nature more beautiful? How full it is of life and health! In every bursting bud and every opening flower, it seems to enjoy the existence which it has received from the bountiful Creator. As it bends its branches over the sparkling stream, or waves them in the soft wind, as if rejoicing in the sun and showers, it reminds us of that happy garden' in which our first parents were placed in the days of their innocence.

It is fed by the running stream near which it grows; and however parching may be the summer heat, its leaf will be green, for its roots will not lack moisture. Its blossoms give promise of the richest fruits, when the husbandman shall come to gather them in the autumn.

2

My child, in that fruit-tree you see an emblem of some faithful servant of God. Thus beautiful is Christian holiness to those who have " eyes to see "3 and hearts to understand its beauty. True joy and spiritual health are thus the portion of the righteous, in whom we behold, in some degree, that image of God" in which our first parents were created.

The blossoms of yonder tree are like the promise of early piety. Its fruits will be like the "heavenly virtues which are seen in a Christian ripening for glory. And as it draws its nourishment from the neighbouring stream, so is the Christian's life sustained by the "living water which he ever draws from the " wells of salvation.”7 That living stream is the grace of God's Spirit ; first given to us with the water of holy Baptism, and ever near to strengthen and refresh us. When

1 Gen. ii.
4 Gen. i. 27.
7 Isa. xii. 3.

2 Luke viii. 6.
5 Baptismal Service.

3 Deut. xxix. 4. 6 John iv. 10.

the power of temptation is like a scorching heat, the true Christian is still enabled to bear fruits of love and holiness; and the secret of his strength is, that he is supplied with this "spring of living water, springing up unto eternal life.”

XIV. THE COMPASSIONATE FATHER.

"Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him."-Ps. ciii. 13.-See also Deut. xxxii. 6; Mal. i. 6; Matt. vi. 9; Luke xv. 18; Heb. xii. 9.

WHEN I see a father ruling his own household' with an authority both wise and gentle; providing for the present wants of his children, and laying up2 for their future support; indulgent to their various tastes, and promoting their blameless pleasures; restraining all evil with a serious admonition,

11 Tim. iii. 4.

22 Cor. xii. 14.

or correcting it with a wise severity; I have before me the truest image which can be seen on earth of that awful and Almighty Being, who, by suffering us to call Him "Father," has made each earthly father a type or emblem of Himself.

He would teach us, then, to obey His will, and to regard Him with a holy awe, and a deep reverence, of the same kind with that which we feel towards the earthly author of our being, who, in our tender years, both chastened and corrected us for our faults, and also taught us the principles of virtue and wisdom. We ought, indeed, to regard all who are our superiors in age or rank, in excellence or acquirements, with lowliness and reverence; but towards none can we feel that veneration with which we look up to him who was to us, in the dawn of reason, almost in the place of God, and towards whom we turned as our provider and instructor, our ruler and example; whose reproofs we dreaded when we were in fault, and to whose praises we looked as our best reward. The filial tenderness and affection with which we turn to him, neither can nor ought to be unaccompanied by this reverential sense of the relation in which we stand, and the duty of obedience, as well as gratitude, which we owe to him.

And thus no thought or feeling of our hearts towards God should be untempered by the recollection that " holy and reverend is his name. Our love for Him should, indeed, be fervent and supreme, but ever joined with the thought that He is" glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders ;" and that the very angels veil their faces before him, as they say, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts."3 "Serve the Lord in fear,

' Ps. cxi. 9.

2 Exod. xv. 11.

3 Isa. vi. 3.

"We

and rejoice unto Him with reverence."1 have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live ?"

But chiefly by teaching us to regard Him as a heavenly Parent, and by sending forth into our hearts"the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father," God would lead us to look up to Him with affectionate trust, and to repose with comfort on the thought of His fatherly compassion. On what earthly friend do we so depend as on our father, for provision and assistance? To whom do we so turn in trouble with the assurance of finding comfort, and in difficulty with the hope of being guided and advised? If we have committed faults, and the world around is disposed to view those faults with harshness, and visit them with severity, we seek a father's ear, into which to pour our sorrows; and we are assured that a father's breast will not be unmoved by the feeling of compassion towards us, nor his lips refuse the promise of forgiveness.

And has not God taught us, that " as a father pitieth his own children, even so is the Lord merciful unto them that fear him ?" And if we have departed from this fear, has He not, in the parable of the prodigal son,3 assured us that no father more tenderly yearns over a son that has wandered from him, than the Lord earnestly desires our return to holiness, and compassionately welcomes us back when we come to Him as true penitents ?

Let me, then, "Arise, and go to my Father, and say unto him, Father, I have sinned against

1 Ps. ii. 11, Prayer Book version. 2 Rom. viii. 15; Gal. iv. 6. 8 Luke XV.

heaven and in thy sight, and am not worthy to be called thy son." Let me confide assuredly in His paternal love, and trust Him in his chastisements. Let me regard His frown as the greatest evil, and the light of His reconciled countenance' as the chiefest good; let me fear, above all things, to vex His Holy Spirit,2 and strive to resemble Him; remembering those words of my gracious Saviour, "Be ye perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."3

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much 2 Isa. lxiii. 10. * Matt. v. 48.

Ps. iv. 6.