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December i, 1909. THE PRESBYTERIAJ DO WHAT YOU CAN. When the disciples of our Lord criticised the act of the woman who anointed him, his reply to their words of complaint was, "She hath done what she could." The Lord wants his people to be doing Christians. What we have done will ava51 fnr no ;? ?? u<\y Juu&ment. "Do what you can," is all that is asked of any of us. God always holds us responsible for doing our duty; results we are to leave with him. Christ asks no impossibilities but accepts your smallest gifts and humblest services. This woman had done but little, but that little was considered enough by our Lord. It was the measure of heart feeling she put into this service that gave it such value to the Lord. Christ always recognizes and commends the superior value of heart feeling over outward acts. Do your duty and God will take care of results Tt vmi "a ?- v?. *W JVU UU?V uunt WIIcll you could" then the result will be acceptable to him. Your ability is the measure of your responsibility. To "whom much is given much will be required." I passed a home where a gentleman was sprinkling the lawn. His little girl, a child of about six years, was helping papa as her chldish fancy prompted. She would bring her toy watering pot to the father, and he, reducing the force of the stream, would fill it from the hose. It mattered little to the grass and flowers whether the water which they needed was given through the large sprinkler or the child's toy watering pot. So it matters little to the world whether you are a man of one, two, five or ten talents, so you give it the best you have. The one talent man giving his best is better than a ten talent man giving his worst. It is not how much you give to the world, but what you give to it. There are a great many more little things to be done than big ones. Do not forget that the things done for ...*11 t _ r .. ? - uuibcivcs wm soon dc iorgotten, Dut the things that are done for Christ are immortal.?New York Observer. VALUE OF CHURCH ATTENDANCE. No danger is more subtle or fatal than the philosophy which disparages the value of church attendance. Break up the Christian assembly, and Christ's grip upon the nations is broken. The sense of God and the sense of sin, the august beauty of truth and the high dignity of duty, the sweetness of communion and the raptures of heaven, all these are heightened and made real in the great congregation. We kindle one another and lift up one another when as brethren we meet to meditate and pray.?Exchange. norxm uiti a t> ?vr< nrn. uwiiiu TTiini v/nc/ irXii!fA?i?i5. The man who asserts that he has a right to do what he wishes seldom wishes to do right. That is an independence which puts everybody else under bondage. It is a mistaken idea of liberty that gives license. One's sphere is not altogether his own if that of some one else is in part superposed upon it. In a world of relations and connections, dependence and interdependence must be marked more strongly than independence. Any man will destroy his usefulness quickest by a disregard of the rights and desires of others. . % * i 1 1 Rrl v * & H J OF THE SOUTH. 9 "He who always does what he wants is not wanted very often for what he does." We all love such a man in the sense that we wish him to be better. The natural course is to love him at a considerable distance. * XT - ino one is attracted to a boor with any strong affection. Seeing that one esteems another most when that other has due regard for the rights of his fellow-men, it follows that one must esteem himself most when he, too, exercises care touching the privileges of other people. Recently a friend remarked that the essence of Christianity is to think of the other man first. Selfishness and Christianity are as much opposed to each other as day and night, as much as hemlock and nectar. By precept and example Jesus Christ has marked out the way, and the way passes far on the other side of self-conceit and oppression.?Religious Telescope. IRREVERENT PRAYING. My brother, take heed to that for which thou prayest! There lies the difference between the pious and the impious mind. It is not thy praying that makes thee good?not even thv sinceritv in nrauor t* :*> ^ j --- ^4%*^ vt. xl 10 nol thy sense of want that makes thee good?not even though expressed in abjectness. It is not thy feeling of dependence on Christ. It is the thing for which thou prayest, the thing for which thou hungerest, the thing for which thou dependest. Every man cries for his grapes of Eshcol; the difference is not in the cry, but in the grapes. It is possible for thee to ask from thy God three manner of things: Thou mayest ask thy neighbor's vineyard; that is bad. Thou mayest ask thine own riches; that is neither bad nor good; it is secular. Or thou mayest ask to be made unselfish; that is holy. It is not thy prayer that thy Father prizes; it is the direction of thy prayer. Dost thou deem thy child a hero because he asks thee for a holiday? Nay, though he sought it sorrowing and with tears. But if he asks thee to let him share his joy with a brother or sister, then thou art exceeding glad; then thnu eavpet ' ?. jiuuu an. my son; tnis aay have i begotten thee!" So with thy Father. He waits till thou criest for a crown?till thou prayest for his presence, longest for his light, sighest for his song, hungerest for his home, faintest for his footfall, callest for his company, tarriest tor his tread, seekest for the sign of his coming. That will be thy Father's highest joy. ?Rev. George Matheson. Why will some of our preachers persist in reversing the announcement of their texts? How can the average hearer follow "the third clause of the fifth verse of the thirteenth chapter of Second Corinthians?" The mind goes roaming back and around, trying to work it out by a backward movement, and before its search is over the preacher has given the words and the poor 1!.i - ? * listener is lost trom the beginning of the discourse and fails to get into its subject until the preacher has in some way expressed it later on. A lesson may be taken from the lawyer's or judge's citation of authorities in the courts. These always give the book first, then the chapter, then the particular paragraph or case.