TWO little birds came in the early spring and built their nest on a branch near our window. Day by day, with unwearied zeal, they added straw after straw to the little nest, then they lined it and it looked so cozy. Later, a little, the eggs were there, and after that the nestlings. As we looked upon the pretty little things, we could not help fearing that they were in danger. The nest was not high enough to prevent it being assailed and rudely destroyed by some powerful enemy. Alas! alas! One bright morning when we looked out to see how our little refugees were getting on, we found the nest torn down, and the feathers of the nestlings bestrewed the ground. Their nest was not out of danger's reach. Had it been higher it would have been safe. There are men and women, and boys and girls, very much like these little birds. They have built themselves a nest, and chosen themselves a position, but it is in the world―the world which will one day be judged, and all that is in it will perish. Death will sadly wreck the worldling's position, and put an end to his pleasures. In a moment, when he least expects it, his doom will suddenly come. But those who have Christ, whose portion is in heaven, will never lose their nest; they will never have their portion taken from them.
Therefore, beloved reader, "build high." Let Christ be your portion. Earth's things will pass and perish, but He is the same "yesterday, and to-day, and forever." Can you, like Rutherford, sing―
"O, well it is forever, O, well for evermore,
My nest hung in no forest, of all this death-doomed shore;
Yea, let the vain world vanish, as from the ship the strand,
While glory, deathless, dwelleth in Emmanuel's land.”