verse of the hymn on which the clergyman was to preach
to-night. They sang the whole hymn through before the sermon, and then
they sang the third verse again, that all of them might remember it
whilst he was preaching.

"Lord, make me from this hour
Thy loving child to be,
Kept by Thy power,
Kept by Thy power,
From all that grieveth Thee."

And the clergyman's text was in Colossians 1:12, "Meet to be partakers
of the inheritance." He repeated it very slowly, and Christie whispered
softly to himself, that he might be able to teach it to old Treffy.

"'Meet to be partakers of the inheritance.' What is the inheritance?"
asked the clergyman. "My dear friends, our inheritance is that city
bright of which we have been speaking so much, 'Home, sweet Home,' our
Father's home. We are not there yet, but for all Christ's washed ones
there is a bright home above. Jesus is preparing it for us; it is our
inheritance. Oh," said the clergyman, very earnestly, "I wonder how many
in this room have a home up there. You may have a wretched,
uncomfortable home on earth; is it your _only_ home? Is there no home
for you in the bright city; no home in heaven?

"You might all have a home there," said the clergyman, "if you would
only come to the fountain, if you would only say from the bottom of your
heart, 'Lord, wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.'"

And Christie smiled when the clergyman said his little prayer, for he
thought of the snowdrops. And the clergyman thought of them, too.

Then Mr. Wilton went on to say that he wished to-night to speak to those
who _had_ come to Jesus; who _had_ taken their sin to Him, and who _had_
been washed in His blood.

"That's me and old Treffy," said Christie to himself.

"My dear friends," said the clergyman, "all of you have an inheritance;
you are the sons of a King; there is a place in the kingdom waiting for
you. Jesus is getting that place ready for you, and I want to show you
to-night that you must be made ready for it, meet or fit for the
inheritance. One day, the Prince of Wales will be the King of England.
This kingdom is his inheritance. As soon as he was born, he had a right
to it. But he has been educated and trained with great care, that he may
be meet for the inheritance, that he may be fit to enjoy it, and able to
use it. If he had had no education, if he had been brought up in one of
these dismal black courts, though he might have a perfect right to