arison of which the attachment here of
brother, sister, kinsman, friend--all combined--pales like the stars
before the rising sun! Though we are often ashamed to call Him
"Brother," "He is not ashamed to call us _brethren_." He looks down on
poor worms, and says, "_The same_ is my mother, and sister, and
brother!" "I will write upon them," He says in another place, "my new
name." Just as we write our name on a book to tell that it belongs to
us; so Jesus would write His own name on _us_, the wondrous volumes of
His grace, that they may be read and pondered by principalities and
powers.

Have we "known and believed this love of God?" Ah, how poor has been the
requital! Who cannot subscribe to the words of one, whose name was in
all the churches,--"Thy love has been as a shower; the return but a
dew-drop, and that dew-drop stained with sin."

"IF A MAN LOVE ME, HE WILL KEEP _MY WORDS_; AND MY FATHER WILL LOVE
HIM, AND WE WILL COME UNTO HIM, AND MAKE OUR ABODE WITH HIM."

11TH DAY.

"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"--

"I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you."--John xiv.
18.

The Befriended Orphans.

Does the Christian's path lie all the way through Beulah? Nay, he is
forewarned it is to be one of "much tribulation." He has his Marahs as
well as his Elims--his valleys of Baca as well as his grapes of Eschol.
Often is he left unbefriended to bear the brunt of the storm--his gourds
fading when most needed--his sun going down while it is yet day--his
happy home and happy heart darkened in a moment with sorrows with which
a stranger (with which often a _brother_) cannot intermeddle. There is
_One_ Brother "born for adversity," who _can_. How often has that voice
broken with its silvery accents the muffled stillness of the
sick-chamber or death-chamber! "'_I_ will not leave you comfortless:'
the world _may_, friends _may_, the desolations of bereavement and death
_may_; but _I will not_; you will be alone, yet _not_ alone, for I your
Saviour and your God will be with you!"

Jesus seems to have an especial love and affection for His orphaned and
comfortless people. A father loves his sick and sorrowing child most; of
all his household, he occupies most of his thoughts. Christ seems to
delight to lavish His deepest sympathy on "him that hath no helper." It
is in the hour of sorrow His people have found Him most precious; it is
in "the wilderness" He speaks most "co