His voice hushed the tempest to stillness,
The occan was calm when He spake ;
My bark will be safe with its Pilot ;
"He knoweth the way that I take."

Though darkness may shroud all the future,
His presence the gloom will dispel,
The sea shall divide at His bidding;
With Jesus to lead, "all is well."
And still as I go on my journey,

A path through the desert He'll make,
Though briars and thorns may obstruct me,
"He knoweth the way that I take."

He knoweth the past and the present;
The future my Lord can foresee,
Jehovah, who feedeth the ravens,
Will not be unmindful of me.
At night He will compass my pillow,
Nor leave me when morning doth break,
His arms, everlasting, protect me;

"He knoweth the way that I take."

He knoweth, and when He hath tried me,
And fashioned me into His mould,
My spirit, made perfectly holy,

Shall shine in His presence as gold.
Then, then from these dull earthly visions,
In His likeness at last I shall wake,
To sing of His goodness for ever,

"Who knoweth the way that I take."

E. B.

The Garden without and the Garden within. HAT a desolate, dreary look a piece of garden-ground wears in winter; the earth is hard and cold, and if the garden has not been planted, nothing is to be seen but a few weeds. The spring sunshine will come, and the rains will fall on that ground, but still only weeds will flourish if the gardener does nothing to it. Just like such a piece of ground are our hearts by nature. God's mercy shines on us like the sun in spring.

His loving words in the Bible, His messages by His ministers, and His gentle voice in our hearts rebuking us for sin, and sometimes drawing us to seek Him, are like the gentle rain and dew and south wind to the garden of our souls; but unless our wills work with these heavenly influences, all that the garden of our hearts brings forth is still only weeds. Thousands are trusting to God's mercy who are doing nothing whatever to improve the garden of their hearts, except chopping off the tops of the thistles, perhaps, to make it appear a little better before men, while the roots remain; and so year after year the garden yields no good fruit, and when harvest-time comes, and the Master calls for the produce of the garden, where will it be? The Master has given the gardener tools and seed, and he has strength to work, but he has left his garden neglected, though his mind is his tool-basket, and God's word is full of seed.

Dear friend, ask yourself, "Am I neglecting my heart's garden ? Am I trusting to the sunshine and the dew, and not working with their help to bring forth fruit fo:God's glory? Am I sowing good seed by taking into my heart the precepts and promises of God's Word, with an appetite as if they were my daily food? Do I neglect no means of improving my heart by meeting with others to pray for the sunshine of God's grace to bless my own endeavours?" (for without this all seed-sowing is as useless as the sunshine is without the seed). To say, "I am as safe as others, and God is merciful," will not avail you when the end comes and "the wheat is gathered into the garner, and the chaff burnt with unquenchable fire." Your garden must be dug up, your heart must be probed ; God's Holy Spirit must be allowed an entrance, as the sun must penetrate between the cold clods of earth. Do not shrink from this probing; it may give you suffering at the time, but sin must be brought to light and laid bare before God. The prodigal did not hide his sin when he came back to the father. Oh no! his first words were confession : Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee, and

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Have you ever

am no more worthy to be called thy son." been brought to this state, and felt that you could gladly leave all your empty sinful pleasures to see the Father's smile, and be embraced by His forgiving love? If you love the world better than your heavenly Father, there is no peace for you, no hope, if sudden death should call you away from this world.

Do I hear you say, "I cannot feel like this; I should like to be saved, but I am content to go on as I am at present; I shall have time yet to repent." Remember, every hour the weeds are growing stronger in your heart; the sunshine even will harden it more and more while it is left untilled, and at last it will be found good for nothing. Time is fleeting. Be up and doing. Work with God; He can give you the will and the power, if you come to Him in earnest prayer, believing that you shall receive.

You are quite right in saying you cannot feel like the prodigal of yourself; but you have the power to ask to be made like him. An entire change in our natures is needed, and this is what in John iii. is called being "born again," and unless you are born again you cannot see the kingdom of God. You must have your past sins washed away through faith in Jesus' atoning blood. This is the spiritual meaning of being "born of water," because water cleanses. And you must be "born of the Spirit;" that is, the Holy Spirit must come and dwell in your hearts to keep you from sinning in future, for he that is born of God doth not commit sin. By this is meant, does not willingly and wilfully sin, and does not run into temptation. If through carelessness a true Christian commits sin, it grieves him bitterly; it is not a pleasure to him to sin, as it is to the unconverted; he strives and fights against it when he sees and feels it. To worship God and to work for his Saviour is his pleasure; and he longs to bring others to feel the peace he enjoys. He watches against temptation, and prays continually to be kept from it, and so watching and so praying he is "safe in the arms of Jesus," and the

thought of death is no longer a fear and dread to him, for to depart is to be for ever with his best and dearest Friend, with Him who, for his sake, left the glory of heaven to live the life of a working-man amid cold, hard, ungrateful companions, and then for their sakes laid down His life,

penalty for their sins. Having lived, He knows all your trials, and you may tell them to Him as freely as to your brother, for He can sympathise; having died, He can take your fear of death away, for the sting of death is sin, and your sin was laid on Him; but remember, it is he that forsaketh sin that shall find mercy.

"Repentance is to leave

The sin we loved before,

And show that we in earnest grieve

By doing so no more."

You think, perhaps, that a life of religion is a gloomy. thing; but a Christian's life is far happier than that of the worldling, for his pleasures leave no sting behind.

"When on the poisonous breeze

The seeds of death like thistle-down are borne,
And strong men fall around like summer corn,
'His soul shall dwell at ease.'

By night on raging seas,

When waves white-crested gleam amid the gloom,
And in the whirlwind's pause the storm-bells boom,
'His soul shall dwell at ease.'

And when on bended knees

The weepers ask his life with changing fear
And hope, while death in solemn march draws on,
'His soul shall dwell at ease.'" 1

Reader, would not you have your soul thus at ease?

1 "Songs of Heaven and Home."

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Suffer the Little Children to come unto Me."