Nor are other reasons wanting why we should be often in His company, whatever may be the demands upon our service. It is well for the man who has learned to be at home with God. He has a hiding-place always at hand, a sure refuge from all care and trouble. We know not what may be on the morrow. To-day our work prospers, our friends are kind, our hearts are light; but disappointment may come, failure, desertion, weariness of mind and spirit. It matters not, or it matters little, what may befall, if our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ; but if, when we are forsaken, there is none to whom we can turn; if, when we are weary and worn out, and heart and flesh fail, there are no everlasting arms beneath us into which we can sink, like a tired child, that in their embrace we may rest in peace; if we have been allowing ourselves to be separated from Christ, so that we shall not know where to find Him in our extremity, or shall not recognise Him if He should appear, alas for us then! BRISTOL. H. ARNOLD THOMAS, M.A. "To die! It is the bitterness of life!-the last and sharpest struggle with the tyrannous king. Blessed be Christ, that as the moon which lights our pilgrimage sets in the wilderness, and casts a last pale gleam on the wastes where we have fought and suffered, the sunlight of the higher world flings the glow of its dawning splendour over an Elim, brighter, softer, more blessed than even our most daring dreams. And there the victorious sufferers, having conquered the sharpness of death,' are resting encamped by the waters; they share the triumphs of courage and patience, and wait till we join them, to seek with us the Jerusalem of the skies."-Rev. J. Baldwin Brown. Suggestions for Science Parables. THE GARDEN. The Making of a Flower.-The Growth of a Soul. "How much goes to the making of one little flower-how important each current of every leaf is, how necessary every shade of colour to its perfection; and I see in it the symbol of the making of a soul, of the need there is for the unfolding of every natural beauty and for the ripening of every grace; it may compel infinite labour, it may take millions of years to make one soul perfect, the mills of the gods grind slowly, but the work, we may be sure, will have no flaw in it when the time is complete." Hyacinth Bulbs.-The Discipline of Obscurity. "PERHAPS there are times when the soul may need a certain twilight and doubtfulness for its growth, just as we put hyacinth bulbs into the dark for their roots to grow downwards before we let them feel the sunshine and begin to stretch up their stems and blooms to the sun. You know what feeble flowers a hyacinth bulb has when brought to the light too soon, before it has struck down long fibres into the water. May it not be the souls which are meant to flower most gloriously towards God, have to grope about a long time in doubt and uncertainty? Would it be well for them to turn despairing and leave off growing roots of patience and hope and self knowledge, to conclude that there is no light because they have not been lifted up into it." The Shedding of Leaves.-Self-sacrifice and Heavenly Hope. "I LIKE to look at the little rhododendron trees-the already fully formed buds, next year's flowers getting ready to grow, showing through the old leaves that will fall off before their beauty begins. The leaves have nursed the future flowers all the year, and they will die when the flowers are ready to bloom, just as our bodies are ready to flower in the spiritual world. . . . I believe every single leaf has a bud in its charge which it shelters all the summer, and then it dies to give its nursling air and space to grow in. Thus the law of sacrifice and hope is read to us by every autumn leaf that the wind blows in our faces." T. B. K. E ... Selected Acorns from Stalwart Oaks. "The smallest living acorn is fit to be the parent of oak-trees without end." CONDESCENSION. -Carlyle. "The Simoon of the desert is not the only evil that can be avoided by stooping."-Helps. CHILDHOOD'S PERILS." Ovid gives a pathetic picture of the new-born whose first day was its last, exposed to wild beasts; and describes those who flit about in the night seeking for these unfortunate little creatures for the worst purposes. Pliny speaks coolly of those who hunt for the brains and marrow of infants, probably for superstitious or medicinal purposes."-Brace. RELIGION WITHOUT MORALITY.-"A religion without morality soon becomes an immoral religion; the religious emotions and sanctions, deprived of ethical quality and control, become the most debased and pernicious forces that can act within the spirit of man."—Fairbairn. SINGLENESS OF AIM.-"The golden calf of self-love, however curiously carved, was not their Deity; but the invisible goodness which alone is man's reasonable service. . . . . The wedge will rend the rocks, but its edge must be sharp and single, if it be double, the wedge is bruised in pieces and will rend nothing."-Carlyle. THE POWER OF THE PULPIT."The pulpit is especially the throne of modern eloquence. There it is that speech is summoned to realize the fabled wonders of the Orphean lyre. The preacher has no control over the will of his audience other than the influence of his discourse. Yet as the ambassador of Christ it is his great and awful duty to call sinners to repentance."-John Quincey Adams. THE CHERUBIM OF WORSHIP. "Peace, Love! the cherubim that twine The heart alone can make divine Religion's spot.”—Campbell. BRISTOL CONGREGATIONAL INSTITUTE. T. BROUGHTON KNIGHT. Reviews. HOMILISTIC LIBRARY, VOL. IV. THE BOOK OF JOB. By Rev. DAVID THOMAS, D.D. London: Smith and Elder, Waterloo Place. We are glad to receive this the fourth volume of the Homilistic Library, which we are told will, when completed, consist of a reproduction of all Dr. Thomas' works, carefully revised and enlarged, in a uniform edition, and all compared with the conclusions of the most eminent and modern Biblical scholars and authorities. The works, we understand, will appear in different series, each series consisting of three volumes. Two editions of this work on Job-which has received the highest commendations of some of the leading scholars and thinkers of the age— have been exhausted. This, the third edition, appears with the enormous advantage of a complete Topical Index of seventeen pages of small type, in which every leading topic of thought in the book is indicated. Many will be glad that the author has promised to supply this work to ministers, which is published at 10/6, for 7/6, direct from his residence, post free. Concerning the Book of Job, Carlyle has said, "I call that book, apart from all theories about it, one of the greatest things ever written with pen. There is nothing written, I think, either in the Bible or out of it, equal to it." THE RISE AND FALL OF THE ENGLISH COMMONWEALTH. By J. ALLANSON PICTON, M.A., M.P. London: Alexander and Shepheard, Castle Street, Holborn. This little volume comprises Six Lectures on such Subjects as-" Treason and Loyalty-The Limits of Moral Force-The Limits of Physical Force-The Sources of Popular Enthusiasm-Republicanism." "The purpose of these Lectures," says the author, "has been to bring home to the members of the class now rising into power some of the lessons in political ethics derivable from a study of the Commonwealth period. They can hardly, therefore, be considered historical lectures, except so far as this, that they take their text from the story of our own country." Few men are more qualified by natural talent, acquired intelligence, and honest purpose, than the author of this book, to discuss the subjects it treats of. We recommend the little volume heartily to the study of young men, for there are national evils now that cry for a Cromwellian spirit if the Commonwealth is to prosper. THE BOOK OF ENOCH THE PROPHET. Translated by the late RICHARD LAURENCE, LL.D. London: Kegan Paul and Co., 1, Paternoster Square. This is a translation of an Ethiopic MS. in the Bodleian Library. The Scriptures give the impression not only that there was a book called the Book of Enoch, but that the book had high authority, yet it is little known. This is an interesting production, and will do much towards popularising the knowledge which at present none but a few scholars possess. By NOTES ON THE CANONS OF THE FIRST FOUR GENERAL COUNCILS. WILLIAM BRIGHT, D.D., Canon of Christchurch. Oxford: Clarendon Press. The students of Church History who need a concise, clear, and withal compendious view the Councils of Nicæa, Constantinople, Ephesus, and Chalcedon, cannot do better than possess themselves of this volume of Canon Bright's. Though intended for younger students, there are few to whom it will not be welcome. HOURS WITH THE BIBLE, or the Scriptures in the Light of Modern London: This last volume well completes Dr. Geikie's invaluable series on the Old Testament, to which we have several times called our readers' notice. In his preface he wisely says, "The light thrown on writings often so difficult as they stand in our Bibles, by introducing them in their historical connection, must be evident. They become again what they originally were-the pulpit-literature of the day in which they were spoken, and, as such, at once reflect light on the sacred narrative and are illustrated by it." We can hardly conceive of a more interesting and useful companion to the Old Testament than this. We keenly anticipate his series on the New Testament. POSITIVE ASPECTS OF UNITARIAN CHRISTIANITY. Ten Lectures, delivered by various Ministers, with a Preface by Rev. JAMES MARTINEAU, D.D., LL.D. London: Office of the Association, 37, Norfolk Street. No system can live on mere negations. If to outside observers Unitarianism has seemed very largely devoted to negation and protest |