"While Thou didst on earth appear, Servant to Thy servants here; Mindful of Thy place above,

All Thy life was prayer and love.

"Such our whole employment be,
Works of faith and charity;
Works of love on man bestowed,
Secret intercourse with God.

"Early in the Temple met
Let us still our Saviour greet;
Nightly to the Mount repair,
Meet our praying Pattern there.

"There by wrestling faith obtain
Power to work for God again,
Power His image to retrieve,
Power like Thee, O Lord, to live.

"Vessels, instruments of grace,

Pass we thus our happy days,
"Twixt the Mount and multitude
Doing and receiving good.

"Glad to pray and labour on,

Till our earthly course is run,

Till we on the sacred tree,

Bow the head and die like Thee!"

THE HUSBANDMAN.

Thou, O my God, the Husbandman,
My Owner and my Master art;
Only Thy power and wisdom can
Make fruitful my poor barren heart.

Dig round my roots; my branches prune ;
Thy training, tending I implore;
Watch, ward, and aid me, night and noon,

And make me fruitful more and more.

THE HUSBANDMAN.

I.

PROPERTY.

THE Vine, the Branches, the Fruit: only three words, and yet with what abundant and significant wealth of meaning! Sift seriously, O reader mine, what I have said to thee concerning each. Value and hoard whatever of golden grain thou findest; then let any chaff of mine be blown to the winds of heaven.

The Vine, your life; the Branch, your faith ; the Fruit, your conduct. That is the sum and substance of the three. A fourth and last word has now to occupy our thoughts,-" My Father is the Husbandman." Many and solemn, full of guidance, warning and encouragement withal are the ideas suggested by this word-Husbandman.

The God and Father of our Lord and Saviour

Jesus Christ is the absolute proprietor of the Vine. He is the Lord of the vineyard. He is all and in all. "I am Thine," said Jesus in that marvellous prayer, that strangely touching talk with His Father that preceded His Passion, "I am Thine, and all Mine are Thine." Hence, O Christian, you see He hath an indefeasible right to all the fruit you bear.

He, the Husbandman of this parable, is our Creator, for "it is He that hath made us and not we ourselves." He is our Provider and Sustainer too We have nothing that we have not received; possess nothing in our own right; we are pensioners, absolutely, on His bounty alone, for to us and every creature that His hands hath made, "He giveth life and breath and all things." He alone keepeth our soul in life. He is our Purchaser. For when we were sold under the law, sold under sin, He bought us back to Himself again. Ye are bought with a price, not of silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ. By this threefold and allinclusive right, God is our great Proprietor, and His claim, as with His glory, He will not give to another. “All souls are mine!" He

demands His rights.

says, and

Not only is He the Proprietor of the Vine and its branches, but His also are all the essential sup