'Our lives, enriched by gentle thoughts And loving deeds, may be

A stream that still the nobler grows,
The nearer to the sea.

'To duty firm, to conscience true, However tried and pressed;

In God's clear sight high work we do, If we but do our best.

'Thus we may make the lowliest lot With rays of glory bright,

Thus we may turn a crown of thorns Into a crown of light.'

W. GASKELL.

NEHUSHTAN.

'Thy footsteps are not known.'-Ps. lxxvii. 10. 'GOD moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform; He plants His footsteps in the sea, And rides upon the storm.

'Deep in unfathomable mines Of never-failing skill

He treasures up His bright designs,
And works His Sovereign Will.
'Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy, and shall break
In blessings on your head.

'Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.

'Blind unbelief is sure to err,
And scan His work in vain ;
God is His own Interpreter,
And He will make it plain.'

COWPER.

'Fear God and keep His commandments.'-ECCLES. xii. 13.

'Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else' (Isa. xlv. 22). 'For I, the Lord thy God, will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee' (Isa. xli. 13). To whom then will ye liken Me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One. Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of His understanding. He giveth

power to the faint, and to them that have no might He increaseth strength. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary, and they shall walk, and not faint' (Isa. xl. 25, 28-29, 31).

When Christ said, 'Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world'; 'I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now,' what could He have meant except that the spirit of His teaching and example should lead and guide mankind in the way they should go, out of darkness and human error into light and truth, until the earth should be no more? Why? Because

His words are Truth and they are Life, and Truth and Life, like God our Father, are eternal and immortal, and can neither change nor perish. Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundations of the earth; and the heavens are the work of Thy hands. They shall perish, but Thou shalt endure; they all shall wax old as doth a garment; and as a vesture shalt Thou change them, and they shall be changed: but Thou art the same, and Thy years shall not fail.' So is the spirit of Christ's teaching, which is of God. 'Whoso dwelleth under the defence of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. His faithfulness and

Truth shall be thy shield and buckler.' 'Lord, Thou hast been our refuge from one generation to another. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever the earth and the world were made, Thou art God from everlasting, and world without end. Thou, O Lord God, art full of compassion and mercy, long-suffering, plenteous in goodness and truth. For the Lord is a light and defence.' 'For this God is our God for ever and ever: He shall be our guide unto death.' 'Lo, they that forsake Thee shall perish.' 'Flee from evil, and do the thing that is good and dwell for evermore.' 'Who is like unto the Lord our God, that hath His dwelling so

high, and yet humbleth Himself to behold the things that are in heaven and earth? For the Lord loveth the thing that is right, He forsaketh not them that be godly, but they are preserved for ever.'

If the Faith of Christ was great enough, when carried by a band of unlettered peasants, to revolutionise the world's faith, to abolish heathenism wherever it was carried-great enough to continue for nineteen hundred years-so great that even yet the world has not attained to actually living the Faith given by Jesus Christ, can we doubt that that Faith was of God, or that it is His Holy Will that men should endeavour to live the life of Christ on earth, and that we should praise, love, and honour Him in our lives even as Christ did? How much better and nobler a Faith is this than a faith of asceticism and symbolism! What doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?' God does not require us to worry and perplex our minds with symbolism and mysticism. Which offering, think you, is most acceptable to God, a life spent in daily and sometimes hourly observance of ritual and dogma, or a life of good works and of spiritual communion with God, our Heavenly Father-a life that looks to God for guidance in every thought, word, and