this eternity we should have the reward secured in time, and during the short space of our lives; and yet we employ not all our time in endeavouring to obtain a great reward.

But, you will say to me, "During our lives it is necessary to sleep, to drink, to eat, and to take some recreation." I grant it but hinders, but like St. Paul, you may do all for the love of God, and thereby obtain a recompense for all. It must be confessed that the passions are so lively and opportunities so seducing that there should be one righteous man upon earth. Nevertheless, there are such; and this is the effect of the mercy of God and the grace of the Redeemer. On the other hand, Death, Judgment, Eternity, are truths so terrible, that it is astonishing there should be one sinner upon earth; such, however, there are. This is the effect of these great truths being forgotten. Let us, then, meditate, watch, and pray, that we may be of the number of the righteous, in time and in eternity.

Such was the sermon our philosopher made for himself, and with which he was so satisfied that he read it every day. He did more, he profited by it, and led a holy life, conformable to the great truth he had so continually before his eyes.-Translated from the "Histoires Paraboles" of P. Bonaventure. J. W.

KNOWLEDGE IS LIMITED. You know as much as is good for you, for it is with the mind as it is with the senses. A greater degree of hearing would terrify us. If our eyes should see things microscopically, we should be afraid to move. Thus our knowledge is suited to situation and circumstances. Were we informed beforehand of good things provided for us by Providence, from that moment we should cease to enjoy the blessings we possess, become indifferent to present duties, and be filled with restless impatience. Or, suppose the things foreknown were gloomy

"Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie, Which we ascribe to Heaven." MORE often still do the blessings come from Heaven that we ascribe to ourselves. It is a method of the divine working to make the heart the producer of its own spiritual food. Manna no longer falls from the skies and covers the ground around the pilgrim's tent. When the Spirit comes into the believer's soul to "sup with him," the feast is from within-a feast of love. The fountains above no longer fill up the cisterns of forms and types in the church below, but the "well of water springing up into everlasting life" is in the disciple's own heart. It is not from above, nor from below; God hath made it spring from within. He might so send the daily dews of grace and the plenteous showers of heavenly influence upon the barren soil of unbelief that the blindest sceptic would see that the remedy is from Heaven-but it is not his plan. He strikes the flinty rock within the sinner's own heart, and refreshing, life-giving streams flow forth upon the thirsty land. This crystal flood is not poured down from above, the "living waters" are within, but God has brought them there. The great poet stumbled at the common error-the confounding of primary and secondary causes. Our remedies ofttimes do lie in ourselves; but none the lest, even then, should we ascribe them to Heaven. It is God's doing that they are within us; it is his word that changes the

stagnant pool into a well of pure waters; it is his touch that makes the rock become a perennial fountain of blessedness.

"THE MOST HIGH THY HABITATION."

THIS sentence has been in the Scriptures from the first. I had read it scores of times before I found out and took to heart its meaning. It was on this wise :— Years ago I passed a night at Bethlehem. We came to the town in mid-afternoon, visited its holy places, and recalled on the spot the scenes of Advent Night. At evening a storm arose, making it unsafe to pitch our tents. A room was secured in the gloomy stone convent; it was long and narrow. Upon the sides and at one end were single beds; a curtain, hung on an iron rod, enclosed each. A few chairs and a table completed the furniture of the room. Here we

ate supper. Afterwards we-Englishmen, Americans, ministers, business men, lawyers-fell to discussing the kind of education a business man should have. Did the old walls ever listen to such a talk before ? At ten the talk ended; some went to other quarters in the convent, myself and friends remained. All through the evening the storm had increased. A party from Philadelphia, attempting to pass the night in tents, were driven into the convent. How the winds howled and roared about that rough stone building! I lay in bed hearing it all; how safe, how comfortable was I, and that, too, thousands of miles from home. I thought of men in the desert, when the wind makes the sand like hail and the hardy camel refuses to go, without even the shadow of a great rockshelterless. I thought of households at home, sleeping away the dreary night, sheltered.

Somewhere in my thinking broke in upon me these familiar words, "The Most High thy habitation." Who wrote them knew man's need of shelter, knew how good and satisfying it is. God is to exposed

wanderers what the strong stone convent was to me. How secure and peaceful was I, protected from the wild, raging storm without: I longed to have the storm increase its violence; I wanted the big dark clouds to pour down torrent floods, and the winds to blow their fiercest. The tumult without, my security and comfort within, were able interpreters of the words. "The Most High thy habitation."

Under some storm Bethlehem's venerable convent will give way. Not always will it be what it was to me-a shelter. The Most High! No stones imperil him; years do not wear him away; no violence can cast him down. Make a habitation of him; find way into him; dwell in him; occupy him. "The least and feeblest there may bide."

Biding here, let storms come; you have sheltered enough. A night in Bethlehem, shelter from cold and rain and harm by the convent, taught me, as no commentators could, the meaning of the words, "The Most High thy habitation."

A WISE CHARGE. WE seldom see more practical wisdom put into a charge to young pastors than is contained in the following synopsis of Bishop Simpson's address to the preachers, on the occasion of their examination at the Colorado Conference. We commend most of it to our young pastors. It will bear much study.

1. Everywhere secure plenty of church property, by purchase or donation, and always see that the titles are perfect, thus gaining a firm foothold for the church.

2. Make your churches independent by working men into every department, and cultivating them, instead of running everything yourself; then when you go away the church is safe. Use the unconverted as well as the pious, and thus many will be brought to Christ. A sense of responsibility opens the heart, and it is saved in service.

3. Win by kindness; hunt for

backsliders, and entreat them; seek strangers, and soften their hearts by attention. Make love your weapon and your power, and victory is sure.

4. Use the local preachers and exhorters. Explain to them their relation to the Church, and persuade them to "go preach." While other denominations are growing into an appreciation of the laypreaching element, we are letting it

rest.

5. Study the machinery of society. It varies; adapt yourselves. Use favourites in families and communities, and leaders in classes and parties and departments, as avenues to the general heart. Take care of the tongue; speak no evil. Think of your own mission. Win souls. Win the best to reach others by influence; win the worst to show the power of the Gospel. Win all for Christ's sake, and always possess the power yourselves.

OBITUARY.-TO BE READ DIED, in Laodicea, the prayer-meeting, aged one year. The health of this meeting was poor most of the year, and its life was despaired of; but anxious friends kept it alive, and sometimes it would so revive as

to encourage them. Discouragement, however, at last prevailed, and the prayer-meeting is dead. It died from neglect. Not a Christian was present when it died; over forty were living within a mile of it, and not one was there. Had two only been there its life might have

IN ALL OUR CHURCHES. been saved; for where two are agreed as touching anything they shall ask, it shall be done for them. Two-thirds of the forty might have been there, had they been so disposed; but they were not, and the prayer-meeting died.

Reader, if you are living in Laodicea (Rev. iii. 14—22) it is more than likely you will allow your prayermeeting to die. You must remove to Philadelphia (Rev. iii. 7—13) if you would keep an" open door."