ONE of the best known and most beautiful of English hymns is written by Charles Wesley. He wrote many hymns-many that are rich and sweet-yet perhaps no other which comes to the heart like this, the most familiar of all: 'Jesus, Lover of my soul, Let me to Thy bosom fly! While the nearer waters roll, While the tempest still is high. Hide me, O my Saviour, hide, Till the storm of life be past; Safe into the haven guide; O receive my soul at last! Other refuge have I none; With the shadow of Thy wing. Wilt Thou not regard my call? Wilt Thou not accept my prayer? Lo! I sink, I faint, I fall, Lo! on Thee I cast my care. Reach me out Thy gracious hand, While I of Thy strength receive; Hoping, against hope I stand, Dying, and behold I live. Thou, O Christ, art all I want, Plenteous grace with Thee is found, Hymns gather many memories round them; none have gathered holier memories than this fervid hymn of Wesley's. Charles Wesley was born at Epworth, in North Lincolnshire, early in the last century. His father was rector of the Parish, and himself wrote much verse and prose, but he did not influence his children as their energetic mother did. He was much absent from home, and Mrs Wesley managed everything. She managed the house and the parish, and taught all her children. She had three sons, and ten daughters. John was the ninth in the family, and the second son, Charles, his nearly constant companion through life, was his youngest brother. None of them were taught to read till they were over five years old. The day after the fifth birth day lessons began. 'One day,' Mrs Wesley has written, 'was allowed the child wherein to learn its letters, and each of them did within that time know all its letters, great and small, except Molly and Nancy, who were a day and a half before they knew them perfectly, for which I then thought them very dull; and the reason why I thought them so was because the rest learned so readily, and your brother Samuel, who was the first child I ever taught, learnt the alphabet in a few hours. He was five years old on the tenth of February; the next day he began to learn, and as soon as he knew the letters began at the first chapter of Genesis. He was taught to spell the first verse, then to read it over and over till he could read it off hand without hesitation; so on to the second, till he took ten verses for a lesson, which he quickly did.' The picture is less pleasing than that of the little Philip Doddridge, learning his first gentle lessons from the beautiful chimney tiles. But the Wesleys grew up, as every one knows, learned and rarely good men, who did much for England at a time when she needed much. And 'Jesus, lover of my soul,' that one sweet hymn, proves, if there were nothing else left to prove it, that the hidden gentleness which makes the soul beautiful, was not driven from their natures by the hard, exact lessons of their youth. When John Wesley was six years old the rectory house was burned. The little boy narrowly escaped. He was pulled through a bed-room window by a man who, for want of a ladder, stood on another man's shoulders. And scarcely was the child safely in his deliverer's arms when the roof of the house fell in. All its inmates had escaped. 'Let us kneel down,' said the father, gathering his children round him in the house where they were sheltered, 'Let us give thanks to God. He has given me all my children; let the house go, I am rich enough.' At Oxford, John and Charles Wesley formed one of a little circle distinguished for their earnest piety, and generous work among the poor. Eleven years later, the rector of Epworth was dead, the family home was broken up, and John Wesley was tossing on the Atlantic one whole long stormy spring on his way to America to become a missionary to the Indians of Georgia. He remained but two years in Georgia, and very soon after his return began his wonderful field-services, preaching everywhere over England, Scotland and Ireland. Thousands flocked to hear him, and everywhere he moved the people. And thus all the long future years of his busy life were spent. Few lives have been so full of work. 'Speak evil of no one.' THE RAIN AND THE DEW. 'Be ashamed of nothing but sin; not of fetching wood, (if time permit) or of drawing water; not of cleaning your own shoes or your neighbour's.' Be punctual; do everything exactly at the time.' And these advices may be as useful now to every one who reads them, as they were in Wesley's own time to his own band of preachers. On the twentythird of February, 1791, Wesley preached for the last time. He was then eighty-eight years old. His long silver hair, his apostolic carnestness, his reverent mien, drew all his hearers' eyes upon him with venerating interest and love. Seek ye the Lord while He may be found,' was his text. 6 When the sermon was over, Wesley went home, and slowly sank. Five nights later they were listening to his last words: 105 'The best of all is God with us. The best of all is God with us.' He spoke very little more. About ten o'clock in the morning, he was heard to say 'Farewell.' And almost immediately, very quickly, he drew his last breath. His body was laid out in a kind of state in his chapel in London. He was dressed in his clerical habit with gown and cassock and band. A Bible was placed in his hand. When the funeral service was read, forasmuch as it hath pleased God to take unto Himself the soul of our dear brother,' the reader said father instead. And the whole congregation, moved by the memory of one who had been indeed a father to them, burst aloud into weeping. All over England and America his name was held dear. Of Charles Wesley's quieter life less has been written and said, but his memory is still I cherished in his devout hymns. H. W. H. W. "THE DAYSPRING' PICTURE GALLERY.-8. THE RAIN AND THE DEW. YOU will remember that the last picture showed us the power of the Bible, by comparing it to the heavy hammer and the roaring furnace. What a contrast we have in the quiet picture we are to look at to-day! It only represents to us a little 106 THE RAIN AND THE DEW. bit of a hillside rejoicing in the first morning beams of the summer sun. Leaves and flowers are alike lifting themselves gladly to the light, and reflecting its rays from countless dew-drops with which the cool night has adorned them. On a branch close by, a little bird, shaking the moisture from its wings, is singing its morning hymn of praise. Think, for a moment, how that hillside looked under the scorching rays of the sun on the previous day. How the plants drooped, the flowers hung their heads, and the birds seemed to have forgotten their songs! The cool, silent dew has done its work since then; so you will understand why the words inscribed above this picture are the following:-' My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew; as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass.' I daresay you have often been playing in the garden on the evening of a very hot day, when the grass and flowers were nearly burnt up with heat. Before the sun went down, there did not seem to be a drop of moisture anywhere; but not many minutes after he has set, you find the grass is wet, and even your clothes are quite damp to the touch. No rain has fallen, and you have seen nothing happen. God has sent His servant the dew to refresh His weary earth. So it is with His word. It sometimes comes like thunder, with the awful power of the raging fire and the iron hammer; but it is sometimes sent with the silence and secrecy of the unseen dew to refresh weary hearts. There was once a poor half-witted man in London, who went by the name of 'Poor Joseph,' and who earned his living by carrying parcels and going on errands. One day, as he went along the street, he came to the open door of a church, where he heard singing. He turned in, to see what was going on, and heard the minister give out as his text, 1 Tim. i. 15: This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.' Joseph listened with wonder to the sermon which followed; and ་ though most of those in the church would have thought him too silly to understand it, God's message took hold secretly of his heart, and he went home muttering to himself: Joseph never heard this before; Christ Jesus, the God who made all things, came into the world to save sinners like Joseph; and this is true, and it is a faithful saying.' He did not live long after this; and, on his death-bed, his constant language was, 'Joseph is the chief of sinners, but Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, and Joseph loves Him for this.' God's word found secret entrance in some mysterious way into his dark heart, just as the silent dew penetrates everywhere, unseen and unheard. Let me tell you another story to shew how God's simple word can refresh a heart that has been left dry and parched by every other means it has tried. A lady, who was listening to a sermon preached in German somewhere on the Continent, noticed a very old woman on her knees, counting her beads instead of paying attention. The lady spoke to her when the service was over, and finding she only spoke French, began to converse with her in that language. You seem very tired,' she said kindly.Oh, yes, I am. I have walked six miles to-day, and I have twelve more to accomplish the penance of this day: it is hard at my age.'—'How old are you?'—'I am ninety-two. This is the fiftieth time I have undertaken a pilgrimage to Notre Dame, where I am going. Oh, I am a great sinner! I have a great many sins to reproach myself with; and the more I advance in years, the more I discover some which I have not seen before. I was told that to deserve forgiveness, I was to do penance, and undertake pilgrimages. I think this is the last time I shall be enabled to perform this journey. I hope I shall obtain forgiveness. But alas! if I don't, I am a lost woman!' The lady made her read from the New Testament the words, 'Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world!' and, It is finished,' and explained them to her simply. Such news was to her like PRIZE SCRIPTURE QUESTIONS. cold water to a thirsty soul.' She accepted the message with exceeding joy, cast her beads into the fire, and declared that she would go home, and tell all her neighbours that Jesus only, and Jesus alone, had saved her an old sinner. Just as in the heat of summer the plants need the nightly dew to keep them from being scorched up, so our hearts need to be constantly refreshed by God's word amid the temptations and trials of this world. I have heard of a little child who used to wonder how her mother kept always cheerful among the worries of a large family, till one day, opening the door of a little room at the top of the house, she saw her mother alone on her knees, with the Bible by her side. The little child closed the door and crept quietly away, having learned a lesson which she never forgot. But God Himself teaches us something more by the comparison of His word to the rain in Isa. lv. 10, 11. For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater; so shall My word be that goeth forth out of My mouth: it shall not return unto Me void; but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.' The dew and the rain are gentle messengers, but they are irresistible, because God has sent them on His errands. Though all the learned men and all the strong men in Britain went to work together, they could not stop one shower of summer rain from falling. And this is the hope of all who carry the message of God's word-that He has sent it forth, and it'shall accomplish that which He pleases.' J. B. M. The Dayspring Bible Class. QUESTIONS ON MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. Chapter VIII. 18-34. What did Jesus bid His disciples do when multitudes crowded round him? What saying of a certain scribe is here recorded? 107 What answer given by Jesus warned this scribe to count the cost? What answer given by Jesus to another disciple teaches that our first duty is to follow Jesus? In what terms is the storm on the lake of Galilee here described? Where was Jesus, and what was He doing, when the storm arose ? What was the prayer of the disciples in the storm? What did Jesus ask them? What effect had Jesus' rebuke on the wind and the sea? By what exclamation did the disciples express their astonishment? Who met Jesus when He landed in the country of the Gergesenes? What question did the devils ask Jesus? What befell those who, in disobedience to What awful prayer did the Gergesenes offer? Prize Scripture Acrostics and Questions. Competitors will please observe to address their answers to Rev. JOHN KAY, 11 Teviot Row, Edinburgh. ACROSTIC 4. AOne, by a strange mistake, most sorely vexed; N earnest worker, busily perplexed; One who another tempted to deceive; She swept the chords with more than master hand, Whose echoes, floating o'er a troubled sea, Yet, though thus soaring through the heights of song, Most prone to stumble into moral wrong, |