tended William Reed, and proved him to be an impostor. The stranger, who was a pious attorney, was soon legally satisfied as to the barber's identity, and told him that he had advertised for him in vain. Providence had now thrown him in his way in a most extraordinary manner, and he had much pleasure in transferring a great many thousand pounds to a worthy man, the rightful heir of the property.

Thus was man's extremity God's opportunity. Had the poor barber possessed one halfpenny, or even had credit for a candle, he might have remained unknown for years; but he trusted God, who never said, "Seek ye My face in vain.".

THE GULF STREAM.

T is important to bear in mind the distinction between the actual current of the Gulf Stream and the heated waters which are brought down by its agency. The range of the latter extends some hundreds of miles after what is properly termed the Gulf current has ceased. The waters of the stream often bring cocoa-nuts and other tropical fruits to the shores of Europe, and some have at times been left in this manner upon our own coasts. These warm waters, bathing our western coasts, mitigate the severity of our climate to a considerable degree. While places situated in the same latitudes, both to the east and to the west, are frozen and comparatively uninhabitable during a large portion of the year, our islands, as a rule, enjoy a temperate climate; and this fact is attributed in a great measure to the beneficent influence of the warm waters brought down by the Gulf Stream. The peculiar verdure of the "Emerald Isle," and the mildness of our own seasons, when Labrador and the regions round the Baltic are locked in ice, are thus believed to be the effects of an oceanic current which sets out more than four thousand miles away. The waters of the Gulf Stream are distinctly traced by their colour, which

is of a deep blue, contrasting strongly with the green of the seas with which it eventually mingles. The difference of temperature between the waters of the stream and those of the Northern Ocean leads to the melting away of icebergs brought down from the Arctic Regions on the breaking up of the winter season. The temperature of this stream, being so much higher than that of the surrounding seas, exercises an important influence on the atmosphere above. It carries with it a warm, moist air which, coming into collision with that of colder regions, produces strong winds and frequently violent tempests. The neighbourhood of the Gulf Stream is well known to sailors as peculiarly the region of storms; and in their passage across the ocean they avoid it as much as possible for this reason. Whenever, from any cause, the current is of greater volume and force than usual, these storms are proportionately increased.

HOLY THINGS.

THERE is a holy name,
So sacred and so dear,
It should not e'er be spoken, but
With reverential fear.

There is a holy place,

Where Christians meet for prayer ; And Jesus Christ, whom saints adore, Is surely with them there.

There is a holy book:

In mercy it is given

To show the true, the narrow way,
And light the path to heaven.

There is a holy day,
Which God Himself has blest,
And set apart from other days
For worship and for rest.

Lord Jesus, bow our heart
To love Thee and obey;
Teach us to reverence Thy name,
Thy house, Thy Word, Thy day.

JANET BYRNE (siightly altered).

University at the age of twenty, to his parents, and unfolded to them his reason for doing so. They were much grieved that he should betake himself to a life that ditfered but little from death; but Luther's heart had been touched by God; still, he saw no way of obtaining peace and inheriting heaven save by entering the monastery, and he therefore determined to be a monk; and, applying himself to monkish duties with earnestness and zeal, he pressed forward to join those noble men who, as he then thought, had continual access to God. But here he found he had not left the world behind him, for he had sore battles within himself. He still thought that divine influences entered the soul by attending to ordinances, and with streaming eyes he would wait for that influence, and, above all, for the pardon of his sins. He sought this at the altar and in his cell; yea, he wanted sleep that he might find it.

One morning his brethren found his cell-door shut, and had to force it open, and what do they see? Poor Luther is stretched upon the ground insensible. They gradually restore him, but he only recovered to feel that he had not found peace, for his soul was still full of trouble.

On one occasion, when in the library of the Erfurt Monastery, he found an old Latin Bible. The people knew nothing of it, and the monks had forgotten it. He was now nearly twenty years of age, and had been brought up almost all his life in schools and colleges, yet this was the first time he had seen the Holy Scriptures. "Here is God's own Word," he said; "here God speaks out direct to me ;" and he soon began to study it in real earnest. Other monks, in whom the good work was going on, joined him in his pursuit. He soon saw the rottenness of those things that were read to the people in the churches by the priests, and that there were far more evangelical and apostolical texts in the Bible than they ever read to their hearers. With great attention and delight did he read in the Old Testament the account of Hannah and Samuel, and

as he drank in the sacred Word with sweetness and delight, he began to wish he was the owner of a like book.

Those that were opposed to his studying in this kind of way told him to mind his monastic duties, which he did, for he swept the monastery, begged for it, prayed in it, and did penance; but all this would not give peace to his soul, which caused him to cry out, "This black heart of minethese sins day by day, hour by hourthis perpetual inclination to sin-who shall free me from all this ?" This was soul-trouble indeed to him, and such as brought his body to the brink of the grave. Those who saw his conduct said he was a devout man, but he replied, "I am a great sinner; how is it possible for me to satisfy divine justice?"

An old monk entered his cell one day, one who was by Luther highly esteemed, and to whom he used to tell his doubts and fears, and, on his repeating at that time that part of the Creed, "I believe in the forgiveness of sins," the old man answered him, "It is not enough to believe that David's sins and Peter's sins were forgiven. The commandment is, that we believe our own sins are forgiven. Instead of torturing yourself on account of your sins, cast yourself into the Redeemer's arms, look to the wounds and blood of Jesus Christ; by His stripes you are healed, by His blood your sins are washed away." Luther's eyes were opened, the light had dawned upon his soul, and he was face to face with the infinite mercy of God. His soul had at last entered into a peace that passeth understanding. "I have been begging and sweeping and praying," said he, "that I might procure the pardon of my sins, and, lo! God has shown me that what I was seeking for by monastic works was mine already by His infinite grace."

But Luther's mind was not as yet wholly freed from Popish errors; for, on being sent to Rome on some monastic business, he ran from church to church, doing those things which were prescribed for the salvation of the soul, shocked at

everything, yet believing everything. Once he was to be seen on his knees, climbing "Pilate's Staircase." He who does this has an indulgence-a boon of future mercy from heaven. It was too late for the German monk-the Erfurt Bible was in his heart and ever, as he mounted another step, by this climbing a material stair striving to possess more of God's life--a voice from the bottom of his heart cried to him in tones of thunder, "Luther, Luther, not by climbing stairs, not by works of this sort; 'The just shall live by faith.'"

The work was done. That side of the Reformation which was a protest against the priestly Church was realised in the heart of this man. His preaching was a denial of official priesthoods, for he spoke to the individual conscience, and showed that a man might be saved without the priest, and that salvation did not flow to the heart through the Church. What a wonderful revolution of things was here! God's Word shut up for centuries in the Latin Bastile, and now set at liberty-once again brought to the light of day.

Luther was not alone in this German revolt. The German princes were ripe for it, and German towns rejoiced in it. It was this element-speaking humanly--backing him that gave Luther a fitting occasion to stand against the Pope, and all Germany leaped up to support him.

Although his journey to Rome had opened his eyes to the state of the then existing religion, yet for the first year or two he questioned himself as to whether or not he was presumptuous. During his stay in Rome, one named Tetzel came, selling indulgences, which brought forth Luther's voice against such proceedings, for he clearly saw it to be the Pope's lie that mere writing on a piece of paper could forgive sins, and he was much against German money going to Rome for such purposes. This caused him to denounce Tetzel, and made him draw up his ninety-five Theses exposing the errors of the Papacy, and then boldly nailed them to the church door, and thus

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challenged the whole priesthood to refute them if they could.

For a time Luther went on in his work unheeded by the Papists, but after a little while he is found to be a too dangerous character for the welfare of the Pope and his colleagues; consequently, a papal Bull is issued against him, his books are to be burnt, and he is to repair to Rome. But what does he do? He invites the members of the University and the officials of Wittenberg to meet him at nine o'clock on the morning of December 10th, 1520, at the gate opposite the Church of the Holy Cross, and there, not without solemnity, did what European man never before had done-committed the Bull, and all the papal pamphlets and books connected with it and the question at issue, to the flames. This probed the Popish nest to the centre, and the mighty hunter," as Luther called the Pope, demanded the victim. He is summoned to Worms to answer for his doctrine, and thither went emperor, prince, and peasant, all anxious to see the man that had dared to lift his hand and voice against the Pope. His friends advised him not to go. "I will go," said he, "if there are as many devils in Worms as tiles on the house-tops;" and on April 2nd, 1521, he sets out. Turning to Melancthon, he said, "If I am put to death, cease not, oh, my brother, to teach, and remain firm in the truth. If thou art spared, what matters it it I perish?"

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As he journeyed, everyone looked upon him as one marching to his grave. When he arrived at Erfurt, what a scene presented itself to his mind, for here, in his young days, he had to sing at the doors of the rich for his daily bread, and it was here he first saw the Word of God. The gloom of the sightseers here was turned into joy, for many came out on horseback to meet him, and they line the streets to cheer him as he passes along. "Thou must preach to us," they said. He was led into the church, and ascended the pulpit. Often had he swept its floors and opened and locked its doors, in days long

past; and now he is in the pulpit. His text was, "Peace be unto you. And when He had so said, He showed unto them His hands and His side." He denounced all creature work and merit to be but vanity in the matter of salvation, and preached unto the people the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. From Erfurt to Gotha, and thence to Frankfort, where they took him to a school and he discoursed to the children. On the 16th he came in sight of Worms. His heart is leaning on the Lord. When he beheld the tower of the ancient city where the fate of the Reformation was to be decided, he rose up in the waggon that was conveying him, and sung a hymn he had composed a day or two before : A safe Stronghold our God is still," &c. Next morning he is summoned to appear and stand before the young emperor, princes, nobles, and dignitaries of the Church. A manly modesty overpowers him at the first. He asks for a day to prepare his answers, and he is allowed it. On the 18th April, in the afternoon, he is escorted by soldiers through the crowded streets into the imperial presence once more; but he comes not with the timidity of the previous day. "I am here," he said, to answer for my books. In one part of these, I say that man is saved by God's mercy, and not by going on pilgrimage and doing penances and such like. This part I dare not retract. A second portion of my writings is directed against papal abuses and tyranny; this part-the abuses existing-I dare not retract. In a third portion of my works, I have used personalities and hasty words, which I now regret; this portion I most heartily give up. I am but a man, and I may have formed wrong notions; but, if there be anything opposed to Scripture, show it to me, and that which is wrong I will retract, but no more." He was then reprimanded by the official for the liberty he had taken in saying such things, and for not giving a plain and direct answer. Luther then spoke to the Council thus: "Unless I am convicted of error by the testimony of Scripture or evident reason,

I shall not revoke anything that I have written or spoken, for I will not in any wise wound my conscience. I do not conform my belief to the Pope or the Councils' determinations alone, for they have often erred and delivered contradictions one to another. I neither can nor will do or say anything concerning God's Word to the injuring of my conscience; this will I stand to, God helping me. Amen."

After a little further persuasion, the Council retired for that day. The Bishop of Triens, with others, afterwards called on Luther to try and get him to alter his decision, but he kindly thanked them, remarking he was not afraid to have his works tried by the Word of God. The Bishop then asked him if he could advise anything for the quieting of the people, but he answered, "None other than that of Gamaliel, for, if it be of men, it will not continue, but if of God, no power of man can stay it ;" and this he asked the Bishop to signify to the Pope. On the 26th April they allowed him to leave Worms for his flock at Wittenberg,

In 1522, he translated the New Testament into the German tongue, but some of the priests prohibited the people reading it. He then showed them that by their tyranny they should not prevail, because he was neither moved by the Pope's curse nor Cæsar's proscription, and the more they tried to slander his doctrine, he, with greater courage, would propagate the Gospel; and, if they should kill him, it would not extinguish it, and God would plague them most grievously if they still proceeded in their furious course. This book so enraged the bishops, priests, monks, and the very dregs of them, that they were determined, if they could not burn him, they would burn all his books.

Such was a few years of Luther's life— the man to whom we are not a little indebted, through God's manifest workings within him and by him, for the freedom which we now have in worshipping God according to His Word and our desire; but oh, how little do we value it !

But the time came for Luther to lay