split the building without breaking the cement, "who shall separate," Rom. 8. 35.

7. Be formed into a complete habitation, vast in extent, and ornamental, "a fount for cleansing, illuminated by the seven spirits of God;" it has a throne of grace.Heb. 4. 6.

Malabar.-The foundation for a thatched and for a tiled house will be laid the same way.

Persian.-A little water is sufficient for clay already moistened—i.e., little instruction will suffice for him who has got a foundation by previous study.

God the Fountain of Living Waters.-JER. 2. 13.

Water is essential for life as well as for health, it is continually applied in Holy Scripture to represent the necessity of divine grace; and thus a well or spring of water becomes an emblem of the eternal source of all spiritual blessings, and of salvation itself. The blood of our blessed Saviour, by which his people are washed from the defilements of sin, is called a fountain opened to the house of David, and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness, Zech. 13. 1. The quickening and refreshening influences of the Holy Spirit, are in like manner compared by our Lord Himself to rivers of living water, John 7. 38; God declaring Himself "a fountain of living waters," sets Himself forth as the source of all temporal and spiritual good.

With what eager longing must the pilgrims crossing the desert look forward to their repose on the favoured spot, where a perpetual spring creates a little island of verdure or oasis in the midst of the burning plain!

God is called "The Fountain of Living Waters,”—i.e., waters always moving, flowing, and in action; the constant supply of all the comfort and relief we can possibly need; in contrast to dead or stagnant waters, which constantly send forth a noisome smell,

The sun has not the less light for filling the air with light. A fountain has not the less for filling the lesser vessels. There is in Christ the fulness of a fountain. The overflowing fountain pours out water abundantly, and yet remains full. God is such an overflowing fountain; he fills all, and yet remains full. As the worth and value of many pieces of silver is in one piece of gold, so all the petty excellences scattered abroad in the creature are united in God.

God is like a fountain in eight points:

(1) The source of rivers, so God of life, natural and spiritual, Rev. 21.6; (2) yields abundantly: God is an ocean of goodness; (3) pours freely into low places, Jas. 4.6; so the founts of the Ganges, rising in the snows of Gangotri, flow into the Ganges valley; (4) free to all, Is. 54. 1; (5) clear: rivers have sediment in them; (6) pleasant refreshes the garden of the Church; water makes vegetation spring up, even in the sandy deserts; (7) constant tanks dry up often in hot weather. Abraham's servants dried up the well; but this is a fountain sealed against filth, Cant. 4. 12; (8) often hidden: yet known by its waters. Christ's fountain was opened on the cross when his side was pierced, and when he sweat blood; the dying thief was a monument of its efficiency.

Raghuvansa.-The roads leading to perfection, which vary according to the different revealed systems, all

end in Thee (God), as the waves of the Ganges flow to the ocean.

Bhagavat Gita.-On God all this universe is woven, as gems on a string.

The Fowler of Souls.-EPH. 6. II.

We sometimes see a fluttering of wings among the grass on a bank, which shows that some poor bird is taken in the snare, and is vainly struggling to be free, but the

snare was set so skilfully that the bird could see nothing of its danger, but flew into it unawares.

he says,

There is an enemy who is ever setting snares in our path-Satan; and the snares are those many false reasonings and vain seductions by which he misleads to their ruin such as are unwary and unstable. To one "Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant," Pr. 9. 17. Satan tried to sift Peter like wheat, Luke 22. 31; against some he sends fiery darts, Eph. 6. 16, with others he wrestles, Eph. 6. 11. Satan as a fowler is crafty, appears in disguise as an angel of light, 2 Cor. II. 14; cruel, hunts and persecutes God's people, who are like the dove before the hawk. He is also for his destructiveness called the great Dragon, Rev. 20. 2.

Persian. He is put into a sack with a bear-i.e., in the hands of one too strong for him. Persian.―The devil does not spoil his own house, Mat. 12. 26.

Christ a Friend.-JOHN 15. 15.

Christ's friendship differs from earthly friendship in five points:

True friendship implies sympathy: such Job's friends showed not, but Christ is touched with a feeling of our infirmities, Heb. 4. 15. Union can two walk together unless they be agreed? Saul and Jonathan had their hearts knit, I Sam. 18. 1, so Christ to his people, Eph. 2. 14-16, Prov. 27. 17. Love the offspring of desire; Christ loves to the end, and has peculiar knowledge, the fuel for this love, John 10. 27; but the love of Christ passes knowledge. Intercourse: absence regretted: Christ was a great friend to Lazarus and the Bethany family. Christ is said to sup with the believer, Rev. 3. 20. John lay on Christ's bosom, John 13. 23. Secrets are made

known, so Abraham, the friend of God, found, Gen. 18. 17, Prov. 27. 6; faithful are the wounds of a friend.

Christ's friendship is never broken up-formed with mean persons-Christ forsakes not in adversity, and even lays down his life—no king a friend to a beggar; Christ the companion of publicans and sinners-no time or circumstances change it-always able as well as willing; as shown in Dorcas and Lazarus's case, Acts 9. 38-41, John II.

Persian.-Those false friends whom you see are like flies around the sweetmeats.

Naladayur.-Friendship with the mean, like the shadow of morning, will continually decrease.

Christ the first Fruits of them that Slept.-I COR. 15. 20.

The first fruits of the harvest were the pledge of the whole, such was Christ's resurrection of ours, or as the swallow and budding of flowers are of spring; when the body which called the worm its sister shall shine as the sun. The first fruits, like the first born, were esteemed the most valuable, hence the Canaanites caused their firstborn to pass through the fire, in order to appease the anger of their deities; one of the kings of Moab, when in danger from enemies, offered up his eldest son, 2 Kings 3. 27. Cain brought to God the first fruits of the ground, as Abel did the firstlings of the flock, Gen. 4. 4; the Jews always did so, Num. 18. 12.

Affliction's Furnace.-Is. 48. 10.

There are two furnaces, one of sanctified affliction, as Egypt was to the Jews, Deut. 4. 20, 1 Pet. 1. 6, 7; the fiery furnace injured not the three Hebrew children, Dan. 3.25; the other of unsanctified like Nebuchadnezzar's fiery furnace which consumed the evil, Dan. 3. 22; the former is like a pruning-knife which improves the plant, the latter like a chopper that cuts it off, Mat. 13. 42-50.

God's afflicted people are compared to silver. The precious metals are first taken out of the earth. They other substances, and in In order to refine them

are then impure-mixed with this state they are called ores. they are put into a furnace, and exposed to great heat. But this does not injure them; it only takes from them what is impure, and leaves the gold or the silver bright, beautiful, and clear. The refiner watches the metals all the time they are in the fire; and when he finds that they are so clear and pure that he can see his own face reflected in them, he takes them out of the furnace and uses them for the purposes he intended.

Aflictions of righteous and wicked differ in four points:—

In Malachi 3. 3, God compares the afflictions with which he tries his people, to the furnace into which the gold and silver are cast to be refined and purified. God loves and values his people. He calls them his "treasure," his "jewels." But, like the gold and silver, they have that in them which is impure-sin. And this sin must be taken away. God's people must be made. pure and holy before he can have pleasure in them and use them for his service, or take them to adorn his glorious. home in heaven. And how does God purify them? Sin must be taken away by Christ, and the heart must be made clean by the Holy Spirit. God has many ways of working all this in his people, and one way is by affliction. Like the refiner, he puts his precious gold and silver into the furnace the furnace of affliction. He sends sorrow and pain and sickness upon them. And why? Not to hurt them: no; but just for the same reason that the refiner puts his metals into the fire, to melt, to soften, to purify them. And then, like the refiner, God watches over them. He does not let them suffer more or longer than is right; and when he has made them what he intended by putting them into the furnace, he takes them from it. What God desires is to see his own image, his own likeness, reflected in his people.