These shrink not from the summer heat,

They do not fear the cold,

And all of these I know for sweet,
For patient, and for bold."

"Thou bearest flowers within Thy hand,
Thou wearest in Thy breast

A flower; now tell me which of these
Thy flowers Thou lovest best;
Which wilt Thou gather to Thy heart,
Beloved above the rest?"

"Should I not love My flowers,

My flowers that bloom and pine,
Unseen, unsought, unwatch'd for hours
By any eyes but Mine?

"Should I not love My flowers?

I love My lilies tall,

My marigolds with constant eyes,

Each flower that blows, each flower that dies
To Me, I love them all.

"I gather to a heavenly bower

My roses fair and sweet,

I hide within My breast the flower
That grows beside My feet."

Dora Greenwell.

God's sweet dews and showers of grace slide off the mountains of pride, and fall on the low valleys of humble hearts, and make them pleasant and fertile.

Leighton.

All heaven-bound travellers pass through Humble Gate.

Lever Lines.

THE HIGHER CHRISTIAN LIFE.

What is your difficulty, beloved friends? You hear of the higher Christian life, of apprehended union with Christ, of realised nearness to Him, of all the joy of being in close fellowship with Him, and you say: "Oh! we can't enter into that blessedness, we can't disentangle ourselves from the world, we can't give up all for Christ." The man of business says he has his family to provide for, and so he cannot take the stand required; and does not the Scripture say, "He that provideth not for his own household is worse than an infidel,” and again, "Work while it is called to-day"? If sometimes, then, he has to go astray a little from God's Word, surely God will forgive him! So, too, sometimes we find even in the young Christian's case. He is deeply impressed with the necessity of a religious life, but then he is surrounded by worldly influences, and by worldly friends, and cannot walk consistently. "I must drink," he says, "a little of their cup. I must know a little of their matters; if I do not, it will mar my usefulness. I must not take so firm a stand."

Oh! young Christian, is it thus you speak? Nay, mark, directly your foot touches the water's edge, a pathway shall be made for you.

"But they will despise me for my weak intellect," you perhaps reply; "they will call me a fool and a madman. When I am a little older, and am recognised as a man of some experience, or as a thoughtful woman, then all will be so different; then I can be more decided."

Oh dear friends, upon whose Life did you lay your hand when you accepted Jesus? and now is not your life hid with Christ in God? Is not your whole life called "Christ?" And will you dare to say that any of your duties are too hard for CHRIST? for Christ! who made the elements of nature, from the tiny ant to the highest angel who sings His praises before the Throne of God! Will you dare to say that anything is TOO HARD for Him who made and sustains all principalities and

powers? Oh! do not so dishonour Him! You have your Let your feet but just touch the margin will see what God will do. God will "Them that honour me, I will honour,

duty before you; do it. of the water, and you make a way for you. saith the Lord."

Hear Paul's testimony-"When I am weak, then am I strong;" for He saith, "My grace is sufficient for thee." "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." "All things are yours." Death! life! ALL things! "for ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's!"

Can't you then perform the duty that lies before you? The goal is before you, and the Lord, glorious in His faithfulness, is with you, and nothing shall overcome you.

This is a solemn matter. Let me ask then, how shall it be with you, dear young Christians, you who have but lately come to Christ? Will you go on in a half-hearted way before God, or shall it be the solemn dedication of yourselves to His service? Oh! think of His love! of what He is to us! of what He has done for us! Think of the coming glory! Of the blessedness for ever!

Is that nothing? Will you be content with being just saved, as you may, by just coming to Him as poor, needy sinners? Yea, if even you build upon the Foundation, wood, hay, and stubble, which shall be consumed, your souls shall be saved Will you be content with that?

Oh! if you gaze upon His love to your souls, you can't be content with it. Jesus so loved you, that He died for you. God so loved you, that He gave His Son for you. You must be building gold and precious stones on the Foundation; you can't be content without. You can't be happy, even in the Lord Himself, without.

Do you want peace? more of God's grace? Then you must sanctify yourselves, consecrate, dedicate yourselves, and take your stand with clearness and boldness, and you shall enjoy the peace of Canaan, and God will be your portion, pointing you heavenward to the glories of that heavenly Rest which

remaineth, leading you to its excellencies through the strifes of your Canaan life, and declaring Himself your All in all when you arrive at home, safe for ever and ever.

J. G. Gregory.

THE CHRISTIAN WALK WITH GOD.

Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him. Gen. v. 24.

As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Colos. ii. 6, 7.

Let the day have a blessed baptism by giving your first waking thoughts into the bosom of God. The first hour of the morning is the rudder of the day. Beecher.

Look more to Jesus. oftener into everything. and the Father glorified. become" true "fishers of men."

Walk closer to Jesus. Bring Jesus
Only thus will there be "much fruit,"
Only thus shall we be "made to
F. Whitfield.

I will mention one thing which, if we always attended to it, would, I believe, be highly beneficial. "The disciples," we read, "returned to Jesus, and told him all things, both what they had done, and what they had taught." I think if we would every evening come to our Master's feet, and tell Him where we have been, what we have done, what we have said, and what were the motives by which we have been actuated, it would have a salutary effect upon our whole conduct. While reading over each day's page of life, with the consciousness that He was reading it with us, we should detect many errors and defects which would otherwise pass unnoticed.

Payson.

And evermore beside him on his way,

The unseen Christ shall move,

That he may lean upon His arm, and say,
"Dost Thou, dear Lord, approve ? "

Beside him at the marriage-feast shall be,
To make the scene more fair,
Beside him in the dark Gethsemane
Of pain and midnight prayer.

O holy trust! O endless sense of rest!
Like the beloved John,

To lay his head upon the Saviour's breast,

And thus to journey on!

Longfellow.

matter.

WHEREFORE JESUS ALSO, THAT HE MIGHT SANCTIFY THE PEOPLE WITH HIS OWN BLOOD, SUFFERED WITHOUT THE GATE. LET US GO FORTH THEREFORE UNTO HIM WITHOUT THE CAMP, BEARING HIS REPROACH. FOR HERE WE HAVE NO CONTINUING CITY, BUT WE SEEK ONE TO COME. Heb. xiii. 12-14. The command is to "GO FORTH." This is a deeply solemn It concerns us all, because we are all prone to slip away from communion with a living Christ, and sink into dead routine. Hence the practical power of the words, "Go forth therefore unto him." It is not, go forth from one system to another, from one set of opinions to another, from one company of people to another. No, but go forth from everything that merits the appellation of a camp, "to him" who "suffered without the gate." The Lord Jesus is as thoroughly outside the gate now, as He was when He suffered there eighteen centuries ago. What was it that put Him outside? "The religious world" of that day: and the religious world of that day is, in spirit and principle, the religious world of the present moment. The world is the world still. "There is nothing new under the sun."