nemy and rest not till we take vengeance of it. It may yet be
God's messenger to us, if we lead humble chastened lives, seeking to
redeem the past and watching unto prayer. There is no discipline so
bitter and so blessed as the discipline of an almost ruined soul. For
old sins do not decay and die; they must be nailed upon the cross. It is
an awful truth that he who was once filthy is filthy still, but it is
still more true, thank God, that there is One whose blood cleanseth
from all sin."

He stopped suddenly, and in a moment he was gone. Down that same aisle
by which his child had passed, he swiftly walked, his head bowed, his
face quivering in pain like one who was being scourged out of the
temple. For there are corded whips, knotted by unseen hands.

After the door had closed behind him the Session Clerk arose:

"I move, Moderator," he said, "that Mr. Blake's resignation be laid on
the table."

Before his motion was seconded Roger Lockie, one of the stalwarts, stood
in the middle of the congregation.

"It's no becomin' in me to interfere," he began, "but we're a' assembled
here as a worshippin' people, an' I move that the Kirk Session be
requested no' to accept the resignation. Oor brother fell, nae doot, but
it was lang syne, and he has walked worthy o' the Lord unto a' pleasin'
since, an' borne a guid witness to his Maister. We a' ken fine what the
great King an' Heid o' the Kirk wad dae wi' his resignation. Wi' my way
o' thinkin', a sinfu' man wha has been saved by grace is juist the ane
to commend the Maister's love. I move the Session be asked to keep him
as oor elder."

"I second that," said William Watson, a man of fifty years. "He brocht
me to Christ and that's ae soul he saved. He broke the alabaster box
upon his Saviour's head this day and we a' felt the fragrance o't. If
God Himsel' canna despise the contrite hairt, nae mair can we."

I was about to put the motion when the senior elder arose:--"I hae but a
word," he said, "an' it's nae word o' mine. The spirit o' the cross is
wi' us and I will read a bit frae the Buik:--'If a man be overtaken in a
fault ye which are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of
meekness, considering thyself lest thou also be tempted.'"

"Are you ready for the question?" I asked.

"Aye, we're a' fine an' ready noo," said one of the worshippers.

The vote was taken and there was no dissenting voice. Michael Blake's
long penance had done its work on earth and its