on its prey. To this Job compares the shortness of life, hastening onwards to death:-"My days," he says, "are swifter than a post: they flee away, they see no good. They are passed away as the swift ships: as the eagle that hasteth to the prey." (Job ix. 25, 26.) And Solomon, in his proverbs, says of riches,-"Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven." (Prov. xxiii. 5.)

Yes, dear children, never set your heart upon riches, or any earthly thing. When death comes, how little you will care whether in life you have been poor or rich, if only you have laid up treasure in heaven,-even spiritual riches. Oh! then, seek, as the Bible says, "to lay up treasure in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through and steal: " remembering also that as we brought nothing into this world, so we can carry nothing out.

up,

If God gives you riches when you are grown

let it be your earnest wish so to lay them out for God's service, that you may find far better treasure in heaven. There is a beautiful little book called "The King's Messengers."* Have you read it? If not, try to do so. It

* By Adams. Published by J. Masters.

tells you how you are to give your money to the poor, the sick, the lame, the blind, and how these messengers of the Great King, who is God, will carry your treasure to Him. Many things are told us about the eagle. In Daniel iv. 33, we read that Nebuchadnezzar's "hairs were grown like eagles' feathers, and his nails like birds' claws." This was during that sad time, when he had become as a beast, for seven years. Ezekiel was commanded to speak of an eagle, in the form of a riddle, to the children of Israel; the answer to which showed God's judgments on them. This prophet speaks of the eagle's great wings and feathers, and his dwelling in the lofty cedar trees. (Ezek. xvii.)

Agur says, there were four things which were too wonderful for him to understand: one was, "the way of an eagle in the air." (Prov. xxx. 18, 19.) The same wise man says of disobedient children,-"The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it." (Prov. xxx. 17.) And in some eastern lands this has occurred.

In one of St. John's visions he saw four beasts, "and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle. And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy,

holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. And when those beasts give glory, and honour, and thanks to Him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever, the four and twenty elders fall down before Him that sat on the throne, and worship Him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honour, and power; for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created." (Rev. iv. 7-11.) These beasts in heaven are performing God's will just as His redeemed people. What a glorious sight this vision must have been. And it still continues, for they rest not day nor night: they know no weariness in heaven. To praise God is their joy and their delight for ever and ever. You too, dear ones, may see this sight. And you too, I trust, will sometime have a crown to cast at Jesus' feet, and a song to sing around the throne. Yet a little while, and if you love the Lamb of God, you shall join that heavenly host.

Eagles live to a very great age, and are said to keep the appearance of youth and strength even when very old. Most likely this explains two beautiful verses in the Bible. In Psalm, ciii. David, speaking of the good gifts of God to His people, says,-"Who satisfieth thy mouth

with good things, so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's." And of the rich spiritual blessings of believers, Isaiah says,-"Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint." (Isa. xl. 31.) The meaning of this verse is, that in times of trouble and distress, when even young and strong men are sinking and weary, God shall give His people courage and strength to perform wonders of power and greatness. But the most beautiful passage about the eagle is written in Deut. xxxii. 11 (see also Exod. xix. 41):—“As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings; so the Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange God with him." These verses are a part of the beautiful song Moses wrote just before his death, and it compares God's tender care over His people with the eagle's care for her young ones. However fierce the eagle may be in catching and tearing her prey, she is a most tender parent. When the young ones are thought strong enough to fly, the mother bird knows they must be made to do so, or they will never leave their comfortable nest. First, therefore, she stirs up the nest, so as to

make them less easy, and more anxious to move from it. If this does not succeed, she flutters over them to make them restless; and if they still refuse to move, she either lifts them up upon her wings and bears them away, or has been even known to push them off the steep side of the high rock whereon their nest is built; knowing that when they are obliged to put forth