care of the seed, and we do not have to help God take care of the good words we speak to others. The seed is divine, and the influences that act upon it are divine. So all we have to do is to get the truth into the hearts of those we would save and build up; God will do the rest. We are not responsible for the growth of the seed, for the work of grace in a human heart. Great is the mysterious power in the earth which touches the seed, enfolds it, quickens it and causes it to grow. But this only illustrates the power that works in human hearts and lives, the power of the divine Spirit. This holy life receives the heavenly truth that is put into the heart, and brings out its blessed possibilities, till we see a new life like unto God's own life, a Christ life, blessing the world with its beauty and its love.

The Thanksgiving Lesson

"It's O my heart, my heart,

To be out in the sun and sing!
To sing and shout in the fields about,
In the balm and the blossoming.

"Sing loud, O bird in the tree!

O bird, sing loud in the sky!

And honey-bees, blacken the clover seas;
There are none of you glad as I.

"The leaves laugh low in the wind,
Laugh low with the winds at play;
And the odorous call of the flowers all
Entices my soul away.

"For O but the world is fair, is fair!
And O but the world is sweet!

I will out in the gold of the blossoming mold,
And sit at the Master's feet.

"And the love of my heart would speak

I would fold in the lily's rim,

That the lips of the blossom more pure and meek May offer it up to Him.

"Then sing in the hedgerow green, O thrush! O skylark, sing in the blue!

Sing loud, sing clear, that the King may hear, And my soul shall sing with you.”

CHAPTER XVI

The Thanksgiving Lesson

LADNESS may not be thanksgiving. It certainly is not all of thanksgiving. One may have a heart bubbling with joy, without a note of thanksgiving. The task of happiness is one to which we should all firmly set ourselves. To be miserable in this glorious world is most unfit. We should cultivate joyousness. But our present lesson is a larger and deeper one.

Thanksgiving implies thought of God. One may be glad all the day and never think of God. Thanksgiving looks up with every breath and sees God as Father from whom all blessings come. Thanksgiving is praise. The heart is full of gratitude. Every moment has something in it to inspire love. The lilies made Jesus think of his Father, for it was he who clothed them in beauty. The