Character-Building according to Pattern. 29 promise by praying in childhood at his mother's side, and ended in a drunkard's doom? no young man who left the parental roof with promises of obedience to the heavenly call upon his lips, who has forgotten those promises and pierced the hearts of parents with bitter pangs of grief? Are there none before me now who remember solemn vows made at God's altarvows which have not been kept, holy purposes that have vanished into "airy nothings?" Are there none who entered upon a course of study with the purpose of devoting their lives to the Christian ministry, who, by their neglect and thoughtlessness, have drifted into a realm of darkness and doubt and indifference to spiritual things? Am I addressing none from whose mind the blessed vision has faded? none to whom the lofty ideal of life has lost its beauty and attraction? none with whom the heavenly pattern has ceased to lend its inspiration to life? If such there be, listen to these kindly voices from earth and heaven; recall the faded vision; renew the broken vows; rekindle the expiring flame of devotion; replace the withdrawn sacrifice upon the altar of consecration; and henceforth watch with double diligence, and, with never-faltering fidelity, "See that thou make all things according to the pattern showed to thee in the mount." This, then, is the priceless lesson of this hour's study. God reveals to each of you a perfect pattern results of heeding it. Build as the l and vision bid you, and not all the force bined can make your life a failure. build upon conspicuous heights that go of success at whose gilded shrines men ship. Your humbler edifice may not o attention and admiration of the world; b the true development of God's ideal, re mony with the eternal laws that hold the being, and it shall stand while the throne dures. "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; knowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." "My strength is as the strength of ten Because my heart is pure."-TENNYSON "There is but one temple in the universe, and that man."-NOVALIS. "His life was gentle, and the elements "The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him: but his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob."-GENESIS xlix, 23, 24. HE book of human character, next to the book of THE God, contains the most valuable lessons for our study; and when the record of character is found in the sacred volume, the two sources of wisdom become one, and present a pre-eminent claim upon our attention. The lessons which may be learned from the study of the biographies of the Bible are serviceable to all classes of persons; but to the young, especially, they are invaluable. Our present object is to portray some of the more prominent and representative characters of Bible history in such manner as to remove them from the realm of unreality in which the mind naturally places them, and bring them into real and realized relations with the world in which we live and circumstances essentially like those which surround ourselves. Thus it is hoped that in the study of these "Guides and Guards," which inspiration has given us for instruction and admonition, the youth and the manhood of |