when he pleased, but also that he did stop it, whenever he thought there was sufficient reason.

A few days afterwards, as the little girl was standing with a large doll in her arms, looking down into the engine-house, the doll slipped out of her arms and fell into the midst of the machinery-she could not tell where-away out of her sight. She began to cry; but she thought of her friend the captain, and was for rushing off at once to ask him to get her doll for her. But her brother, who had now (with his way of it) become quite a little philosopher, stopped her. "What is the use," said he, " of going to the captain? "of Very likely your doll is all crushed to pieces by this time. Besides, the captain would have to stop the engines in order to get it; and do you think a doll lost is like a man overboard? You shouldn't bother the captain about such things!" But the little girl was not to be hindered. She knew the captain was kind, and she had great faith in what he could do. won't be angry with me," she said, "for He will be sorry that I've lost my doll. haps be able to get it for me. I need not ask him to stop the engines; perhaps he may be able to get it without doing that. I cannot tell. I can at least ask him." "Very well," says the little philosopher, "you may go; but it is all of no use. I'll tell you beforehand what he will say to you: 'Little girls must just learn to be more careful of their dolls!"" But the girl persisted and went to her friend, and said, "Oh, captain! it was very careless of me, and I am so sorry; but I have let my doll fall down amongst the engines, and I don't know where it is. Do you think you could get it for me? I don't ask you to stop the

"Well, he asking him. He may per

engines; but, if it is possible, I wish I could have it again." And the captain was greatly pleased with the child's confidence, and he felt sorry for her loss; and so he smiled and said, "Well, well, we shall see what can be done." It was not a very definite promise; but the little girl had faith in her friend, and believed that he would do what was wise and kind. And the captain went down into the engine-room, and spent some time in looking for the doll. At length he spied it in an out-of-the-way corner, not much the worse for its fall. And the brother and sister waited, and watched the engines, and saw that they never stopped. But, after a while, the captain came back and said, "Well, here, you see, is your pretty doll; but, you know, little girls should be more careful!” Then the child kissed and thanked him, and loved him more than ever. But the boy grew jealous, and forgot all his philosophy, and thought that his sister was a

pet" of the captain's; and he began to quarrel with her, and said; "Oh, yes, he can take pains and trouble about your doll; but he does not at all care when I lose my ball! " But he was wrong once more; for, when they all came ashore at the end of the voyage, the good captain surprised him by buying for him a larger and more beautiful ball than the one he had lost at sea.

This story is merely a parable; but perhaps it may help to show how, even in front of the unchanging laws of nature, we may cling to a reasonable faith both in the historical fact of miracles and in the present power of prayer. We may be told that, if we really believe in miracles, we ought even nowadays to kneel down and pray that paralysis may be cured in a

moment, or that our dead may be brought back to life. But we have simply no warrant for asking God to work such miracles merely to meet our own wishes and longings, and therefore we do not offer such prayers. The captain may not stop the engines for a boy's ball; but, for all that, he may have stopped them to save a man from drowning. The miracles of the Lord Jesus Christ stand in direct relation to the salvation of perishing humanity. To save mankind from spiritual death, to rescue humanity, struggling in the dark waters of atheism and sin, and to bring it into a state of faith in the heavenly Father-this we may surely regard as a worthy reason for the miraculous birth of the Son of God, for those wondrous works which "manifested forth His glory."

But it may be said: Well, you admit, at any rate, that the age of miracles is now past; and therefore it is a foolish thing to pray for material blessings.

I reply: That to pray for material blessings is not necessarily to ask for a miracle. A captain may be so tender-hearted as to give back to a little girl her lost doll, and yet he may not need to stop the engines. If God is my friend, He will not be angry when I lay my desires before Him. It may be that I am asking what He cannot wisely bestow. But, on the other hand, it may be that, in answer to prayer, He can and will come to my help, without working any miracle. And so I cry, "Father, if it be possible!" and there I leave it. Nor need I imagine that those who get their requests are the petted favourites of heaven. Rather let me believe that if, in response to the prayer of faith, God does not give me what I ask, He will doubtless give me, by and by, that which is far better.

TRANSLATIONS FROM GOETHE.

The Erl-king.

THROUGH the lone dark night and stormy blast
A father and child were riding fast;

The father's arm his boy caress'd,

The boy clung close to his father's breast.

"Why hid'st thou thy face, my boy, in fear?" "See'st thou not, father, the Erl-king here,

With his crown and his streaming silver hair?" "My boy, 'tis a wreath of misty air."

"Come, dear Earth-child, come and play with me
By the flowery shore of the Faery Sea,
Where games never tire, nor flowers decay,
And my mother shall dress thee in golden array!"

"O father, dear father, dost thou not hear
How softly the Erl-king speaks in my ear?"
"Hush! hush! my child, 'tis only the sound
Of the rustling leaves on the frosty ground!"

"My pretty Earth-child, come away with me!

My daughters will nurse thee with love and glee; They will dance thee at eve round the mystic ring, Then lull thee to sleep with the songs they sing!"

"Look-look-father! there, in the dark, dost thou see The Erl-king's daughters waiting for me?"

"Oh, father knows well what his own boy sees;
'Tis but the grey gleam of the old willow trees."

"I love thee, sweet child, but I cannot stay;

If thou wilt not come, I must tear thee away." "O father! dear father! he's seizing my arm, That wicked Erl-king has done me harm."

The father shudders-he rides fast and wild;
To his breast he strains closer the moaning child:
On-on to the courtyard swiftly he sped;
But there, in his arms, lay the dear boy-dead!

Wer nie sein Brod.

WHO never ate with tears his bread,
Who never thro' the long night-hours
Hath wept in sorrow on his bed,

He knows you not, ye Heavenly Powers!

'Tis ye who bring us into life,

Ye let the poor man work his sin,

Then ye resign him to the knife,

That Virtue may the victory win!

Reminder.

WILT thou far and wide be roaming?
Lo! the good is very near:
Only learn to seize good fortune,

Then good fortune's ever here!