heaven;" still this Word descends to men on earth, and is the lamp to our feet to light us on our way. Yes! these holy waters come from God, from the east of the house by the south of the altar; every thing lives where the water flows. May our hearts be refreshed by this river! then shall we see the true value of these waters, and how beautifully they fertilize the mental plain.
February Twenty-first.
SPRING.
"The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land."—Cant. ii. 12.
SOLOMON, in contemplating the season of Spring, seems to rejoice, and to exclaim, with rapturous delight—"Lo! the winter is past, the rain is over and gone! (ver. 11) the flowers appear on the earth." Surely this king of Israel, this reputed wise one of the earth, who is said to be wiser than all men, who "spake of trees, beasts, fowls, creeping things, and fishes" (1 Kings iv. 31, 33), must have known, though perhaps but faintly, that the world with all its objects outwardly shadowed forth the goodness, wisdom, and power of the Creator; for to speak of trees, beasts, birds, and fishes, without any reference to man, and to the quality and growth of his mind, would be no mark of wisdom. Spring is as the morning of the year, when nature seems to awake from her winter's repose, and with renewed vigour begins to prepare her annual feast for all that live. Now life appears young and fresh: vitality is enclosed in every bud; is
