THE Father of Lights is not like the sun, the fountain of corporeal light; He neither rises or sets, doth not approach nearer to, and recede further from us, but is unchangeable, both in his kind intentions and actions, as well as in his nature. Will He, then, give us holy desires at one time, and evil inclinations at another? No, He always gives what is good, aud nothing but good, It is blasphemous therefore, as well as absurd, to suppose that God either tempts or constrains men to sin, on purpose that He may have a pretence for making them miserable. Dr. Macknight. GOD loved the world, the whole race of mankind, in such an extraordinary manner, that He gave for their salvation his own, and only Son, to whom He had communicated from all eternity his own unbegotten essence. How great a gift was this! What could He give more? What could He give greater? In this the infinity of his love shines forth as gloriously as his infinite power and wisdom do in the creation and government of the world. Bishop Beveridge. How glorious an effect is it of God's wonderful love to man that He should give his only begotten Son, of the same divine nature and perfections with Himself; give Him up to a painful and ignominious death, and that for those who daily and hourly commit the heaviest offences against Him. Dean Stanhope. SETTLE this great truth in your hearts, that no trouble befalls Zion, but by the permission of Zion's God; and He permits nothing out of which He will not bring much good at last to his people. The motions of Providence are all well ordered; the wheels are full of eyes. It is enough that the affairs of Zion are in a good hand. HARK! a glad voice the lonely desert cheers, Flavel. 'Tis He the obstructed paths of sound shall clear, Feeds from his hands, and in his bosom warms: Pope. WHENCE is it that we obtain continual provision for our wants? One and the same munificent Hand doeth all. If the Israelites were fed with manna in the desert, and with corn in Canaan, both were done by the same power and bounty; if the disciples were fed by the loaves multiplied, and we are fed by grain multiplied in the earth, both are the acts of one Omnipotence. What is this but a perpetual miracle, which Thou, O God, workest for our preservation? Without Thee, there is no more power in the grain to multiply than in the loaf; it is Thou that givest it a body at Thy pleasure, and to every seed his own body. It is no reason that Thy goodness should be less the subject of our praises, because it is universal; neither yet, O God and Saviour, is Thy hand closed with the gift of outward blessings. What abundance of heavenly doctrine dost Thou set before us; not according to our meanness, but according to Thy state are we fed; we are full of Thy goodness: 0 let our hearts run over with thankfulness! Bishop Hall. THE misery of man appears like childish petulance, when we explore the steady and prodigal provision which has been made for his support and delight on this green ball which floats him through the heavens. What angels invented these splendid ornaments, these rich conveniences, this ocean of air above, this ocean of water beneath, this firmament of earth between, this zodiac of lights, this tent of dropping cloud, this striped coat of climates, this fourfold year? Beasts, fire, water, stones, and corn serve him. The field is at once his floor, his workyard, his playground, his garden, and his bed. "More servants wait on man Than he'll take notice of." Nature, in its ministry to man, is not only the material, but also the process and the result; all the parts incessantly work into each other's hands for the profit of man. The wind sows the seed; the sun evaporates the sea; the wind blows the vapour to the field; the ice, on the other side of the planet, condenses the rain on this; the rain feeds the plant; the plant feeds the animal; and thus the endless circulations of the divine charity nourish man. Emerson. THOUGH God has reserved to Himself a liberty of afflicting his people, yet He has tied up his own hands, by promise, never to takehis loving kindness from them. "Oh, my naughty heart!" Dost thou well to be discontented, when God has given thee the whole tree, with all the clusters of comfort growing on it, because Hesuffers the wind to blow down a few leaves? Flavel. It is often said—it is an ancient observation, which is rendered by man's living experience, for ever new-that friends flock around. us in prosperous times, and flee from us when evil days come; but it has been less observed, though scarcely less frequent, that the friends who eschewed us in the day of their gladness, repair to us. when their trouble comes. It is often a profitable exercise thus to compare the great difference in our perceptions and judgment when a matter lies between man and man, and when between man and God. Alas for us! if in all things the same measure be meted to ourselves that we deal out to others. But it will not in this. It may be doubtful how a man, and a good man too, may receive the ungenerous runagates who thus come to him. But there is no question at all how the Lord will receive even those who, after long and insulting neglect, have at last only been driven to Him by the stress of trouble and want.. So that they have come to Him at all, He heeds it not. To have come is of itself something; it at least implies confidence in His loving kindness, His mercy, His overflowing compassion for all that want and suffer, and in his disposition to forget past slights and wrongs in those who have at last come to his door, to cast themselves. upon that generous pity which, although a great and just King, He is enabled, in his beloved Son, to show to all that come to Him. Certainly the portals shall be flung wide open for one of these; he shall not want for robe, nor ring, nor sandals; and if the fatted calf be not killed for him, he shall yet, penniless as he is, eat and drink abundantly, without money and without price: the price has been. already paid. Dr. Kitto. RETURN, and welcome; if thou wilt, thou shalt ; That call, can make thee able," Therefore will He "allure her into the wilderness," and there, apart with Him, when she has been properly humbled and cast down, and has been brought to see more clearly her forlorn state, and to know how deeply she has sinned, then He "will speak to her heart." * He will tell her that her sins are forgiven, He will let her know that He has loved her with an everlasting love, and that therefore, with loving kindness, has He drawn her back to Himself. He will enrich her and strengthen her heart with exceeding great and precious promises, and then He will joyfully throw open to her "the door of hope," and bring her back into his vineyard; and then once more shall she "sing there, as in the days of her youth,❞—not merely shall she sing the child-like songs her mother taught her, nor merely the glad songs of her espousals, but the deeper and more solemn strains of one who has sinned, and been forgiven, and purified, such songs as those which mark the joy there is in heaven over one sinner that repenteth. Indeed, the songs and the joys are those of a second espousal, more grave, as well as more glad, than the first; for among the words which her Lord had "spoken to her heart" in the wilderness to which He lured her were these, "I will betroth thee unto Me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto Me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving kindness, and in mercies. I will even betroth thee unto Me in righteousness: and thou shalt know that I am the Lord." Dr. Kitto. CAN any man charge God that He hath not given him enough to make life happy? No, doubtless, for nature is content with little; and yet you will hardly meet with a man that complains not of some want, even when he seems provided with all things; and thus when we might be happy and quiet, we create trouble to ourselves. Izaak Walton. It is observable how God's goodness strives with man's refractoriness. Man would sit down at this world, God bids him sell it and purchase a better, just as a father who hath in his hand an apple and a piece of gold under it; the child comes and, with pulling, gets the apple out of his father's hand. His father bids him throw it away, and he will give him the gold for it, when the * This is the literal translation of the words rendered "Speak comfortably unto her," Hosea ii. 14. child, utterly refusing, eats it, and is troubled with worms. So is the carnal and wilful man with the worm of the grave in this world, and the worm of conscience in the next. Herbert. WHEN the poet Carpain inquired of his friend Haydn how it happened that his Church Music was always so cheerful, the great composer made a most beautiful reply. "I cannot,” he said, "make it otherwise; I write according to the thoughts I feel. When I think upon God, my heart is so full of joy, that the notes dance and leap, as it were, from my pen; and since God has given me a cheerful heart, it will be pardoned me, that I serve Him with a cheerful spirit.” British Magazine. GOD'S OWN TIME AND GOD'S OWN WAY. THE active, warm-hearted worker in God's cause escapes many a dangerous snare that besets the path of the indolent Christian (alas! that such a description should ever be just), but on the other hand, he is not free from dangers and temptations incident to his own course. And amongst these is one which seems to me to need especial notice at the present time. It is the tendency to expect success only in one particular way, and at one certain time. The mind long accustoms itself to the diligent and faithful discharge of some branch of Christian labour, and dwells upon the probable results, until it is not only unprepared for, but almost incredulous of anything different. Let me apply this to the work my readers are engaged in,-Sunday school teaching. That we, even in this humble sphere, should "magnify" our office, and expect great things from it, giving it the affections of our heart as well as the cordial assent of our judgment, is not only right, but essential. We may do all this without in the least undervaluing other kinds of Christian work: nor is it against even undue preference that I would now fain caution my readers. But when the first bright hopes of the teacher have been sobered by disappointment,—when he has learnt by sad and bitter experience that even physically, and much more morally, his class are beyond his control, whilst, as to spiritual things, he knew from the very first that the great change of all,-from death to life,-was one that no human effort could bring about, then I say, a feeling springs up in the |