these things, she said 'I am going to burn heaven with this torch, and to extinguish hell with this water, to the end that men may love God for himself.”

"Think of whatever you will," says St. Buonaventura, "and thence you will have no little motive for loving your Creator." Ages of Faith.

Love, it has been said, flows downward. The love of parents for their children has always been far more powerful than that of children for their parents; and who among the sons of men ever loved God with a thousandth part of the love which God has manifested to us.

Hare.

Whatever, below God, is the object of our love, will, at some time or other, be the matter of our sorrow.

Cecil.

Lord, he loveth thee less, that loveth any thing with thee, which he loveth not for thee.

Saint Augustine.

Who created all things is better than all things; who beautified all things, is more beautiful than all things; who made strength, is stronger than all things; whatsoever thou lovest, he is that to thee; learn to love the workman in his work, the Creator in his creature; let not that

which was made by him possess thee, lest thou lose him by whom thyself was made.

Quoted from St. Augustine.

Those who are in the exercise of pure love, are not impatient, anxious, and agitated; but are beautifully calm and peaceful. Agitation is one of the baleful fruits that are propagated from the life of self. The selfish man, who is necessarily an unholy man, is always more or less troubled. Divine tranquillity, more beautiful than those apples of silver which are mentioned in the Scriptures, grows from the life of God in the soul, which is the same as the life of pure love.

"Love," says St. Augustine, "and do what you please." Pure love is a law of action which is infinitely more true and safe in its operation than any other law of action without love. There is no need, in order to understand and apply it, of great knowledge and of laborious care. Love, even in the natural life, and still more in the life of.religion, makes all things easy. Thomas C. Upham.

Among the open rewards of secret prayer, we would specify presence of mind and composure of spirit. There are some persons of a calm temperament, who pass sedately through every scene, and are seldom taken by surprise. They are persons of ready wit, exhaustless resources and constant self-command. But there are others, fearful and foreboding, easily stunned and easily agitated. They are

any

perpetually apprehending a lion in the street, and go about any new undertaking with as much anxiety as would suffice for the most arduous enterprise. They will pass by the perilous house on which they are plotting a visit, or at last address themselves to the knocker with as much trepidation as if they expected an ogre to dart from behind it. And when any little incident occurs, conjuncture requiring promptitude or dexterity, their wits, only agile in forsaking them, are sure to be out of the way. The moment is flown the propitious instant is passed, and it is only when the opportunity is gone and forever, that they perceive the very thing they should have said or done, but in their confusion it did not occur to them. For this sore evil we know no better remedy than secret prayer. Prayer calms and fortifies the mind, and so prepares it for the rapid incidents and sudden emergencies of the day. Rev. James Hamilton.

Where men are enlightened with the true light, they renounce all desire and choice, and commit and commend themselves and all things to the Eternal Goodness. Nevertheless there remaineth in them a desire to go forward and get nearer to the Eternal Goodness; that is, to come, to a clearer knowledge, and warmer love, and more comfortable assurance, and perfect obedience and subjection; so that every enlightened man could say: "I would fain be to the Eternal Goodness what his own hand is to a man." And he feareth always that he is not enough so, and longeth for the salvation of all men. And such men do not

call this longing their own, nor take it unto themselves, for they know well that this desire is not of man, but of the Eternal Goodness; for whatsoever is good shall no one take unto himself, as his own, seeing that it belongeth to the Eternal Goodness only.

Moreover these men are in a state of freedom, because they have lost the fear of pain or hell, and the hope of reward or heaven, but are living in pure submission to the Eternal Goodness, in the perfect freedom of fervent love. This mind was in Christ in perfection, and is also in his followers, in some more, and in some less. But it is a sorrow and a shame to think that the Eternal Goodness is ever most graciously guiding and drawing us, and we will not yield to it. What is better and nobler than true poorness in spirit?

we will have none of

Yet when that is held up before us, it, but are always seeking ourselves,

and our own things. We like to have our mouths always filled with good things, that we may have in ourselves a lively taste of pleasure and sweetness.

Theologia Germanica.

Besides the open return, there is a secret reward of secret prayer. There is a peculiar and present joy in communion with God. The deepest pleasures are the purest; and of all pleasures the purest is the peace of God. To feel that he is love to draw so near him as to forget the world so near as to lose the love of sin is of all pleasures the sweetest, of all blessedness the

--

purest and most profound. And next to this high com

munion with God,- next to this joy of passions lulled, and sins slain and self forgotten in adoring fellowship with the Father of Lights is their sedater comfort who can pour their griefs into their Heavenly Father's bosom, or who feel that they have bespoken help against coming toils and trials at their Heavenly Father's hand. To know that God is near. to know that he is trusted, honored, loved, to feel that you are acting towards him as a reverential and affectionate child, and that he is feeling towards you as a gracious and compassionate Father there is in this, itself, an exquisite satisfaction, a present reward. Rev. James Hamilton.

Goethe's philosophy and his practice have found echoes, confused and uncertain enough, but still easily recognizable, in many English, even many Oxford minds the philosophy which says life is the art of self-development, and claims that we should devote ourselves to conscious selfformation, without ulterior object, which would have the nature of a man revolve on its own axis, and treats religion as a step in education, and not the highest step. This is the philosophy which lies hidden in the centre of many an English mind, and it has received an impulse from a very different and less generally suspected quarter. Where Goethe stepped with conscious, searching eyes, the mild egotism of Wordsworth led him without thought or clear perception of his whereabouts. His self-occupation was too simple and complete for him to be conscious of it. It was quiet, inoffensive, unlimited. The most important