back the course of a loving Father's dealings with them, will be ready to acknowledge that goodness and mercy have followed them all the days of their life, and that not one single trial, which the Lord saw fit to send, could have been spared. No truth can be more full of comfort to the solitary child of God than this. Though regarded as alone by the world, he is yet not alone; though bereft of earthly friends, he yet can rejoice in having an allseeing Friend, who sticketh closer to him than a brother. 'The poor committeth himself unto Thee; Thou art the helper of the fatherless' (Ps. x. 14). There is a tendency in many to murmur and be impatient. The remembrance that we have to do with One who is omniscient will teach us to commit all into His hands, and to wait with confidence on Him for the issue. same will prompt us to be more watchful against all which would displease Him, ever remembering that we live in the sight of the King of kings. The constant bearing such in mind will better prepare us for every duty and service in which we may be called on to engage, knowing that in His sight hypocrisy and formality cannot abide. His temple doth every man speak of His glory' (Ps. xxix. 9). Continually realizing that we have to do with One whose 'eyes are as a flame of fire,' we shall seek in His strength to walk more closely

The

In

with our Master, cultivating personal acquaintance with Him. Religion founded upon anything but Christ will not abide. Then shall we not be content to say, 'Lord, Thou knowest all things;' but with Peter shall be ready also to declare in all humble confidence, 'Thou knowest that I love Thee' (John xxi. 16).

CHAPTER V.

THE UNCHANGEABLENESS OF CHRIST.

'Christ's name yields the richest perfúme,
And sweeter than music His voice;
His presence disperses my gloom,
And makes all within me rejoice.
I should, were He always thus nigh,
Have nothing to wish or to fear;
No mortal so happy as I,

My summer would last all the year.

Content with beholding His face,

My all to His pleasure resigned;
No changes of season or place

Would make any change in my mind.
While blessed with a sense of His love,
A palace a toy would appear,
And prisons would palaces prove
If Jesus would dwell with me there.
'Dear Lord, if indeed I am Thine,
If Thou art my sun and my song,
Say, why do I languish and pine,

And why are my winters so long?
Oh, drive these dark clouds from my sky,
Thy soul-cheering presence restore !
Oh, take me to Thee up on high,

Where winter and clouds are no more!'

'And His feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and His voice as the sound of many waters.' WHEN Jeremiah shrank through a sense of his own weakness from boldly standing forth, in obe

dience to God's command, to witness for Him, we find God encouraged him by saying, 'I have made thee this day brazen walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, and against the people of the land' (Jer. i. 18). Similarly He used the figure of brass, because of its hardness, when He reproved His people Israel because of their sins, or threatened them in consequence with His sore judgments, comparing their brow to 'brass' (Isa. xlviii. 4); or telling them that as a result of their rebellion, 'The heaven that is over thy head shall be brass' (Deut. xxviii. 23). The use of this same emblem here in the description given of our exalted Lord may at once suggest to us the stability or unchangeableness of Christ, whom nothing can resist. Such is manifested in His purposes. They are like a golden thread, guiding His Church through the labyrinth of time to the person of the Saviour. His pur

poses are from everlasting. Slowly are they developed in the course of time. Often may they appear to be opposed, and seemingly frustrated. But onwards, like the advancing tide which rises above the puny obstacles it may meet with in its progress, His purposes hasten onwards to their accomplishment, fulfilling the word of our Covenant Jehovah, 'I will work, and who shall let it?' (or hinder it) (Isa. xliii. 13). The same is manifested

in Christ's promises. All the promises of God in Him are yea, and in Him Amen, unto the glory of God by us' (2 Cor. i. 20). which Satan beats in vain.

Such are a rock against

All who are built upon

that rock rest on sure ground, from which nothing can dislodge them. Passing away' may be read on all things here below. Change characterizes all that belongs to earth. But there is one thing that altereth not: 'All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: but the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you' (1 Pet. i. 24, 25). The earth may be shaken to its foundations, the heavens may be rolled together as a scroll, but not one word which Christ has spoken can ever pass away until all be fulfilled. 'Hath He spoken, and shall He not do it? hath He said it, and shall He not make it good?' Christ ever abideth faithful; He cannot deny Himself. His stability or steadfastness is further evidenced in His love, which never changeth. His love is from everlasting to everlasting; whom He loves, He loves unto the end. What He said of old unto Jerusalem He would say also unto all His people, 'Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget; yet will