comes of it; to keep in God's way even when we cannot see where it will lead us. Many a man, and many a boy too, has been helped, by God's grace, to keep firm to the right when it has seemed as if it could only lead to sorrow and loss. But, "Never mind," they have said; "it is God's way; he will make it all right; and though we cannot see how, it will surely turn out well in the end."

Those who follow this example need not be surprised or troubled if, for a time, the way only seems harder to them. It was so to Abraham. Perhaps he thought when he was called away from Ur, his father's home, and from the heathens there, that he should very soon find his way to the people of God in some other land, and live happily with them. But no! First he came to Haran, or Charran; but there were heathens there also. For a while, however, he stayed there with his companions, and then had to travel on; but wherever he went, there were heathens still.* It must have seemed even worse than staying in his own country among the idolaters there. But he was patient and trustful.

After a while the voice of God came to him again, and declared, "This land is for you and for your children." How hard it must have been for him to believe that, with the wicked Canaanites all round him! Harder still, for Isaac his son was not yet born. Yet he trusted God. Then again, God told him that he would never have any part of the country in his lifetime, but that the promise would come true after more than four hundred years. How long to wait! But Abraham knew very well that he would not have to wait so long. Ages before that time he would be dead; but death would only take him to a better land, where all his wanderings and sorrows would be over. His own true Canaan † would be heaven. As long as he lived, therefore, he was content to be a stranger and a pilgrim in the land which was to be his children's own, having himself not one foot of ground in it but the grave which, after a while, he had to buy for his beloved Sarah, and where he too was to be laid. "He looked for a better country, that is, an heavenly."

And when there, do you think he would ever be sorry that he had obeyed and trusted God, or that he had waited patiently so long? Let the same hope make you always ready to serve and to suffer for him.

*Gen. xii. 6; xiii. 7.

† See the apostle's argument in Heb. xi. 13-16.

There was a poor lad whose scanty wages were his only support on earth. An orphan and friendless, no one cared for him. His master one day ordered him to do in his work something that he knew was a sin against God. "I am very sorry to disobey you, sir, but I cannot," he meekly replied. "Then you leave my service next Saturday," angrily answered his master, "so you had better take time to think about it." Soon after, the boy was found by some one standing at his work alone, singing softly to himself the lines

"I'm but a stranger here,
Heaven is my home,
Earth is a desert drear,
Heaven is my home;
Trial and sorrow stand
Round me on every hand;
Heaven is my fatherland,

Heaven is my home."

Yes, and while he had that thought to comfort him, he would be ready, like Abraham, to give up all for God-like Abraham, to do God's will, though it seemed only to lead to grief and loss-and, like Abraham, to wait calmly through. many a weary day, until God should see fit to give him happiness on earth, or to take him home to heaven.

We may also notice Abraham's companions. First, when he went from his old home he had with him his father. Terah and Sarah his wife, and Lot the son of Haran (Gen. xi. 31). His brother Haran was in his grave. Perhaps all his nearest living relatives accompanied him. Must not this have made him happy? Most of all, it must have given him joy that he was able to persuade his father to give up idols, and to become a pilgrim like himself. But there have been even young children who have had as great a joy. Little girls and boys who have loved Jesus themselves have spoken of his love to their parents, and these parents have learned to love him too. And pious children who have not been able to speak much about Christ have yet been so gentle, so obedient, so loving, and so truthful, that ungodly fathers and mothers have said, "There must be something very wonderful and beautiful in our children's religion; we, too, will seek the Saviour." Oh, how delightful is this! Abraham must have felt, as he arose to travel to the far-off, unknown land of promise, "I cannot go alone." So every one who is truly in the way to heaven feels, "I cannot go alone :"

"Father! mother! come with me
To yon bright land;

Brother! sister! come with me

To yon bright land.”

But Abraham was only to have these companions for a little while. Before reaching Canaan, he and they stayed a long time in Haran. There his father died; to go, we hope, to the better country, for which his son had already learned to look. Nahor, too, the brother of Abraham, left them here. The three, then-Abraham, Sarah, and Lot-arose at God's command, and travelled on by themselves.* * By-and-bye Canaan was reached; but new sorrows came, of which I cannot now tell, and in the end it was found that even Abraham and Lot could not stay happily together. So they, too, parted, and Abraham with his wife was now left alone. But God was with them still. Let us obey him, trust him always, and he will never leave us. Other friends may leave us; earthly parents may die; we may be all alone in the world; but even the poorest, loneliest orphan, who has given himself to Jesus, may raise his eyes above, and say with holy joy, "I have a Friend in heaven."

GRACE ATWOOD; OR, WHAT CAN HAVE DONE IT?

CHAPTER III.

"Body and mind have tried

To make the field my own;

But when the Lord is on my side,

He doeth the work alone."

DAYS, weeks, and even months passed by, and Joe, to the unbounded thankfulness of Grace, still held to his good

* Such at least seems the most likely account, although, as every student of the narrative knows, it has some difficulties. In Genesis xi. 26 we read, "Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran;" in verse 32, "The days of Terah were two hundred and five years and Terah died in Haran." If Abram, therefore, was the eldest son, he was 130 years of age when his father died. But, in chap. xii. 4, we find that Abram was but "seventy-five years old when he departed out of Haran." We must conclude, therefore, either that Abram left Haran sixty years before Terah's death, abandoning his aged parent in a strange land—a supposition most unlikely or that he was not Terah's eldest son. In the latter conjecture, indeed, there is little improbability. Certainly Abram's name is placed in rank before those of his brothers; but just so we read of Noah's children as "Shem, Ham, and Japheth;" although Japheth was in fact the eldest.

resolution, of not tasting the accursed drink. But his resolution was maintained and upheld in a strength not his own. Frequent failures in past days had driven him out of self confidence; and with a firm grasp, though often with a trembling hand, he now clung to the strong support set forth in the Bible. He knew that in his case it must be total abstinence, and that the slightest departure from it would open a way for his great enemy, which he might be unable to resist. Of himself he could never have withstood the solicitations of his old companions and friends; but one thought of Grace, and the solemn vow made by her bedside, that dreadful night when he had been so nearly a murderer, drove him to God, and with "Lord help me!" he would turn aside from them. And if Joe had to combat with his former associates, and resist the cravings after that poison which, from long gratification, had become natural to him, Grace had still to do battle with her rebellious spirit, which was ever ready to resent provocation. But she was watchful and prayerful, strong in the Lord and in his might.

The remembrance of the effect produced upon Joe, through the blow on her forehead, nerved Grace for the questions and cutting remarks she was subjected to on all sides, when she first came in contact with her neighbours, after her accident; and her silence very frequently compelled them to silence also; for what was the use, they often said, "of talking to a body who would not answer?" She felt their comments on her disfigured face keenly, as her flashing eyes and flushed cheeks attested; and she was often obliged to hasten to her room, and betake herself to the throne of grace, for help, to still her wayward will, when exposed to them. Grace had found Jesus to be her Saviour, and his Holy Spirit was bringing forth in her heart and life the peaceable fruits of righteousness. But Joe had yet to discover his Redeemer; and the same blessed Spirit was leading him imperceptibly but surely to Him, as the Lamb of God whose blood cleanseth from all sin. Each was under the gracious influence of the Holy Ghost; the one was being guided "into all truth," the other, being sanctified through the truth; proving in their experiences the words of Scripture, "There are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all." (1 Cor. xii. 6.)

As the months went by, and Joe still held on in the

right way, circumstances began to mend with the Atwoods. The good wages which, in past days, had so frequently found their way to the alehouse, with Grace's thrifty! management and care, added numberless comforts to their little home; and the Bible which, at first, had stood alone on the chest of drawers, was soon supported, right and left, by "Pilgrim's Progress" and a hymn-book in large clear print and handsome binding. Grace, as we said before, could not read, but she was very proud of her books, and when at leisure, would take down her "Pilgrim's Progress," and try to trace the story by the pictures. She could well remember how her own burden fell off, when, by faith, she saw her Saviour hanging between heaven and earth upon the cross, for her sins and redemption. A contemplation of the scene where Christian found the same relief, never failed to bring her to her knees in prayer, that her Joe might be speedily loosed from his burden also.

Mr. White constantly visited Grace, but he knew nothing of her hopes relative to Joe, for she had never told him of her fears. She was a true wife, and had always, in her most passionate fiery days, looked upon her husband's shame as her own. Though all the world had condemned him, her heart would have never swerved from its allegiance to him, and her lips had never blamed him to another. Mr. White had rightly guessed the cause of her bound-up forehead, and with his keen eyes had not failed to notice the indentation on her brow when the bandage was left off; but his sympathies were too far enlisted in her to pain her by the slightest allusion to her misfortune. Neighbours' tongues were however busy, and the good man could not help hearing in his various ministrations that "Joe Atwood was always at home evenings," as he had previously been used to hear that "Joe was never at home, till he had spent all he'd got in his pocket." He also observed the little comforts and adornments in Grace Atwood's room made between each of his visits; but when the hymn book found its way there, he could not help remarking,

"Why, Mrs. Atwood, I see you have got one of my favourite friends on your chest of drawers-the hymn book I mean."

"Have I, sir?" replied delighted Grace, taking it down. "You see, sir, I was going by a book-shop, and in the