It was a teaching of some of the wise men of ancient time that in intellect and morals every person gives shape to his own character, becomes the architect of his own fortune. The wise men of all the ages have taught practically the same thing. The Scriptures of both Testaments have many precepts and exhortations to the young and to those at every stage of life to take heed to their ways, to ponder the course of their feet, to choose and walk in the pathway of virtue, of wisdom, of uprightness. Modern literature teems with this sort of counsel. From first to last it is assumed that man has the power of self-direction. This conclusion is reached by every one who consults his own capacities and who analyzes the causes which have led him along the lines which he has pursued.

The highest type of life, of manhood or womanhood, is that which is self-directed toward high ideals, and which consequently expresses the greatest measure of truth and goodness. The life of Jesus is the most conspicuous and perfect illustration of this truth. He saw the evil and the good, and he steadfastly chose the latter and faithfully adhered to it. To the extent that they have been worthy followers of the great Leader, every good man and woman has made the same choice. They have carefully examined themselves in the light of life's circumstances—its opportunities, its enticements to evil, its possible honors—and they have decided for the right, have determined to walk in wisdom's ways and to employ their gifts in such manner as would honorably advance themselves and helpfully minister to the world.—The Universalist Leader.

A certain amount of simplicity is desirable. In our church work we are apt to get formalized,—to fall into a worship of the logical. It is not improbable that we need an occasional break-up of method, as well as of creed,—an invasion of novelty. The Salvation Army at first shocked propriety. It never will please the more conservative and cultured; yet General Booth carefully avoided the unseemly and gross, while recognizing the needs of simpler minds that never can be guided by categories and demonstration. What is wanted, always wanted, and what must be brought home to all classes, is the sympathy of love and the beauty of righteousness. These great living facts are not brought home to us by excitement or by terror, but by quickening in us attention to the claims of right and truth as against the false and wrong. Human nature at the very worst is in alliance with God. While, then, we do not dare to stand out against simple, homely, even crude ways of preaching God's love and the gospel of Jesus, we dare not do otherwise than condemn the gross caricatures practised by peripatetic emotionalists. An element of hypnotism is in all such exercises. It is liable to create a social craze. It is possible to repeat the manias that overran Europe in the Middle Ages.

The Christian Register.

INNOCENT DECEPTION.—No one should practise what is called "innocent deception" in intercourse with children. It is difficult for the pure and straightforward mind of childhood to conceive of such a thing as innocence where they discover that there has been any deception whatever. Unswerving truth should be the guide of youth. It is not sufficient to speak the truth, but our whole conduct toward them should be sincere, upright and without artifice. Children easily discern between truth and deceit, and if once they detect the latter in those to whose charge they are committed, confidence is forever banished, and on the first opportunity the same baneful duplicity which they observed in others will be practised by them. Childhood catches and reflects everything around it, and an untruth told by one to whom it is accustomed to look with deference may act upon the young heart like a careless spray of water thrown on polished steel staining with rust which no after efforts can efface.—New York Ledger.

GOD NEAR.—St. Paul, better perhaps than some of the other great teachers saw that religion is a near matter. We do not have to ascend up on high for it, nor go into the depths to find it. The everlasting word is always near. This is true of all great expression. The word of faith, of hope, of love, is nigh thee, in thy mind, in thy heart. This seemed to be the condition of spiritual power, this nearness of real things. God is, the soul is, the soul's best life is. Study of Paul and of the Master before him shows that religion and religious life are quite independent of here and there. The time-measures are insufficient. We are in the region of the dateless, the eternal. The environment is spiritual. We lie, as it were, in the embrace of God.—The Universalist Leader.

PRAYER.—O Thou, who art the true sun of the world, evermore rising and never going down. who, by thy most wholesome and appearing sight, dost nourish and make joyful all things, as well that are in heaven as also that are on the earth,—we beseech Thee mercifully and favorably to shine into our hearts, that, the night and darkness of sin and the mists of error on every side being driven away, Thou brightly shining within our hearts, we may all our life long go without any stumbling or offence, and may walk as in the daytime, being pure and clean from the works of darkness, and abounding in all good works which Thou hast prepared for us to walk in! Amen.--ERASMUS.

In the early days of Illinois some men were traveling through the country with saddle-bags of specie which was required for settlement of land claims, stopping one night at the only available place, a log house, they felt it needful to keep up alternate watches during the night. But before going to bed the rough man whose cabin they were in took down his well-worn Bible and read and prayed; and one whispered to the other, "We can both go to bed: there will be no need of either of us watching tonight." The fact that the rough man who was their host was a praying man inspired a confidence that nothing else could.

DR. H. G. WESTON.

It is pleasant and helpful to have congenial associates and companions. In the home, in social and business circles, and in public service it conduces to one's happiness and success to have close and continuous relations with those whose characteristics harmonize with his own. The current of life flows smoothly under such circumstances, or at least it has fewer rough places to meet, than it would have in other and less agreeable surroundings. This being the case, it would be well if each one would charge himself to do his utmost to make himself as agreeable to others as he wishes them to be to him.

The Universalist Leader.

The heart can put on charms which no beauty of known things nor imagination of the unknown can aspire or emulate. Virtue shines in native colors, purer and brighter than pearl or diamond or prism can reflect. Arabian gardens in their bloom can exhale no such sweetness as charity diffuses. Benevolence is noble and he who does most good to his fellow-man is the master of masters and has learned the art of arts.

HORACE MANN.

Society may wear a new face; customs may vary; rules and standards, like human opinions, may change. But the soul and its life, man's religious aspirations and his religious activities,—these abide. These make the

"One holy Church of God
In every age and race;
Unwasted by the lapse of years,
Unchanged by changing place."

HENRY G. SPAULDING.

To be true, to hate every form of falsehood, to live a brave, true, real life,—that is to love God. God is infinite; and to love the boundless, reaching on from grace to grace, adding charity to faith, and rising upward ever to see the ideal still above us, and to die with it unattained, aiming insatiably to be perfect even as the Father is perfect,—that is to love God.—F. W. ROBERTSON.

Right habit is like the channel which dictates the course in which the river shall flow, and which grows deeper and deeper with each year. Right habit is like the thread on which we string precious pearls—the thread is perhaps of no great value, but if it be broken the pearls are lost.

Helpful Thoughts.

All which happens through the whole world happens through hope. No husband-man would sow a grain of corn if he did not hope it would spring up and bring forth the ear. How much more we are helped on by hope in the way of eternal life!

MARTIN LUTHER.

The Christian needs more than the veneer and gilt of polite society. He needs righteousness; he needs to get the whole life into harmony with the will of the Father, to make life attractive and forceful.

REV. ROBERT W. WALLACE.

Love is the fusing element of all life; the tremulous, softly defined horizon-line that at once seperates and unites the spheres, terminating our human vision; the trysting-place where earth and heaven meet.

LUCY LARCOM.

The will of God be done; but, oh, the unspeakable loss for us if we have missed our opportunity of doing it!

BROOKS FOSS WESTCOTT.