March 6

Convenne rege aver, che discernesse Della vera cittade almen la torre.

"THAT is what I want,—to do good!" says the bewildered soul, and sets out to secure vaster popularity as a stepping-stone to righteousness. It fancies that the crowd is following it, but really it is following the crowd, obedient to its lightest caprice, attentive to its softest whisper. Is not the ministry of the Spirit needed here? It is for the neglect of it that many a man fails, even when his life seems crowned. There are others who do not fail, though their paths lie through the most dazzling worldly success. They are unspotted from the world as little children. But it is because they have journeyed, as it were, deaf and blind. This does not mean that they were ascetics, who closed their eyes and stopped their ears to the fascinations of success,—but they were always looking to the light of the far, far city, always listening for one unmistakable voice; and the voices of the crowd were powerless to distract them. They did not forget the crowd—ah no! They understood it better than it understood itself; they heard God's verdict on it, not its own, and so they helped it

MAY KENDALL best.

THE WISE