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here soon enough. Do not hasten them. Do not wish to bear them till they come. And this it is which not only makes joy necessary, but also explains the abundance and excess of it; which tells us how it is not so much for middle age, oppressed with its somber and fatiguing comn onplaces, nor for old age, with its work done and its dismissal near, but for youth, vigorous and buoyant, joy is so facile and so brisk. It is to help the young to grow, to make their start, to bear their disappointments, to part with their illusions, to face their discipline and to remedy their mistakes. The little bark is by the shore; it needs a vigorous shove to push it out into the water, and then a steady breeze to fill the sails and float it over the bar into the deep sea. This is what joy does, and nothing else like it, making the will vigorous, the heart buoyant, coloring the imagination in the hues of the tropics and cajoling the reason into mistaking the possible for the real.-BISHOP OF Rochester.

The Believer's Joy.

The believer's life has its sweets, and these are of the choicest; for what is sweeter than honey? What is more joyful than the joy of a saint? What is more happy than the happiness of a believer? I will not condescend to make a comparison between our joy and the mirth of tools. I will go no farther than a contrast. Their mirth is as the cracking of thorns under a pot, which spit fire and make a noise and a flash, but there is no heat, and they are soon gone out. Nothing comes of it, and the But the Christian's delight is like

pot is long it boiling.

a steady coal fire.

You have seen the grate full of coals all burning red, and the whole mass of coal has seemed to be one great glowing ruby; and everybody who has come into the room out of the cold has delighted to warm his hands, for it gives out a steady heat and warms the body even to its marrow. Such are our joys. I would sooner possess the joy of Christ five minutes than I would revel in the mirth of fools for half a century. There is more bliss in the tear of repentance than in the laughter of gayety; our holy sorrows are sweeter than the worldling's joys. But oh, when our joys grow full, divinely full, then are they unspeakably like those above, and Heaven begins below. Did you never cry for joy? You say, perhaps: "Not since I was a child.” Nor have I; but I have always remained a child, so far as divine joy is concerned. I could often cry for joy when I know Whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed to Him.-SPUR

GEON.

Joy Is Glory.

It is a thought we do not

Joy is the glory of God. link enough to Him.-STOPFORD A. BROOKE.

JUSTICE.

"The Just for the Unjust."

Christianity is not a clever contrivance for outwitting justice. In Christ we do not outrun justice. Justice itself, by a mystery we can neither understand nor explain, has been satisfied by Christ. The mystery of the Cross lies within that thought. Now and then we seem to see somewhat of its meaning. God is just, and yet the justifier of the ungodly; Christ bore our sins in His own body on the tree; He suffered, the just for the unjust; He was wounded for our transgression; He was bruised for our iniquities. When we are weariest, saddest and most severe with ourselves, we hear these words, and they are full of rest, hope and music. We see the light, and call it Heaven. The refuge in Christ is based upon confession, repentance and restitution. It is not set up for righteous men, but for men unrighteous and lost.-JOSEPH Parker.

Absurd Justice.

There was once a robber in Cairo who, climbing into a window, fell and broke his leg. He complained to the Cadi, and asked for justice from the owner because the window casement was defective.

The Cadi sent for the

owner, who laid the blame on the carpenter. The Cadi sent for the carpenter, who laid the blame on the mason. The mason blamed a pretty girl, who in passing attracted his eye by the pretty gown she wore. The girl blamed

[graphic]

"A DISTINGUISHED MEMBER OF THE HUMANE SOCIETY."-From the Painting by Landseer.

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