GOD IN THE SOUL.

Unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. O my God,

I trust in thee; let me not be ashamed.

ways, O Lord; teach me thy paths.

Show me thy

The soul, by its very constitution, is near to God, and lives in and from him. God is not afar off, but here with us, permeating our very being, and communicating strength, wisdom and peace, according to our willingness to receive him. * * * God is near,-a besetting God, on the right hand and on the left, ever educating, disciplining, helping his child, and striving to save and bless him. The world is full of God; the soul is full of God; for he is the omnipresent and all-pervading spirit of the universe. * * We cannot be happy without resembling God. We cannot resemble him without contemplating his character; without adoring him; without experiencing the bliss of worship. We cannot taste this bliss without discovering that God is the fountain, and joy, and glory of our life, and that to praise and love and adore him is the real business and the true pleasure of moral existence, the beginning and middle, and unending direction in the pursuit of blessedness and immortality. [Bellows.]

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If there is not a love of virtue, as of sweetness, in the very constitution of my nature, I have no power to love it. What, then, can I do to awaken in myself good and virtuous emotion, to awaken love? I cannot will them into existence any more than I can will the love of music or of nature into existence. But this I can do ; this is within the province of the will. I can will and give attention to them. I can think of the objects that should awaken good emotions. I can meditate and pray. Thus, if I have some natural good emotions, and the ability to cultivate them, I have the power to be good; and no otherwise. I have both.-[Dewey.]

Blessed is the soul that heareth the Lord speaking within, and receiveth from his mouth the word of consolation. Blessed are the ears that gladly receive the pulses of the divine whisper.

Blessed indeed are those ears that listen, not after the voice that is sounding without, but for the truth teaching inwardly.

Blessed are they that enter into things internal, and endeavor to prepare themselves more and more, by daily faithfulness, for the receiving of heavenly secrets.

[Thomas à Kempis.].

Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth I desire beside thee. My flesh and my heart faileth, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for

ever.

Separated from God, man dwindles; he is nothing. He was made to have magnitude and be in flood, by having great inspirations roll under him and through him. Existing in mere self-hood he cannot push himself out any way to be complete as from himself. A soul must have all God's properties and perfections flowing in and through; liberty and life in his life, power in his power, righteous in his righteousness, secure in his security. That is, it must have the Infinite life which it was originally made for, flowing through it, and wafting in upon it all the divine properties that feed and freshen, empower and impel a really great and complete nature. There is nothing, in short, but religion, or the life in God, that can be looked to for the completion of a soul. [Dr. Bushnell.]

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"The world is close to our body; God closer to the soul, not only without but within, for the all-pervading current flows into each. The clear sky bends over each man, little or great. Let him uncover his head, there is nothing between him and infinite space. So the ocean of God encircles all men. Uncover the soul of its sensuality, selfishness, sin, there is nothing between it and God who flows into men as light into the air. Certain as the open eye drinks in the light do the pure in heart see God."

Who is the good man? The religious man only is good. And what is goodness? First and foremost, it is the agreement of the will with the conscience. Who is the great man? He who patiently endures injury and maintains a blameless life,—he is a man indeed.—[Buddha.]

What hath not man sought out and found,
But his dear God? who yet his glorious law
Embosoms in us, mellowing the ground

With showers and frosts, with love and awe,

So that we need not say, Where's this command?
Poor man thou searchest round

To find out death, but missest life at hand.

[Herbert.]

Our reserves are our strength, our comfort and our joy. Wearied of human misery and stupidity, worn out by watching and laboring in vain, desperate at failure, sick at heart at faithlessness and fraud, we can retire into the fresh, cool, silent chambers of our inner natures, and in the grateful recess of our own verity forget and forgive the hollow, vain, and seemingly profitless round of material things, the sadness and disgust they have occasioned. Here, with lavish splendor, we may build a brighter home; here, with saintly purity, we may win repose through prayer; here we may, with sweet and reverent adoration, bow to the latent goodness we instinctively perceive within ourselves; here we may muse without anxiety upon what may be; strong in a faith all the more bright because unseen by others. As a flower is transplanted into the sunlight from the shade, and thus attains a brighter coloring and a sweeter fragrance, so we in the light of selfcommunion, which exalts us to the eminence of our finest sensibilities, return to the ordinary level of every-day experience, braver, stronger, and better capable of spreading goodness, comfort and happiness around us.

[The Golden Rule.]

PRAYER BY BISHOP BRADWARDINE.

Thyself, my God, I love, for thyself, above all things. Thyself, for thyself, not for aught else, I always and in all things hitherto seek; with my heart and whole strength, with groaning and weeping, with continual labor and grief. If thou givest me not thyself, thou givest me nothing. If I find not thyself, I find nothing. If thou deniest me thyself, and that forever, and not for a season, whatever else thou givest me, shall I not always weep with grieving, because I remain ever void and empty? Shall I not mourn inconsolably; complain unceasingly; grieve interminably? This is not thy wont, God of goodness, of clemency, and of love. Grant therefore, O my gracious God, that in the present life I may ever love thyself, for thyself, above all things; and in the future world may find thee, and hold thee forever.

O my God, thou wert in my heart, and requiredst nothing but a turning of my mind inward to thee to make me feel thy presence. O Infinite Goodness, thou wert so near, and I ran hither and thither to seek thee, but found thee not. My life was a burden, though my happiness was within me. I was poor in the midst of riches, and starving with hunger near a table spread with dainties and near a continual feast. O beauty, ancient and new, why did I know thee so late? Alas! I sought thee where thou wert not, and did not seek thee where thou wert. It was for want of understanding these words of the gospel: "The kingdom of God cometh not with observation; neither shall they say, Lo here! or lo there! for behold, the KINGDOM OF GOD IS WITHIN YOU."—[Madame Guyon.]