in Scripture. I believe that "the Lord reigneth,"-only with reference to some far-off time with which we have nothing to do.' That is more insulting to our Heavenly Father, more harmful to the world, more cheating to ourselves, than to have no God at all. I like to feel that I have a tremendous faith in the Lord,' a man said. A tremendous faith' is what we always want. Let us see God in everything. Let us find Him everywhere. Be quite sure that His love and power and wisdom are at work, in our home and our business, in the country and the world. His kingdom ruleth over all': over the Church, and over the children, and over all the house; over the week-day work, as well as the Sunday work; and over the wages, too. Say it to your heart until you come to rest in it: MY GOD.

Have these words any meaning to us, or do we trip over them lightly as mere Hebrew poetry: 'He shall cover thee with His feathers, and under His wings shalt thou trust.'? It is ours to have it always as a sweet reality. Under His feathers: what completeness of protection! what snugness and safety! Do you think it is only a figure that must not be pushed too far? Look: there stands Jesus over you, beholding you, seeing how worried you are, how burdened and fretting; how you spend your time and strength in counting up your hindrances, and in dwelling on your weakness and all the time His tender yearning love longs to fold you to Himself as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings.' 'Have faith in God.'

The God of Mercy.-How blessed a name is this! What a boundless generosity is His! Have you thought how our God delights to give? It is with a lavish, God-like abundance. Look up into the expanse of the heavens. You have thought of His Power and of His Wisdom. Think,

too, of how much giving it takes to satisfy His Love. Here is no scanty dole; no measured expenditure keeping its strict account lest it should give too much : these shining worlds to make night beautiful! See Him Who can only content Himself with such unbounded bounty. You have thought of the endless variety of life and beauty in nature: flower and leaf, plant and tree, the exquisite shape, the distinct and perfect beauty,. the soft mosses, the hoary lichens, the dainty ferns, the gentle flowers, the changeful glory of the sky and sea. Trace in them all a love so large and rich that it can only rest in such abundant blessing. The God of Mercy.

But there is a sweeter note than this. Mercy stoopeth lower, reacheth higher, goeth further, giveth more than all this. The God of Mercy delighteth to forgive, as well as to give. Ah, how much more that means! To save as well as to bless.

Yes, we may well fear as we enter upon the New Year. Not want or woe, not loss or sorrow, not sickness or death. More than all these together we fear sin. We fear lest this year should be cold, empty, dead, as too many have been before it. But here is our refuge and strengththerefore will not we fear. The God of our mercy goeth before Through all the year He is with us Who is able to save to the uttermost.

us.

It is only this giving that can satisfy Him: our uttermost salvation. All the host of heaven and the myriad forms of beauty sink as nothing beside the wonderful giving of His mercy. Words are poor and empty to tell of love like this. Be still and dwell upon it all. O God of Mercy, what a giving is Thine! The well-beloved: Thy best, Thy dearest. The only-begotten! Thine all. O Thou Emmanuel, God with us, can nothing satisfy Thy mercy? Hath Thy love no limits? A stable

is Thy birthplace; a manger Thy bed. Outcast, an hungered, plotted against, betrayed, smitten, spat upon, scourged, canst Thou endure more than this, O God of Mercy? Accursed of earth, forsaken of heaven, crucified for the world's sin: He gave Himself for us. And now He cometh to you and me, as we stand upon the threshold of the New Year, this God of Mercy, and He goes along with us, our Friend that sticketh closer than a brother, our Deliverer. He cannot let us go alone. He comes to talk with us by the way. 'Lo,' saith He, 'I am with you alway.' The God of Mercy goeth with us.

Nor is this all. The crown is of pure gold, but there is one stone exceeding precious, a diamond flashing in its forefront. The God of my mercy shall go before me.

This little my is the burning-glass that collects the scattered rays of light and brings them all to one point my. The Lord would have me take Him as all my very own. Mine-to guide and bless and save me as if there were no other needing Him in all the world. Mine-to love and trust and delight in as if I were His only child. His love to me is grieved with less than this: He altogether mine; I altogether His.

The God of MY mercy! He from Whose hand has come every blessing that I have ever had; Who gave me life; Who sent on before me the love that greeted my infancy, and made ready those gentle and holy surroundings that blest my childhood and protected it; Who gave me reason and health, love and home, and all the good of life. What evils have been kept away! What threatening perils have passed harmlessly! See, faithful and loving, He Who has blest me thus is still beside me. He goes down with me to dwell in this strange land. The God of my mercy. The God of my mercy! To Whom I came guilty and perishing, and He

fell upon my neck and kissed me; made me feel the fulness of His love until my heart cried Father. He

wrapt me in the best robe, as if nothing were too good for me. He put

the ring upon my finger, as if He could not do enough. He took me home and made my sad heart merry with His favour. O, my soul, how hast thou grieved Him, and yet He hath never ceased to love thee ! Come! wake up some glad note of triumph. He Who loves thee, and through Whom thou art more than conqueror, the God of thy mercy, He goeth with thee.

The God of my mercy! Think, again, my soul, how, when sorrow came, He sustained and comforted, until thou didst bless the clouds that made the bow of His sure promise stand out in such vivid beauty. He delivered with such a mighty hand, that ever since thou hast been glad that the tempest came, for the furious winds and tumbling seas revealed to thee what manner of Man is this.' How tenderly He took the burden off thy shoulder and carried it on His own! Thus His love has led thee all along a way of unceasing goodness, and has brought thee up into this goodly land. Be glad, then, in the Lord. All that thou hast ever found in Him thou shalt find still-and all thou canst ever need.

This God of my mercy goes before me. It is the way of His love; He goes on before, and has the blessing of His goodness waiting till we come. There is scarcely a want of to-day but our Father provided for it thousands of years ago. The love that met us at the Cross with pardon has been waiting for us six thousand years. Our Saviour is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

the garden of the Lord, but this I know it will be the right path.

Look at the children of Israel as they move on through the wilderness: the Lord going before them, by day in the pillar of cloud, and in the pillar of fire by night. That is enough, let them follow on. The mountain rocks shut them in, or the pathless desert stretches all around them. What of that? God goes before them. Be quite sure that the God of our mercy will not be less to us than He was to them. The twilight of Gospel type was not brighter than the noon of Gospel day. Take this simply, fully, to the letter, and rest in it: The God of my mercy shall go before me. There is no path of your life, at home, in business, in the Church, but if you will look trustfully, you shall see God going before you.

There is no perplexity,

no event, however passing or trivial, but if you will only look, you shall find God leading you aright. We guess at our way and choose what we think best: so do we grieve the God of our mercy, and get ourselves into trouble. Set it up in letters of gold: The God of my mercy goeth before me. And let our work be neither choosing nor guessing, but following trustfully where He shall lead.

The God of my mercy goes before me: then He will know my need. Poor Israel! What chance is there for thee? Yonder is the furious Pharaoh with all his host. Here the Red Sea defies thee to advance. Better thou hadst tarried in Egypt! Lo, the God of their mercy goeth before then, and down, as in the hollow of His hand, there march the ransomed people along a way of triumph, smooth with the golden sand, and decked with dainty shell and sea-weed. What are the hosts of the enemy to Him? He did blow with His wind, and His sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters.

F

O God! Thou art my God, the God of my mercy, Who goeth before me. The old sins that once held me

in bondage may still pursue, but Thou art my Refuge and Strength. New temptations may wait for my coming, but if my God goeth before me, He will have grace waiting for me and strength according to my need. Ever quicker than the arrow of our foe is the shield of our Defender. 'Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you'-yonder he waits, lurking in the way, that he may sift you as wheat: but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not.' Forth against my foes, the God of my mercy goeth before me.

And

The God of my mercy goeth before me then He will know my temporal wants. Look at Israel again. Here they come so many hundred thousand, besides the children. about them a desert! Surely they are brought up here to die. The fierce sun will beat upon them by day; wild beasts and robber bands will come to prey upon them by night. And what can they eat? Here is no bread; corn won't grow in this sandy waste and on these barren rocks. But the God of their mercy goeth before them. Here by day the pillar of cloud throws upon them all its kindly shade the sun can not smite them; and when darkness comes, the Fire-cloud burns with ruddy glow, their comfort and their safety: they need not fear the terror by night. At dawn of day the manna waits for them, fresh, sweet, delicious; and they gather from the desert, 'bread enough and to spare.' And what though my path leads through the wilderness? the God of my mercy, He goeth before me, and He will provide.'

A little lad, during the American war, was his widowed mother's comfort and joy. One day, as the poor woman was trying to scrape the flour from the sides and bottom of the

6

barrel, to help out the day's supply, the lad cried, Mother, we shall have some more very soon now, I know.' 'Why do you say so, my boy?' asked the mother. Why, because you've got to scraping the barrel. I believe God always hears you scraping the barrel, and that's a sign to Him that you want another.' And before the day was over the fresh supply had come. We may have come to the bottom of the barrel. Then look up for more. Brother, have a 'tremendous faith' in the providence-the providing-of our God.

That was a sweet voice from the empty barrel; but not sweeter than a score of voices all about us if we had but ears and hearts to hear them. There you sit, mournful and desponding, wondering what you will do if this should happen or that. Listen, for the crust on the table is preaching a sermon. 'Look at me,' it says; do you know where I come from? Why, hundreds and thousands of years ago, your Heavenly Father provided for your supply this morning. He put the corn in man's hands: year after year, for six thousand years, He has given the sunshine and shower to pass me on for you to-day; and here at last I am come from His hand to feed and strengthen you. O thou

of little faith, wherefore dost thou doubt?'

Then up leaps a little flame from the fire. Cheer up,' it says, 'cheer up. Thousands of years ago, your Father saw that you would need my little bit of warmth this morning, and need to be comforted with my ruddy blaze. And He stored me up for your use, made me ready and kept me waiting until now; and here I am at last: His gift, to make you glad with my heat, and to cheer you with my dancing flame.'

One of the earliest Arctic explorers -the discoverer of Iceland-is said to have carried with him a number of ravens; and when he wanted to know where the land lay, he would loose one of the birds, and then follow the direction of its flight. A right good use for our croaking cares: let them fly away to the Lord; and let us follow them, until we rest in Him.

So let us go forth with a song of triumph, exulting in our God.

Awake, our souls! away, our fears! Let every trembling thought be gone! Awake, and run the heavenly race,

And put a cheerful courage on.

'O mighty God! Thy matchless Power
Is ever new, and ever young;
And firm endures, while endless years
Their everlasting circles run.'

of the problem, and a perception of its nature, more accurate; but, as with the circulating decimal, or the problem of 'squaring the circle,' every further step in the process brings us nearer, and yet leaves us infinitely distant from the end.

The progress of enquiry into the ultimate constitution of matter, none the less, is a most important chapter in the history of the work done by man in the past few decades. The

spectroscope has been a powerful and almost unparalleled instrument of analysis, and aided by the higher mathematics, has brought us into new and wholly unexpected relations to the great problem. It has enabled us to demonstrate the uniformity of substance constituting the entire physical universe, and in our laboratories to discern, with irresistible certainty, the nature and conditions of the materials composing the most distant bodies in the most outlying abysses of the cosmos. And more than this, it gives us some power of penetration into the real nature-or rather, the ultimate condition-of the substance from which the phenomena investigated proceed.

To find the constituents of a star, however distant, has become a commonplace event, known by the schoolboy, to be accomplished by the Physicists of our times; but by the same processes the cultivated, scientific mind has been enabled to look deeper, and get glimpses of the actual condition of that which manifests the varied phenomena studied. Thus recently Mr. Lockyer has found that there is carbon in the sun-a discovery following quickly upon that of Dr. Draper, proving the presence of oxygen in the same body. But Mr. Lockyer has further announced-and the announcement has been referred to in the recent address of the President of the Royal Society,-that he has discovered indications that what are considered 'elementary' bodiesas, for example, the metals-are compound bodies: a suspicion long held by Physicists and Chemists; and that there is more than a probability that all the forms in which matter manifests itself will be seen to arise in a few elements or perhaps even in one 'element.'

It is not surprising therefore that, on so important an occasion as the delivery of the Faraday Lecture before the Chemical Society, so great a chemist

as Professor Wurtz should endeavour to gather up and make plain the advance made since Faraday's day in our knowledge of the constitution of matter in the gaseous state. He pointed out that the word 'gas' was introduced by Helmont at the beginning of the seventeenth century. He further distinguished between gases and vapours. He regarded gases as being aëriform fluids incapable of reduction to the liquid state by cooling; but vapours were considered as gaseous under the influence of heat. But this distinction does not now hold; for the gaseity or liquidity of any body is merely a question of the degree of heat or cold, and pressure to which it is exposed.

In 1823, Faraday succeeded in making gaseous chlorine fluid. He did this under the influence of pressure. At the very same time, Sir Humphry Davy described the liquefaction of hydrochloric acid gas; and Faraday pursued these methods amongst the more dense gases, such as sulphurous acid, ammonia, sulphureted hydrogen, carbonic acid, etc. Pressure, and not reduction of temperature, was the method he employed to prove that what appeared a permanent gas could be changed into a liquid. During these experiments he discovered in compressed coal gas, butylene-a compound of great importance to the philosophical chemist and benzine, the importance of which is manifest enough in our own day.

It is quite clear that, whether we reduce gases by pressure or by diminution of temperature, the result is to bring their ultimate atoms closer together. But it is now known that mere pressure is not enough. Oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen have been compressed to an extent equal to a pressure of three thousand atmospheres, and their liquefaction has not been effected. They were consequently considered 'permanent' gases. But it has now been proved