other harvests than I have been sowing here? How can I trust that I shall be saved then, unless I am saved now? How can I have hope that heaven shall be my eternal inheritance, unless the earnest be begun in my own soul on earth? _Trouble Lightened_. I am persuaded that if we looked more to Jesus, our troubles would not appear either so great or so grievous. In the darkest night of trial, looking to Christ will clear the ebon sky. When the darkness seems thick, like that of Egypt, "darkness that might be felt," even then, like a bright lightning flash, as vivid, but not so transient, will a look to Jesus prove. One glimpse of Him may well suffice for all our toils while on the road. Looking to Him will illuminate the most dreary way. Cheered by His voice, nerved by His strength, we are prepared to do and to suffer, even as he did, unto the end. O, weary and troubled Christians, "look unto Him, and be lightened!" _The Gospel Requirement_. The gospel is not a scheme of giving _to_ God, but of receiving _from_ God. It is taking of His fulness, drinking out of His "wells of salvation," receiving from His storehouse. Sinner! remember all that God asks of thee, in order to thy salvation, is, that thou wouldst be a _receiver_, and this He gives thee, even the power to receive. He asks thee not to do anything, but to hold out thine empty hand, and take all thou wantest. He does not bid thee store thy granaries and become rich, but he bids thee simply confess thy poverty, and open the doors of thine empty chambers, that He may pour thee out a blessing such as thou shalt scarcely find room to contain. Hast thou learnt this truth? Hast thou come to live as a receiver at the hand of God? Hast thou stood at Mercy's gate, humbly seeking salvation? For, if thou hast not--if thou hast never yet been willing to take the riches of grace from God instead of giving to Him of thine own worthless doings--if thou art not willing to be a recipient of His gratuitous goodness, thou art a total stranger to everything like the gospel of Christ. "_Ye are Not Your Own._"