Heights within thy pathway lie,
Heights whose summits pierce the sky!
Many and oft a saint before thee
Who that mountain path hath trod,
Gathered there some beams of glory,
And while earth-bound, walked with God.
'Tis for thee to do as they,

Yet thou askest, Show the way!

As the parched and barren land
Craving for the genial shower,
Waits, impatient to expand

Bud and leaf in shrub and flower;
When the genial showers descend
Hastes to drink their bounty in,
While the tender flowerets bend
And their fragrance widely fling:
Christian, so thy life must be,
Thou within a germ dost bear
Seeds of immortality.

'Twas the Spirit placed it there;
He will make it spring and grow
Till to perfect stature risen ;
Then transplant it from below
To its Eden home in heaven.

Would'st thou seek that each day's sun
Find that hidden life expand,

Though it owe its grace alone

To the Heavenly Trainer's hand?
Wouldst thou that each veil of night
Find thee farther on thy way,

Shining with a radiant light
More and more to perfect day?
Then with childlike, trustful love
Lift the eye of faith above,
Where within the Temple gates
Jesus thy Forerunner waits.

Christian, dost thou truly know "Tis for thee He waiteth there?

Waits, to guide thy way below,
Waits, to guard from every snare.

There He stands, thy great High Priest
With thy name upon His breast,
Entered now within the veil
Waiting at the mercy-seat.

There thy cries must sure prevail,
Plead His promise at His feet,
And while bending humbly there,
Plead the earnest fervent prayer-

Saviour, whose life, whose death was all for nie,
And Thine obedience mine,

Oh suffer me to yield myself to Thee

And make me wholly Thine.

Grant me to lie within Thy arms of love,

From self entirely free,

To anchor to the glorious Hope above,

To trust my all to Thee.

I'd be the helpless clay-the Potter Thou-
Oh mould me to Thy will,

In joyous yielding let my spirit bow,

And bid my soul be still.

I tremble not, though tossed on life's rough sea, Nor heed the breakers' roar;

For every billow, guided, Lord, by Thee,

But nears me to the shore,

The further shore! Oh joy, I've anchored there! Steadfast, and sure, and strong!

And Thou wilt guide and guard and safely bear
And bring me home ere long.

Lord, 'tis enough, I am no more mine own,
Saviour, for ever Thine, and Thine alone."

Child of God, it is for thee,
Helpless, sinful, weak, and frail,
From that sinful self to flee
Ground thy hopes within the veil.
'Tis for thee in Christ to live,
Nearer, closer, day by day,

This it is alone can give

Strength for progress in the way.
In His strength then follow on,
Till thy travelling days are done,
Folded in His arms of grace

Till thou meet Him face to face.

S. M. W.

GOD'S MIGHTY POWER.

JOHN xii. 21.

It is a spiritual axiom, that nothing will win the soul but love; and Jesus is love embodied. It is only where the heart is thus drawn that there will be true obedience, and that obedience delightful. All obedience, all service, must be constraint, where the love of Christ is not the great motive. The heart knows of no sacrifice too great for the beloved One. Its joy is to lay down the most costly at its feet. It makes even drudgery delightful. Oh, if we want happy obedience to God's will, if we want the heart, the head, the hands, the feet, engaged in active service for the Lord, let Jesus be kept clear before the soul's view. No motive in earth or heaven so powerful as this. Nothing will break the bonds of sin so quickly asunder, nothing will burst the ties of the world, nothing will wean the soul so effectually from the shadows that are playing around it, as this. Commands will not draw, threatenings will not draw, promises will not draw; nothing will avail but a Saviour presented to the soul by the Spirit of God. As we "look unto Jesus," we may

run with patience," but not otherwise.

To begin with exhortations to obedience is beginning at the end. All service then is, at best, but duty or constraint. But let the Spirit of God only unveil to the soul the preciousness of Jesus, and how. soon all is changed! What a transformation in the once sluggish, slow-paced heart! How every motive is elevated and purified! How alacrity is stamped on every faculty, and the soul seems to breathe a new element ! What is the secret cause? A sight of Jesus. How vain it is to enforce commands or obedience without this!

is made, no step taken.

No wonder that no effort
How can it be otherwise?

The heart has seen nothing better than what it
possesses to move it. It loves its own; and till it
sees something better it will not, it cannot, relax its
hold or change its course.
Look at a child. See

how it grasps its foolish toy. If you attempt to wrest it from it, it will only grasp it more tightly; yea, every energy will be strained as if it were about to lose its costliest blessing. What can be done? Reason with it? What folly! Wrest it from its grasp ? You may do that, but its tears will only flow faster after the loss. What then? Hold up to its view another more attractive. How quickly the former is dropped, and how eagerly it extends its hand to the new prize! Man is but a child in grace. He must be treated as a child, or his soul will never be reached and won. Give up the world he will not. Set forward on the path of obedience