shower, which though it wet a little, yet it begets a great deal of sweetness in the herbs, flowers, and fruits of the earth." The sentence is in an eloquent old book, 'On Walking with God,' which sometimes is found on the bookstalls, and in the cottages of our godly people in the country. It is full of wisdom and devotion. If you can buy or borrow it, read and live it out.

XI.

"There is another world!" So said, with his last breath, a dying man. He was a famous scholar, but his learning had served rather to unsettle than to strengthen the faith of Christian men. He had written a Life of Christ, in which he would have explained all the miracles as if there were no world but this. When the solemn lights appeared which we can only see as we die, all was changed. That other world -the mighty world of spirits-which all along a spiritual sense ought to have seen, but did not, came into view. Alas for us! that, like Paulus, we hardly know there is another world till we are dying. How much better to know it, as we well may, while we live.

XII.

Some time after the Reformation, a preacher was speaking about Pilate's question, "What is Truth?" and told the people who were listening to him that at length, after long searching, he had found it out; and then holding up a New Testament, said it was there, in his hand; "but," said he, "the book is forbidden to be read by the people," and he put it into his pocket. Nor is it so long since Englishmen dare not be found with the book of truth. It cost William Tyndale his life to give the Word of God to his country. But we have it now; and so long as the people have it in their hearts, we shall be both wise and free.

XIII.

When Olevianus, one of the Reformers, was on his deathbed, Æsted stood beside him. "Dear brother," said he, are you assured of the salvation which is in Christ, as you have so long preached it to others?" The dying man laid his hand on his heart, and replied with deep feeling, Certissimus: I have the fullest assurance," and soon after departed to be with Christ.

XIV.

I am afraid the good custom of asking a blessing before food is growing rare in some places. It cannot be wise or well, when we are imitating the Lord Jesus less than, perhaps, we once did.

Here are some old forms for saying grace, about the time of Queen Elizabeth :

Before Dinner.

"All that is and shall be set upon the board,
Be that same sanctified by the Lord's word."

Before Supper.

"He that is King of Glory, and Lord over all,
Bring us to the supper of the life eternal."

And a quaint and beautiful one by a poet :

Grace for a Child.

"Here a little child I stand,

Heaving up my either hand;

Cold as paddocks though they be,

Here I lift them up to Thee,

For a benison to fall

On our meat, and on us all.

Amen."

Such simple forms would often serve good purpose in the

days of Queen Victoria.

XV.

John Brown, of Haddington, whose Bible is still in many a cottage in his native land, has left us a pungent and weighty word. He felt and said it, when near life's end: "I now see, more and more, that nothing less than real, real Christianity is fit to die with, and make an appearance before God."

When we are to die, may that real Christianity be ours; and as we know not when we are to die, may it be ours Only those who "love Christ" can be sure of finding “death gain.”

now.

Bethany.

As far as to Bethany.

W.

TRULY Christian home is the nearest spot on all the earth to heaven. It is a fact of beautiful significance that when Jesus was about to ascend to heaven He led His disciples out as far as to There was the home of Martha, Mary, and Lazarus; a home where the heart of every inmate knew and loved and trusted Him. Such a home is very near to heaven. It is but a short way from it to our Father's house. I have seen a chart of terrestrial elevations, and have noted the lofty Himalayas rising far into the sky of Asia. If we had such a chart of spiritual elevations, homes like that at Bethany would be the loftiest mountain peaks of all, rising the farthest and the nearest unto God. You should try to build your home in such a celestial elevation. It is not very hard for a truly good man to live in the light and love of God in solitude. But how hard becomes the upward struggle, when the members of a man's own household drag down the wings of his aspirations, and clog his feet !—when noble thoughts meet with no sympathy, and noble purposes are secretly thwarted or openly opposed! Such a home, though a just man like Lot dwelt in it, lies far down in the

Dead Sea valleys, from whence it is a long flight for any soul to rise to heaven.

How different is it in a home where every heart is in loving sympathy with what is great and good and noble !— where every member of the household is better by the intercourse of home !—where each contributes his share, and all become the gainers by whatever each discovers. Such a home is very near to heaven. God's angel-messengers, that come and go there daily, find that there is the shortest way from earth to heaven. And such a home is not only very near heaven, but very like it; for the Lamb is the light thereof, and they who dwell beneath its roof are of those that follow Him whithersoever He goeth.

The foundation of such a home as this can be laid only in the union of those that are like-minded in their faith, who love and trust the same Saviour. Whoever he be, who himself loving Jesus, yet forgets the command, "Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers," makes his own Christian life thereby full of difficulties and obstacles. But where the heads of the house are one in Christ, duty becomes easy, and the plants of God grow up and flourish there, amid the warm and kindly atmosphere of Christian love. Let yours be such a home as this, a home like that of Bethany, where no guest was so welcome as Jesus, and no friend so well beloved as He.

All shall perish, hearts be broken,
That thou lovedst fondly here,

And the mouth shall cease from speaking
That spake often words of cheer.
And the arm that oft protected,

Oft supported, stiff shall be;
In the grave the eye be sleeping

That once fondly watched o'er thee.

All shall die; the earthly findeth
In the earth a grave alway;
All the joys of earth shall vanish,
And the heart itself decay.
Earthly being, it shall perish :
Flicker earthly flames and die.
Earthly fetters shall be looséd,
Earthly blooms fade utterly.

On the wreck of all things earthly
God is standing, and doth say,
Stay thyself on Me, believing,
Hope, love, banish fears away.
Dwell in Him who ever liveth,

Lasting treasure who can give.

In the Book of Life He writes thec-
In Him do thou ever live.

J. K.

The Voice of Wisdom.

BY THE REV. J. MARSHALL LANG, D.D.

"I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me."-Proverbs, viii. 17.

B

UT has not this word a selfish sound? "I love them that love me." Does not Jesus say, “If ye love them that love you what reward have ye? Do not even the publicans the same ?" If you look

at the beginning of the chapter you will see that the speaker is full of love for every one. I see her on the tops of high places, in street and thoroughfare, at the gates where the markets are held, at the doors whence men and women are