"The seasons came and went, and went and came,
To teach men gratitude; and, as they pass'd,
Gave warning of the lapse of time, that else
Had stolen unheeded by."

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

"Slow pass our days

ECCLES. xii. 1.

In childhood, and the hours of light are long
Betwixt the morn and eve. With swifter lapse
They glide in manhood. And in age they fly,
Till days and seasons flit before the mind
As flit the snow-flakes in a winter storm,
Seen rather than distinguished. . . .
Wisely, my son, while yet thy days are long,
And this fair change of seasons passes slow,
Gather and treasure up the good they yield,
All that they teach of virtue,-of pure thoughts,
And kind affections,-of reverence for thy God,
And for thy brethren; so when thou shalt come
Into these barren years, thou mayst not bring
A mind unfurnished, and a withered heart."

Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day." PSALM lxxxi. 3.

TH

HE next verse goes on to say, "This was a statute for Israel." It was a command given to the Jews. The children of Israel, like the nations around them, reckoned their months by the moon. Whenever there was a new moon, they began a new month. The heathen, who worshipped the moon, kept the first day of every month as a feast in honour of that goddess. And this was very likely one reason why the Jews were bid to keep the new moon, not in honour of her, but in honour of the true God who made the sun and the moon, the heaven and the earth. They were bid to keep it by offering up more sacrifices on the first than on other days of the month. And that they might know when the time came, the priests blew silver trumpets, as a signal that the old month was gone. We have no such law to keep. We have no trumpets blown to tell us when a new month has come. To-day seems just like yesterday; and we might easily glide on from January to February, without thinking of it. But when we do notice that another month is ended, we may turn the thought to good account. We may think of the old month and the new month just as we think of the Old Year and the New Year. We may ask that the last month's sins may all be forgiven, and that the coming month may be more holy. The months are like mile-stones in our year's journey, by which we may see how far and how fast we are going.

"I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep."-JOHN x. 11.

OU like to hear of Christ as a " Shepherd."

of as a "

His arms, and carries them in His bosom; how He leads His flock into green pastures, and beside the still waters; how He guides them in the right path, and brings them back when they have strayed from the fold; how He takes them safely across the dark valley, and comforts them with His rod and staff, holding up their feeble steps, and driving away the wild beasts that seek to devour them.

Christ is indeed a "good" Shepherd. Some shepherds are careless. They are hired to do their work, and they are unfaithful in the doing of it. They lie at their ease in the shade, playing on the flute, or closing their eyes to sleep, while the sheep roam about to find pasture for themselves. If a lamb has fallen into a pit, they will not risk a limb in going down to rescue it. If a wolf comes, they flee, and save themselves, and leave the flock in danger. These are bad shepherds. But Christ, the Shepherd of souls, gave His life for the sheep. When we had strayed, He sought us; and when He found that He must die, or we must, He laid down His own life. Was he not a good Shepherd ?

He was also "the" good Shepherd, the good Shepherd who had long been promised. Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Zechariah all said that He should come as a Shepherd. And so, in due time, He did come, and fed even the poor of the flock with the words of heavenly truth.

"Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts."-PSALM CXxxix. 23.

IT

T is a hard task to search our hearts, because the heart has so many dark corners. We need that some one should hold a light to us, and help us to search, and show us the secret hiding-places where evil thoughts are apt to lodge. Whose help shall we ask? Shall we ask our friends to judge us? they would judge us too kindly. Shall we ask our enemies to judge us? they would judge us too harshly. There is no one on earth to whom we dare show our sinful

hearts just as they are. Shall we ask an angel to search us? the pure spirits of heaven could, perhaps, hardly understand the evil that is in us; or if they did, they would turn away in grief and horror.

There is but One whom we can ask; and that is God, the God who made our hearts, the God who knows us altogether. We may ask Him to search us, for He will find out no more than what He already knows too well. We may ask Him to search us, because He is able to take away what is evil, and able to put within us what is good and holy. God is called the Searcher of hearts, just because He knows our every thought. He is sure to search us, sooner or later. If we do not ask Him to do it now, He will search us at the last great day, and will then punish us as our sins deserve. But if now we ask Him to search us, and to forgive us all our evil ways, He will give us His Holy Spirit, He will lead us in the way everlasting, and He will grant us at last a place at His right hand above.