Overcome with emotion, he
took his seat, and the children in order spoke on the same line. Each
one referred to the place of secret prayer and the father's hand upon
the head. At last we came to the youngest boy, who, with his face
buried in his hands, was sobbing and refused to speak. The preacher
brother very pathetically said, 'Buddy, say a word; there is no one
here but the family, and it will help you.'

"He arose, holding the back of his chair, and looked up at me and said,
'Brother Stuart, they tell me that you have come to dedicate this home
to God; but my old mother here has never let it get an inch from God.
They tell you that this meeting is called that my brothers and sisters
may dedicate their lives to God, but they are good. I know them. I am
the only black sheep in this flock. Every step I have wandered away
from God and the life of my precious father, I have felt his hand upon
my head and heard his blessed words of prayer. To-day I come back to
God, back to my father's life, and so help me God, I will never wander
away again.'

"Following his talk came a burst of sobbing and shouting, and I started
that old hymn, 'Amazing grace (how sweet the sound!) that saved a
wretch like me!' etc., and we had an old-fashioned Methodist
class-meeting, winding up with a shout. As I walked away from that old
homestead I said in my heart, 'It is the salt of a good life that saves
the children.' A boy never gets over the fact that he had a good
father."

"What have they seen in thy house?" If we are to help our children for
time and eternity, our homes must be better, our lives must be truer,
our ambition to do God's will must be supreme. When these conditions
are met it will be possible for us to answer the question of the text.

THE SWELLING OF JORDAN

TEXT: "_How wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?_"--Jer. 12:5.

High up in the mountains of Anti-Lebanon a famous river was born which
was to play so important a part in the history of God's people that it
would not have been strange if the birds of heaven had chanted their
praises when first it began its journey. From four different places in
the mountain the stream starts. Then the four streams become one, and
in a single channel the river makes its way across the plain.

There are two chief characteristics which must be borne in mind. The
first is that a part of its journey is through a rocky country, and
caves are on either side of the