us the Book of Revelation, which alone points out the way to God clearly, and reveals his infinite love and mercy.

THE VISIBLE CREATION.

The God of nature and of grace

In all his works appears;

His goodness through the earth we trace,
His grandeur in the spheres.

Behold this fair and fertile globe,
By him in wisdom plann'd;
'Twas he who girded, like a robe
The ocean round the land.

Lift to the firmament your eye,
Thither his path pursue;
His glory, boundless as the sky,
O'erwhelms the wondering view.

The forests in his strength rejoice;
Hark! on the evening breeze,
As once of old, the Lord God's voice
Is heard among the trees.

Here on the hills he feeds his herds,
His flocks on yonder plains:

His praise is warbled by the birds;-
Oh, could we catch their strains!

Mount with the lark, and bear our song
Up to the gates of light;

Or, with the nightingale prolong
Our numbers through the night!

In every stream his bounty flows,
Diffusing joy and wealth;

In every breeze his Spirit blows,
The breath of life and health.

His blessings fall in plenteous showers
Upon the lap of earth,

That teems with foliage, fruit, and flowers,
And rings with infant mirth.

If God hath made this world so fair,
Where sin and death abound,
How beautiful beyond compare

Will paradise be found!

HEAVEN.

Montgomery.

I praised the earth in beauty seen,
With garlands gay of various green;
I praised the sea, whose ample field
Shone glorious as a silver shield;
And earth and ocean seemed to say,
"Our beauties are but for a day."

I praised the sun whose chariot rolled
On wheels of amber and of gold;
I praised the moon whose softer eye
Gleamed sweetly through the summer sky;
And moon and sun in answer said,
"Our days of light are numbered."

O God! O good beyond compare!
If thus thy meaner works are fair;
If thus thy bounties gild the span
Of ruined earth and sinful man;
How glorious must the mansion be

Where thy redeemed shall dwell with thee!

Heber.

2.-FLOWERS.

AMONG the many sources of enjoyment which God has given to us on earth are the flowers, scattered wild and free over the face of nature like a garland of beauty. "Bright clustering in the forest shade,

Or springing from the sod,

As flung from Eden, forth they came,
Fresh from the hand of God!

No human care hath nurtur'd them,—
The wild wind passeth by;

They flourish in the sunshine gleam,
And tempest-clouded sky:
And oh! like every gift that He,

The bountiful, hath given,

Their treasures fall alike to all,

Type of his promised heaven."

The woodland and the meadow, the mountain and the valley, each sends forth its rich offering of flowers. We see them bordering the footpaths, adorning the hedgerows, smiling in the shady wood, and in sweet clusters decking the river banks. Each situation and each season has its peculiar flowers.

Let us thank God for so clothing the earth with beauty.

THE USE OF FLOWERS.

God might have bade the earth bring forth

Enough for great and small,

The oak-tree and the cedar-tree,

Without a flower at all.

He might have made enough, enough
For every want of ours,-
For luxury, medicine, and toil,—
And yet have made no flowers.

The ore within the mountain-mine
Requireth none to grow,

Nor doth it need the lotus flower
To make the river flow.

The clouds might give abundant rain,
The nightly dews might fall,

And the herb that keepeth life in man
Might yet have drunk them all.

Then wherefore, wherefore were they made,
All dyed with rainbow light;
All fashioned with supremest grace,
Upspringing day and night;

Springing in valleys green and low,
And on the mountains high,

And in the silent wilderness,
Where no man passes by?

Our outward life requires them not,-
Then wherefore had they birth?
To minister delight to man,

To beautify the earth;

To comfort man,-to whisper hope
Whene'er his faith is dim;
For who so careth for the flowers

Will much more care for him!

Mary Howitt.

THE richest clothing or the most curious embroidery will not for a moment compare with the beauty of a flower. When examined through a microscope, the most finished and delicate work which the skill of man can produce looks coarse and rough. But it is not so with a flower; for the more closely it is examined, the more beautiful it appears. Even flowers that we commonly call weeds, when viewed through a microscope, display a beauty and delicacy of form which no skill or art of man can equal.

He who is not only Christ our Saviour, but the Lord and Creator of all, for "by him all things were made," knew the perfection of his own handiwork, and thus taught his disciples to learn a lesson from the lilies of the field :

"Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:

"And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these.

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"Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, 0 ye of little faith?

"Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?

"(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek ;) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.