the beauty of summer, attributes it to the coldness and severity of winter? Who, when the crown is placed on the brow of autumn, remembers that it was woven by the icy hands of winter? So afflictions are not for the present joyous, but grievous; nevertheless, afterward they produce the fruits of righteousness in those which are exercised thereby.

The

Winter stands in relation to other seasons. winter of old age, dear Christian, is to be followed by an everlasting spring—you shall renew your youth -there shall be no wrinkles on your brow, no furrows on your face, no snow on your head.

The winter of sorrow is to be followed by the harvest of joy: "Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart."

What we want now is life. O God! give us life; then we will not fear the present or any coming winter-not even death, for life is ours. "This is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life."

GOD'S GREATNESS IN SMALL THINGS.

"Behold, God is great, and we know him not, neither can the number of his years be searched out. For he maketh small the drops of water.”—JOB xxxvi. 26, 27.

WE lose God in His greatness, in His full orbed glory, in His infinity and majesty; and it is well for us to be told that the great God can do small things, and that small things are often the illustrations of His greatness.

The sacred writers, in their descriptions of God, frequently startle us by the way in which they bring out the power of contrast. Thus we read, "The Lord doth build up Jerusalem, he gathereth together the outcasts of Israel. He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds. He telleth the number of the stars, he calleth them all by their names." We read, "All nations before him are as nothing, and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity," yet, He magnifies man by setting His heart upon him. We read, "He taketh up the isles as a very little thing," and yet there is not a dweller in the smallest of them, that is not cared for by Him. We read that " He hath measured

the waters in the hollow of his hand," and yet, "He maketh small the drops of water." In immediate connection with our text, we read, "God thundereth marvellously with his voice,-great things doeth he which we cannot comprehend. For he saith to the snow, be thou on the earth; likewise to the small rain and the great rain of his strength." How sublime the description given us by the prophet, "The Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers." But contrast with this the beautiful representation the Psalmist gives us of the gentleness of Divine influences: "He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass; as showers that water the earth."

I. We are taught―That God illustrates His greatness in doing small things.

There are illustrations of the greatness of men, that may help us here. We say that a statesman is great whose thoughts are so broad and comprehensive, and whose mind can so grasp all details, that his plans embrace the liberties, the laws, the education, the health, the social progress, the revenues of a people,—and yet, with the government of a great nation, he can find time to contribute to the literature of his country, and to write books. which furnish proof, not only of the originality of his mind, but of his patient research,-and, meanwhile,

he attends to all personal requirements, cultivates the friendships and charities of life, and accepts all the responsibilities of the management of his own household. You may enter into some sanctuary where generations have worshipped. The eye cannot reach all the details of the building, but the carving is as perfect, and the tracery as elaborate as those parts that come within your range of vision. The builders built for God, and even those parts that are hidden are as perfectly finished as those that are seen. The artist has some conception of beauty-some idea that has filled his whole soul; he seeks to give it outward form and shape; but, when his work is nearly finished, he concentrates all thought and care on a single touch, knowing that on that touch the character of the whole depends.

God is so great that He attends to the most minute things. He built this world according to His plan. He laid its foundations, and set up its pillars. He "weighed its mountains in scales, and its hills in a balance." He lavished whole eternities upon it, and was profuse in His expenditure of creative power, that He might furnish it as a residence for man. When the period came for the last great series of changes, there was the distinct announcement of the work of every day; and when the six days' work had ushered in the calm sunrise of the Sabbath, God rested, and, looking with complacency on His works, said, "that all was very good." There was nothing

that was not good-there was nothing left unfinished. The sea was shut up in the place He had founded for it, and He put bars upon the doors. The earth was mantled with beauty-adorned with all forms of life,-and with His own pencil, He gave the last touch to its smallest flowers.

The ritualism of the past dispensation was Divine. He called Moses to be His servant, and gave him the plans of that economy. Moses was not the architect—he did not originate anything, there was not one thing left to be determined by him. God gave to him the pattern of the sanctuary, the form of the altar, and of all the vessels which were to be used in the worship of the tabernacle. He was to make all things according to the pattern shown to him in the Mount. God gave him the design of the vestments to be worn by the priests, and the prescription for the incense to be burnt on the golden altar, specifying the exact proportions.

Sometimes a man, when he considers the heavens, the work of God's fingers, the moon and the stars which He has ordained, may say, "What is man that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man that thou visitest him?" And yet the sun and the stars are unconscious of their own luminousness and beauty. In this temple man is the only priest who can offer the sacrifice of praise. God does think of man; it is man He magnifies, it is man He visits, it is man He saves. He does not lose the individual in the

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