spirits. But he cannot disturb the order of the whole, over which omnipotence watches with inplacable vigor; his actions must, in the end, conform to God's all-wise intentions. His providence overrules the conflict of human passions as well as that of the elemental forces. Tyranny and lust serve His Divine behests, as does thunder and earthquakes. Ultimately all evil, moral and physical, must change into good and all forces chime in with the great symphony of praise, sounding from all parts of the world. O! Thou primal Source of wisdom, teach us to be wise, that we may be truly happy; teach us to comprehend Thy goodness, and to enjoy Thy blessings, in accordance with the kindness and abundance with which Thy hand bestows them on us. The trials of our life, oh, help us to bear them contentedly, yea, even thankfully; since Thou canst do no wrong, and all Thy decrees are done in wisdom and in mercy.

XVIII.

Meeting with God.

Prepare to meet thy God, O Israel; for lo, He that formeth the mountains and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is his thought.

Lord, the God of hosts is His name.-Amos iv. 13.

the

WHATEVER Thou doest or proposest to do, forget

not that thou standest before God; before Him whose glory fills the earth, whose majesty rules over thee. Study the Divine Law as often as possible, always with the view of ordering thy life in accordance with it. When thou closest the book, ask thyself whether there was anything in what thou didst read that thou shouldst carry out; morning and evening examine thine actions and try thy heart; so will thy whole life be pure by means of repentance. During prayer remove every thought from thy heart foreign to thy communion with God; weigh thy words ere thou dost utter them, this will put thy soul into that state in which it is prepared to meet with God. In general I counsel thee to be considerate and careful in thy speech; not to be hasty and thoughtless whilst at thy meals. Shun the company of the proud mocker, and walk thou in humility with thy God; then wilt thou pursue the right path, and thy prayers will be pure and acceptable in heaven.

MOSES OF EVREUX,
(XIII Century.)

WHERE'ER our path may lie,
Father let us not forget

That we walk beneath Thine eye,
That Thy care upholds us yet.
Blind are we, and weak and frail,
Be Thine aid forever near;
May the fear of sin prevail
Over every other fear.

XIX.

The Inward Witness of God.

And Moses said: I pray Thee, if I have found grace in Thy sight, show me now Thy way that I may know Thee, and ever find grace in Thy sight. And He said: My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. Thou canst not see my face; for there shall no man see me and live.-Exodus xxxiii. 13, 19.

HENCE man's thirst for knowledge, his joy in finding truth, his gladness in doing good to others; above all, whence this mysterious voice that tells him: This thou shalt do, and that thou shalt leave undone? What is it that drives noble-minded men and women to pestbreeding houses, and the more loathsome scenes in the haunts of vice, if so be that by their purity and selfsacrifice, they may redeem some lives? If this world is indeed but a soulless mechanism, and no trace of a God to be found anywhere in all its immensities, then man is God; but, alas! not an omnipotent, but an impotent one. Woe to him that he should feel and think God

like, yet be at the mercy of a stone, an insect, a microbe. Then reason is a curse, and the feeling heart a calamity.

But all is changed the moment we say to our soul: Be still, my times are in God's hands. Then we see the source whence our own soul-life flowed. Over the dark horizon breaks the central sun that illumines the world, and brings light and rest to our own minds.

SOLEMN thought!

That trumpet sound: I ought, I ought!
Which, though a thousand times I fall,
Unbroken keeps it's solemn call;

Nor passion's storm, nor reasoning art
Can silence in the wayward heart.

G. G.

XX.

The Known God.

They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of God as waters cover the earth.-Isaiah xi, 9.

CONTRARY to the idea of the modern agnostic, the

Hebrew seer predicts the redemption of mankind from the evils which stalk in its midst, as a result of the universal knowledge of God; so universal, indeed, that, as it is said elsewhere, no man will say to his neighbor:

know God! For they shall all know Him, from the greatest even unto the least. But, of course, we must keep in mind what kind of knowledge the prophet was thinking of. We are not left in doubt about this. Perhaps the most complete definition of it is found in the declaration: Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom; let not the mighty man glory in his might; let not the rich man glory in his riches; let him that glories glory in this, that He knoweth Me and understandeth that I am the Lord who exercises loving kindness, justice and righteousness in the earth, and that in these things I delight, saith the Lord (Jer. ix., 23, 24). We see clearly that this is not a knowledge pursued merely to flatter human reason, or to place dominion into the hand of the powerful, or to enrich those that dispense wealth; no, but such a knowledge shall make the throne of the Allruler of the world the seat of loving kindness, justice and righteousness, and all who seek these graces, and they alone, are the servants in whom the Lord delighteth.

G. G.

God appears:
In the best thought,
In the truest speech,

In the sincerest action.

And his bounty

Is manifested

In the bounty
Of great hearts.