Sorrows will their shadow throw;
Broken oft the early bow;
Early leaves the pathway strew,
Home-flowers blighted ere they blow;
Gourds lie withered ere they grow;
Sundown while yet morning-glow.
Friendships come and friendships go:
Billows tossing to and fro;
All at best a passing show.
But, amid the ebb and flow,
'Tis enough for me to know
All that happens here below
Thou in love appointest so:
Green or ripe, Thy right to mow,
Reaping what Thy hand did sow,
Taking what Thou didst bestow,
Raising up and laying low,-

EVEN SO!

PART I.

Illustrative Bible Cases.

I.

THE DEATH OF A CHILD.

AND IT CAME TO PASS AFTER THESE THINGS, THAT THE SON OF THE WOMAN, THE MISTRESS OF THE HOUSE, FELL SICK; AND HIS SICKNESS WAS SO SORE, THAT THERE WAS NO BREATH LEFT IN HIM. AND SHE SAID UNTO ELIJAH, WHAT HAVE I TO DO WITH THEE, O THOU MAN OF GOD? ART THOU COME UNTO ME TO CALL MY SIN TO REMEMBRANCE, AND TO SLAY MY SON? AND HE SAID UNTO HER, GIVE ME THY SON. AND HE TOOK HIM OUT OF HER BOSOM, AND CARRIED HIM UP INTO A LOFT WHERE HE ABODE, AND LAID HIM UPON HIS OWN BED. AND HE CRIED UNTO THE LORD, AND SAID, O LORD MY GOD, HAST THOU ALSO BROUGHT EVIL UPON THE WIDOW WITH WHOM I SOJOURN, BY SLAYING HER SON? AND HE STRETCHED HIMSELF UPON THE CHILD THREE TIMES, AND CRIED UNTO THE LORD, AND SAID, O LORD MY GOD, I PRAY THEE, LET THIS CHILD'S SOUL COME INTO HIM AGAIN. AND THE LORD HEARD THE VOICE OF ELIJAH; AND THE SOUL OF THE CHILD CAME INTO HIM AGAIN, AND HE REVIVED. AND ELIJAH TOOK THE CHILD, AND BROUGHT HIM DOWN OUT OF THE CHAMBER INTO THE HOUSE, AND DELIVERED HIM UNTO HIS MOTHER: AND ELIJAH SAID, SEE, THY SON LIVETH. AND THE WOMAN SAID TO ELIJAH, NOW BY THIS I KNOW THAT THOU ART A MAN OF GOD, AND THAT THE WORD OF THE LORD IN THY MOUTH IS TRUTH."-I KINGS Xvii. 17-24.

THE DEATH OF A CHILD.

HE death of a child!-reminding us, that, three thousand years ago, the griefs of the old world were identical with our own:-1 -the stricken hearts of mourning parents the same in the ancient homes of Palestine as in the modern homes of England: the Rachels in both "weeping for their children and will not be comforted because they are not!"

From the words which stand at the head of this chapter, the prophet Elijah was now under the roof of the widow of Zarephath. A grievous famine was still raging amid the thousands around. But as each morning's sun rose on the inmates of this tranquil home, lo, the barrel and the cruse described in the preceding context, and which the evening meal seemed to have exhausted, were again replenished. God's mercies were "new to them every morning, and His faithfulness every night."

We can only venture to surmise how the Prophet's hours, in this secluded dwelling, would be spent. We can follow him in thought as betimes, perchance, he wandered up the rocky ridges which flanked the town; gazing now on the everlasting snows of Hermon, now on the wood-crowned top of Tabor:-thus beholding