SERIOUS THOUGHTS.

Waikato Argus, Volume V, Issue 354, 15 October 1898, Page 5 (Supplement)

SERIOUS THOUGHTS.

OUR CHILDREN. A home in Pharaoh's palace was not what hin parents would have ohosen for their child Moses. Probably they were for long 1 years considerably exercised about the matttr. It may come out some day that the constant prayer evoked by what appeared the very perilious position of their boy, was the secret of his greatness and usefulness. Moses must have seemed to them to bo situated in circumstances powerfully calculated to alienate him from his own people and make him content to bask in the sunshine of palace privileges. Nevertheless, we cannot read the story without feeling profoundly that, from the very beginning, the life of Moses was fashioned according to a Divine plan. That, so far as we know, his parents by faith accepted that plan, and never sought to thwatt it, is their great honour.

One of the earliest studies of Christian parents is to accept gratefully God's plan for the life of the child Ho has given them. This means that they will ever set themselves to wait upon Him, and refrain from forming schemes of their own. The sorrows of many parents are largely connected with the collfipse of the thoughts and plans they themselves have devised for their children, which the wise loving kindness of God has been compelled to make war. If from the first fathers and mothers allow their hearts to be moved and won bv the unspeakable kindness of their God in undertaking to be a God to their seed also, they will avert many perils from themselves and from those they love. From the very beginning, tho most truely loved children need far more than faithful parents—they need a God. As fathers and mothers loo'k upon each child, let them say : My child has a God. Am I giving to Him, in all practical ways, tho honour that ie His due?

STEP BY STEP. Heaven is not reached by a single bound, But we build the ladder by which we rise From the lowly earth to the vaulted skies, And we mount to its summit round by round. I count these things to be grandly true, ' That a noble deed is a step towards God; Lifting the soul from the common sod To a purer air and a broader view. We rise by the things that are under our feet, By what we have mastered in greed and g:iiu, By the pride desposed and the passion slain, And the vanquished ill we hourly meet. We hope, we resolve, we aspire, we trust, When the morning calls to life and light; But our hearts grow weary and ere the night Our lives are trailing in the sordid dust. Wings for the angels, but feet for the men. We must borrow the wings to find the way We must hope and resolve and aspire and p ra y But our feet must rise, or we fall again. Only in dreams is the ladder thrown - From the weary earth to the sapphire wall; But the dreams depart and the visions fall, And the sleeper awakes on his pillo w of stone Heaven is not reached by a single hound ; But wo build the ladder by which we rise From the lowly earth to the vaultedskies, y And we mount to its summit round b round. Holland (F).-