March 17

And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up into a mountain apart to pray.—MATT. xiv. 23.

When one that holds communion with the skies

Has bathed his lips where those pure fountains rise,

And once more mingles with us meaner things,

'Tis even as if an angel shook his wings.

"Solitude," says an ancient Rabbi, "is the audience chamber of God;" and he who would know the Divine will must sit silent at his Maker's feet. The need of such retirement now and then, the best men that ever lived have felt and owned; and in deep seclusion, with much fasting and watching and prayer, they gathered strength for duty, and acquired fortitude for the day of trial. Then let us not forget that we live for others; and that, while society is the chief scene of action, solitude is the best school for preparation. There are streams which float the commerce of the world through half a continent, whose fountains are in the unexplored depth of the forest or the inaccessible clefts of the mountains; and so the beneficent influence of good men's lives on their own and future ages often has its origin in some secret thought, some private reading, some twilight meditation, some purpose conceived in solitude, some sacred vow which none but God hath heard. In the great congregation we hear the truth, but in the quiet of the home and the chambers of the heart we ponder its evidences and its meaning, and acquire those convictions which give it power over our actions, and incorporate it with our own experiences till we are thoroughly furnished unto every good work.

JOSEPH CROSS.