hoose to get better, Jeannie would say, 'Where are ye gaen?' and Wullie would say, 'What are ye after noo?' Sa ye see yoursel' I canna gang."

"I hae it. Ye jist gang in and say ye are but noo tauld to gang for the doctor for a seek neebor."

"Na, na. I canna lee, wi' a' my fauts. I would liefer rin fast eneuch to keep mysel' warm."

"Weel, do that," said the tempter; and Rab consented, though rather reluctantly.

He did run fast enough to keep himself warm while going; but alas for the home-coming! He had, of course, drunk more than was good for him. Mrs. McAllister, who feared another visit from honest Wullie, urged Donald to take him home. Donald took him a part of the way and left him. "We hae had a gude auld-fashioned time tagither," said he; "but noo ye maun hasten hame. Rin, for the life o' ye!" But poor Rab did not comprehend his situation; he could not have hurried if he had. The cold soon benumbed him; his feet refused to carry him, and he soon sank down into the snow.

Meantime he had been missed at home, and search had been made for him. It was a long time before it entered into the minds of his family that he might have gone to Daft Jamie's. But with the thought Wullie quickly seized his brother's plaid and his own, and hurried in the direction of the inn. He had gotten about half the distance when he found the object of his search. He succeeded in arousing him, wrapped him in his plaid, and took him home as fast as his ill condition would permit. Rab was allowed to remain near the fire until he was supposed to be warm. Then Wullie offered to "loose his shoon." To his horror he discovered that his feet had been frozen.

It was a trial to all, but particularly to Rab, that he had to be kept in the house with sore feet. Still, no one at first realized the extent of the injury; and many days had elapsed before a conviction fastened on Rab's mind which found expression in these words:

"I will hae to lose my taes."

"No so bad as that, I hope," said his wife.

"I see nae help for it. Oh, why did I gang oot that unlucky night! I wish I had let the coo gang withoot her supper; then I wouldna hae seen Donald. I am afeared I will be a cripple a' the rest o' my days; and if I am crippled in sic a way, I will never shaw my heid again."

"But, Rab, ye might hae been frozen to death; think o' that!"

"Ay, I hae thought o' that; and I hae thought o' anither thing, and that is just this: Donald McPherson will hae gray hairs on his heid before I forgie him for that night's wark. I would hae been at hame in my warm bed but for him. I was aboot my ain business, and had nae intention o' gaen to Daft Jamie's, when he cam along, and naething would do but I maun gang wi' him. But, as God helps me to keep my promise, I will never be found wi' him again."

"I am glad to hear ye say that," said Jeannie, "and I hope ye will stick to it as lang as he is the same wild, warthless Donald; but if God s'ould change his heart, it would be different, ye ken."

"It is my opeenion that God's grace will never reach Donald."

"Ye maunna say that. Wullie would tell ye no to limit the grace o' God."

"Ay, and Wullie would say there is mercy for me; but I canna feel sure aboot it."

"And why s'ould there not be mercy for you?"

"Because, Jeannie, I hae been, and am still, a great sinner."

"Weel, Rab, it was but yester morn that I read in the gude Book, 'They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick;' and I thought to mysel, here Jesus holds oot hope for the warst o' folk."

"It would seem so, Jeannie, but I ken little aboot sic things."

"And I am nae judge o' thae things either, although I would fain learn aboot them. We will ask Wullie."

Accordingly, after Wullie had returned from his work, and had settled in his favorite corner, with Jamie on his knee, Jeannie began to speak upon the subject uppermost in her mind.

"Wullie, doesna the Bible hold forth hope and pardon to the warst o' sinners?"

"Of course it does. Wha says it doesna?"

"Rab says he doesna feel a'thegither sure aboot it."

Wullie smiled a glad smile, not unmingled with surprise, while he answered, "If you will test the promises, Rab, ye will ken better than to doot them. Only turn to the Lord wi' full purpose o' heart. Tak the promises as your ain, and cling to them, and ye shall save your soul; for the Lord is ever ready to hear all that call upon his name."

"I hae only lately begun to think aboot sic things. I had some conversation to-day wi' Jeannie that led her to speak to you aboot it."

"It is the strivings o' the Spirit, Rab. Oh, that ye would 'seek the Lord while he may be found, and call upon him while he is near!' He is near to you noo. He is speaking to your conscience. He has said, 'Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.'"

"I am sure I would like to have that abundant pardon. But there is are thing I canna mak clear in my ain mind. I canna weel see what maks sic a difference between us. It may be that you are to be saved and I am to be lost. Ye ken the ministers preach that one is sure to go to the gude place, and anither to the bad, according to God's plan."

"I ken, Rab, some say that. But I dinna fash my held aboot election while I can find sic words as these: 'Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?'"

"But, Wullie, might not that be only for the chosen people, the Israelites?"

"Na, Rab, na. 'The Gentiles shall come to Thy light.' And listen to this: 'Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.' And again: 'Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.' This is eneuch for me; for I ken weel our blessed Maister wouldna call us to him to send us empty awa."

"Weel, Wullie, there be folk wha say ane thing, and folk wha say anither thing. Wha kens wha has the right o' it?"

"I will tell ye, Rab; ye just read the Ward o' God for yoursel. I am sure ye are nae fule; and if ye were, ye could understand eneuch to be saved; for the Bible declares that the wayfaring man, though a fule, needna err therein. Noo read for yoursel, as I said, and tak the plain, simple truths o' the Bible. Dinna gang aside frae the general course to pick at what ye canna understand, for in so doing ye may wrest the Scriptures to your ain destruction. Nane by seeking can find out God; neither can they understand all the wards o' him wha is infinite in wisdom."

"But what wad ye think if ye were in the kirk and ye s'ould hear it sounded in your ears that some were left to eternal death?"

"I would no dispute it; but I would whisper softly to my heart sic passages o' the Holy Ward as these: 'As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; that whasoever believeth in him s'ould not perish, but have eternal life.' 'For God so loved the warld that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whasoever believeth in him s'ould not perish, but have everlasting life.' 'For God sent not his Son into the warld to condemn the warld, but that the warld through him might be saved.'"

"That you would say to yoursel; but if a man was in trouble aboot the doctrine o'