she was. She lay quiet and patient all day long, while her mother went to earn money out-of-doors. It was spring, and early in the morning, just as the mother was about to go out to work, the sun shone mildly and pleasantly through the little window, and threw its rays across the floor, and the sick girl fixed her eyes on the lowest pane in the window. "What may that green thing be that looks in at the window? It is moving in the wind.” And the mother stepped to the window and half opened it. "O!" said she, "on my word, that is a little pea which has taken root here, and is putting out its little leaves. How can it have got here into the crack? That is a little garden, with which you can amuse yourself." And the sick girl's bed was moved nearer to the window, so that she could always see the growing pea; and the mother went forth to her work. "Mother, I think I shall get well," said the sick child in the evening. "The sun shone in upon me to-day delightfully The little pea is prospering famously, and I shall prosper too, and get up, and go out into the warm sunshine." warm. "God grant it!" said the mother; but she did not think it would be so; but she took care to prop with a stick the green plant which had given her daughter the pleasant thoughts of life, so that it might not be broken by the wind; she tied a piece of string to the window-sill and to the upper part of the frame, so that the pea might have something around which to twine, when it shot up; and it did shoot up indeed-one could see how it grew every day. Really, here is a flower coming!' said the woman one day; and now she began to cherish the hope that her sick daughter would recover. She remembered that lately the child had spoken much more cheerfully than before, that in the last few days she had risen up in bed of her own accord and had sat upright, looking with delighted eyes at the little garden in which only one plant grew. A week afterward the invalid for the first time sat up for a whole hour. Quite happy, she sat there in the warm sunshine; the window was opened, and outside before it stood a pink pea-blossom fully blown. The sick girl bent down and gently kissed the delicate leaves. This day was like a festival. "The heavenly Father himself has planted that pea, and caused it to prosper, to be a joy to you, and to me, also, my blessed child!" said the glad mother; and she smiled at the flower as if it had been a good angel. But about the other peas? Why, the one who flew out into the wide world and said, "Catch me if you can," fell into the gutter on the roof, and found a home in a pigeon's crop; the two lazy ones got just as far, for they too were eaten up by the pigeons, and thus, at any rate, they were of some real use; but the fourth, who wanted to go up into the sun, fell into the sink, and lay there in the water for weeks and weeks, and swelled prodigiously. "How beautifully fat I'm growing!" said the pea. "I shall burst at last; and I don't think any pea can do more than that. I'm the most remarkable of all the five that were in the shell." And the sink said he was right. But the young girl at the garret window stood there with gleaming eyes, with the roseate hue of health on her cheeks, and folded her thin hands over the pea-blossom and thanked Heaven for it. THE HOLY SPIRIT. BY THE REV. T. W. MEDHURST. JOHN XIV. 16, 17. How and whence do believers get the Holy Spirit ? "I will pray th Father," says Jesus, "and He will give you another Comforter." ." W receive the Holy Spirit as a gift from the Father, obtained for us b Jesus, as the fruit of His intercession. We are warranted, therefore to go direct to Jesus, or to the Father in the name of Jesus, and as for the Holy Spirit. "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?" The intercession of Jesus for us does not supersede the necessity of our asking in our own behal It is rather our warrant and encouragement to draw near the thron of grace with boldness. The Spirit intercedes within us, the So intercedes for us; they both intercede according to the will of Go In the confidence of faith we expect and receive the answer. W may, we should, unceasingly pray for the Holy Spirit. We have bot the Saviour's promise and the Saviour's example as our encouragement Let no specious argument employed by modern heresy defraud us o this precious boon. If we have not the Spirit, it is because we have not asked for Him, or because we have asked amiss. Lord, teach us how to pray aright. Jesus and the Father are one: hence in several passages of Scripture Jesus Himself is said to send the Comforter. We owe the preciou boon of the Holy Spirit to the love and kindness of God our Saviou "Nevertheless," says Christ to His disciples, "I tell you the truth it is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Con forter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him unt you." I. WHO AND WHAT IS THE HOLY SPIRIT ? He is truly and properly A PERSON. There are some who erro neously teach, and others who seem to imagine, that the Spirit i nothing more than an emanation, influence, or mere quality. Such, however, subvert the plainest declarations of the word of God. It is most clearly, dogmatically, and unambiguously "noted in the Scrip ture of Truth," that the Holy Spirit is one Person in the essence of the Godhead. We can readily understand how that GOD THE FATHE is a Person, because His works declare Him. We see all around us everywhere, the operations of His hands. All creation proclaims a ever-living, ever-ruling, personal God. We can believe that JESUS GOD THE SON, is a Person, because He became incarnate, and taber nacled here below in human flesh. We know He lived, and died, and rose again, and now ever liveth at the right hand of His Father, God over all, blessed for evermore. It is not, however, so easy to under stand the PERSONALITY OF GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT. This is difficult because He works unseen and mysteriously. When we endeavour to comprehend His operations we get beyond the sphere of sense and reason, and enter the region of faith. If we come to the Word of God with childlike simplicity and trustfulness, seeking information on this important subject, every difficulty will soon disappear, and we shall be able to receive, with undoubted confidence, the revealed doctrine as to the distinct and proper personality of the Holy Spirit. In Scripture, personal acts are attributed to the Spirit. He is said to be grieved, vexed, resisted. A mere quality, emanation, or influence, can neither be grieved nor vexed. Believers are baptized into the Name of the Spirit, equally with that of the Father and the Son; to deny therefore the personality of the Spirit, is to render null and void the believer's baptism. It is absurd to imagine that the name of a mere influence should be associated with the Name of the Father and of the Son. is The Holy Spirit is A DIVINE PERSON. He is truly and properly God, co-equal with the Father and with the Son. In sacred Scripture the attributes of God are said to be possessed by the Holy Ghost. He is declared to be Omnipresent. "Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from Thy presence?' He is Omniscient. "God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God." He is Eternal. "Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God." He Omnipotent. "Through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God." "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee." He took part in Creation. "The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life." He is the Inspirer of the Scriptures, which are the Word of God. Ananias and Sapphira his wife lied unto "the Holy Ghost," and Peter declares they had "not lied unto men, but unto God." Believers are born of the Spirit; He alone is the author of their regeneration, and they are born of God. Is it not clear the Holy Spirit is God? The Spirit is "ANOTHER COMFORTER." "And I will pray the Father and He shall give you another Comforter." The children of God have two Comforters. The ascended Jesus in the presence of God for them, and the Holy Spirit who constantly abides within them. The remembrance of this will comfort us in all our distresses, and under our temptations. all The Holy Spirit is "THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH." As such He stands in direct antagonism to the evil spirit, the father of lies, the author of all delusions, who, in the days of Ahab, prevailed on four hundred prophets at once to agree in prophesying lies, and who now seduces and works in all who depart from the truth of the living God. "The Spirit of truth" inspired the writers of the Word of truth, who spake and wrote as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. He guides all believers to Jesus, who is "THE TRUTH." He directs ministers into the truth, and enables them to declare the whole counsel of God. He preserves the truth against all the assaults of error. Let us ever value the Spirit's Book, "the Scripture of Truth," which has God for P its author, salvation for its object, and truth, free from any taint of error, for its matter. As we seek to know the truth, so the truth shall make us free. As we possess "the Spirit of Truth," so shall we enjoy gospel liberty. II. WHAT THE SPIRIT WILL DO FOR US, AND IN US. He will comfort us. We cannot separate the personal Name and the work of the Holy Spirit. He is called the Comforter, because His work is to comfort the children of God. This implies they will need comfort, and assures them they shall have all the comfort they need. They have trials, losses, bereavements, but let them be of good cheer, they have the abiding Comforter to aid them. The Comforter will abide with believers for ever. His work does not consist in a few transient impressions; it is an everlasting work. He is the author of the work of grace in the soul, and also its sustainer. "The Spirit of Truth" will guide into all truth all who yield themselves to His instruction. He will do for them what the world cannot do; for "the world cannot receive Him, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him." There is nothing a carnal man stumbles at more quickly than at the work of the Holy Spirit. How this puzzled the "master in Israel," Nicodemus! This explains the state of all who are unconverted. They know not their need of the Holy Spirit, of a new heart, of regeneration, of the Spirit's indwelling. Here is the solemn, the vital, distinction between a converted and an uncon verted man; the one has, the other has not, the Holy Spirit. My reader, what personal experience have you of the indwelling of the Spirit? Believers know Him: for He dwelleth with them: and not only so, but He shall be in them. They shall have a larger and ever increasing measure of His indwelling. He shall be in them to give them the light of truth in all times of difficulty; to comfort them in all seasons of sorrow. Let us ever be on our watch-tower, lest we quench, grieve, vex, or resist the Holy Spirit of God. We need His presence with us constantly, in our closets, in the sanctuary, when we are searching the Scriptures, when we would see Jesus in the communion of the memorial supper. As without Jesus, so without the Spirit, we can do nothing. Evermore then let us pray the Father, that He may give unto us the Comforter, that He may abide with us and in us for ever, to the praise of the glory of His grace. O HOLY SPIRIT! now descend on me, As showers of rain upon a thirsty ground; May all Thy precious fruits in me be found. Be Thou my TEACHER; to my soul reveal The length, breadth, depth, and height of Jesus' love, Raising my thoughts and heart to things above. Be Thou my COMFORTER; when I'm distressed, Be Thou my GUIDE into all truth Divine; And WITNESS with me I am God's own child, Be Thou my SANCTIFIER; dwell within, Each drooping grace, so prone to fade and die And loosen more and more each earthly tie. BLEST SPIRIT! I would yield myself to Thee; And daily deeper from Thy fulness drink! Landport, Portsmouth. Christina Forsyth, 1861. THE LENT HALF-CROWN. FOR THE YOUNG. "Come with me, and I'll get you something." Arthur turned back, and the boy followed him. He had a few halfpence in his pocket, just enough, as it proved, to buy a loaf of bread. He gave it to the boy, and told him he would go home with him. The boy took the loaf, and though he did not break it, he looked so wishfully, that Arthur took his knife and cut off a piece, and gave it to him to eat; he ate it in a manner that showed that he had not deceived Arthur, when he told him he was hungry. The tears came into Arthur's eyes as he saw him swallow the dry bread with such eagerness. He remembered with some self-reproach, that he had sometimes complained when he had nothing but bread and butter for tea. On their way to the boy's home, Arthur learned that the family had |