July 16

1 Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw high, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them.

2 While the sun, or the light, or the moon,

or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain.

3 In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows be darkened.

4 And the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of music shall be brought low:

5 Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fall; because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets.

6 Or ever the silver cord be locked, in the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the eastern.

7 Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was; and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.

8 9 Vanity of varieties, with the Preacher; all is vanity.

9 And moreover, because the Preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge; yes, he gave good heed, and sought out, and set in order many proverbs.

10 The Preacher sought to find out acceptable words, and that which was written to upright, even words of truth.

11 The words of the wise are as good, and as nails fastened in the masters of ascend lies, which are given from one shepherd.

12 And further, by these, my son, be admonished, of making many books there is no end; and much study in a weariness of the flesh.

13 5 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man.

14 For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.

Life is a trust of sacred and infinite import. It is given us for a purpose, and is not to be idled or frittered away. It is brief, and yet eternal issues hang upon it.

"Old age is making haste; and there are none of us that can be young long; and many of us have already passed by our youth. Now, in the wisdom of God, the way to be happy in old age is the very way of being happy all our life. It should be borne in mind that in old age it is too late to mend; that then you must inhabit what you have built. Old age has the foundation of its joys and its sorrows laid in youth. You are building at twenty. Are you building for seventy? A man's life is not like the contiguous cells in a bee's honey-comb; it is more like the separate parts of a plant which unfolds out of itself, every part bearing relation to all that antecede. That which you do in youth is the root, and all the after parts, middle age and old age, are the branches and the fruits, whose character the root will determine."—H. W. Beecher.

Closet Promise.—The Lord knoweth the days of the upright.—Psalm xxxvii. 18.

The twilight falls, the night is near, I fold my work away,

And kneel to one who bends to hear The story of the day.

The old, old story; yet I kneel To tell it at Thy call,

And cares grow lighter as I feel That Jesus knows them all

Yes, all! the morning and the night, The joy, the grief, the rest.

The roughened path, the sunbeam bright, The hourly thorn and cross.

Thou knowest all—I lean my head, My weary eyelids close,

Content and glad awhile to tread This path, since Jesus knows

And He has loved me! all my heart With answering love is stirred,

And every anguished pain and smart I in is healing in the word here I lay me down to test, is mighty shadows fall,

And lean confiding on His breast, Who knows and pities all. —Selected.