ray for
them, that strength and courage may be given them? Should we not help
them all we can? Let our daily prayer be:

'Lord, bless them all!
Thy workers in the field,
Where'er they be;
Prosper them, Lord, and bless
Their work for Thee--
Lord, bless them all.

Lord, bless them all!
Give them Thy smile to-day,
Cheer each faint heart,
More of Thy grace, more strength,
Saviour, impart;
Lord, bless them all!'

The post of danger is the post of honour, and at that post of honour Mr.
Mackay, the engineer, died, February 8, 1890. For thirteen years he had
bravely held on to his work. He had never had a holiday, he had never
come home to see his friends. The Secretary of the Church Missionary
Society wrote at last, urging him to come to England for rest and
change. His answer to this letter arrived ten days after the sorrowful
telegram which told of his death. He said, 'But what is this you write;
come home? Surely now, in our terrible dearth of workers, it is not the
time for any one to desert his post. Send us only our first twenty men,
and I may be tempted to come to help you to find the second twenty.'

So he was faithful unto death.

The _people_ blessed the men who willingly offered themselves, and
surely _God_ blessed them too, for 'God loveth a cheerful giver.' He who
gives to God grudgingly, or because he feels obliged to do so, had
better never give at all, for God will not receive the offering. The
money must be willingly given, the service must be cheerfully rendered,
the post of danger must be readily occupied, or God will have nothing to
do with it.

The only giver whose gifts He can receive is the cheerful giver, the one
who willingly offers himself.

To be comfortable is the great aim of our lives and our hearts by
nature. But sometimes God calls us to be uncomfortable, to leave the
cosy home, the bright fireside, the comparative luxury, and to go forth
to the post of danger, or difficulty, or trial.

God grant that we may be amongst the number of those who go forth with a
smiling face amongst the people who willingly offer themselves!

CHAPTER XII.

The Holy City.

In the time of the terrible siege of Jerusalem, when the Roman armies
surrounded the city, when famine was killing the Jews by hundreds, and
when every day the enemy seemed more likely to take the city, a strange
thing happened. Some priests were watching, as was