h a friend or two
beside,--hoping the hour might be spiritually improved. Singing and
prayer were sweet, but I was disappointed in the conversation, which
was turned by two individuals upon a point that profited little; one
thing I learned, to expect profit in the creature is not right,--Tried
to bring about, and by means of another, effected a reconciliation
between two opposing parties.--'Who will this day consecrate his
services to the Lord?' was a question put to me this morning before
I awoke, and has been urged upon me since. Thank God, my heart
responds--_I will_. As I was walking, musing, and praying, it was
whispered to my soul, 'My God shall supply all your need.' It is
enough.--Again privileged to hear the Rev. Robert Newton. I sat in
my Father's banqueting-house with delight, and His banner over me was
love.--Fifty-four years this day, I have proved the sustaining power
of God; and forty-two or nearly so, have enjoyed His redeeming love. O
what a debter am I! Here will I give myself away--'tis all I can do."

This day of consecrated rest,
Proclaim within my longing breast
'I am the Lord thy God;'
Here dwell and reign without control,
Sole monarch of my willing soul,
According to Thy word.

XVI.

THE SACRIFICE.

"I HAVE LENT HIM TO THE LORD; AS LONG AS HE LIVETH, SHALL
HE BE LENT UNTO THE LORD."--1 Sam. i. 28.

"Neither will I offer burnt-offerings to the Lord of that which cost
me nothing," said David, when he purchased the threshing-floor, and
the oxen of Araunah the Jebusite, that he might rear and altar, and
offer sacrifices, and peace-offerings: and yet it was a nobler act
of sacrifice, when he poured out before the Lord the crystal draught
which three of his mighty men had procured from the well that was by
the gate of Bethlehem, at the peril of their lives, and for which he
had so earnestly longed. In the one case he gave what he could well
afford; in the other, he consecrated what his soul desired. The
preciousness of the gift is to be estimated, not by its intrinsic
value, but by the amount of sacrifice which it requires; hence, some
who bring much, offer little, and some who give but little, offer
much. Genuine love to God brings of its choicest and dearest, and the
sacrifice is accepted accordingly. To give money as far as she had
ability, was to Mrs. Lyth no sacrifice. Through life she practised
a rigid economy, that she might have the more to employ for God; a