"shineth more and more unto the perfect day."

The waters of heaven produce their intended effects mysteriously. Although, through the influence of these great agents, "the corn springs up, yet we know not how, for the earth bringeth forth fruit of itself." So the operations and blessings of the Word of God are to us incomprehensible. We behold the result, but we are ignorant of the process by which it is attained. "No man," "it has been justly remarked, "can see the conversion of another, nor can well discern his own." Hence, in reference to the working of the Holy Spirit, whose sword or instrument the Word is, our blessed Saviour declares, “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, nor whither it goeth, so is every one that is born of the Spirit."

There is still another point of resemblance which the words of the prophet suggest, namely, the certainty of their success. This, indeed, is the chief circumstance they are intended to illustrate. "The rain and the snow," says Isaiah, "which come down from

heaven, return not thither;" that is, they do not return without first accomplishing all the purposes for which they have been sent. So the Gospel is never spoken in vain. "It shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it," is the positive and merciful declaration of God himself. His word as certainly accomplishes that which He pleases, as the elements of nature, which cannot be controlled, produce with unvarying exactness, in another department of His dominion, the effect which He intends. The purposes of His grace are as sure as the operations of His providence. His counsels are unchangeable, and His omnipotence gives them effect. Though the waters of heaven often fall on barren rocks, or on arid sands, and thus appear to be in vain, yet it is not so in reality. God has some design in sending them thither, as really as when He causes them to fall upon the fruitful garden or the fertile field. In like manner, does the word of the Gospel frequently fall upon the ears of men apparently in vain. But, even with regard to the unbelieving and the wicked, it is not so; for if it be not a savour of life unto life, it will prove a savour of death unto death." Although at

present restricted to but a small part of the moral world, it is designed by its Author to become universal. In the eternal purpose of the Father, the uttermost parts of the earth are given to Christ for His inheritance. That purpose shall be fulfilled. Jesus will say with power to the "north, Give up; to the south, Keep not back; bring my sons from afar, and my daughters from the ends of the earth.” And already the seeds of that precious harvest are sown ; in many places, instead of the thorn has come up the fir-tree, and instead of the briar has come up the myrtle-tree; many barren and deadly wastes have been reclaimed from Satan's dark domain and these are but pledges of the universal propagation of the knowledge of the truth and the blessings of the great salvation.

Be it ours to labour for the acceleration of this great era. Let us strive to support and maintain the Gospel where it is already established, and to extend its influence to those dark and miserable corners of the earth that are full of the habitations of cruelty and wickedness. And to zealous exertions let us join earnest and importunate prayers. For, though Paul may plant and Apollos water,

let us never forget, that it is God only who giveth the increase. Let, therefore, “our heart's desire and prayer to God," for the heathen, be, "that they may be saved." "For Zion's sake, let us not hold our peace, and for Jerusalem's sake, let us not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth."

O'er all the earth,

To shatter all the might of sin,

The darken'd heart to cleanse and win.

"Thy Word a wondrous guiding star,
On pilgrim hearts doth rise,
Leads to their Lord who dwell afar,
And makes the simple wise.

Let not its light

E'er sink in night,

But still in every spirit shine,

That none may miss Thy light divine."

Lyra Germanica,

By CATHERINE WINKWORTH.

"The starry firmament on high,
And all the glories of the sky,
Yet shine not to Thy praise, O Lord,
So brightly as Thy written Word;
The hopes that holy Word supplies,
Its truths Divine, and precepts wise,
In each a heavenly beam I see,
And every beam conducts to Thee.

"When, taught by painful proof to know
That all is vanity below,

The sinner roams from comfort far,
And looks in vain for sun or star;
Soft gleaming then those lights Divine
Through all the cheerless darkness shine,
And sweetly to the ravish'd eye
Disclose the Day-spring from on high.

"The heart, in sensual fetters bound,
And barren as the wintry ground,
Confesses, Lord, Thy quickening ray;
Thy Word can charm the spell away;