deluded no more, when we strive against the weight of indolence, the seductions of self-love, and the weakness of a desponding mind! O Father! who dost bless us always even in our griefs, and love us even in our sins; from the spirit of Jesus the crucified, whose cry went up unto thee from his meek triumph, his passage to immortal rest, we would learn to trust thee, and look up amid the sadness of thy providence. Oh, may our human sympathies be more and more followers of thee, as dear children, and spread, like thy tranquil presence, wherever suffering is laid low, or the sigh of the oppressed is heard, or remorse retires to weep. May we sanctify ourselves and imitate thee, by blessing others. Before the breath of a divine love within us may the cloud of anxiety and the storm of fretful passions be swept away. Beneath the light of thy peace may even the valley of the shadow of death be to our feet as the green pastures and the still waters. And when we pass into that land which no eye hath seen, may we be ready to meet our forerunners there, and bless thee that the days of sorrow and temptation are finished. Amen.

Oh, where'er our path may lie,
Father, let us not forget
That we walk beneath thine eye,
That thy care upholds us yet.

Blind are we, and weak and frail:
Be thine aid forever near;

May the fear to sin prevail

Over every other fear.

[W. C. Bryant.]

Walk in the spirit, is the direction of the Apostle. But that walking is the difficulty. So hard, so very hard it often is. * * * But always the spirit does wait on those who are willing to walk by it, and under God and Christ always will; and to him who does walk in the Holy Spirit all outward things are spiritual helps, and the spirit of God makes itself felt not only from within us, but also by things that border our paths, that meet us in our walks, that are with us in our homes, * * * through the cold, pure beauty of sunrise, and through the grandeur with which the sun sets, and through the awfulness of the dark, * through words tenderly and wisely spoken by friends, and through the ongoing of time as it enlightens and changes us.-[Mountford.]

Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul,
As the swift seasons roll!

Leave thy low-vaulted past!

Let each new temple, nobler than the last,

Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast,

Till thou at length art free,

Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea! [O. W. Holmes.]

It is the determination of the spotless not to give sorrow to others; and not to do evil to those who have done evil to them. If a man inflict suffering even on those who without cause hate him, it will in the end give him irremovable sorrow. The punishment of those who have done you evil is to put them to shame by showing great kindness to them.-[Hindu.]

SEEKING GOD.

Thou hidden love of God, whose height,

Whose depth unfathomed, no man knows;
I see from far thy beauteous light,
Inly I sigh for thy repose.

My heart is pained; nor can it be
At rest, till it find rest with thee.

Thy secret voice invites me still

The sweetness of thy yoke to prove;
And fain I would, but though my will
Seem fixed, yet wide my passions rove;
Yet hindrances strew all the way;
I aim at thee, yet from thee stray.

'Tis mercy all, that thou hast brought
My mind to seek her peace in thee;
Yet, while I seek, but find thee not,

No peace my wandering soul shall see.
Oh! when shall all my wanderings end,
And all my steps to theeward tend?

Is there a thing beneath the sun

That strives with thee my heart to share?
Oh! bear it thence and reign alone,

The Lord of every motion there!

Then shall my heart from earth be free,

When it hath found repose in thee.

[Translated from the German by John Wesley.]

"Stand in awe and sin not; commune with your own

heart and be still."

If every day's life could be from within,-if God could always act through us, and the Divine be a perennial spring within us, what nobleness might we aspire to! But how to find Him whom neither height, nor breadth, nor depth can reach, but who is never far from every one of us? Were I to define the process, I would say, sift down your own motives and make them as pure as possible; nay, determine that the great question, the only question of life, shall be, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" and use the means of religious growth,—the oldfashioned rules of devotional culture,-meditation, selfexamination, prayer. Alas, that our desire should be, not devotion itself, but the good that comes of it!

[Withington.]

To lose the soul is to lose out of one's being the pure affections and the love of truth and right. It is to lose the love of goodness and pious trust and the heavenly dower of immortal hope. * * * He that has lost his virtuous purposes, holy aspirations, devout hopes, whose soul has abdicated its high seat and become subject to the world, like the sapless and verdureless tree, is already struck with death.-[Ephraim Peabody.]

E

TEACHINGS OF JESUS.

When thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.

But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do; for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.

Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask him.

After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

God is love. Creation is the outcome of love. By the law of nature, therefore, as well as that of grace, the same should be the ruling principle in the children of men, created in the divine image. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. It is love all through. Love is the noblest sentiment, the only fit and real inspirer of the Christian life.-[Christian Register.]