November 21

7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God

8 He that loveth not, knoweth not God, for God is love.

9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.

10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.

12 No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.

13 Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and be in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.

14 And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.

15 Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.

16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.

17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as he is, so are we in this world.

18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear; because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

19 We love him, because he first loved us. 20 If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar, for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?

21 And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.

"God is Love: what then is more precious than love? And he that abides in love, abides in God; what then is more sure than love?"—Bernard.

"Thou beholdest the Trinity when thou beholdest Love, for there are three—he that loveth, he that is loved, and reciprocal love."—Augustine.

"Love is the fundamental law of the world: 1. As written in heaven: for God is Love. 2. As written on the cross: for Christ is Love. 3. As written in our hearts: for Christianity is Love."—Gero.

"Man is not lost as long as he believes in love; but he is lost when he loses that belief. Chrysostom says that the devil would be saved if he could believe in the love of God. Love changes God the Judge into God the Father. He that cannot confide in love is unable to endure the look of the Most Loving."—Heubner.

"The magnanimity of love, the patience of love, the endless gifts of all fruitful love—these are fitter to reveal the grandeur of God than thrones, and orbs, and the whole stellar universe. That He built the world, that He sustained it—this gives us a thought of God by the outside. That He suffered for it, that He gave His life for it—this shows us God within. Now we see the heart and feel the disposition."—H. W. Beecher.

Closet Promise.—Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God;

33 and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.—1 John iv. 7.

The Spirit of Love, wherever it is, is its own blessing and happiness, because it is the truth and reality of God in the soul; and therefore is in the same joy of life, and is the same good to itself everywhere and on every occasion. Would you know the blessing of all blessings? It is this God of Love dwelling in your soul, and killing every root of bitterness, which is the pain and torment of every earthly, selfish love. For all wants are satisfied, all disorders of nature are removed, no life is any longer a burden, every day is a day of peace, everything you meet becomes a help to you, because everything you see or do is all done in the sweet, gentle element of Love.—Wm. Law.

THE CHILDREN'S CORNER.

Breakfast Motto.—Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God—Matt. iv. 4.

Weekly Proverb.—Speech is silvern, silence is golden.—Persian.

DAILY BIBLE READING CHAPTERS OF PURE GOLD.

(Selected by Rev. C. H. Yaman.)

Sunday.—Business Man's Chapter.—Prov. viii. 1-36.

Monday.—Courage Chapter.—Josh. i. 1-18

Tuesday.—Charity Chapter.—1 Cor. xiii. 1-13.

Wednesday.—Duty Chapter.—Ezek. xxxiii. 1-33.

Thursday.—Faith Chapter.—Heb. xi. 1-40.

Friday.—Lost and Found Chapter.—Luke xv. 1-32.

Saturday.—Messiah's Chapter.—Isa. lii. 1-12.

THE SWINGING CHAIR.

Come let us make a swinging chair And this is how it is:

I hold myself my own left wrist, And brother he holds his;

We grasp each other's right wrists now And make an even square—

And here we have the rockaway, The little swinging chair

"Here now, you bonny Baby Bell, Come here and take a seat,

We'll carry you across the stones That hurt your little feet.

Just put one arm around my neck, And one around our brother—

Oh, don't we have such jolly times A playing with each other!"

Their mother said, when they came up— Their three heads in a row—

"Why, that's a play I used to play Some twenty years ago!"

"Some twenty years ago!" they cried, "Can you remember plays

That happened twenty years ago— That many thousand days?"

Amy Talbot Dunn in Wide Awake.

Be ready.—Titus iii. 1.

What I mean by our little verse to-day is, Be on hand, Be punctual.

1 will tell you a story that will illustrate it. In New Jersey, where I live, they call us ministers Domines. One day a man said to his minister, "Dominic, that coat of yours is well worn; you had better get a new one." The minister looked at his coat, and concluded to get a new one. Said his friend, "There is a tailor around the corner. He used to do a good business, but somehow he has been running down, until now he is very poor. I wish you would let him make the coat." The minister called on the tailor, and he agreed to have the coat ready by Saturday. Saturday the minister called for it. "Oh, that coat!" said the man; "yes, it ought to have been done to-day, but I have neglected it, but I will have it for sure on Tuesday." The minister did not call until Wednesday. The coat wasn't done yet, and now it was promised for Thursday. On the Saturday following the minister went after it, and found that the tailor had moved. He hunted him up. Said he, "I have been moving;" and that was his excuse. By that time the minister saw why that man didn't get on in the world. What was the matter, children? What did he lack? "Punctuality." He wasn't prompt. Napoleon was asked why he always beat his enemy. "Because," said he, "I am on the field of battle five minutes before he is."

THE FIRST VOYAGE.

I want you to look at this picture and study it very carefully. There are some important lessons in it for all of us. The father has brought the boat close to the dock. The little boy is all dressed and ready. His mother is bidding him "good-bye." She still continues to hold his hand in hers, while she gives him her parting advice. I imagine she tells him "not to forget to be good," and "to say his prayers" while on ship-board; and she promises she will pray for him.

Now, children, life is a voyage on a great river—the river of time. You have all just started on this voyage. But soon you will pass from childhood to youth, from youth to manhood or womanhood, and then to old age—and you can hardly tell when or how it was done. On our globes and maps we have lines to mark the parallels of distance; but these lines are only on the map. Crossing the equator or the tropic, we see no score in the water, no line in the sky to mark it; and the vessel gives no lurch, no alarum sounds from the sky, no call is emitted from the deep; and it is only the man of skill, the pilot or the captain, who can tell that a definite portion of the voyage is completed. And so far, our life is like a voyage on an open sea—each day so like the other that we might fancy the charmed ship is standing still. But it is not so. We are either sailing or drifting down the stream of time toward the ocean of eternity. You will soon be men and women—away from father and mother—out in the great busy world. Let us not forget our father's counsel and our mother's advice. There will be times when you will have to face danger. When the disciples were in their little vessel, tossed by the storm on the sea of Galilee, they wanted some one to help them. They found such a one in Jesus their Saviour. And so when you are exposed to sickness, danger and death you can't preserve yourselves; your best friends can't preserve you. But Jesus can do it. He counts the hairs of our heads. He is about our path, and about our bed continually. He can take care of you. Take Jesus on ship-board with you.

By-and-by the voyage will end. I hope all my readers have made preparation to leave the ship when it comes into the harbor with a shout of joy, and to enjoy the better land forever!

"There all the ship's company meet, Who sailed with the Saviour beneath; With shouting each other they greet, And triumph o'er sorrow and death.

"The voyage of life's at an end; The mortal affliction is past; The age that in heaven they spend, Forever and ever shall last."

(600)

FORTY-SIXTH WEEK.

PEARL TEXT. Jesus saith unto them, Have faith in God.—Mark xi. 22.

Let nothing disturb thee, Nothing adright thee; All things are passing, God never changeth; Patient endurance

Attaweth to all things; Who God possesseth, In nothing is wanting; Alone God suffereth. —Santa Teresa's Bookmark.

As birds, wheresoever they fly, always meet with the air; so we, wheresoever we go, or wherever we are, always find God present.—Sales.

There is no wrinkle upon the brow of Eternity. God is where He was at first; He continues forever a God of infinite power, able to save those that trust in Him.—Manton.

HELPS FOR THE DEVOTIONAL HOUR.