The Soul thirsts for God like a Hart.—Ps. 42. I. Prayer compared to the importunate friend at midnight, Luke 11.5-8; the importunate widow, Luke 18.5; wrestling Jacob, Gen. 32. 21-32; called pouring out of the heart, Ps. 62. 8; drawing near to God, Heb. 10. 22; looking up, Ps. 5. 3; waiting as a servant.

The deer are accustomed to gather themselves at noon to the cool solitude and refreshing brook, and are often seen reclining in groups upon the mossy bank, or quenching their thirst in the shallow stream. Sometimes the hunters scare them from their nook, and chase them over the open brow above the woods under the sultry sun. Panting with the heat and exertion, they make for their favourite haunt and the quiet brook. From some change of purpose, the pursuers discontinued the chase; and the frightened and exhausted creatures are suffered to plunge into the copses, and find their way to the shades for which they longed. How eager must have been their draught, when they reached the brook-how grateful and refreshing the plunge into the flood, and the rest amidst the moss and fern! Such is the soul in the desert of this world thirsting for the true amrita, or waters of life, flowing from God's throne.

Urdu.-The thirsty person goes to the well, not the well to him. The thirsty is most eager for water. Persian.-When one is thirsty, one thousand pearls are not worth one drop of water.

Turk. It is the squalling child that gets the milk. Badaga.-Do we give milk to the cat that cries, or to the cat that does not cry?

China. Even the ripest fruit does not drop into one's mouth. We must knock that it might be opened. Russian.-Pray to God, but continue to row to the shore. We must watch, as well as pray.

Talmud. Should man not go after wisdom? wisdom will not come to him.

Sanskrit. The king is the strength of the weak, crying is the strength of children.

What six proverbs illustrate the thirst of prayer? Urdu.-Hunger is the best sauce and fatigue the best pillow.

The Heavenly Home.-JOHN 14. 2.

Heaven unlike a good earthly home in three points:

Heaven is represented under the emblems of " a better country," "a paradise" without any serpent, "a city" paved with gold, "a palace," but "home" is an emblem familiar to all—all can understand the "father's house."

Allusion in the text to the temple of Jerusalem where God dwelt, 1 Kings 8. 10, II, with many chambers for priests and Levites. Kings' palaces have many rooms. The Vatican, the Pope's residence, has 4,000 chambers. In this world we are only pilgrims; heaven is our home.

Heaven like a good earthly home in six points:

1. Place of birth—earliest recollections: early recollections, like the tamarind roots are not easily pulled up, cling to the memory, so heaven to the believer; he is "born from above." The heavenly Jerusalem is the mother of us all, "light from heaven first illumined him," hence he seeks the things above; his religious affections fixed on an unseen world.

2. Residence of our best friends, our family, and the old servants attract us to it, so heaven the residence of the Father of mercies, of "Christ, our eldest brother," the spirits of just men made perfect, "our younger brethren," besides ministering spirits. No family contentions there; the Father of lights there without variableness, Jas. I. 17.

3. Source of sweetest comforts: the child found in clothes and education, the prodigal son thought of his father's house, Luke 15. 17; so the Christian has bread from heaven and the water of life, they shall go no more out; "the lamb shall feed them."

4. Security: a father's house a sure refuge; "no plague comes nigh our dwelling," Ps. 91; "no lion shall be there." "Under the shadow of the wings of the Almighty."

5. Habitation to which a right is claimed; the child considers the father's things "ours," my father, your father. Though here we may not have where to lay our head, there is heaven, "a building of God."

6. Free of care: children have no anxiety to provide for the family; "they shall enter into peace." They shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Mat. 8. II.

The earthly father's house often desolate after years, but Christ the "same yesterday and for ever." Earthly abode a shifting one, small in tents; heaven has many mansions, the "palace of the great king," "if children, then heirs." David said, "Though father or mother forsake me," believers, though here they may wander in dens and caves, Heb. II., "shall sit with Christ on his throne," "as one whom his mother comforted, so will God." "Forget thy father's house"-i.e., the earthly.

The Righteous are God's Husbandry.—1 Cor. 3. 9.

The righteous God's husbandry in twelve points :

The relation of Christ to his Church is pointed out in the Bible under a variety of pleasing images, such as of a building, jewels, friends (see Parable of Vineyard, Mat. 21. 33); here it is under that of a well-managed farm.

1. Believers are God's special property. Ground in commonage is not well cultivated, it must become the property of some person to be attended to; so the Lord's portion is his people, purchased from the waste of this world, of a price, if not according to the intrinsic value, yet according to the interest taken by the purchaser.

2. Meted out, separated. Boundaries for farms are necessary, so the boundaries of the visible and invisible

church, of the church and the world—" I have chosen you out of the world."

3. Fenced and protected. A stone may be a landmark, or a furrow may be a line of division; but a fence is necessary to prevent trespass. "My beloved had a garden, he fenced it." Church discipline and laws are a fence; so is God's providence. "Hast thou not set a fence around Job?" "A garden enclosed is my sister." out from among them and be separate.

Come

4. Subject to a spiritual cultivation. The fruits of righteousness are the great object. Many improvements of late have been made in agriculture; so it is necessary to improve in spiritual husbandry. God says, "What could I have done more for my vineyard than I have done ?"

5. An adequate band of labourers is provided. Labourers are necessary for a farm; among the Jews, a whole tribe was set apart for this spiritual work; God gave some apostles and some prophets; he finds labourers idle in the market; sees and thrusts them out; "he that puts his hand to the plough and looks back is not fit for the kingdom of God."

6. Suitable instruments are furnished. Man's hand could do little without the spade and plough. God's word is the plough to root out weeds. The fallow ground of the heart must be ploughed up. Weeds must be destroyed, and the light must enter; "the word of God is sharper than a two-edged sword;" the ploughshare of conviction breaks up the fallow soil; such were those who were pricked to the heart when Peter preached, Acts 2. 37. "The peaceable fruits of righteousness," rending the heart, not the garment. The mattock of the law from Sinai will break very hard soil, Is. 7. 25; so the hammer of God's word, Jer. 23. 29. Affliction destroys the weeds of

corruption.

Drainage for

7. The soil is improved and enriched. some, manure for other, soils is necessary; as the field

becomes fertile from blood and bones, so the blood of atonement purges the conscience from dead works. gives a heart of flesh.

God

8. The soil must be sown with heavenly seed. Without this seed vice will spring up; sowing requires good seed, good soil, and a good season; no good seed of itself, John 3. 6.

9. The crop must be watched and dressed.

Seed must be pressed into the soil, and protected from vermin and cattle; the crop is sometimes over-luxuriant.

10. The soil must be watered. Egypt was watered by the foot to convey water in rivulets. Blessed are they that sow beside all waters "floods on the dry ground."

II. Fruit is expected: hence the waiting for the latter rain. The harvest of the earth will be gathered" in by God, then the joy of harvest home, Is. 9. 3.

12. Low lands are more fertile than high. Rain descends on the valley and remains, Jer. 17. 8.

Fruit was sought on the fig-tree three years, Luke 13.7, hence Christ cursed it. The husbandmen that would not cultivate were destroyed, Mark 12. 9. The seven Churches of Asia had their hedges broken down. God is the sole proprietor, and cannot be dispossessed. He is never weary, and never grows old, Is. 40. 28; he can make bad trees good and sends rain.

The Incense of Prayer.-REV. 5. 8.

Prayer like incense in five points :

Incense was made from the gum extracted from the bark of a tree; being used in sacrifices, it was brought as a present to the Infant Saviour, Mat. 2. II. It was a symbol of prayer as it ascended, so did Cornelius's prayer, Acts 10. 4, Ps. 141. 2; was made pure from the gum of a tree in Arabia; was purifying, removing the smell from the burning flesh and blood of the sacrifices;