TRUST IN GOD.

HE happiness of the Christian is always in proportion to the sincerity and depth of his trust in God. He may be overwhelmed by

affliction, his plans may be thwarted, his good name assailed, his hopes for this world blasted; and yet, if he has an unimpaired, serene, loving trust in God, his peace will be as a river, whose pure depths and strong currents are undisturbed by the things that vex its surface. Nowhere in the Bible is this trust more powerfully and sublimely depicted than in the prayer of Habakkuk: "Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls; yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation." The sublime poetry of the Orient is in these words, but they are not too strong to express the feelings of one in any clime or age, whose mind and heart are truly "stayed on God."

In times of prosperity, when our veins are full of healthy blood, when family and social ties are unbroken, and our hopes and ambitions are not thwarted, but moving on in the full tide of success, we may easily persuade ourselves

GOD

that we are trusting in God, while in fact our faith in Him. is of the feeblest sort. It is when troubles come, and all earthly supports fail us, that our faith is put to the test. If then our trust does not fail us, happy indeed are we. Such a faith is not too dearly purchased by any earthly calamity or loss, and to many doubtless it never comes through any other process. Any trouble or affliction that brings us near to God, and leads us to cast ourselves unreservedly upon him as our strength, our providence and our eternal hope, is a blessing for which we should be profoundly thankful. Such a faith exalts and ennobles all the virtues and graces of humanity, deepens the sources and widens the domain of character, and fits us for the highest usefulness and happiness in any sphere of life. Such a faith gives us power over men to win them from selfish and worldly ways and bring them to Christ. We may have a creed of unquestioned soundness, and know how to defend it by arguments that no man can impeach; but if we lack the "sweetness and light" that are born of a pure trust in God, and a sense of intimacy with him, our influence as Christians will be poor and small. It is well to preach Christ in our words, but far better to preach him in our example, and by all the influences that flow out of a character formed upon the model of his Divine manhood. The trust in God, of which we speak, will cause our faces to shine and our eyes to glow with a heavenly radiance, and our lives will distill an aroma so pure, that men, taking knowledge of us that we have been with Jesus, will be drawn toward him by an irresistible attraction.

Trust in God is a well-spring of joy and peace in the heart, springing up evermore unto life eternal. Having this Divine inheritance, knowing God as he is revealed in Christ Jesus, and having no will but his, we can appropriate, as descriptive of our daily experience, the precious lines of Faber:

"He always wins who sides with God,
To him no chance is lost;

God's will is sweetest to him when
It triumphs at his cost.

"Ill that God blesses is our good,
And unblest good is ill;

And all is right that seems most wrong,
If it be his dear will.

"When obstacles and trials seem
Like prison-walls to be,

I do the little I can do,

And leave the rest to thee.

"I have no cares, O blessed will!
For all my cares are thine;
I live in triumph, Lord, for thou
Hast made thy triumphs mine."

"THE LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory; no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly."

-Psalm 84: 11,

REMEDIES FOR ANXIETY.

NXIETY is the poison of life; the parent of many sins and of more miseries. Why, then, allow it, when we know that the future is guided by a Father's hand.

Oh, ask not thou, How shall I bear

The burden of to-morrow!
Sufficient for the day its care,

Its evil and its sorrow.

Thy God imparteth by the way

Strength that's sufficient for the day.

-Blair.

"Take, therefore, no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof."

-Jesus Christ, Matt. 6: 34.

"Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for

you."

-Peter, 1 Peter 5: 7.

"Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain

thee."

Leave the future; let it rest,

-David, P8. 5: 22.

Simply on the Saviour's will;
Leave the future; they are blest,
Who confiding, hoping still,
Trust his mercy

To provide for every want.
And to save from every ill

If we are faithful to the duties of the present, God will provide for the future.

-Bedell.

We can easily manage, if we will only take, each day, the burden appointed for it. But the load will be too heavy for us if we add to its weight the burden of to-morrow before we are called to bear it.

Make a firm-built fence of trust

All around to-day,

Fill the space with loving work,

And within it stay.

-John Newton.

Look not through the sheltering bars,

Anxious for the morrow,

God will help in all that comes,

Be it joy or sorrow.

One of the most useless of all things is to take a deal of trouble in providing against dangers that never come. How many toil to lay up riches which they never enjoy, to provide for exigencies that never happen, to prevent troubles that never come; sacrificing present comfort and enjoyment in guarding against the wants of a period they may never live to see.

Say not, my soul, "From whence

Can God relieve my care?"
Remember that Omnipotence

Hath servants everywhere.

-Wm. Jay.

-Lynch.