but that it may come in such a form as to leave no time, no power to think, to believe, to pray? If you choose this world as your portion, you may indeed enjoy it wildly, madly rejoice in it for a time; but the truth is, and you know it, that it does not, cannot satisfy even at the time, and that year by year it will fade away, until nothing is left in the end but a past full of remorse, a future of despair; the cup of this world's pleasure, once so bright and sparkling, changed into the awful cup of the 'wine of the wrath of God,' to be drunk to the very dregs. But if it were quite safe to put off coming to Christ, to put off the receiving of His great gift of a full salvation, would you treat Him so? would you say, 'The world shall have all my best, my youth, my strength, my intellect, and when I cannot enjoy it any longer, then I will turn to Thee! I will fight in the army of Satan while I have strength to fight, and he can pay me wages in the shape of pleasures; and when I am a poor, worn-out soldier, having spent all Thy gifts in his service, then I will enlist in Thy army, and