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to be someone to make this his special function, and to sing the hymn to God for all the rest? What else can a lame old man, like me, do but sing hymns to God? If I were a nightingale, I should do the work of a nightingale; if a swan, the work of a swan; but being, as I am, a rational being, I must sing hymns to God. This is my work; this I do; this rank-as far as I can-I will not leave; and I invite you to join with me in this same song.-Epictetus.

HIS is a lesson we all need to be perpetually reminded of, viz:-that the only pathway to the delights of true religion lies through self-control and selfconquest. We cannot attain our freedom as God's dear children in any other way. And it was only because Epictetus had learned how to conquer himself, how to surrender his own will to the will of God, that poor as he was, slave as he was, lame as he was, despised and persecuted as he was, nevertheless he was the happiest of men. At what an enviable height he stands above us poor grumblers, when he says, "I must sing hymns to God-this is my work-this I will do."

Come then and sing with us your gladdest songs, singing not only with tuneful voice, but in the music of a high and noble life, and in the harmony of a soul at perfect peace with God and with men; singing not only with the lark in the sunlit sky, but when beaten down by the storms of early misfortune and when entering the dark valley of the shadow of death

"I will fear no evil for Thou art with me."

CHARLES VOYSEY.

OME ye that love the Lord,

And let your joys be known;

Join in a song with sweet accord,
And thus surround His throne.

XIII.

Intellectual Worship of God.

With my soul have I desired Thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early -Isaiah xxvi. 9.

WHEN you are alone by yourself, when you are awake on your couch, be careful to meditate in such precious moments on nothing but on the intellectual worship of God; approach Him and minister before Him in this true manner, and not merely in thoughtless emotion. . . . But our heart can be constantly with God even whilst we are in the society of men. . . . Let us pray and beseech Him that He Himself may clear and remove from our way everything that obstructs our approach or forms a partition between Him and us, albeit those obstacles are mostly of our own creating. MOSES MAIMONIDES.

ATHER! replenish with Thy grace

This longing heart of mine,

Make it Thy quiet dwelling-place,
Thy sacred inmost shrine !
Forgive that oft my spirit wears

Her time and strength in trivial cares,
Enfold her in Thy changeless peace,
So she from all but Thee may cease!

XIV. The Deeper Sense of Gratitude.

-Now, our God, we thank Thee and praise Thy glorious name. But who am I and what is my people that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? For all things come of Thee, and of Thine own have we given Thee.-From the prayer of dedication by David.—I Chron. xxix. 13, 14.

MOSES has shown that we should all confess our gratitude for the powers we possess. The wise man should dedicate his sagacity, the eloquent man his speech, to the praise of God; the physicist should offer to Him his physics, the moralist his ethics, the scientist his science, and the artist his art; the sailor his succesful voyage, the husbandman his harvest, the herdsman the increase of his cattle; the physician the recovery of his patients, the general his victory, the statesman his chieftaincy, the monarch his rule. Let no one, therefore, however lowly in station despair or scruple to become a suppliant of God.” . . . PHILO JUDEUS.

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In the days of Messiah, says the Talmud, every kind of altar gift shall cease, save only the thanksoffering.

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XV.

The Thankful Heart.

That I may make the voice of thanksgiving to be heard, and tell of Thy wondrous works.-Psalm xxvi 7.

F one should give me a dish of sand, and tell me

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there were particles of iron in it, I might look for them with my eyes and search for them with my clumsy fingers, and be unable to detect them; but let me make a magnet and sweep through it, and how would it draw to itself the almost invisible particles by the mere power of attraction ! The unthankful heart, like my fingers in the sand, discover no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day, and as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find in every hour some heavenly blessings—only the iron in God's hand is gold. H. W. BEECHER.

THOUSAND blessings, Lord, to us Thou didst impart—
We ask one blessing more-O Lord! a thankful heart.

XVI.

The Prayers of the Wise.

Offer the sacrifices of righteousness and put your trust in the Lord.-Psalm iv. 4. 5.

God is in heaven, and thou art on earth; therefore let thy words be few.-Ecclesiastes v. 2.

THE Lacedæmonians, when they offer sacrifice,

pray simply that they may obtain what is honorable and good, without farther stating what that should

be. This language is acceptable to the gods, more acceptable than the costly festivals of Athens. It has procured for the Spartans more continued prosperity than the Athenians have enjoyed; the gods honor wise and just men—that is, men who know what they ought to say and to do, both towards God and towards men, more than those who make numerous and splendid offerings.

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thou hast yesterday thy duty done,

And thereby cleared firm footing for to-day,
Whatever clouds make dark to-morrow's sun,
Thou shalt not miss thy solitary way.-GOETHE.

Say, what is prayer when it is prayer indeed?
The mighty utterance of a mighty need.

The man is praying who doth press with might
Out of his darkness into God's own light.

All things that live from God their sustenance wait,
And sun and moon are beggars at his gate.

XVII.

TH

The Overruling Power.

PLATO.

The Lord is the true God; He is the living God and King everlasting. He hath made the earth by His power; He hath established the world by His wisdom, and stretched out the heavens by His insight.-Jeremiah x. 10, 12.

HE evil-doer, who is a slave to his passions, destroys the peace of his soul, thereby causing his own unhappiness; for harmony and unity are the beatitude of

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