indulgence, increase discontent, and blind our eyes to the realities around us, it is better that we do not go. But if we can realize that not only the brave John by the Jordan, but every waving field of corn, the sweet-scented hay of the meadow, every leaf on the bough and every bird among the leaves, is a messenger direct from God, confronting us with his message, preparing his way, telling us that we do dwell in the house of the Lord, we are communicants at his table. And still more, wherever is seen the human heart revealed, whether it be in the careless child in the shade, the anxious mother in the strain of her household cares, or the finite providence of the farm-house at his chores, whether in gathering sheaves into the barn or laying the dead away in the grave, we have seen that which is more than reeds, however beautiful; than raiment, however soft; we have beheld messengers of the Most High preparing us to see his face, ripening us to realize the truth that no more impartial are the sun's rays than are the rays of his love, no more inclusive is the starry firmament above us than is that inner firmament of thought and duty. Varied are the trees in the forests, but more varied are the men and women of humanity;

yet all the forest is nature's, and all men are God's.

"What went ye out into the wilderness to see?" Messengers of an untrammelled religion, teachers of undogmatic piety, a scripture not bounded by word, form, or sect, heralds of the church of progress, the church with a door as open as nature, with a dome as vast as the sky, with a hand as helpful as a mother's, a church founded on God's texts inscribed in leaf, in bird, in field, in rock, in man.

"What went ye out into the wilderness to see?" That which rebukes laziness, which condemns selfishness, humiliates pride, denies all our pretensions to exclusive monopoly either of truth, duty, or love; that which enables us to realize life, its extent, its variety, its beauty. Seeing this we should come back to our tasks prepared to work more diligently, speak more plainly, hope more earnestly, and trust more devoutly.

A DINNER OF HERBS

Unwrap thy life of many wants and fine:
He who with Christ will dine

Shall see no table curiously spread,

But fish and barley bread.

Where readest thou that Jesus bade us pray,

Give us our sumptuous fare from day to day?

Why wilt thou take a castle on thy back,

When God gave but a pack ?

With gown of honest wear, why wilt thou tease

For braid and fripperies?

Learn thou with flowers to dress, with birds to feed,

And pinch thy large want to thy little need.

FREDERICK LANGBRIDGE.