Work with your hands that we may walk becomingly toward them that are without, and may have need of nothing. I Thes. 4:11, 12.

But I think the king of that country comes out of the toilers'

hosts,

And walks in the world of the weary, as if he loved it the most, For here in the dusty confusion with eyes that are heavy and dim, He meets again the laboring men who are looking and longing for him.

-Rev. Henry J. Van Dyke.

HE usual social distinctions are not to be observed in the house of God. At God's altar none are rich, none are poor, none are high, none are low. All are on the same level of unworthiness in themselves and of blessedness in their divine Redeemer. Jesus Christ is the friend of those who stand at the carpenter's bench and toil through the long hours. He sympathizes with every working man and working woman. He reaches out to them the hand of tenderness and the heart of affection. He promises them food and raiment. Marvelous is the thought that Jesus Christ was poor and friendless. No poor man to-day is as poor as Jesus Christ was, no lone man is so friendless as He was. He was despised and rejected of men. and acquainted with grief. toil were on His brow and was on His hands.

He was a man of sorrows The sweat-beads of honest the hardness of manly toil

Thou, O God, didst prepare of Thy goodness for the poor. Ps. 68: 10. I will give thanks unto Jehovah with my mouth, yea, I will praise Him among the multitude. For He will stand at the right hand of the needy, to save him from them that judge his soul. Amen. Ps. 109:30, 31.

1-29 LABOR'S DIVINE FRIEND-EXALTATION

29

And He shall speak peace to the nations: and His dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth. Zech, 9: 10.

He shall reign from pole to pole,
With illimitable sway;

He shall reign, when like a scroll
Yonder heavens have passed away.
Then the end: beneath his rod

Man's last enemy shall fall:
Hallelujah: Christ in God,

God in Christ, is all in all.

-James Montgomery.

OD as the sovereign Lord of all lands and all peoples, commands the children of Israel to take possession of the land of Canaan. God issues a similar command to His children to-day. This world of ours does not belong to Satan. When he promised to deliver the kingdom to Christ, if Christ should worship him in the wilderness, he was a liar, and such he has been from the beginning. Even if Christ had yielded to the temptation, Satan could not have performed the contract. The pierced hand of Jesus Christ is on the helm of this universe. Satan is an intruder, an interloper, a rebel. He is to be utterly cast out. Jesus shall reign from the rivers to the ends of the earth. He shall put all His enemies beneath His feet. Who would not follow such an all conquering leader? Who would not wish to be of those who shall come in through the everlasting doors with the returning and conquering King of Glory?

Who shall not fear, O Lord, and glorify Thy name? for Thou only art holy; for all the nations shall come and worship before Thee; for Thy righteous acts have been made manifest. Amen. Rev. 15:4.

Denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world. Titus

2:12.

Dear Lord and Father of mankind,

Forgive our feverish ways,
Reclothe us in our rightful mind,
In purer lives thy service find
In deeper reverence praise.

Drop thy still dews of quietness,

Till all our strivings cease,

Take from our souls the strain and stress
And let our ordered lives confess

The beauty of Thy peace.

-John Greenleaf Whittier.

CHRISTIAN is the highest style of man; he is a

man who is Christlike in character; in aim, and in love, and who will one day be wholly like Christ when he shall see Him as He is. Every Christian has much in possession here, but he has still greater things in prospect; thought cannot conceive nor language express, all that God has in reserve for His redeemed children. Indeed, only those who are born again can truly address God as Father, in the full meaning of the term. Only in a vague sense can unregenerate men say, "Our Father." They can call God Father, only as a wandering, selfwilled, disobedient child, who has, like another prodigal, gone into a far country, can apply the endearing name of Father to the one whose heart he has broken and whose counsels he has despised.

As for our trangressions Thou wilt forgive them. We shall be satisfied with the goodness of Thy house, Thy holy temple. Ps. 65:3, 4. That we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and gravity. Amen. 1 Tim. 2: 2.

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CHRISTIAN LIFE-PRAYER

I give myself unto prayer. Ps. 109: 4.

Why therefore should we do ourselves this wrong,
Or others, that we are not always strong,
That we are ever overcome with care;

That we should ever weak or heartless be,
Anxious or troubled, when with us is prayer,
And joy and strength and courage are with Thee.
-Rt. Rev. Richard Chenevix Trench.

When morning's beams awake me

To scenes of life once more,

I seek my Father's guidance,
And aid divine implore.

When evening draws her curtains,
And veils the light of day,

Amid the quiet shadows

I steal awhile to pray.

-William Alburtis Cauldwell.

31

(HOULD we trace the history of all who have dis

honored their profession, and have wandered from their church, it would be found, in the majority of instances, that the first step in the downward way was taken when they neglected the place of secret prayer. To be strong among men we must receive strength when alone with God. We need for the development of character times of quiet study of the scripture and of secret communion with God. There is much less of earnest meditation on divine things than our spiritual growth demands. Christ often found a secret place of prayer on the lonely mountain. He has commanded us to enter into our closet. Have you all some secret place where God has met with you and where you often meet Him?

O Thou that hearest prayer, unto Thee shall all flesh come. Ps. 65:2. Blessed be God, who hath not turned away my prayer, nor His loving-kindness for me. Amen. Ps. 66:20.

Be strong all ye people of the land, saith Jehovah, and work, for I am with you, saith Jehovah of hosts. Haggai. 2:4.

Be strong,

Say not the days are evil. Who's to blame?
And fold thy hands and acquiesce, O shame!
Stand up, speak out, and bravely in God's name.

Be strong,

It matters not how deep entrenched the wrong,
How hard the battle goes, the cry how long,
Faint not, fight on, to-morrow brings the song.

Be strong,

We are not here to play, to dream, to drift;
We have hard work to do, and loads to lift;
Shun not the struggle, face it, 'tis God's gift.

-Rev. Maltbie D. Babcock.

O many church members are sulking in their tents instead of working or fighting on the field. Too many think the church is an ambulance to bear them to some spiritual retreat. Too many think the church is a hospital for the wounded, rather than a school for learners, a vineyard for workers, and a battlefield for fighters. The man who strives to do as little as possible, and to possess only such Christian graces as will not interfere with worldly enjoyment, is guilty of the very climax of meanness and folly. The man who is determined to have only as much religion as will admit him to heaven, is not likely ever to get nearer to heaven than he is now, in his half-hearted Christian life upon earth.

Blessed are they that dwell in Thy house; they will be still praising Thee. Blessed is the man whose strength is in Thee, in whose heart are the highways of Zion. Amen. Ps. 84:4, 5.