Condensed Comments.

Cursed be the social lies that warp us from the living truth.-TENNYSON.

Dare to be true; nothing can ever need a lie. -GEORGE HERBERT.

MAN.

The Christian a Man-Mender.

Great is man's skill in handling engines of force; marvelous man's control of winds and rivers; wondrous the mastery of engines and ideas. But man himself is greater than the tools he invents. And man stands forth clothed with power to control and influence his fellows, in that he can sweeten their bitterness, allay their conflicts, bear their burdens, surround them with the atmosphere of hope and sympathy. Just in proportion as men have capacity, talent and genius, are they to be guardians, teachers and nurses for men, bearing themselves tenderly and sympathetically toward ignorance, poverty and weakness. And all the majesty of the Summer, all the glory of the storms, all the beauty of galleries, is as nothing compared to the majesty and beauty of a full-orbed and symmetrical manhood. Should there be in every village and city a conspiracy of a few persons toward this refinement and culture, this beauty and sweet Christian living, the presence of these Christformed persons would transform our communities. One

such harvestful nature carries power to civilize an entire city. We no more need to demonstrate the worth of the sane, sound, Christ-like character than we need to prove the value of the all-glorious Summer, when it fills the earth with fragrance, the air with blossoms and all the boughs with luscious fruit. Each Christian youth is to be a man-maker and man-mender. He is to help and not hurt men. This is to walk in love. This is to overcome evil with good. This is to be not a printed but a living Gospel. This is to be a master of the art of right living and a teacher of the science of character building. -NEWELL DWIGHT HILLIS.

Men on Other Planets.

The vastness of the universe renders foolish the supposition that this little planet is the only inhabited one; and the unity of laws and of substances asks us to imagine the beings upon other spheres to be moving to and fro in the likeness of man, speaking a language and busied by the useful and the beautiful. We may even assume that such is the oneness of intelligent life that if these inhabitants of different planets were to meet in some general home in immortality, they would prove to be of one race—a human race having different minor details of history, but all members of one brotherhood, and capable of one friendship, one virtue, one taste, one piety-ten thousand worlds full of one music, one art, one tenderness, one creature-man-one God.-SWING.

Nature Speaking to Man.

When the lonely traveler finds himself in France or Germany, how much he wishes his lips could speak its language! Such a power would make France or Germany seem like home. Thus education is an acquaintance with all the voices of the world. The educated mind understands the language of the fields and the forests; the stars speak to him in familiar words; the winds come in intelligible whisperings; he understands the songs of the birds; the flowers use his soul's dialect; he is deaf and dumb no longer; he hears all sounds; he speaks all languages; the sea is eloquent; the hil's poetic. This education is valuable, not only because of its relations to reading, writing and arithmetic, but also because it introduces man to the world. The plowed-up daisy drew the compassion of Robert Burns; the skylark and Shelley became friends. Thus into the educated heart as into an urn the world empties all wisdom and beauty, -SWING.

Man Made by Little Things.

Man is made by little things. His soul seems made like his body-as if by the heaping up of cells. In each cubic inch of the human body there are a few millions of cells. These are so concatenated as to compose at last the form of a Washington or a Beatrice. The formation of a good soul is not otherwise, and each little part is essential to the peace of the sum total. Little influences combine and shape the heart. It is not quite enough to say:

"He is an American."

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She is a Northerner."

For a million influences are at work here and there, and not each one will respond to the touch of the same million. No one large term will save us, for Aaron Burr was an American; the Sioux Indians are sons of the temperate zone, and Henry VIII. was a Christian. The valuable thing is the many little or separate facts which fall under the broad term. The word "Galilean" did not harm Christ because the ten thousand thoughts and deeds of His soul ran counter to the reproachful epithet, and carried Him far away from the old generality.-SWING.

The Greatness of Manhood.

The creatures which God has made, when they shall come to worship in the New Jerusalem, will stand and gaze at glorified men, and with bated breath will say one to another: "These are the beings whose nature the Son of God assumed! These are the chosen creatures whom the Prince of Heaven bought with His own blood." They will stand astonished at the divine glory which will be manifested in beings emancipated from sin and hell and made heirs of God, joint-heirs with Jesus Christ. Will not even angels be surprised and awed as they look on the Church and say to one another: "This is the bride the Lamb's wife!" They will marvel why the Lord of Glory should come to this poor earth to seek a spouse, and that He should enter into eternal union with such a people. Glory dwelleth in Immanuel's land! Now we are getting near to the center of it. I feel inclined, like Moses, to put off my shoes from my feet, for the place whereon we stand is holy ground, now thaț

we are getting to see poor bushes like ourselves aglow with the indwelling God and changed from glory unto glory.-SPURGEON.

Man Made Great by Sentiments.

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If one would find the true value of a sincere worship, one must first note the vastness of that spiritual fortune which comes through the heart. Literature is composed almost wholly of what the heart loves and admires. the painter paints for the sentiments, as the sculptor carves for what society loves, as music works wholly for man's delight and tears, so literature utters all its eloquence to the heart. You would not designate the algebra and the law reports as literature. You would not class as letters the debates on tariff or silver. At the mention of the word "literature," human life in sadness or joy comes before us. Helen of Troy poses in gracefulness; Andromache and her child part with Hector; the plumed Achilles hurries along in his chariot; the woods whisper; the nightingale sings; Dante and Beatrice appear; Hamlet acts his part; Ophelia dies; Paul and Virginia make of Mauritius a paradise and a grave; "Little Dorritt" is the beautiful dove of a prison; Fantine sleeps in a hillock which soft rain levels and flowers conceal. Literature is not learning. It is man's holiest passion. It is the soul rushing out of the Holy of Holies. Man is made great by the sentiments. Touch literature anywhere, and the human face flushes. The strings of that instrument called "letters" are fastened to the heart. SWING.