One friend in that path shall be,     To secure my steps from wrong;   One to count night day for me,     Patient through the watches long,   Serving most with none to see.                             BROWNING. New York THOMAS Y. CROWELL & CO....

BY THOMAS Y. CROWELL & COMPANY....

George MacDonald said in an address, "The longer I live, the more I am assured that the business of life is to understand the Lord Christ." If this be true, whatever sheds even a little light on the character or life of Christ is worth while. Nothing reveals a man's heart better than his friendships. The kind of friend he is, tells the kind of man he is. The personal friendships of Jesus reveal many tender and beautiful things in his character. They show us also what is possible for us in divine

  O God, O kinsman loved, but not enough,     O man with eyes majestic after death,   Whose feet have toiled along our pathways rough,     Whose lips drawn human breath;   By that one likeness which is ours and thine,     By that one nature which doth hold us kin,   By that high heaven where sinless thou dost shine,     To draw us sinners in;   By thy last silence in the judgment hall,     By long foreknowledge of the deadly tree,   By darkness, by the wormwood and the gall,     I pray thee visi

    Sleep, sleep, mine Holy One!   My flesh, my Lord!—what name? I do not know   A name that seemeth not too high or low,     Too far from me or heaven.   My Jesus, that is best!       * * *   Sleep, sleep, my saving One.                            MRS. BROWNING. The first friend a child has in this world is its mother. It comes here an utter stranger, knowing no one; but it finds love waiting for it. Instantly the little stranger has a friend, a bosom to nestle in, an arm to encircle it, a hand

    Where is the lore the Baptist taught,   The soul unswerving and the fearless tongue?     The much-enduring wisdom, sought   By lonely prayer the haunted rocks among?         Who counts it gain         His light should wane,   So the whole world to Jesus throng?             KEBLE. The two Johns appear in many devotional pictures, one on each side of Jesus. Yet the two men were vastly unlike. The Baptist was a wild, rugged man of the desert; the apostle was the representative of the highest ty

  But if himself he come to thee, and stand       * * *   And reach to thee himself the Holy Cup,       * * *   Pallid and royal, saying, "Drink with me,"   Wilt thou refuse? Nay, not for paradise!   The pale brow will compel thee, the pure hands   Will minister unto thee; thou shalt take   Of that communion through the solemn depths   Of the dark waters of thine agony,   With heart that praises him, that yearns to him   The closer through that hour.                             Ugo Bassi's Sermo

    He seeks not thine, but thee, such as thou art,   For lo, his banner over thee is love.                            CHRISTINA G. ROSSETTI.   If you loved only what were worth your love,   Love were clear gain, and wholly well for you.     Make the low nature better by your throes!   Give earth yourself, go up for gain above.                            BROWNING. Nothing in life is more important than the choosing of friends. Many young people wreck all by wrong choices, taking into their life

  My Lord, my Love! in pleasant pain     How often have I said,   "Blessed that John who on thy breast     Laid down his head."   It was that contact all divine     Transformed him from above,   And made him amongst men the man     To show forth holy love.                            CHRISTINA G. ROSSETTI. Love is regenerating the world. It is the love of God that is working this mighty transformation. The world was cold and loveless before Christ came. Of course there always was love in the race

  "As the mighty poets take     Grief and pain to build their song,   Even so for every soul,     Whatsoe'er its lot may be,—   Building, as the heavens roll,     Something large and strong and free,—   Things that hurt and things that mar     Shape the man for perfect praise,   Shock and strain and ruin are     Friendlier than the smiling days." Our first glimpse of Simon in the New Testament is as he was being introduced to Jesus. It was beside the Jordan. His brother had brought him; and that

  I have a life in Christ to live,     I have a death in Christ to die;   And must I wait till science give     All doubts a full reply?   Nay, rather while the sea of doubt   Is raging wildly round about,   Questioning of life and death and sin,   Let me but creep within   Thy fold, O Christ! and at thy feet   Take but the lowest seat.                            PRINCIPAL SHAIRP. There is no record of the beginning of the friendship of Jesus and Thomas. We do not know when Thomas became a disci

  "Friend, my feet bleed.   Open thy door to me and comfort me."   I will not open; trouble me no more.   Go on thy way footsore;   I will not rise and open unto thee.   "Then it is nothing to thee? Open, see   Who stands to plead with thee.   Open, lest I should pass thee by, and thou   One day entreat my face   And howl for grace,   And I be deaf as thou art now.   Open to me."                            CHRISTINA G. ROSSETTI. There is a great deal of unrequited love in this world. There are h

  Her eyes are homes of silent prayer,     Nor other thought her mind admits   But, he was dead, and there he sits,     And he that brought him back is there.   Then one deep love doth supersede     All other, when her ardent gaze   Roves from the living brother's face,     And rests upon the Life indeed.                            TENNYSON. The story of Jesus and the Bethany home is intensely interesting. Every thoughtful Christian has a feeling of gratitude in his heart when he remembers how m

  Not all regret, the face will shine     Upon me while I muse alone;     And that dear voice, I once have known,   Still speak to me of me and mine:   Yet less of sorrow lives in me     For days of happy commune dead;     Less yearning for the friendship fled,   Than some strong bond which is to be.                            TENNYSON. A gospel with no comfort for sorrow would not meet the deepest needs of human hearts. If Jesus were a friend only for bright hours, there would be much of experi

  How many souls—his loved ones—     Dwell lonely and apart,   Hiding from all but One above     The fragrance of their heart.                            PROCTER. Not all the friends of Jesus were open friends. No doubt many believed on him who had not the courage to confess him. Two of his secret friends performed such an important part at the close of his life, boldly honoring him, that the story of their discipleship is worthy of our careful study. One of these is mentioned several times; the

  "What meaneth it that we should weep     More for our joys than for our fears,—   That we should sometimes smile at grief,     And look at pleasure's show through tears?   Alas! but homesick children we,     Who would, but cannot, play the while   We dream of nobler heritage,     Our Father's house, our Father's smile." At last the end came. The end comes for every earthly friendship. The sweetest life together of loved ones must have its last walk, its last talk, its last hand-clasp, when one

  "Our own are our own forever—God taketh not back his gift;     They may pass beyond our vision, but our soul shall find them out   When the waiting is all accomplished, and the deathly shadows lift,     And the glory is given for grieving, and the surety of God for doubt." We cannot but ask questions about the after life. What is its character? What shall be the relations there of those who in the present life have been united in friendship? What effect has dying on the human affections? Does

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