never exhale their odours unless they first inhaled the sustaining elements of earth and of air.

The sun also ministers to the lilies. His beams are the painting power of the lily-tissues, and he supplies the heat and light without which life and health and growth would be impossible. The laws of light, like the laws of air, the laws of rain, and the laws of earth, are the operation of living divine energies, for there is no power physical or spiritual which is self-producing; therefore all power is of God.

Thus the essence and life of the lilies, the sustaining and co-operating powers of earth and heaven, the laws of growth and formation, and the producing and developing power of the mind of God, are taught by these beautiful objects of consideration. They receive the Divine gift of existence and of supply without labour, and yet in that power of reception and development they manifest the glory of God. Their glory and beauty are living witnesses of the living God, who has made all things to be in harmony with His whole work of creation. They are comprehended in a whole system of dependencies upon Himself; they therefore proclaim a lifegiving, a forming, and a beauty-bestowing power of God, who must be greater than all His works. So teach the lilies which Christ calls us to consider as witnesses for God.

But it was to men who have the power of consideration that our Lord directed attention to the lilies. And if the objects of consideration are mysterious and wonderful, there must be a still greater wonder and mystery in the considerers themselves. For it is the mind which considers and that arrives at the results of consideration. All minds are the offspring of the Divine Mind. Higher functions than those of lilies are divinely intended to be performed by men; for they are made in the image of God, and are therefore called to be children of their Father in heaven-merciful as their Father is merciful, and holy as He is holy. Because of this filial relation to God, our Redeemer directs attention to the works of His Father and our Father, of His God, and of our God. The children of God are called by the well-beloved Son to

trust in their Father, and to be unanxious witnesses of His fatherly care and tenderness and love.

It was therefore for the elevation of moral and spiritual life upon earth that Christ directed attention to the lilies. The Godward and manward relation of these flowers was pregnant with Divine truth. So far as we know, lilies have not the power of trust and love, although they are the symbols of those feelings. But trust and love involve the knowledge of the Divine object of trust and love. Therefore the knowledge of God is declared to be the salvation of man. To impart that knowledge, Christ, the Elder Brother of our race, became incarnate and shared our common death. He Himself saw all that it was possible that the lilies could teach men respecting God. He would impart His own power of vision of God in all things. To this end He not only taught, but died, rose again, ascended on high to give the Divine spirit of thought and of vision. By his direction we at this day are under the guidance of the given spirit of God, that we may so consider the lilies as to perceive their relation to God, to man, to earth, to heaven, to truth, to goodness, to life and love. By such consideration we may behold as in a glass the glory of the Lord, and so by Divine workmanship become changed by the inspiring spirit of God, from glory to glory— from one glory of knowledge to another glory of knowledge. The history of every lily in creation would aid in the interpretation of the history of every man. Neither lilies nor men could continue to exist apart from God; neither could reach their maturity or perfection without His sustaining energy imparted to them. He encompasses both and has laid His hand upon both; but to man He has given the power know and to worship Him. In the attitude of worship, man, whilst sowing and reaping, toiling and spinning, will fulfil his vocation and ministry in the world as lilies fulfil theirs. Each man will so contribute to the Divine order and harmony of society, each will be fruitful in goodness and beautiful in holiness. To such practical ends does our Divine Master direct us to consider the lilies.

to

Want of consideration is an evidence both of ignorance and of a disposition to continue in ignorance. Why should men be inconsiderate of their position in creation, that is—in the Divine order of nature and of society? Want of thought is oftentimes the consequence of want of heart. Did each man consider what is Divinely required of him, and seek to meet that requirement, there would then be a corresponding result in society to that which is witnessed in the cultivation of flowers. Were the time which is wasted in useless anxieties and injurious schemes of ambition, to be given to the consideration of the gifts and the claims of God, there would be the promise at least of the exaltation or improvement of human life on earth and for ever.

Without consideration, man cannot act rightly or enter upon a course of productive labour which would result in the expression of beauty of character, which would shine in the beauty of accomplishment. The inner and the outer spiritual forces are granted to us that we may employ them in obtaining the sublime results of the right application of those forces. There is perpetual waste of spiritual power in consideration and inaction and all their consequent unproductiveness. Such waste is simple infidelity and dishonesty, finding a terrible outcome in disease, both of body and mind and of society. Unworking ignorance is a curse to a man himself and to his fellow-men. Christ rebukes both the ignorance and the idleness when He bids men to consider the lilies. But our Redeemer called men from the evil to stimulate them to the good. He called them from falsehood to put them in possession of highest truth. His entire work was to redeem them from all iniquity, and so to purify them to Himself.

not leave them alone in their state of degradation, but He He did called them to consideration, and to its inducement to consequent cultivation of the powers of life.

Disregard of His call and claim must lead to disastrous and distressing consequences, such as the destruction of life and of the privileges of life. To pass out of existence on this earth without realizing the blessings for which existence was

intended, is to be lost in evil and so to sink in the scale of life into a condition more dreadful than we can contemplate.

Consideration of the lilies then leads to the consideration of man in all his relationships and operations. Nor is there any limit to the range of the consideration. The goal of yesterday's thought and action is the starting-point of those of to-day. The eternal powers of the mind of God are beneath our own mental powers, that we may think as He thinks and work as He, our Father, works. In every aspect of such consideration there is encouragement. He who calls, we who obey, the objects of contemplation, the laws of life, and the laws of thought, the powers of action, and the manifestation of beauty, are all evidences of the Fatherly love and goodness of God, who has given us His Son to bring us all filially near to Himself, that we may all attain to the beauty of holiness in the possession of His perfect mind.

I know God as I know everything else, through the effects of His immediate action experienced in my spirit.

London.

W. R. PERCIVAL.

Subject: The Antidote to Death.

"Then took he Him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy Word:

For mine eyes have seen Thy Salvation.

Which Thou hast prepared before the face of all people;

A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people Israel.” LUKE ii. 28-32.

MAGINATION loves to linger on this pathetic scene! The old man and the little child! Simeon goes to the Temple as the living embodiment and representative of the hopes and desires of all the holy and the true of the former dispensations. The desire of all nations has come; and the waiting Simeon takes Him in his arms, and, with benedictions flowing from his lips, asks for his release. Simeon was a "just" man; this shows his conduct towards men: he was "devout; "this shows his attitude

towards God: "the Holy Ghost was upon him," this shows that he was under divine inspiration, and that the Child he recognised in the Temple was the true Messiah-the sent of God. From the text let us notice

Simeon

I. SIMEON'S PATIENT EXPECTATION OF THE ADVENT OF THE MESSIAH. He was 66 waiting for the consolation of Israel." In common with all other devout Jews, he had doubtless (a) studied the ancient prophecies. He was a believer in God and in the word of God; and although four thousand years had rolled away since Jesus was first promised, and about four hundred years since the last prediction, the patience of Simeon was not exhausted, his hope was not extinguished. Let us patiently wait for the fulfilment of the promises and prophecies of the Lord,-" the desire of all nations" shall come again, and all nations shall be blessed in Him. had (B) received an additional promise. By some unmistakable intimation Simeon knew that he would not see death till he had seen the Lord's Christ. The inward witness confirmed what by prophets had aforetime been spoken. The Spirit of Prophecy bore witness with the spirit of Simeon. Let us be thankful for the harmony between external and internal evidences of the truth of the word of the living God. We may patiently and confidently wait the fulfilment of the promises and prophecies of the Bible. The early Christians adopted as their motto and inspiration "Maranatha," and so may we -ever looking for the coming of the dear Redeemer, and doing all beneath the consciousness of His smile.

II. SIMEON'S PERFECT SATISFACTION WITH THE APPEARANCE OF THE MESSIAH. The aged saint would have his natural and national prejudices in common with the Jews; and it must have been calculated to stagger his faith and disappoint his hope at first sight, when the little child was brought into the Temple. But, however big may have been his expectation, he took the humble babe into his arms and expressed his fullest satisfaction with the Saviour. To show how perfectly satisfied he was, he did not desire to live any longer, he was anxious to depart. (a) His love of the world was gone. All the