of nature are manifest, which span the universe in their embrace. So in these quickly vanishing bonds of earthly life may be found the elements of all that may endure and shine forever. These transient scenes may call into action an unfathomable heart. They are not clad in a gloomy pall by these ministries of change, when we regard them wisely. They are transfigured forever more. We speak of the fleetingness of these fond relationships, only to impress the exhortation to live in them more fervently while they remain. When shall we learn that true harmony in the Father's providence, a mistaken thought has obscured? When shall we learn that the profoundest life in the world that is, must be the chosen preparation for the world to come! When shall we learn that he who would inherit the bright joys of pure affections in immortal scenes, must drink most deeply of the cup of joy all true unions of the heart may here offer to his lips! He who is prepared to gain the world to come, hath this world also in blest possession. The true admonition from all opening graves is ever the same. The most thrilling lessons of uncertainty have the same great meaning. They do not say, love the less in the bonds of present being. They only say, love the more. If the things that are seen are fleeting, gather all the treasures of instruction in these quickly flying hours with profound earn estness of heart. They bring thus their utmost joy while they stay. And the depth of your devotion will unfold the sustaining strength when they shall have vanished. Live in the things that are seen with a love as deep as if they were eternal, and through that deep love the eternal things shall come forth from the very grave of the objects of time, with an unfailing power to console. The Law of Consolation. MATTHEW x: 19. "But when they deliver you up, take no thought how, or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak." THESE were words of inexpressible hope. Jesus was sending the apostles into a ministry encompassed with perils. In its fulfilment, they would be brought before governors and kings, and delivered up to councils for punishment. Bitter scorn and cruel scourgings, fierce and relentless persecutions in every form awaited them. They would be as sheep in the midst of wolves. No fears in the apostles' breasts could have magnified the dangers of their appointed ministry, beyond the actual representation in the words of the Redeemer. Yet no anxiety was to be permitted for one instant to distract their minds, and thus prevent an absolute devotion of thought and feeling to their special work. For in this entire, unreserved concentration of the heart, would be found the only possible preparation for every exigency of the life. If they lived with a single eye to the truth, their whole body must be filled with light. Then it would not be they who spoke, but rather the truth, speaking in them, and as it were instinctively suggesting an answer of more than human wisdom, in every moment of diffi culty or trial. As the full fountain sends an abundant stream into every channel opened for its waters, so that all-pervading spirit of truth must illuminate every incident in each passing hour. It would be with the disciple as with the Master. The garment's hem might not be touched, and the healing virtue, needful for the hour, fail to flow. What defence could have been so perfect, as the simple manifestation of the Redeemer's spirit, causing the rude soldiery to fall backward to the ground in awe, through its own inherent majesty. And though it might be unavailing, what answer could that spirit give, except the reply of purest wisdom and divinest love! A soul thus true, must make the moments of bitterest opposition. the times of an especial manifestation of its own absolute truthfulness. And the cross, the last evil man could inflict, would become its enduring crown. I regard the text as the application of a universal principle to a particular case. It indicates the sublime law which reigns throughout the entire world of human feeling and human experience; the divine law, whose operation brings an unfailing strength and life to every soul obedient to its commandment, in every hour of need. It is one chief error of the world, that it lives with too much reference to particular incidents in human experience; in forgetfulness of that great principle which alone can lead to any effectual preparation, alike for the ordinary duty, and the most extraordinary and overwhelming change. We sleep until the bridegroom comes; and then, when the midnight of trial overshadows us, we expect the lamp of trust will brightly burn in a previously untrusting heart. Man hopes to meet the exigencies of existence, the hours testing most severely the spirit's strength, by something beside the preparation of habitual life. And he is very slow to learn, that the habitually prepared life alone can fill the heart with angels, to be ministers of strength in all its agonies. It is a great truth, that we can only grow into sympathy with any exalted thought, or holy feeling. We cannot go beyond this living experience. Jesus says, "he that climbeth up some other way, is a thief and a robber." We must go in by the door, the gate of life. In sympathy of feeling, forgetful of this unchanging law, we may seek to impart some bright view of providence, to a soul never moved by any deep spirit of trust and love. It is like an expectation that one may see the glorious prospect from the mountain's top, when he is still sitting in the caves of the earth. He may contemplate that blessed thought. But in a mind so different, it is like the plant nursed in the heat, suddenly exposed to the wintry cold. Separated from the spirit which gave it birth, where it would be springing up as an instinctive persuasion of the heart, it instantly perishes, like |