he would cease. His Sunday evenings were given up to visits from young men, many of whom could date their faith and peace from the words he spoke in those quiet hours. He wrote much to the very last. At seventy he learned English, and translated some of Ryle's tracts when he was upwards of eighty. His published writings occupy a separate Book and Tract Society; and he left many volumes of manuscript behind him. His works possess unusual popularity, some having run through annual or semi-annual editions for many years. Up till the spring of 1858, he corrected proofs and continued his correspondence. The summer previous, he was still able to train his vines. By the end of March he had fought the good fight and finished the course-a young old man of eighty-five."

Gossner lived through the great religious crises of modern times-" through Illuminism, Rationalism, Ecclesiasticism, through the throes of the new life and the growth of the rebaptised Church-through a rare epoch of thought, and science, and progress. They had touched him in turn, but only as the ripple of distant storms runs round a solitary rock. His life was single-the life of a heart, and went out from its own centre-the life of an Abraham, going out and not knowing whither, following the word of the Lord-the life of faith from which the events of the world, for the time being, fall back into shadow, supreme in its own interest and divine companionship." His life was a life of believing, trusting labour. His simple realising faith enabled him at once to overcome speculative doubts and practical difficulties. In the midst of his multifarious responsibilities and work he would say-"I cannot go here and there to arrange and order everything; . . . but the Lord is there, who knows and can do everything, and I will give it over to Him and beg Him to direct it all, and order it after His holy will; then my heart is light and joyful, and I believe and trust

Him that He will carry it all nobly out." Of this spirit the Casket is full-full of the utterances of a ripe and rare Christian experience. The spirit of the inspired writers -loving, trustful, pure-has seldom been so fully caught in modern days. Yet the author of these devout outflowings of the Christian beart takes no credit to himself. In his preface, or, as he calls it, "A Key" to the Casket, he says "I put all the value of it upon the holy words of the Bible; the rest that I have written to it, in my eyes, has no other value than the good intention and honest aim of leading you more into the spirit of the Holy Scriptures and the pious men of old, to dwell long in meditation on the word of God, and to incite you to read the Bible daily." He concludes his preface with this beautiful prayer:-" Lord Jesus, do Thou draw nigh to all who draw nigh to Thee, Thou Light and Life of Thine own people! Bless each word, and accompany it in the heart with Thy unction; let each reader be thoroughly awakened, turned to Thee, and closely united with Thee. Amen."

SPIRITUAL CASKET.

JANUARY THE FIRST.

"Thou, O Lord, art our Father, our Redeemer; thy name is from everlasting."-ISA. Ixiii. 16. "Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved."-ACTS iv. 12.

BLESSED y name is as ointment poured forth,

LESSED be His glorious name, Psalm lxxii.

Song of Sol. i. 3. May He this day pour out all His ointment upon us, that we may, throughout the whole year, walk in the sweet savour thereof, in the power of this most holy and hallowing name! May the divine power of the Holy Spirit, wherewith He is anointed without measure, Psalm xlv. 8, be poured out, not only into our hearts, but may it spread its life-giving perfume over the whole world; and stream down upon us, not to-day only, but every day, like a fragrant ointment, filling the whole house of our heart and life with its odour, John xii. 3. He is a Father, He is a Saviour, a fatherly Saviour, a saving Father. Thus the ancients knew and named Him, rejoiced in Him, praised Him, trusted to Him, before He was known and named to them, as He is to us-the glorious

A

name Jesus Christ, God greatly praised to all eternity. How should we not rejoice in Him, seeing that He is the foundation and corner stone of our whole faith and life-edifice, our only hope, our love! His name is truly a whole Bible—a book of God, a Testament, wherein are contained things old and new; a casket wherein are hidden all the treasures of the wisdom and knowledge of God; an epistle from God whereby the whole counsel of our salvation is made known to us; a fountain, a well, from which we may draw all the divine strength of which we stand in need for our life, and for a divine walk. With this name let us enter upon the new year, full of confidence that in Him all will go well with us. With this name we will begin and end every day of the year, every hour of the day. In this name let us labour and rest, wake and sleep, eat and drink! In this name let us do all and suffer all! In Him let us abide for ever! Amen.

JANUARY THE SECOND.

"I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty."-REV. i. 8.

IF

Not

F Jesus be Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, then let Him be not only thine Alpha, let Him be also thine Omega. only begin with Jesus; end, finish also with Him; or, let Him finish what He has begun in thee. Many stop at Alpha, content themselves with the elements, with the first letters of Christianity,

with the first stirrings, or even with nothing more than good resolutions, with which, as the ancients said, hell is paved. The continuation, the earnest exercise of godliness, fails to follow, 1 Tim. iv. 8; 2 Tim. iii. 5. How shall we reach the Omega, the end if we stop short at the beginning? At the same time, we must not omit the Alpha, nor be eager to hurry to the end till we have rightly learnt the Alpha, till we have laid a good foundation, and made a right beginning in and with Christ, 1 Cor. iii. 11. Not in vain does Jesus proclaim himself as Alpha and Omega. He will be all in thee. Where He has once said Alpha, there He will also say Omega; where He begins, there will He also lead out to victory. His Alpha is the pledge that He is willing also to be Omega to us. Believe! be valiant,

and venture.

JANUARY THE THIRD.

"Trust in the Lord for ever; for in the Lord JEHOVAH is everlasting strength."-ISAIAH xxvi. 4. Hope to the end, for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ."-1 PETER i. 13.

RUST in the Lord, does not mean, fold thine

TRUST

arms and do not trouble thyself about thy salvation; but, go with dauntless courage, and boundless confidence to the work. The Lord is an insurmountable rock, an impregnable fortress, not for Himself only, but also for thee; if thou cast thyself into this fortress, His grace will preserve thee, and strengthen thee with Almighty