WITHIN this ample volume lies
The mystery of mysteries;
Happiest they of human race

To whom their God has given grace,
To read, to fear, to hope, to pray,
To lift the latch, to force the way;
And better had they ne'er been born,
That read to doubt, or read to scorn.

SIR WALTER SCOTT.

(See also GOSPEL, REVELATION.)

BROTHERHOOD-FRIENDSHIP.

Ir a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand. MARK, iii, 25.
None of us liveth to himself. ROMANS, xiv, 7.

God hath made of one blood all the nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of t earth. AcTs, xvii, 26.

FOR God, who made this teeming earth so full,
And made the proud dependent on the dull-
The strong upon the weak, thereby would show
One common bond should link us all below.

MRS. NORTON.

CHRIST had His friends His eye could trace
In the long train of coming years,

The chosen children of His grace,

The full reward of all his tears.

These are His friends, and these are thine,
If thou to Him hast bowed the knee;
And where these ransomed millions shine
Shall thy eternal mansion be.

ANONYMOUS

E'EN as the dew, that, at the break of morning,
All nature with its beauty is adorning,

And flows from Heaven, calm and still,
And bathes the tender grass on Zion's hill,
And to the young and withering herb resigns
The drops for which it pines:

So are fraternal peace and concord ever
The cherishers without whose guidance, never
Would sainted quiet seek the breast,-
The life, the soul of unmolested rest,-
The antidote to sorrow and distress,
And prop of human happiness.

How, in one house,

KAMPHUYZEN.

Should many people, under two commands

Hold amity?

No man is lord of any thing,

SHAKSPEARE.

Though in and of him there be much consisting,

Till he communicate his parts to others.

SHAKSPEARE.

STRANGE is it that our bloods,

Of colour, weight, and heat, poured all together,
Would quite confound distinction, yet stand off

In difference so mighty.

SHAKSPEARE.

'Tis not enough to help the feeble up,

But to support him after.

SHAKSPEARE.

THE amity that wisdom knits not, folly

May easily untie.

SHAKSPEARE.

O, SWEET it is, through life's dark way
In Christian fellowship to move,

Illumed by one unclouded ray,

And one in faith, in hope, in love.

CHARLOTTE ELIZABETH.

THE BLIND-BLINDNESS.

THE Lord openeth the eyes of the blind. PSALM CXlvi, 8.

Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened. ISAIAH, XXV, 5.

He hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind. LUKE, iv, 18.

BUT in God's temple the great lamp is out,
And he must worship glory in the dark!
Till death, in midnight mystery, hath brought
The veiled soul's re-illuminating spark-
The pillar of the cloud enfolds the Ark!
And, like a man that prayeth underground

In Bethlehem's rocky shrine, he can but mark
The lingering hours by circumstance and sound,
And break, with gentle hymns, the solemn silence round.

Yet still life's Better Light shines out above!

And in that village church, where first he learned
To bear his cheerless doom, for heaven's dear love,
He sits, with wistful face, for ever turned
To hear of those who Heavenly pity earned;
Blind Bartimeus, and him desolate,

Who for Bethesda's waters vainly yearned:
And only sighs, condemned so long to wait,
Baffled and helpless still, beyond the Temple gate!

FOR now in truth I find

MRS. NORTON.

My Father all his promises hath kept;
He comforts those who here in sadness wept.
Eyes to the blind

Thou art, O God! Earth I no longer see,
Yet trustfully my spirit looks to thee.

MRS. NEAL.

THESE eyes, though clear,

To outward view, of blemish or of spot,
Bereft of light, their seeing have forgot;
Nor to their idle orbs doth sight appear
Of sun, or moon, or star, throughout the year,
Or man, or woman. Yet I argue not

Against Heaven's hand or will, nor bate a jot
Of heart or hope; but still bear up and steer
Right onward.

MILTON.

WHEN I consider how my light is spent
Ere half my days in this dark world and wide,
And that one talent which is death to hide,
Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my maker, and present

My true account, lest he returning chide; "Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?" I fondly ask but patience, to prevent

:

That murmur, soon replies, "God doth not need Either man's works, or his own gifts; who best

Bear His mild yoke, they serve Him best: His state Is kingly, thousands at his bidding speed,

And post o'er land and ocean without rest;

They also serve, who only stand and wait."

CAPTIOUSNESS-CENSURE.

JUDGE not, that ye be not judged. MATTHEW, vii, 1.

And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, and considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? MATTHEW, Vii, 3.

Let us not therefore judge one another any more, but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling-block, or an occasion to fall, in his brother's way. ROMANS, Xiv, 13.

HE that deals blame, and yet forgets to praise,
Who sets brief storms against long summer days,
Hath a sick judgment.

MRS. NORTON.

AND shall we all condemn, and all distrust,
Because some men are false, and some unjust?

BE not too ready to condemn

MRS. NORTON.

The wrong thy brothers may have done ;
Ere ye too harshly censure them

For human faults, ask, "Have I none?"

ELIZA COOK.

HE whom censure singles from the herd
To brand with infamy, whom envy loads
With blackening colours, to the Omniscient Judge,
Whom nought can bias, and whom nought deceives,
May otherwise appear.

GEORGE BALLY.

HAST thou created man, or canst thou make

Allowance for infirmity? Canst thou

Against his reason weigh his passion's force,

And thence pronounce his doom? By what base crime
Can he, thy equal, lose a natural right,

That thou shouldst rise so high above his state,

And, as a judge, consign him to destruction?

C. P. LAYARD.