receive benefits at the same time, and share them with one another. As the life of the human body is dependent on constant nutritive changes, so also is the life of humanity. Selfishness pushed to its extreme causes the death of both. When we accept services without returning them, we embitter, by our ingratitude, hearts that are disposed to serve us. Hence is the Talmud right in saying: "The rain, which fructifies all things, falls only on account of the righteous, that is, the thankful; for they alone maintain human society." As our teacher Simon, the Just, has expressly declared: "All works of love are only acknowledgments of the love that we receive from God. ISAAC ARAMA.

The wise will remember through a sevenfold birth the hand that wiped away a tear.

HOUGH the benefit be small.

Smaller than a millet-seed,

They to whom was done the deed,
See it as a palm tree tall.-Hindu.

VI.

The Fruitful Tree.

The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.-Prov. xi. 30.

That they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.— Isaiah Ixi. 3.

N the Talmud likewise the righteous man is likened

JN

to a fruitful tree; his piety is like the cool shade of

its leafy branches; and in it mankind can find protection in troublous times. And the tree that bears but leaves, and rustles loudly in the wind, is like the noisy boaster; whilst the heavy and muffled tones of the laden fruit tree are the symbols of the life of the pious man, quiet and rich in good deeds. Once the fruitbearing trees were asked: Why do ye not rustle loudly like the others? And they answered: We need not proclaim our presence; we are sought after for our fruits. . . . And Rabbi Hunah gives another answer: The fruit trees cannot rustle because their fruit is heavy and bends their branches earthwards; whilst the other trees can rustle, for they are not weighed down with fruit.

Also the tree of mighty roots, that stands upright before all the storms, is used to symbolize the pious man; whilst the scoffer is likened to the tree whose roots are few and thin, and which the first storm of winter lays low.

Long was the question argued in the academy of the Pharisees; whether of the two was of greater value, the study of the law or the doing of good works. At length it was decided in favor of the study of the law; inasmuch as this, if pursued in the right spirit, cannot fail to lead to good works, and has its own merit besides.

AUGUST WUENSCHE.

VII.

The Everlasting Arms.

Lift up your eyes on high and behold, who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number; He calleth them all by names; by the greatness of His might, for that He is strong in power, not one faileth. Why, then, sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel: my way is hid from the Lord and my judgment is passed over from my God?-Isaiah xl. 26, 27.

MHO then sees and sustains us little mortals made of dust? Thou, all-gracious One, Thou infinite One, Thou, O God, formest us. Thou seest us, thou lovest us. O brother, raise thy spirit and grasp the greatest thought of man. There where eternity is— there where immensity is, and where right begins— there an Infinite Spirit spreads out its arms and folds them around the universe of worlds, and bears it and warms it. I and thou, and all men, and all angels, and all worms rest on His bosom. He sees away through the ocean wherein coral-trees full of earths sway to and fro, and sees the little worm that cleaves to the smallest coral-which worm is I-and He gives the worm the nearest drop, and a blissful heart, and a future, and an eye to look up even to Himself—yea, O God, even up to Thee, even to Thy heart.

So long as the word "God" endures in a language will it direct the eyes of men upwards. It is with the

Eternal as with the sun; if but its smallest part can shine uneclipsed, it prolongs the day and gives its rounder image in the dark chamber.

WHERE'ER ascends the sacrifice

Of fervent praise and prayer,
Or on the earth, or in the skies,

The heaven of God is there.
His presence e'er is spread abroad

JEAN PAUL F. RICHTER.

Through realms, through worlds unknown, Who seek the mercies of our God

Are ever near His throne.

VIII.

The Brotherhood of Man.

One ordinance shall be both for you of the congregation and also for the stranger that sojourneth with you, an ordinance forever in your generations; as ye are, so shall the stranger be before the Lord. One Law and one manner shall be for you, and for the stranger that sojourneth with you.-Numbers xv. 15, 16.

WE are by nature predisposed to love mankind. Take away love and benevolence, and you take away all the joy of life. Men are born for the sake of men, that they may mutually benefit one another.

When man shall have learned to look upon himself as a citizen of the universe, considered as One Commonwealth-to what a knowledge of himself will he attain! CICERO.

To love and serve all men is to delight in God.

MENCIUS.

Give bread to a stranger in the name of the universal brotherhood which binds all men together under the common Father of nature. QUINTILLIAN.

God, who creates and inspires men, willed that they should be equal. He made them all capable of wisdom; he imposed the same laws upon all; and He has promised immortality to all. As He furnishes food for all and gives the sweet repose of sleep to all, so doth He give capacity for virtue to all. With Him no one is slave and no one is master. LACTANTIUS.

And a great multitude had gathered around the Rabbi, and one of the disciples asked him, Tell us, O master, why Deborah, a woman, was chosen to be prophet and judge in Israel, and not the High Priest Eleazar? Then the Rabbi lifted up his voice and said: Verily, I call heaven and earth to witness that every human creature, Jew or stranger, man or woman, free or bond, may be filled with the spirit of God if they render themselves worthy to receive it.— Midrash.

IX.

Religion and Humanity.

For all people will walk every one in the name of his God, and we will walk in the name of the Lord, our God, forever and ever.-Micah iv. 5.

FOR one thing, I cannot look at the succession of the

FOR

ages, and see what a tremendous part religion has