Nearer and nearer, Lord, and nearer still,

Thy work begun, fulfil;

Shape all my life according to thy will.

Thou knowest how I aspire;

Accept my strong desire,

Hope, heart, and mind,—my spirit's deepest deep;
Take all to feed and keep,

Till my whole soul to love's full flower is blown,
And love's full flower to perfect fruit is grown.
[Rev. H. N. Powers.]

The Christly spirit uses the one name Jesus ever used,— "Father"; nor can there be better evidence of the growing of the Christ spirit within, than the growing consciousness that one more and more revolts at every mode of address save that, and that the secret temptation of his soul is to substitute my Father for "our" Father, as if he would have the claim more directly, wholly and exclusively individual. [Ware.]

There is such a deep, fresh, manly piety in the teachings of Jesus, such love for man under all circumstances, poor, oppressed, despised and sinful, as we find nowhere else in the whole compass of antiquity.-[Parker.]

Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.

In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

Our Friend, our Brother, and our Lord,
What may thy service be?—

Nor name, nor form, nor ritual word,
But simply following thee.

We bring no ghastly holocaust,
We pile no graven stone;

He serves thee best who loveth most
His brothers and thy own.

Thy litanies sweet offices
Of love and gratitude;
Thy sacramental liturgies
The joy of doing good.

In vain shall waves of incense drift

The vaulted nave around,

In vain the minster turret lift

Its brazen weights of sound.

The heart must ring thy Christmas bells,

Thy inward altars raise;

Its faith and hope thy canticles,

And its obedience praise !

[Whittier.]

The best name by which we can think of God is Father. It is a loving, deep, sweet, heart-touching name; for the name of father is in its nature full of inborn sweetness and comfort. Therefore, also, we must confess ourselves children of God; for by this name we deeply touch our God, since there is not a sweeter sound to the Father than the voice of the child.-[Martin Luther.]

66

CHRIST FORMED IN YOU."

Why longer urge thy fruitless search?

The one true Christ thou shalt not find
Until thou seek him in his church,

All beautiful, within thy mind.

His temple is the human soul;

He dwelleth evermore within;
The harmonies of heaven roll

For him whose life is free from siu.

Be free from foolish hates and fears,

The love of ease, the love of pelf,
And all the Christs of all the years
Shall lead thee nearer to thyself.

Not farther off, but farther in,——
Such is the nature of thy quest;
They heaven find who heaven win:

The one true Christ is in thy breast.

[Chadwick.]

We are to

It is the life of Christ that concerns us. have the same mind; to be of like spirit; to follow not his steps so much as his soul; to come at one with God through oneness with him, hiding our life with his in God. His life we are to get into our lives, and in that is our peace, our strength, our joy, our rest.

Getting religion is getting the divine life in the soul; having Jesus is having his spirit as the active principle of our spirits; being saved is having the life hid with Christ in God,-the life which, when the door is shut, you devoutly lay before the Father, and the Father in secrecy accepts.-[Ware.]

Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged; and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the the mote out of thine eye and behold, a beam is in thine own eye?

:

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: for every one that asketh receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.

Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.-[Jesus.]

He that keepeth the commandment keepeth his own soul.

CHRIST'S INVITATIONS.

Come, said Jesus' sacred voice,
Come and make my paths your choice;
I will guide you to your home;
Weary pilgrim! hither come.

Thou who, houseless, sole, forlorn,

Long hast borne the proud world's scorn,
Long hast roamed the barren waste,
Weary pilgrim! hither haste.

Ye who, tossed on beds of pain,
Seek for ease, and seek in vain ;
Ye whose swoln and sleepless eyes
Watch to see the morning rise;

Ye, by fiercer anguish torn,
In remorse for guilt who mourn,
Here repose your heavy care;
Who the stings of sin can bear?

Sufferer! come, for here is found
Balm that flows for every wound;
Peace that ever shall endure,
Rest eternal, sacred, sure.