XXVIII.

The Destiny of Man.

Let the counsel of thine own heart stand; for there is no man more faithful unto thee than it. A man's mind is sometimes wont to tell him more than seven watchmen that sit above in a high tower.— Sirach.

OUR future destination is a new link in the chain of

our being, which connects itself with the present link most intimately, and by the most subtle progression; as our earth is connected with the sun, and as the moon with our earth. When death bursts the bonds of our present limitation, God will transplant us, like flowers, into quite other fields, and surround us with entirely different circumstances. Who has not experienced what new faculties are given to the soul by a new situation? Faculties which, in our old corner, in the stifling atmosphere of old circumstances and occupations, we had never imagined ourselves capable of? Wherever I may be, through whatever worlds I may be led, I know that I shall forever remain in the hands of the Father, who brought me hither, and who calls me further on.

ATHER and Helper! plant within each bosom

The seeds of holiness, and bid them blossom
In fragrance, and in beauty bright and vernal,
And spring eternal.

Then place them in thine everlasting gardens

Where angels walk, and seraphs are the wardens;

Where every flower, escaped through death's dark portal,
Becomes immortal.

HERDER.

And in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, and in the Law, and in the Commandments, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart, and prospered.-II. Chron. xxxi. 21.

HERE is nothing like the first glance we get at duty, before there has been any special pleading of our affections or inclinations. Duty is never uncertain at first. It is only after we have got involved in the mazes and sophistries of wishing that things were otherwise than they are, that it seems indistinct. Considering a duty is often only explaining it away. Deliberation is often dishonesty. God's guidance is plain, when we are true.

F. W. ROBERTSON.

Try to do thy duty-and thou shalt at once know thine own worth.

GOETHE.

JOHN STERLING.

Duty is the great witness of our personality.

TERN Daughter of the Voice of God!

O Duty! if that name thou love

Who art a light to guide, a rod

To check the erring, and reprove;

Thou, who art victory and law

When empty terrors overawe;

From vain temptations dost set free,

And calm'st the weary strife of frail humanity!

To humbler functions, awful power!
I call thee: I myself commend
Unto thy guidance from this hour;
Oh! let my weakness have an end!
Give unto me, made lowly wise,
The spirit of self-sacrifice;

The confidence of reason give;

And in the light of truth thy bondman let me live,

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH.

XXX.

True Excellency.

Let not mercy and truth forsake thee; bind them about thy neck; write them on the tables of thy heart; so shalt thou find favor with God and men. -Proverbs iii. 3, 4.

O crown carries such royalty with it as doth humility; no monument gives such glory as an unsullied name; no worldly gain can equal that which comes from observing God's laws. The highest sacrifice is a contrite heart; the most beautiful of all things man can do is to forgive wrong. Cherish a good heart when thou findest it in any one; hate, for thou mayest hate it, the haughtiness of the overbearing man, and keep the boaster at a distance. There is no skill or cleverness to be compared to that which avoids temptation; there is no strength that can equal piety. All

honor to him who prays, reads, learns, all with a passion ate yearning for his Maker's grace.

ELEAZAR BEN YEHUDAH,

WOULD that I might be

A servant unto Thee,
Thou God by all adored,

Spirit and flesh are Thine,

O heavenly shepherd mine!

My hopes, my thoughts my fears, Thou seest all.
Thou measurest my path, my steps dost know,
When Thou upholdest, who can make me fall,
When Thou restrainest, who can bid me go?

(XIII. Century).

JEHUDAH HALEVL