BEAUTY OF HOLINESS.

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the sunshine of a more loving heart, of a more kindly countenance, of a more smiling face, and with eyes all twinkling with fun and merriment; joyous sunshine will then dissipate the sombre clouds of the household, and children, and servants, and you yourself will be a thousand times happier. Try it for a week; be more of an angel in spirit and less like a demon at heart, and you will be so pleased with the change that you will ever thereafter try to be an angel still.

BEAUTY OF HOLINESS.

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Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord."-St. Paul.

- IF

F the sun shines on a dull brick or stone, they reflect none of its beams, there is nothing in them capable of this; nor is there in an ungodly man any natural power of reflecting the light of God. But let the sun shine upon a diamond, and we see what rays of sparkling beauty it emits. Just so the Christian who has the grace of the Spirit; when God shines on his soul, beams of celestial loveliness are reflected by him on the world. The Christian's character should savour of holiness.-Rev. R. Hill.

We must walk in Christ as our way, walk in His Spirit as our principle, His righteousness as our plea, and His life as our pattern.—Henry.

Let our make and place, as men, remind us of our duty as Christians, which is, always to keep heaven in our eye, and the earth under our feet.-Henry.

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BEAUTY OF HOLINESS.

Holiness is the habit of being of one mind with God, according as we find His mind described in Scripture. It is the habit of agreeing in God's judgment-hating what He hates-loving what He loves-and measuring everything in the world by the standard of His Word. He who most entirely agrees with God, he is the most holy man.

A holy life is a voice; it speaks when the tongue is silent, and is either a constant attraction or a perpetual reproof.

THE BIBLE.

"The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.”—Psalms.

HE geography and natural history of the Scriptures

become more interesting and instructive, when elucidated by the investigations of modern travellers. Prophecies and their fulfilment, recorded in its pages, are evidenced in history by the rise and fall of empires, and merit an attentive examination; while imagination may safely revel in the glorious pictures of that blessed eternity revealed in the Bible alone. The beauty and variety of style in scripture defy competition and preclude satiety; the simplicity of its historical relations-the majesty of its triumphal odes-the awfulness of its threatenings-the beauty of its imagery—the grandeur of its prophecies— and the tenderness of its invitations—no human composition can ever equal.

As the word of God, well studied, will help us to understand His providences; so the providence of God, well observed, will help us to understand His Word, for God is every day fulfilling the Scripture.-Henry.

With what a mixture of fear, reverence, and holy joy, should we open the Bible-the book of truth and happiness! God's heart opened to man! and yet the whole and every part of it secreted from him, and hid under an impenetrable veil, till he opens his heart to God.-Adam.

No word of God must be incredible to us, as long as no work of God is impossible to Him.-Henry.

Thou hearest the word, and thou canst in no way escape from it. Thou mayest deny it, but that will not destroy it. Thou mayest try to shake it from thee, but it will not leave thee. Thou mayest inter it in the grave of forgetfulness, but know that, like a spectre, it will yet meet thee.-Krummacher.

Woful is the condition of that man that has the Word of God and the prayers of the poor against him.—Henry.

When we study the writings of men, it is well if, after much pains and labour, we find some particles of truth amongst a great deal of error. When we read the Scriptures, all we meet with is truth. In the former case, we are like the Africans on the Gold Coast, of whom it is said that they dig pits nigh the water-falls of mountains abounding in gold, then, with incredible pains and industry, wash off the sand till they espy at the bottom two or three shining grains of the metal, which only just pay their labour. In the latter case, we work in a mine sufficient to enrich ourselves and all about us.-Bishop Horne.

Men's hearts and lives must come up to God's law, and comply with that; for God's law will never come down to them, or comply with them.-Henry.

The will of God is my pole-star; and with my eye constantly upon it, I shall be carried safely through all storms and tempests.-Adam.

They that tremble at the convictions of the Word, may triumph in the consolations of it.—Henry.

It is no objection to the truth of Scripture, that so many different sects find their own opinions in it. For, first, if they were all agreed in their sense of it, and submissive to it, the testimony it brings against the blindness and corruption of mankind would be weakened; secondly, it is no disparagement to a looking-glass that all see something in it that is pleasing to themselves; the glass is true,, the eye is partial.-Adam.

The mine of Scripture is inexhaustible: and from the time at which it was first opened, till the time when faith shall be exchanged for sight, not one labourer who works therein, even to the most robust, to the most feeble, will remain unrewarded by a participation in its wealth.Schimmelk.

The hardness which is in the Word of God is very profitable; for it causes a man to take that profit by pains, which he could not take with negligence. If the understanding were open and manifest, it would be little set by. -Bishop Reynolds.