any brighter hope of success? And here our simple maxim may come in well to our help. Let us see. Perhaps the very first element of perfection has been conspicuously absent from our daily walk. We have done our duty punctually, but merely as duty. There has been no love in it, no tenderness, no element of sweet considerate sympathy. The only remedy for a lack so fatal to all genuine effort, is to lay open the heart's secrets to Him who is Himself love. He looks on our conscientious struggles with compassion, and He is waiting, in answer to our confiding prayer, to make all our crooked things straight and all our rough places plain. Let us be of good cheer. We have discovered the chief flaw within us. We want to saturate duty with love, and to do all for Jesus' sake.

Then, how about light in the head? Common sense is so uncommon. Judicious people are so rare. Without the guiding light, our hearts may lead us all astray. The idea of light is so delightful and cheery and reviving. Perhaps we have kept down the shutters, instead of throwing wide open the windows of the soul. If we begin at once to do this, the rosy glow of morning will break in upon our thoughts and fill them with a bright intelligence from above. We shall then perceive when to be silent and when to speak; the follies of youth will vex us far less, once they are but as motes in our secret sunshine. We shall grope

no longer, but find the flowers of truth and beauty, which our loving Father scatters lavishly just where we are to pass in the day's journey. Oh for more of the light which is sown for the righteous! Let us ask that we may receive.

And lastly, we shall need "work in the fingers." Those who have love and light steadily burning will never sit with folded hands, as if there were nothing to do. Their love to God and man will prompt them to seek occupation, and to do, with their might, whatsoever comes to their hand. If we humbly seek direction, we shall be given just the best corner for us to tend. We seem stirred with earnest desire. It is well. We will ask, and

up

wait and watch. And even if the proffered sphere of service prove narrow, to our fallible judgment, and the probable results insignificant, let us be candid and calm and grateful. We asked for work. We left its selection to One who knows what manner of spirit we are of. While we falter and hesitate, moments are flying. Let not this day be as so many of its predecessors; hope at its outset, but disappointment at its close. The darkness is past; the true light now shineth, and we will accept, as little children, whatever portion our Father vouchsafes to allot.

A. M. V.

A Bible Beading.

WALKING WITH GOD.

OUNDATION text: "Blessed are the people that know the joyful sound; they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance." Ps. lxxxix. 15. Can two walk together unless they be agreed?" Amos iii. 3.

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Walking together implies companionship, intimacy, affection, familiarity, but it does not necessarily imply equality. The mother stoops to give her hand to her little child, yet still they walk together. When we walk with Christ, we walk in Light, 1 John, i. 7; in Love, Ephes. v. 2; in Joy, John xv. 11; in Peace, Mal. ii. 6; in Equity, Mal. ii. 6.

William Jewison said, "I am far more intimate with the Lord Jesus Christ than with any earthly friend."

When we walk with any one, we talk to him, and make progress at the same time. The distance is shorter with congenial companionship, difficulties are surmounted hand in hand, steep ascents climbed by the help of a strong arm (Instance: ascent of Swiss mountains with trusty guides, whose strong hand you grasp).

So, walking with Jesus, we get His conversation, His cheer, His help, and move forward with Him.

Disciples, going to Christ, Luke xxiv. 15. Noah.

Emmaus, walked and talked with
Thus Enoch walked with God and

God says to us, "I will walk in them," 2 Cor. vi. 16. This is a great step in advance of the promise in the old covenant, "I will walk among you," Lev. xxvi. 12.

The Psalmist says, "I will walk at liberty, because I keep thy precepts," Ps. cxix. 45.

Liberty and obedience combined :

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego walked at liberty in the fire, because the Son of God walked with them there. Only their bonds were consumed!

Peter walked with Christ on the water.

Abraham walked with God, "by faith and not by sight," when he offered up his son, his only son, in whom all the promises were made.

What are the hindrances to walking with God? We run too fast, or we lag behind; we faint by the way, because of our unbelief, or we sit and slumber in the sunshine of prosperity and worldly ease.

In walking with God, our walk will necessarily be a humble walk, Mic. vi. 8; it will be a walk of faith, 2 Cor. v. 7; it will be a walk of oneness of will, Amos iii. 3; it will be a work of pressing forward, Philip. iii. 13, 14; it will be a walk like Christ's walk, 1 John ii. 6; worthy of our vocation, Ephes. iv. 1-3.

And when our earthly walk is over, what shall be the glorious consummation? They shall walk with me in

white," Rev. iii. 5.

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"Haste thee on from grace to glory,

Armed by faith and winged by prayer;

Heaven's eternal day's before thee;

God's own arm shall guide thee there.
Soon shall close thy earthly mission,
Soon shall pass thy pilgrim days;
Hope shall change to glad fruition,
Faith to sight, and prayer to praise."

H

He Heard my Cry.

OPE in my soul seemed to have died for ever
Beneath God's frown;

And helpless as a leaf upon the river

I drifted down.

Down a dark stream of misery and sadness
That darkened still;

On to the dreaded end of woe and madness,
And deeper ill.

Then heard I from the meadows on the border
Of that dark stream,

A voice that seemed amid the wild disorder
Like some fair dream.

It bade me raise my eyes and look to Jesus,
The crucified;

And to believe that God from evil frees us
Because He died.

I looked, and, lo, mine eyes beheld the portal
Of heavenly grace,

And saw amid the darkness the immortal

All-glorious face

Of Christ who in His grace and mercy healeth
The souls diseased,

And by His word to Satan's slaves revealeth
They are released.

Then unto Him from off the darkening river
I cried in faith,

O, mighty Son of God and man, deliver
My soul from death.

Then broke the light upon me from the heaven
Above my head,

And for my sorrow unto me was given
His peace instead.

Then ere had ceased the echoes of my crying
I reached the land;

And soon my tears the blessed Christ was drying
With His own hand.

To me, the gracious word that He had spoken
Had brought release;

And with it joy within my heart, the token
Of heaven's own peace.

And now with Him, amid the sunny meadows,
I walk by day,

Where trees of life at noontide cast their shadows
Upon my way,

Until shall fall the darkness of the even;
Then shall I rest

Within the home He hath prepared in heaven,
With all the blest.

For I shall pass the valley, nothing fearing
Of woe or ill,

If only there my blessed Lord appearing
Is with me still.

For where He leadeth nothing e'er betides me
But good and right;

There is no darkness where my Saviour guides me,
All, all is light.