May 26

5 ¶ Thus saith the LORD, What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me, and have walked after vaincy, and are become vain?

6 Neither said they, Where is the LORD that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, that led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts, all of pits, through a land of drought, and of the shallow of death, through a land that no man passed through, and where no man dwelt?

7 And I brought you in a plentiful country, to eat the fruit thereof and the goodness thereof; but when ye entered, ye dehi'd my land, and made mine heritage an abomination.

8 The priest said not, Where is the LORD? and they that handle the law knew me not: the pastors also transgressed against me, and the

prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit

9 ¶ Wherefore I will yet plead with you, saith the LORD, and with your children's children will I plead

10 For pass over the Isles of Chirim, and seer; and send unto Kedar, and consider diligently, and see if there be such a thing

11 Math a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? but my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit

12 Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, saith the LORD

13 For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.

"My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water." Thus God complains in the old covenant; and this complaint is in place in our own age. One frequents the springs of human wisdom, another drinks from the rapidly sinking brooks of earthly pleasures, whilst still another kneels down to filthy puddles of sinful lusts and swallows the water of death. The living water of grace and truth flows everywhere. The frost of winter does not freeze it, the heat of summer does not dry it up; no man can stop its flow, no one can drink it dry. This water not only quenches thirst, it creates thirst; not only those who come of themselves are welcome, but those who are yet afar off are invited to come freely.

The fulness of the earth can never satisfy the soul. The soul of man bears the image of God; so nothing can satisfy it but He whose image it bears. Nothing but emptiness attends all earthly things, unless they be found in Christ Jesus.

Closet Promise.—My God shall supply all your need, according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.—Phil. iv. 19.

"'All my need!' oh, what a wonderful promise is this, as fitting to our temporal as our eternal 'need.' But the wonder departs when we see what is the treasury whence God draws all these gifts—the riches of the glory of His grace through Christ Jesus! Oh, there is more than enough for the need of a million worlds!"

"Cast thou away each doubt and fear, Solace thy heart, dry every tear: Comfort, and health, and strength are here, Hither, O weary, look!"

For 'Wolom,' my Omnuscense plea, For 'Righteousness,' my perfect deed, For 'Holiness,' yea, all you need. To Me, O sinner, look!"

THE CHILDREN'S CORNER.

Breakfast Motto.—Ye are the salt of the earth—Matt. v. 13. Weekly Proverb.—A little too late, much too late.—Dutch.

DAILY BIBLE READING.—CHRIST'S MIGHTY DEEDS.

Sunday.—The Tempest Stilled.—Mark iv. 35-41.

Monday.—The Panic in Gadara.—Mark v. 1-21.

Tuesday.—The Only Daughter.—Luke viii. 41-56.

Wednesday.—Contrary Winds.—Matt. xiv. 22-36.

Thursday.—A Most Wonderful Miracle.—John xi. 1-46.

Friday.—Opening Blind Eyes.—Mark x 46-56.

Saturday.—The Woman who was Bent Double.—Luke xiii. 10-30.

HOW TO BE HAPPY.

Are you almost disgusted With life, little man?

I will tell you a wonderful trick

That will bring you contentment If anything can—

Do something for somebody, quick;

Do something for somebody, quick!

Are you awfully tired

With play, little girl?

Weary, discouraged, and sick?

I'll tell you the loveliest

Game in the world—

Do something for somebody, quick;

Do something for somebody, quick!

Though it rains like the rain

Of the flood, little man,

And the clouds are forbidding and thick,

You can make the sun shine

In your soul, little man—

Do something for somebody, quick;

Do something for somebody, quick!

Though the skies are like brass

Overhead, little girl,

And the walk like a well-heated brick;

And are earthly affairs

In a terrible whirl?

Do something for somebody, quick;

Do something for somebody, quick!

—Selected.

Touch not, taste not, handle not.—Col. ii. 21.

I mean strong drink. Alcohol is poison. The word Alcohol (El Gohul is the right way to spell it) means "Great Evil Spirit." It wasn't enough to call it the evil spirit, but the Arabians, because they had never found anything else that did so much harm, called it the great evil spirit. If you take two bottles, and fill one with water, and the other with alcohol, they will look just alike. Now how can you find out which bottle has the water, and which the alcohol? I will tell you. Suppose you pour a little from the bottles into two saucers, and offer them to your dog when he is thirsty, which would he drink?—the water; and you couldn't coax him to drink the other. And it would be just so if you should offer him some one of the drinks that people sell in saloons, such as "brandy," "beer," "wine,"

"cider," and "whiskey." These all have alcohol in them, and are poison. The Indians call drinks that have alcohol in them "fire-water;" because they burn so. If you break an egg and drop the white of it in alcohol, it will be cooked! Children, our brains are something like that egg, and alcohol hardens them, if we use it, just in the same way. That's what makes a drunken man stagger so when he tries to walk, and talk so strangely when he tries to talk.

THE TEMPEST AT SEA.

Perhaps you have seen the sea, and how rough are its waves. If you ever saw it in a storm, you will remember how terrible it looks. It dashes against the rocks as if it would crush them to pieces. In such a storm the disciples were when Jesus was with them in a ship, crossing the sea of Galilee. While they were all in alarm, and "the ship was covered with waves," He was in a sweet sleep. They became so terrified that they ran to Him, and awoke Him, saying, "Lord, save us; we perish." Then Jesus arose and spoke to the winds and sea, and said, "Be still;" and there was a great calm. Why did the winds and sea obey the command of Jesus? Because He was God, the God who made them, and everything in the world; who said to the sea, "Hitherto shalt thou come, and no further." You see one word from Jesus could bring peace and comfort. And He can do something still more wonderful. He can calm and quiet our angry passions, and say to them, "Peace, be still." Let us ask Him to do so, whenever these sinful feelings arise in our hearts, and He will hear us, as He did the poor fearful disciples.


THE TEMPEST AT SEA.

Then He arose, and rebuked the wind and the raging of the waters; and they ceased, and there was a calm—1206 VIII. 24 (1761)

TWENTY-SECOND WEEK.

PEARL TEXT.—In Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.—Col. h. 9.

Thou, O most compassionate, Who didst stoop to our estate, Drinking of the cup we drain, Treading in our path of pain, Through the doubt and mystery, Grant to us Thy steps to see.

And the grace to draw from thence Larger hope and confidence. Snow Thy vacant tomb, and let As of old the angels sit, Whispering, by its open door, "Fear not, He hath gone before." —Whittier.

The longer I live, the more I am assured that the business of life is to understand the Lord Christ.—G. Macdonald.

Every day we may see some new things in Christ; His love hath neither brim nor bottom.—Selected.

Lay hold upon Christ with both your poor, empty hands.—Elizabeth Prentiss.

We may have as much of God as we will. Christ puts the key of the treasure-chamber into our hand, and bids us take all that we want. If a man is admitted into the bullion vault of a bank, and told to help himself, and comes out with one cent, whose fault is it that he is poor? Whose fault is it that Christian people generally have such scanty portions of the free riches of God?—McLaren.

HELPS FOR THE DEVOTIONAL HOUR.