FILL YOUR PLACE WELL; PETER CRUMP came home from his day's work one September evening, very tired and dispirited. He was an old man, fast becoming feeble, and not fit for much work; but he was glad to be able to do anything by which he could make a scanty living for himself and his infirm wife. The work which he did was not heavy labour, neither did it pay him very well; but it was better than higher wages with work beyond his strength. It was simple, too, easy to understand and to accomplish, and was the same day by day, with little or no variation. What was it? He was one of a procession of six men, each one of whom carried up and down the principal streets of the city one huge letter, painted on a board, the letters together forming the name

"WARNER."

Peter

He

This Mr. Warner was a proprietor of a panorama, and adopted this among other methods of advertising his exhibitions. Crump carried the first "R." did not know his alphabet, for he had lived in great poverty and ignorance. But he knew that he was the third man of the six, that Tom Riley walked before him, and that his own big letter had a straight column at the left, a loop at the top on the right, with a sort of tail below the loop. So he plodded on behind Tom Riley, who followed Sandy Trot, and he took good care in their windings through the crowded streets, not to let old John Connor, with his "N," pass in

OR, PETER CRUMP'S DREAM.

front of him. At six o'clock they carried their letters into Mr. Warner's establishment and were dismissed, each of the six old men thankful that his day's work was done.

On this particular September evening, after his supper, Peter sat down on the door-step of the house, where he and his wife had one small room, to smoke his pipe.

Peter was a religious old man, upon whose dark, ignorant heart the love of Jesus had come several years before, through the teaching of a city missionary; and the light of that love had never since ceased to shine upon his lowly life. But he felt this evening as if he were very useless, and would not be missed by any one except his wife if he went to his heavenly rest that very night. While he thus thought, his pipe went out, and he fell asleep. Then he dreamed.

He thought he was on his usual tramp, with the giant "R" above his head, Tom Riley before him, John Connor behind. He was very, very tired, and yielded to the temptation to fall out of the line and sit down on some steps near at hand, thinking that nobody would miss him. But to his astonishment, as he looked at his companions, they immediately fell into a state of utter confusion. John Connor, seeing Peter no longer in front of him, thought that he himself had gone wrong, and stepped before Tom Riley; and Tom, not having Sandy Trot in advance of him, turned and

stepped aside behind Mike Trafts, who usually followed John Connor, carrying "E." This discomposed old Jackson Jones, who brought up the rear with the last "R.' So the whole five were uncertain where they belonged, or who was wrong, and stopped in dismay. Then Peter dreamed that this confusion happening in a crowd so separated the men that they gradually drifted away from each other and out of his sight, leaving him sitting alone, bearing his great "R," at which every passer by stared, laughed, and finally began to pelt it with stones. In the fear lest a stone should hit him instead of the placard, he awoke from his sleep.

But his waking thoughts dwelt upon his dream, and they ran thus: If he had stayed in his place, doing his duty, everything would have gone right. It was his yielding to temptation and shirking his duty which threw the whole company into confusion and broke up the line. Did he not then daily perform his small part in keeping that line all right, so that every beholder could read" WARNER" as they walked? And, therefore, would he not be missed until his place could be filled by another man, if he failed to appear and take up his "R” at the right time? Ah, yes, thought he; God gives me this little work to do in my old age. I will do my duty there, where He has placed me, and perhaps I can glorify Him in doing it.

If any of my readers are ready to slight their work because it seems to them so mean and trifling, let me remind them of those well-known lines:

"Who sweeps a room as in Thy sight Makes that and the action fine."

Not what what we do, so much as the spirit in which it is done, makes our work pleasing in the sight of God. Even a 66 cup of cold water" may become a precious gift, when given rightly.

But there are some who use the plea of their being "small and insignificant," as an excuse for withholding from God the service He has a right to claim. "How can my acts," say they, "influence any one ? I'm too poor or too mean in station to have any influence at all. What am I worth in God's sight-I who am but one out of millions? -my acts, my feelings, can be of no importance to Him." My friend, this is false humility-idle excuses which will not help you in the Day of Judgment. He who took thought to create you at all, surely concerns Himself about the being He has created. If a mechanic with great skill makes a valuable machine, does he fling it aside, careless whether it be eaten up with rust or spoilt by ill-treatment? Does a mother care little for the new-born infant because her family is already large? And He who framed every living thing with such exquisite care, and notes when a little sparrow falls to the ground, watches your actions, and is anxious for your welfare. May the Holy Spirit so open your eyes to the importance of your never dying soul, that you may be led to all spiritual blessings through Jesus Christ the Son of God, who died for your redemption, and ever liveth to make intercession for all who will come to God through Him.

man to his Maker, or is it only a question of proxy, parentage, sacramental efficacy, and vain babblings?

12. Do you indeed walk worthy of your high vocation, when ye part with the ordinances and commandments of God for human traditions and fictitious puerilities?

13. Seemeth it a righteous thing in your eyes, to betray the Son of man with a kiss, to wound the Master's honour in His own house, and to grieve and discourage the forsaken brotherhood, instigated thereto by carnal grudges, fancied affronts, and disappointed ambition?

14. May those who name the name of Christ put a muzzle on their consciences, and dig a grave for their convictions, to win favour with their employers, bring custom to their shops, or to gain some worldly preferment ?

15. From the time that your oil and wine increased, and you have handled more of gold and of silver than once ye handled even of copper,

16. Are ye grown ashamed of the sect which, as its Founder was, is everywhere spoken against? and are ye become weary of bearing His reproach who bore the cross for you?

17. Because ye now dwell in ceiled houses, and are possessed of paintings, libraries, elegant furniture, fine clothing, musical instruments, yea, peradventure of horses and chariots also, together with much cash laid up in store for many years:

18. Ought ye, therefore, to abjure the faith of your fathers, abandon the conventicle for the

Gothic steeple-house, and degrade religion into a makeshift of respectability, so that your sons and daughters may form wealthy matches, and lift their heads aloft amid the social stars ?

19. Be it known unto you, O unstable souls, that after this manner acted Demas, Simon Magus, Judas Iscariot, and the rich fool, whose self-seeking brought forth in the end the bitter fruits of death.

20. Timeservers are themselves ill served when time is gone; trimmers do forget to trim their own lamps, and are shut out from the Bridegroom's joy;

21. And they who play fast and loose with conscience, truth, and God, ere long have no conscience to play with, no truth to lose, and no God to hold fast unto.

22. Consider what I say, and the Lord give you the spirit of wisdom and amendment, that ye may recover yourselves quickly from the snare of the fowlers, and regain the holiness of your youth, and the love of your first espousals.

CHAPTER II.

Now I beseech you, brethren, suffer the word of exhortation, nor count me your enemy because I tell you the truth:

2. Forasmuch as your hurt is too grievous to be healed with soft sayings, but needeth rather sharp probings. Rebellious children must have the rod before the sweetmeats.

3. It hath been reported unto me, by them who are of the household of Aletheia, that since ye departed from your own company,