Standard Jet DBnb` Ugr@?~1y0̝bǟFN牘X.D^(`T{6k߱wCϯ34ay[|*|OJl>`&_Љ$g'DeFx -{X`QB/ bSD5"      ۇ O8V#jKrvwlrV#jKV#jKV#jKV#jKrvwlrV#jKV#jKV#jKV#jKV#o    ۇ O8V#jKrvwlrV#jKV#jKV#jKV#jKrvwlrV#jKV#jKV#jKV#jKV#o    ۇ O8V#jKrvwlrV#jKV#jKV#jKV#jKrvwlrV#jKV#jKV#jKV#jKV#o       ۇ O8V#jKrvwlrV#jKKKD!RequiredAllowZeroLength Month  Day &Devotion  KKD!AllowZeroLengthRequVCS           2           Q          TIdParentIdNameType DateCreate DateUpdateOwnerFlagsDatabaseConnect ForeignName RmtInfoShort RmtInfoLongLvLvPropLvModuleLvExtraZ1 \7 Id ParentIdName        quVC1S     2  ObjectIdSIDACM FInheritable ObjectId                IdParentIdNameType DateCreate DateUpdateOwnerFlagsDatabaseConnect ForeignName RmtInfoShort RmtInfoLongLvLvPropLvModuleLvExtra  Id ParentIdName        VC?S      of  I  rs   a ObjectId AttributeOrderName1Name2 ExpressionFlagilnzjtz ObjectIdAttribute  VCS             szRelationshipgrbitccolumnicolumnszObjectszColumnszReferencedObjectszReferencedColumn   szObjectszReferencedObjectszRelationship {qg]SI?5<o{qg]SI?5o{@@ @d`w``bbfvvs`hfvd`w`a`vfvgruov ordxmfv ufm`wjrpvijsvufsruwv vbujswv v}vufm w`amfvdfw`jmvdfzrwjrpvov}v`bbfvvrakfbwvov}v`bfvov}vrakfbwvov}vtxfujfvov}vufm`wjrpvijsvov}vdao{@@ @d`w``bbfvvs`hfvd`w`a`vfvgruov ordxmfv ufm`wjrpvijsvufsruwv vbujswv v}vufm w`amfvdfw`jmvdfzrwjrpvov}v`bbfvvrakfbwvov}v`bfvov}vrakfbwvov}vtxfujfvov}vufm`wjrpvijsvov}vdao @ @      {qg]SI?5@ O @ @ @ @ @ @    *+,()-./0!"#$%&'  @ d`w`a`vfvufm`wjrpvijsvw`amfvov}v`bfvov}vrakfbwvov}vtxfujfvov}vda1,Q@1,Q@SysRel%%%%%%%%%%% 1,Q@1,Q@Scripts&&&&&&&&&&& 1,Q@1,Q@Reports&&&&&&&&&&& 1,Q@1,Q@Modules&&&&&&&&&&& 1,Q@1,Q@Forms$$$$$$$$$$$ 1,Q@1,Q@DataAccessPages........... ,Q@,Q@MSysRelationships22222222220 ,Q@,Q@MSysQueries,,,,,,,,,,* ,Q@,Q@MSysACEs))))))))))' ,Q@,Q@MSysObjects,,,,,,,,,,* ,Q@,Q@MSysDb''''''''''% ,Q@,Q@Relationships.........., ,Q@,Q@Databases**********( ,Q@,Q@Tables''''''''''% Q]m5<    ys      2                     IdParentIdNameType DateCreate DateUpdateOwnerFlagsDatabaseConnect ForeignName RmtInfoShort RmtInfoLongLvLvPropLvModuleLvExtra  Id ParentIdName        El[-@h̚l[-@MSysAccessObjects22222222220 U-@U-@Devotions}@666*******( @U-@U-@Details@444(((((((& @N_l[-@N_l[-@SysRel''''''''''% N_l[-@N_l[-@Scripts((((((((((& N_l[-@N_l[-@Reports((((((((((& N_l[-@N_l[-@Modules((((((((((& N_l[-@N_l[-@Forms&&&&&&&&&&$ N_l[-@N_l[-@DataAccessPages0000000000. U-@U-@MSysRelationships22222222220 U-@U-@MSysQueries,,,,,,,,,,* U-@U-@MSysACEs))))))))))' U-@U-@MSysObjects,,,,,,,,,,* U-@NUl[-@MSysDb@333'''''''% @U-@U-@Relationships.........., U-@U-@Databases**********( U-@U-@Tables''''''''''% VCN  2  2   Description AbbreviationComments2-Q@2-Q@SysRel%%%%%%%%%%% 2-Q@2-Q@Scripts&&&&&&&&&&& 2-Q@2-Q@Reports&&&&&&&&&&& 2-Q@2-Q@Modules&&&&&&&&&&& 2-Q@2-Q@Forms$$$$$$$$$$$ 2-Q@2-Q@DataAccessPages........... 2-Q@2-Q@MSysRelationships22222222220 2-Q@2-Q@MSysQueries,,,,,,,,,,* 2-Q@2-Q@MSysACEs))))))))))' 2-Q@2-Q@MSysObjects,,,,,,,,,,* 2-Q@2-Q@MSysDb''''''''''% 2-Q@2-Q@Relationships.........., 2-Q@2-Q@Databases**********( 2-Q@2-Q@Tables''''''''''% {q@@ @d`w``bbfvvs`hfvd`w`a`vfvgruov ordxmfv ufm`wjrpvijsvufsruwv vbujswv w`amfvov}v`bfvov}vrakfbwvov}vtxfujfvov}vufm`wjrpvijsvov}vda @@yLVAL@@ @ d`w``bbfvvs`hfvd`w`a`vfvgruov ordxmfv ufm`wjrpvijsvufsruwv vbujswv v}vufm w`amfvov}v`bfvov}vrakfbwvov}vtxfujfvov}vufm`wjrpvijsvov}vdaM-Q@M-Q@SysRel%%%%%%%%%%% M-Q@M-Q@Scripts&&&&&&&&&&& M-Q@M-Q@Reports&&&&&&&&&&& M-Q@M-Q@Modules&&&&&&&&&&& M-Q@M-Q@Forms$$$$$$$$$$$ M-Q@M-Q@DataAccessPages........... M-Q@M-Q@MSysRelationships22222222220 M-Q@M-Q@MSysQueries,,,,,,,,,,* M-Q@M-Q@MSysACEs))))))))))' M-Q@M-Q@MSysObjects,,,,,,,,,,* M-Q@M-Q@MSysDb''''''''''% M-Q@M-Q@Relationships......Mary W. Tileston - Daily Strength for Daily Needs 1884 WARNING: Cites Apocrypha\par \par formatted for e-Sword by David Cox# -"        !"#$%&'()*+,-./0123456789:;<=>?      !"#$%&'()*+,-./0123456789:;<=>      !"#$%&'( ) * + , -./0123456789:;<=> !"#$%&'( ) * + , -./0123456789:;<=>? @!A"B#C$D%E&F'G(H)I*J+K,L-M.N/O0P1Q2R3S4T5U6V7W8X9Y:Z;[<\=]>^_`abcdefg h i j k lmnopqrstuvwxyz{|}~Mary W. Tileston - Daily Strength for Daily NeedsTileston-Daily{@L@2VC)nNnnnn     IDMonthDayDevotion ID PrimaryKey2-Q@2-Q@SysRel%%%%%%%%%%% 2-Q@2-Q@Scripts&&&&&&&&&&& 2-Q@2-Q@Reports&&&&&&&&&&& 2-Q@2-Q@Modules&&&&&&&&&&& 2-Q@2-Q@Forms$$$$$$$$$$$ 2-Q@2-Q@DataAccessPages........... 2-Q@2-Q@MSysRelationships22222222220 2-Q@2-Q@MSysQueries,,,,,,,,,,* 2-Q@2-Q@MSysACEs))))))))))' 2-Q@2-Q@MSysObjects,,,,,,,,,,* 2-Q@2-Q@MSysDb''''''''''% 2-Q@2-Q@Relationships.........., 2-Q@2-Q@Databases**********( 2-Q@2-Q@Tables''''''''''% {qg           2           Q          TIdParentIdNameType DateCreate DateUpdateOwnerFlagsDatabaseConnect ForeignName RmtInfoShort RmtInfoLongLvLvPropLvModuleLvExtraZ1 \7 Id ParentIdName        p?$LVAL04\i "I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever." \i0 {\cf11 \ulPsa_89:1}\PAR\PAR We are surrounded with mercies; mercies for the body, and mercies for the soul. There are indeed times and seasons when all the mercies of God, both in providence and grace, seem hidden from our eyes, when, what with the workings of sin, rebellion, and unbelief, with a thorny path in the world, and a rough, trying road in the soul, we see little of the mercies of God, though surrounded by them. Like Elisha's servant, though the mountain is surrounded by the horses and chariots of fire, and the angels of God are round about us, yet our eyes are blinded, we cannot see them; and at the very moment when God is already showering mercies upon us, and preparing others in reserve, through some trying dispensation{\i"They go from strength to strength." \i0}-- {\cf11 \ulPsa_84:7}.\PAR\PAR {\i"First the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear." \i0}-- {\cf11 \ulMar_4:28}.\PAR\PAR Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul, \PAR\PAR As the swift seasons roll!\PAR\PAR Leave thy low-vaulted past!\PAR\PAR Let each new temple, nobler than the last, \PAR\PAR Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast, \PAR\PAR Till thou at length art free, \PAR\PAR Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea!\PAR\PAR O. W. HOLMES.\PAR\PAR High hearts are never long without hearing some new call, some distant clarion of God, even in their dreams; and soon they are observed to break up the camp of ease, and start on some fresh march of faithful service.\PAR\PAR And, looking higher still, we find those who never wait till their moral work accumulates, and who reward resolution with no rest; with whom, therefore, the alternation is instantaneous and constant; who do the good only to see the better, and see the better only to achieve it; who are too meek for transport, too faithful for remorse, too earnest for repose; whose worship is action, and whose action ceaseless aspiration.\PAR\PAR J. MARTINEAU.\PAR\PAR AoR5jM0eH+}`C& x[>!sV9nQ4ation enter into the ki@X R@W 1@V @U @T w@S L@R @Q @P @O @N @N @M @L @K @J @I U@H @G @F @E  @D  @C  @B  @A  9@@ @?  @> @= 1@< @; @: E@9 g@8 g@7  @6 @5 i@4 0@3 t@2 @1 @0 @/ @. @- z@, @+ @* @) @) $@( @'   ]@&   6@%   +@$   @#   @" @! X@  _@  @ t@ @ ]@ @ LVAL8\i "Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high has visited us, to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace." \i0 {\cf11 \ulLuk_1:78-79}\PAR\PAR There is a way of peace, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. For he is \i "our peace," \i0 and \i "the way," \i0 and therefore the way of peace. He has made peace through the blood of his cross ({\cf11 \ulCol_1:20}), having slain the enmity thereby, and came and preached peace to those who were afar off, \i "sitting in darkness and the shadow of death," \i0 and to those who were near ({\cf11 \ulEph_2:16}; {\cf11 \ulEph_2:17}). The dayspring, then, breaking in upon the soul, shines upon the way of peace, and guides the feet into it. The light shines upon the way lined with blood, the way of salvation through the finished work, atoning blood, and meritorious sufferings{\i"The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore." \i0}-- {\cf11 \ulPsa_121:8}.\PAR\PAR {\i"Lord, Thou hast been our dwelling-place in all generations." \i0}-- {\cf11 \ulPsa_90:1}.\PAR\PAR With grateful hearts the past we own; The future, all to us unknown, We to Thy guardian care commit, And peaceful leave before Thy feet.\PAR\PAR P. DODDRIDGE.\PAR\PAR We are like to Him with whom there is no past or future, with whom a day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day, when we do our work in the great present, leaving both past and future to Him to whom they are ever present, and fearing nothing, because He is in our future as much as He is in our past, as much as, and far more than we can feel Him to be, in our present. Partakers thus of the divine nature, resting in that perfect All-in-all in whom our nature is eternal too, we walk without fear, full of hope and courage and strength to do His will, waiting for the endless good which He is always giving as fast as He can get us able to take it in.\PAR\PAR G. MACDONALD.\PAR\PAR LVAL"\i "Hold up my goings in your paths, that my footsteps slip not." \i0 {\cf11 \ulPsa_17:5}\PAR\PAR Without scrupulously or superstitiously observing \i "days, and months, and times, and years," \i0 few of us altogether pass by so marked an epoch as the dawning of another year upon our path without some acknowledgment of it both to God and man. When we open our eyes on the first morning of the year, we almost instinctively say, \i "This is New-year's day." \i0 Nor is this, at least this should not be, all the notice we take, all the acknowledgment we make of that opening year of which we may not see the close. \PAR\PAR When we bend our knees before the throne of grace, we mingle with thankful acknowledgment for the mercies of the past year, both in providence and in grace, earnest petitions for similar mercies to be experienced and enjoyed through the present. Last evening witnessed our confessions of the many, many grievous sins, wanderings, backslidings, and departings from the living God during the year now gone; this morni{\i"As thy days, so shall thy strength be." \i0}-- {\cf11 \ulDeu_33:25}.\PAR\PAR {\i"Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." \i0}-- {\cf11 \ulMat_6:34}.\PAR\PAR Oh, ask not thou, How shall I bear The burden of to-morrow?\PAR\PAR Sufficient for to-day, its care, Its evil and its sorrow; God imparteth by the way Strength sufficient for the day.\PAR\PAR J. E. SAXBY.\PAR\PAR He that hath so many causes of joy, and so great, is very much in love with sorrow and peevishness, who loses all these pleasures, and chooses to sit down upon his little handful of thorns. Enjoy the blessings of this day, if God sends them; and the evils of it bear patiently and sweetly: for this day only is ours, we are dead to yesterday, and we are not yet born to the morrow. But if we look abroad, and bring into one day's thoughts the evil of many, certain and uncertain, what will be and what will never be, our load will be as intolerable as it is unreasonable.\PAR\PAR JEREMY TAYLOR.\PAR\PAR LVALU '\T<`\u5U'\U`\`w'\V`\ue%ueueu`s'\W8`\eeeee%euPs'\X`\%%%ee%eep,'\Y`\eu%eue%%p '\Z4`\%uueeeee`a'\[`\eeeeu%%u` '\\܊`\eu%ueeee`a'\]0`\eeeeeeue p'{\i"If we sin, we are Thine, knowing Thy power: but-- we will not sin, knowing that we are counted Thine. For to know Thee is perfect righteousness: yea, to know Thy power is the root of immortality." \i0}-- WISDOM OF SOLOMON 15:2-3.\PAR\PAR Oh, empty us of self, the world, and sin, And then in all Thy fulness enter in; Take full possession, Lord, and let each thought Into obedience unto Thee be brought; Thine is the power, and Thine the will, that we Be wholly sanctified, O Lord, to Thee.\PAR\PAR C. E. J.\PAR\PAR Take steadily some one sin, which seems to stand out before thee, to root it out, by God's grace, and every fibre of it. Purpose strongly, by the grace and strength of God, wholly to sacrifice this sin or sinful inclination to the love of God, to spare it not, until thou leave of it none remaining, neither root nor branch.\PAR\PAR Fix, by God's help, not only to root out this sin, but to set thyself to gain, by that same help, the opposite grace. If thou art tempted to be angry, try hard, by God's grace, to be {\i"very" \i0}meek; if to be proud, seek to be {\i"very" \i0}humble.\PAR\PAR E. B. PUSEY.\PAR\PAR LVAL:\i "O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water." \i0 {\cf11 \ulPsa_63:1}\PAR\PAR David here speaks of seeking God for what he is in himself as distinct from what he has to give. His gifts are one thing, himself is another. Therefore he says, O God, you are my God; early will I seek you;" \i0 you as distinct from your gifts. The bride may value her bridegroom's costly gifts; but what are his gifts apart from himself? So the Church highly prizes her royal Husband's gifts and blessings; but what are these compared to Him who, in her admiring eyes, is the chief among ten thousand and altogether lovely? Thus, as seen by the eye of faith, {\i"That He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish." \i0}-- {\cf11 \ulEph_5:27}.\PAR\PAR Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house. -- {\cf11 \ul1Pe_2:5}.\PAR\PAR One holy Church of God appears Through every age and race, Unwasted by the lapse of years, Unchanged by changing place.\PAR\PAR S. LONGFELLOW.\PAR\PAR A temple there has been upon earth, a spiritual Temple, made up of living stones; a Temple, as I may say, composed of souls; a Temple with God for its light, and Christ for the high priest; with wings of angels for its arches, with saints and teachers for its pillars, and with worshippers for its pavement. Wherever there is faith and love, this Temple is.\PAR\PAR J. H. NEWMAN.\PAR\PAR To whatever worlds He carries our souls when they shall pass out of these imprisoning bodies, in those worlds these souls of ours shall find themselves part of the same great Temple; for it belongs not to this earth alone. There can be no end of the universe where God is, to which that growing Temple does not reach,-- the Temple of a creation to be wrought at last into a perfect utterance of God by a perfect obedience to God.\PAR\PAR PHILLIPS BROOKS.\PAR\PAR LVAL<\i "Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens." \i0 {\cf11 \ulLam_3:41}\PAR\PAR When the Lord lays judgment to the line, and righteousness to the plummet, when he makes the living man complain on account of deserved chastisement for his sins, and thus brings him to search and try his ways, he raises up an earnest cry in his soul. \i "Let us lift up our heart with our hands," \i0 and not the hands without the heart; not the mere bended knee; not the mere grave and solemn countenance, that easiest and most frequent cover of hypocrisy; not the mere form of prayer, that increasing idol of the day--but the lifting up of the heart w{\i"In all ages entering into holy souls, she [Wisdom] maketh them friends of God, and prophets." \i0}-- WISDOM OF SOLOMON 7:27.\PAR\PAR Meanwhile with every son and saint of Thine Along the glorious line, Sitting by turns beneath Thy sacred feet We 'll hold communion sweet, Know them by look and voice, and thank them all For helping us in thrall, For words of hope, and bright examples given To shew through moonless skies that there is light in heaven.\PAR\PAR J. KEBLE.\PAR\PAR If we cannot live at once and alone with Him, we may at least live with those who have lived with Him; and find, in our admiring love for their purity, their truth, their goodness, an intercession with His pity on our behalf. To study the lives, to meditate the sorrows, to commune with the thoughts, of the great and holy men and women of this rich world, is a sacred discipline, which deserves at least to rank as the forecourt of the temple of true worship, and may train the tastes, ere we pass the very gate, of heaven. We forfeit the chief source of dignity and sweetness in life, next to the direct communion with God, if we do not seek converse with the greater minds that have left their vestiges on the world.\PAR\PAR J. MARTINEAU.\PAR\PAR Do not think it wasted time to submit yourself to any influence which may bring upon you any noble feeling.\PAR\PAR J. RUSKIN.\PAR\PAR LVAL\i "And I will ask the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it sees him not, neither knows him--but you know him; for he dwells with you, and shall be in you." \i0 {\cf11 \ulJoh_14:16-17}\PAR\PAR The holy Comforter and most gracious Spirit does not take up a temporary abode in the heart of the Lord's people. Where he once takes up his dwelling, there he forever dwells and lives. \i "He shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever." \i0 Oh, the blessing! Where once that holy Dove has lighted, there that Dove abides. He does not visit the soul with his grace, and then leave it to perish under the wrath of God, or allow his work to wither, droop, and die. But where he has once come into the soul with power, there he fixes his continual habitation, for he makes the bodies of {\i"The exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power." \i0}-- Eph_1:19.\PAR\PAR The lives which seem so poor, so low, The hearts which are so cramped and dull, The baffled hopes, the impulse slow, Thou takest, touchest all, and lo!\PAR\PAR They blossom to the beautiful.\PAR\PAR SUSAN COOLIDGE.\PAR\PAR A root set in the finest soil, in the best climate, and blessed with all that sun and air and rain can do for it, is not in so sure a way of its growth to perfection, as every man may be, whose spirit aspires after all that which God is ready and infinitely desirous to give him. For the sun meets not the springing bud that stretches towards him with half that certainty, as God, the source of all good, communicates Himself to the soul that longs to partake of Him.\PAR\PAR WM. LAW.\PAR\PAR If we stand in the openings of the present moment, with all the length and breadth of our faculties unselfishly adjusted to what it reveals, we are in the best condition to receive what God is always ready to communicate.\PAR\PAR T. C. UPHAM.\PAR\PAR QLVAL]@\i "Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man--but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit." \i0 {\cf11 \ul2Pe_1:20-21}\PAR\PAR The Bible is put into our hands as a revelation from God. As such we have received it from our fathers. As such, and as such only, does it claim our attention and our obedience. If it is not the word of God--we speak with reverence--it is an imposture. Now, if we can but firmly establish the necessity of a revelation from God, we have laid a strong foundation for a belief that the Bible is that revelation; for no other is worth a moment's examination. This argument from necessity, then, is very strong--stronger, perhaps, than it at first appears, and as extensive in application as firm {\i"As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men." \i0}-- Gal_6:10.\PAR\PAR {\i"Let brotherly love continue." \i0}-- {\cf11 \ulHeb_13:1}.\PAR\PAR I Ask Thee for a thoughtful love, Through constant watching wise, To meet the glad with joyful smiles, And to wipe the weeping eyes, And a heart at leisure from itself, To soothe and sympathize.\PAR\PAR A. L. WARING.\PAR\PAR Surely none are so full of cares, or so poor in gifts, that to them also, waiting patiently and trustfully on God for His daily commands, He will not give direct ministry for Him, increasing according to their strength and their desire. There is so much to be set right in the world, there are so many to be led and helped and comforted, that we must continually come in contact with such in our daily life. Let us only take care, that, by the glance being turned inward, or strained onward, or lost in vacant reverie, we do not miss our turn of service, and pass by those to whom we might have been sent on an errand straight from God.\PAR\PAR ELIZABETH CHARLES.\PAR\PAR Look up and not down; look forward and not back; look out and not in; and lend a hand.\PAR\PAR EDWARD E. HALE.\PAR\PAR LVALoR5jM0eH+}`C& x[>!sV9nQ4poken unto him, and he      z    r   V  @~  | z x v  t 6r  p ( n  l )j Hh  f  d  P b  `  j^  \ V[  Y  W{\i"And in every work that be began in the service of the house of God, and in the law, and in the commandments, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart, and prospered." \i0}--{\cf11 \ul2Ch_31:21}.\PAR\PAR {\i"What, shall we do, that we might work the works of God?" \i0}-- JOHN 6:28.\PAR\PAR Give me within the work which calls to-day, To see Thy finger gently beckoning on; So struggle grows to freedom, work to play, And toils begun from Thee to Thee are done.\PAR\PAR J. F. CLARKE.\PAR\PAR God is a kind Father. He sets us all in the places where He wishes us to be employed; and that employment is truly {\i"our Father's business." \i0}He chooses work for every creature which will be delightful to them, if they do it simply and humbly. He gives us always strength enough, and sense enough, for what He wants us to do; if we either tire ourselves or puzzle ourselves, it is our own fault. And we may always be sure, whatever we are doing, that we cannot be pleasing Him, if we are not happy ourselves.\PAR\PAR J. RUSKIN.\PAR\PAR `LVALl\i "But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." \i0 {\cf11 \ul2Pe_3:18}\PAR\PAR Growth is the sure mark of life. We see this in vegetation, in the animal creation, in the growth of our own bodies, and of every other thing in which there is life. Where, then, there is the life of God in the soul, there will be a growth in that life. Paul says to the Thessalonian Church--"We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is fit, because your faith grows exceedingly" \i0 ({\cf11 \ul2Th_1:3}); and Peter says, \i "But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." \i0 There is \i "an increasing in the knowledge of God" \i0 ({\cf11 \ulCol_1:10}), and \i "a coming in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of th{\i"Because Thy loving-kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise Thee." \i0}-- {\cf11 \ulPsa_43:3}.\PAR\PAR {\i"Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it." \i0}-- {\cf11 \ulLuk_17:33}.\PAR\PAR O Lord! my best desires fulfil, And help me to resign Life, health, and comfort, to Thy will, And make Thy pleasure mine.\PAR\PAR WM. COWPER.\PAR\PAR What do our heavy hearts prove but that other things are sweeter to us than His will, that we have not attained to the full mastery of our true freedom, the full perception of its power, that our sonship is yet but faintly realized, and its blessedness not yet proved and known? Our consent would turn all our trials into obedience. By consenting we make them our own, and offer them with ourselves again to Him.\PAR\PAR H. E. MANNING.\PAR\PAR Nothing is intolerable that is necessary. Now God hath bound thy trouble upon thee, with a design to try thee, and with purposes to reward and crown thee. These cords thou canst not break; and therefore lie thou down gently, and suffer the hand of God to do what He please.\PAR\PAR JEREMY TAYLOR.\PAR\PAR LVAL\i "I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever." \i0 {\cf11 \ulPsa_89:1}\PAR\PAR We are surrounded with mercies; mercies for the body, and mercies for the soul. There are indeed times and seasons when all the mercies of God, both in providence and grace, seem hidden from our eyes, when, what with the workings of sin, rebellion, and unbelief, with a thorny path in the world, and a rough, trying road in the soul, we see little of the mercies of God, though surrounded by them. Like Elisha's servant, though the mountain is surrounded by the horses and chariots of fire, and the angels of God are round about us, yet our eyes are blinded, we cannot see them; and at the very moment when God is already showering mercies upon us, and preparing others in reserve, through some trying dispensation, we are filled, perhaps, with murmuring and rebellion, and cry, \i "Is his mercy clean gone forever, will he be favorable no more?" \i0 \PAR\PAR This is our infirm{\i"I will be glad, and rejoice in Thy mercy: for Thou hast considered my trouble; Thou hast known my soul in adversities." \i0}-- {\cf11 \ulPsa_31:7}.\PAR\PAR Nay, all by Thee is ordered, chosen, planned; Each drop that fills my daily cup Thy hand Prescribes, for ills none else can understand:\PAR\PAR All, all is known to Thee.\PAR\PAR A. L. NEWTON.\PAR\PAR God knows us through and through. Not the most secret thought, which we most hide from ourselves, is hidden from Him. As then we come to know ourselves through and through, we come to see ourselves more as God sees us, and then we catch some little glimpse of His designs with us, how each ordering of His Providence, each check to our desires, each failure of our hopes, is just fitted for us, and for something in our own spiritual state, which others know not of, and which, till then, we knew not. Until we come to this knowledge, we must take all in faith, believing, though we know not, the goodness of God towards us. As we know ourselves, we, thus far, know God.\PAR\PAR E. B. PUSEY.\PAR\PAR LVAL"\i "Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high has visited us, to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace." \i0 {\cf11 \ulLuk_1:78-79}\PAR\PAR There is a way of peace, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. For he is \i "our peace," \i0 and \i "the way," \i0 and therefore the way of peace. He has made peace through the blood of his cross ({\cf11 \ulCol_1:20}), having slain the enmity thereby, and came and preached peace to those who were afar off, \i "sitting in darkness and the shadow of death," \i0 and to those who were near ({\cf11 \ulEph_2:16}; {\cf11 \ulEph_2:17}). The dayspring, then, breaki{\i"Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer." \i0}-- {\cf11 \ulPsa_19:14}.\PAR\PAR The thoughts that in our hearts keep place, Lord, make a holy, heavenly throng, And steep in innocence and grace The issue of each guarded tongue.\PAR\PAR T. H. GILL.\PAR\PAR There is another kind of silence to be cultivated, besides that of the tongue as regards others. I mean silence as regards one's self,-- restraining the imagination, not permitting it to dwell overmuch on what we have heard or said, not indulging in the phantasmagoria of picture-thoughts, whether of the past or future. Be sure that you have made no small progress in the spiritual life, when you can control your imagination, so as to fix it on the duty and occupation actually existing, to the exclusion of the crowd of thoughts which are perpetually sweeping across the mind. No doubt, you cannot prevent those thoughts from arising, but you can prevent yourself from dwelling on them; you can put them aside, you can check the self-complacency, or irritation, or earthly longings which feed them, and by the practice of such control of your thoughts you will attain that spirit of inward silence which draws the soul into a close intercourse with God.\PAR\PAR JEAN N. GROU.\PAR\PAR LVALB\i "Bless the Lord, O my soul--and all that is within me, bless his holy name." \i0 {\cf11 \ulPsa_103:1}\PAR\PAR As the Son has glorified the Father and the Father has glorified the Son, so there is a people in whom both the Father and the Son will be glorified. He therefore said, \i "And the glory which you gave me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one" \i0 ({\cf11 \ulJoh_17:22}); and again, \i "All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I am glorified in them." \i0 When, then, God's goodness and mercy in the face of Jesus Christ are manifested to this people whom he has formed for himself that they might show forth his praise, then they give him back his glory. But how is this done? By praising and blessing his holy name for the manifestation of his goodness and mercy to their soul. We thus see in what a blessed circle this glory runs. The Father glorifies the Son; the Son glorifies the Father; both unite in glorifying his chosen and redeemed people; and they glorify Father and Son by giving them the glory due to their name. We therefore read that \i "the Gentiles glorify God for his mercy." \i0 But how? \i "Rejoice, you Gentil{\i"Speak not evil one of another, brethren." \i0}-- {\cf11 \ulJas_4:11}.\PAR\PAR {\i"Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice." \i0}-- {\cf11 \ulEph_4:31}.\PAR\PAR If aught good thou canst not say Of thy brother, foe, or friend, Take thou, then, the silent way, Lest in word thou shouldst offend.\PAR\PAR ANON.\PAR\PAR If there is any person to whom you feel dislike, that is the person of whom you ought never to speak.\PAR\PAR R. CECIL.\PAR\PAR To recognize with delight all high and generous and beautiful actions; to find a joy even in seeing the good qualities of your bitterest opponents, and to admire those qualities even in those with whom you have least sympathy, this is the only spirit which can heal the love of slander and of calumny.\PAR\PAR F. W. ROBERTSON.\PAR\PAR ULVALa\i "To those who have been called, who are loved by God the Father and kept by Jesus Christ." \i0 Jude 1\PAR\PAR What a mercy it is for God's people that before they have a vital union with Christ, before they are grafted into him experimentally--they have{\i"Thy servants are ready to do whatsoever my lord the king shall appoint." \i0}-- {\cf11 \ul2Sa_15:15}.\PAR\PAR I love to think that God appoints My portion day by day; Events of life are in His hand, And I would only say, Appoint them in Thine own good time, And in Thine own best way.\PAR\PAR A. L. WARING.\PAR\PAR If we are really, and always, and equally ready to do whatsoever the King appoints, all the trials and vexations arising from any change in His appointments, great or small, simply do not exist. If He appoints me to work there, shall I lament that I am not to work here? If He appoints me to wait in-doors to-day, am I to be annoyed because I am not to work out-of-doors? If I meant to write His messages this morning, shall I grumble because He sends interrupting visitors, rich or poor, to whom I am to speak them, or {\i"show kindness" \i0}for His sake, or at least obey His command, {\i"Be courteous?" \i0}If all my members are really at His disposal, why should I be put out if to-day's appointment is some simple work for my hands or errands for my feet, instead of some seemingly more important doing of head or tongue?\PAR\PAR F. R. HAVERGAL.\PAR\PAR LVAL{\i"For this is the will of God, even your sanctification." \i0}-- {\cf11 \ul1Te_4:3}.\PAR\PAR Between us and Thyself remove Whatever hindrances may be, That so our inmost heart may prove A holy temple, meet for Thee.\PAR\PAR LATIN MSS. OF 15TH CENTURY.\PAR\PAR Bear, in the presence of God, to know thyself. Then seek to know for what God sent thee into the world; how thou hast fulfilled it; art thou yet what God willed thee to be; what yet lacketh unto thee; what is God's will for thee {\i"now_; what thing thou mayest {\i"now" \i0}do, by His grace, to obtain His favor, and approve thyself unto Him. Say to Him, {\i"Teach me to do Thy will, for Thou art my God," \i0}and He will say unto thy soul, {\i"Fear not; I am thy salvation." \i0}He will speak peace unto thy soul; He will set thee in the way; He will bear thee above things of sense, and praise of man, and things which perish in thy grasp, and give thee, if but afar off, some glimpse of His own, unfading, unsetting, unperishing brightness and bliss and love.\PAR\PAR E. B. PUSEY.\PAR\PAR LVAL{\i"Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: but rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings." \i0}-- {\cf11 \ul1Pe_4:12-13}.\PAR\PAR We take with solemn thankfulness Our burden up, nor ask it less, And count it joy that even we May suffer, serve, or wait for Thee, Whose will be done!\PAR\PAR J. G. WHITTIER.\PAR\PAR Receive every inward and outward trouble, every disappointment, pain, uneasiness, temptation, darkness, and desolation, with both thy hands, as a true opportunity and blessed occasion of dying to self, and entering into a fuller fellowship with thy self-denying, suffering Saviour. Look at no inward or outward trouble in any other view; reject every other thought about it; and then every kind of trial and distress will become the blessed day of thy prosperity. That state is best, which exerciseth the highest faith in, and fullest resignation to God.\PAR\PAR WM. LAW.\PAR\PAR {\i"Now our Lord Jesus Christ, Himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work." \i0}-- {\cf11 \ul2Th_2:16-17}.\PAR\PAR When sorrow all our heart would ask, We need not shun our daily task, And hide ourselves for calm; The herbs we seek to heal our woe Familiar by our pathway grow, Our common air is balm.\PAR\PAR J. KEBLE.\PAR\PAR Oh, when we turn away from some duty or some fellow-creature, saying that our hearts are too sick and sore with some great yearning of our own, we may often sever the line on which a divine message was coming to us. We shut out the man, and we shut out the angel who had sent him on to open the door. There is a plan working in our lives; and if we keep our hearts quiet and our eyes open, it all works together; and, if we don't, it all rights together, and goes on fighting till it comes right, somehow, somewhere.\PAR\PAR ANNIE KEARY.\PAR\PAR *LVAL6\i "For we are his workmanship."\i0 -- {\cf11 \ul Eph_2:{\i"Thou shalt rejoice in every good thing which the Lord thy God hath given unto thee." \i0}-- {\cf11 \ulDeu_26:11}.\PAR\PAR {\i"Rejoice evermore. In everything give thanks." \i0}-- {\cf11 \ul1Th_5:16-18}.\PAR\PAR Grave on thy heart each past {\i"red-letter day"!\i0}\PAR\PAR Forget not all the sunshine of the way By which the Lord hath led thee; answered prayers, And joys unasked, strange blessings, lifted cares, Grand promise-echoes! Thus thy life shall be One record of His love and faithfulness to thee.\PAR\PAR F. R. HAVERGAL.\PAR\PAR Gratitude consists in a watchful, minute attention to the particulars of our state, and to the multitude of God's gifts, taken one by one. It fills us with a consciousness that God loves and cares for us, even to the least event and smallest need of life. It is a blessed thought, that from our childhood God has been laying His fatherly hands upon us, and always in benediction; that even the strokes of His hands are blessings, and among the chiefest we have ever received. When this feeling is awakened, the heart beats with a pulse of thankfulness. Every gift has its return of praise. It awakens an unceasing daily converse with our Father,-- He speaking to us by the descent of blessings, we to Him by the ascent of thanksgiving. And all our whole life is thereby drawn under the light of His countenance, and is filled with a gladness, serenity, and peace which only thankful hearts can know.\PAR\PAR H. E. MANNING.\PAR\PAR LVAL\i "For those who are after the flesh mind the things of the flesh; but those who are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit."\i0 -- {\cf11 \ul Rom_8:5}\PAR\PAR None but those who are partakers of a heavenly birth feel heavenly realities to be their choice element, holy things their sweetest meditation, and the solemn worship of God their supreme delight. Look at this mark as a touchstone of divine life; for to be spiritually-minded a man must be spiritual, and to be spiritual he must have received the Spirit and been made a partaker of that\i "kingdom of God which is righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit"\i0 ({\cf11 \ul Rom_14:17}).\PAR\PAR Have you never found in reading the Scriptures a sweet peace distill over your soul, as the glorious promises came forth one after another as the{\i"Let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord." \i0}-- {\cf11 \ulPsa_105:3}.\PAR\PAR {\i"The joy of the Lord is your strength." \i0}-- {\cf11 \ulNeh_8:10}.\PAR\PAR Be Thou my Sun, my selfishness destroy, Thy atmosphere of Love be all my joy; Thy Presence be my sunshine ever bright, My soul the little mote that lives but in Thy light.\PAR\PAR GERHARD TERSTEEGEN.\PAR\PAR I do not know when I have had happier times in my soul, than when I have been sitting at work, with nothing before me but a candle and a white cloth, and hearing no sound but that of my own breath, with God in my soul and heaven in my eye... I rejoice in being exactly what I am,-- a creature capable of loving God, and who, as long as God lives, must be happy. I get up and look for a while out of the window, and gaze at the moon and stars, the work of an Almighty hand. I think of the grandeur of the universe, and then sit down, and think myself one of the happiest beings in it.\PAR\PAR A POOR METHODIST WOMAN, 18TH CENTURY.\PAR\PAR zLVAL\i "Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord."\i0 -- {\cf11 \ul Hos_6:3}\PAR\PAR \i "To know the Lord"\i0 is to know experimentally and spiritually the power of Jesus' blood and righteousness; to know our eternal union with him; to know him so as to be led by the Spirit into soul communion with him, that we may talk with him as a man talks with his friend; to know him s{\i"The Lord taketh pleasure In His people: He will beautify the meek with salvation." \i0}-- {\cf11 \ulPsa_149:4}.\PAR\PAR Long listening to Thy words, My voice shall catch Thy tone, And, locked in Thine, my hand shall grow All loving like Thy own.\PAR\PAR B. T.\PAR\PAR It is not in words explicable, with what divine lines and lights the exercise of godliness and charity will mould and gild the hardest and coldest countenance, neither to what darkness their departure will consign the loveliest. For there is not any virtue the exercise of which, even momentarily, will not impress a new fairness upon the features; neither on them only, but on the whole body the moral and intellectual faculties have operation, for all the movements and gestures, however slight, are different in their modes according to the mind that governs them-- and on the gentleness and decision of right feeling follows grace of actions, and, through continuance of this, grace of form.\PAR\PAR J. RUSKIN.\PAR\PAR There is no beautifier of complexion, or form, or behavior, like the wish to scatter joy and not pain around us.\PAR\PAR R. W. EMERSON.\PAR\PAR nLVALzI\i "The Lord keep you." \i0 {\cf11 \ulNum_6:24}\PAR\PAR How we need the Lord to keep us! We stand upon slippery places. Snares and traps are laid for us in every direction. Every employment, every profession in life, from the highest to the lowest, has its special temptations. Snares are spread for the feet of the most illiterate as well as the most highly cultivated minds; nor is there anyone, whatever his position in life may be, who has not a snare laid for him, and such a snare as will surely prove his downfall if God does not keep him. \PAR\PAR When Elisha sat upon the mountain and his servant was distressed lest his master should be taken away by violence, the prophet prayed the Lord to open his servant's eyes. What did he then see? Chariots and horses of fire all around about the mountain guarding the prophet. Perhaps if the Lord were to open our eyes a{\i"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; and they shall walk and not faint." \i0}-- {\cf11 \ulIsa_40:30-31}.\PAR\PAR Lord, with what courage and delight I do each thing, When Thy least breath sustains my wing!\PAR\PAR I shine and move Like those above, And, with much gladness Quitting sadness, Make me fair days of every night.\PAR\PAR H. VAUGHAN.\PAR\PAR Man, by living wholly in submission to the Divine Influence, becomes surrounded with, and creates for himself, internal pleasures infinitely greater than any he can otherwise attain to-- a state of heavenly Beatitude.\PAR\PAR J. P. GREAVES.\PAR\PAR By persisting in a habit of self-denial, we shall, beyond what I can express, increase the inward powers of the mind, and shall produce that cheerfulness and greatness of spirit as will fit us for all good purposes; and shall not have lost pleasure, but {\i"changed" \i0}it; the soul being then filled with its own intrinsic pleasures.\PAR\PAR HENRY MORE.\PAR\PAR  LVAL,K\i "The Lord make his face shine upon you." \i0 {\cf11 \ulNum_6:25}\PAR\PAR The allusion here seems, to my mind, to be to the sun. Sometimes the natural sun has not risen; and the world must need be dark if the sun be still beneath the horizon. So with many gracious souls; it is darkness with them, midnight darkness, Egyptian darkness, darkness to be felt, because at present neither the Day-star has appeared, nor the Sun of righteousness risen upon them with healing in his wings. It will and must be dark with them until the Sun rises. \PAR\PAR But sometimes after the sun has risen we see not his face--clouds--deep, dark clouds, may obscure the face of that bright luminary throughout the whole day, and we may not get a single ray from him through the whole period that he is above the {\i"Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord." \i0}-- {\cf11 \ulHos_6:3}.\PAR\PAR And, as the path of duty is made plain, May grace be given that I may walk therein, Not like the hireling, for his selfish gain, With backward glances and reluctant tread, Making a merit of his coward dread,-- \PAR\PAR But, cheerful, in the light around me thrown, Walking as one to pleasant service led; Doing God's will as if it were my own, Yet trusting not in mine, but in His strength alone!\PAR\PAR J. G. WHITTIER.\PAR\PAR It is by doing our duty that we learn to do it. So long as men dispute whether or no a thing is their duty, they get never the nearer. Let them set ever so weakly about doing it, and the face of things alters. They find in themselves strength which they knew not of. Difficulties which it seemed to them they could not get over, disappear. For He accompanies it with the influences of His blessed Spirit, and each performance opens our minds for larger influxes of His grace, and places them in communion with Him.\PAR\PAR E. B. PUSEY.\PAR\PAR That which is called considering what is our duty in a particular case, is very often nothing but endeavoring to explain it away.\PAR\PAR JOSEPH BUTLER.\PAR\PAR ;LVALGM\i "And be gracious unto you." \i0 {\cf11 \ulNum_6:25}\PAR\PAR How sweet the gospel is! But what makes the gospel sweet? That one word which sheds a perfume through the whole--grace. Take grace out of the gospel and you destroy the gospel; you nullify and overthrow it; it is the gospel no more. Grace pervades every part and every branch of the blessed gospel; it is the life of the gospel; in a word, it is the gospel itself. \i "Be gracious unto you." \i0 In what, then, is God gracious? In a broken law? What does that know of grace? In resolutions of amendment, creature performances, and human righteousness? Can the Lord, will the Lord show himself gracious in these? I have read of a project for extracting sunbeams out of cucumbers. We might as well expect to make sunbeams out of cucumbers as to make grace out of the law; it is cold as cucumbers; there is no sun in it. \PAR\PAR Grace, to be grace, must come out of the gospel. It is in the gospel, and out of the gospel must it come; and it does come, excluding all creature righteousness, putting an extinguisher u{\i"If thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday; and the Lord shall guide thee continually." \i0}-- {\cf11 \ulIsa_58:10-11}.\PAR\PAR If thou hast Yesterday thy duty done, And thereby cleared firm footing for To-day, Whatever clouds make dark To-morrow's sun, Thou shall not miss thy solitary way.\PAR\PAR J. W. VON GOETHE.\PAR\PAR O Lord, who art our Guide even unto death, grant us, I pray Thee, grace to follow Thee whithersoever Thou goest. In little daily duties to which Thou callest us, bow down our wills to simple obedience, patience under pain or provocation, strict truthfulness of word and manner, humility, kindness; in great acts of duty or perfection, if Thou shouldest call us to them, uplift us to self-sacrifice, heroic courage, laying down of life for Thy truth's sake, or for a brother. Amen.\PAR\PAR C. G. ROSSETTI.\PAR\PAR gLVALs\i "Hold me up, and I shall be safe."\i0 -- {\cf11 \ul Psa_119:117}\PAR\PAR We are surrounded with snares; temptations lie spread every moment in our path. These snares and temptations are so suitable to the lusts of our flesh, that we shall infallibly fall into them, and be overcome by them but for the restraining providence or the preserving grace of God. The Christian sees this; the Christian feels this. He has had, it may be, a bitter experience of the past. H{\i"I will bless the Lord, who bath given me counsel." \i0}-- {\cf11 \ulPsa_16:7}.\PAR\PAR {\i"Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord." \i0}-- ROM. xii.\PAR\PAR 11.\PAR\PAR Mine be the reverent, listening love That waits all day on Thee, With the service of a watchful heart Which no one else can see.\PAR\PAR A. L. WARING.\PAR\PAR Nothing is small or great in God's sight; whatever He wills becomes great to us, however seemingly trifling, and if once the voice of conscience tells us that He requires anything of us, we have no right to measure its importance. On the other hand, whatever He would not have us do, however important we may think it, is as nought to us.\PAR\PAR How do you know what you may lose by neglecting this duty, which you think so trifling, or the blessing which its faithful performance may bring? Be sure that if you do your very best in that which is laid upon you daily, you will not be left without sufficient help when some weightier occasion arises. Give yourself to Him, trust Him, fix your eye upon Him, listen to His voice, and then go on bravely and cheerfully.\PAR\PAR JEAN NICOLAS GROU.\PAR\PAR CLVALO,\i "Bless the Lord, O my soul--and all that is within me, bless his holy name." \i0 {\cf11 \ulPsa_103:1}\PAR\PAR As the Son has glorified the Father and the Father has glorified the Son, so there is a people in whom both the Father and the Son will be glorified. He therefore said, \i "And the glory which you gave me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one" \i0 ({\cf11 \ulJoh_17:22}); and again, \i "All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I am glorified in them." \i0 When, then, God's goodness and mercy in the face of Jesus Christ are manifested to this people whom he has formed for himself that they might show forth his praise, then they give him back his glory. But how is this done? By praising and blessing his holy name for the manifestation of his goodness and mercy to their soul. We thus see in what a blessed circle this glory runs. The Father glorifies the Son; the Son glorifies the Father; both unite in glorifying his chosen and redeemed people; and they glorify Father and Son by giving them the glory due to their name. We therefore read th{\i"If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them." \i0}-- {\cf11 \ulJoh_13:17}.\PAR\PAR {\i"Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin." \i0}-- {\cf11 \ulJas_4:17}.\PAR\PAR We cannot kindle when we will The fire that in the heart resides, The spirit bloweth and is still, In mystery our soul abides:\PAR\PAR But tasks in hours of insight willed Can be through hours of gloom fulfilled.\PAR\PAR MATTHEW ARNOLD.\PAR\PAR Hurt not your conscience with any known sin.\PAR\PAR S. RUTHERFORD.\PAR\PAR Deep-rooted customs, though wrong, are not easily altered; but it is the duty of all to be firm in that which they certainly know is right for them.\PAR\PAR JOHN WOOLMAN.\PAR\PAR He often acts unjustly who does not do a certain thing; not only he who does a certain thing.\PAR\PAR MARCUS ANTONINUS.\PAR\PAR Every duty we omit obscures some truth we should have known.\PAR\PAR JOHN RUSKIN.\PAR\PAR LVAL@. But at the time of Jesus' coming, the spirit of prophecy was again shed upon some holy people. We have read the prophecies of Elizabeth, and Mary, and Zacharias, in the first chapter of Luke, and we now read the prophecy of Simeon. God had informed him that he would not die until Christ came; and He had also let him know the precise moment when the parents had brought the divine infant into the temple. Simeon entered and found Joseph and Mary doing for their child after the custom of the law, that is, presenting him to the Lord before God's priest. At this interesting juncture, the a\i "To those who have been called, who are l{\i"O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are His judgments, and His-- ways past finding out!" \i0}-- ROM. xi.\PAR\PAR 33.\PAR\PAR {\i"It doth not yet appear what we shall be." \i0}-- {\cf11 \ul1Jn_3:2}.\PAR\PAR No star is ever lost we once have seen, We always may be what we might have been.\PAR\PAR Since Good, though only thought, has life and breath, God's life-- can always be redeemed from death; And evil, in its nature, is decay, And any hour can blot it all away; The hopes that lost in some far distance seem, May be the truer life, and this the dream.\PAR\PAR A. A. PROCTER.\PAR\PAR St. Bernard has said: {\i"Man, if thou desirest a noble and holy life, and unceasingly prayest to God for it, if thou continue constant in this thy desire, it will be granted unto thee without fail, even if only in the day or hour of thy death; and if God should not give it to thee then, thou shalt find it in Him in eternity: of this be assured." \i0}Therefore do not relinquish your desire, though it be not fulfilled immediately, or though ye may swerve from your aspirations, or even forget them for a time.... The love and aspiration which once really existed live forever before God, and in Him ye shall find the fruit thereof; that is, to all eternity it shall be better for you than if you had never felt them.\PAR\PAR J. TAULER.\PAR\PAR LVAL\i "And he taught them many things by parables."\i0 -- {\cf11 \ul Mar_4:2}\PAR\PAR The Scripture employs two beautiful figures to illustrate the reception of the divine testimony. One is the committing of the seed to the ground, as in the parable of the sower. The husbandman scatters the seed in the bosom of the earth, and the ground having been previously ploughed and reduced to a beautiful tillage, opens its bosom to receive the grain. After a little time the seed begins to germinate, to strike a root downward, and shoot a germ upward; as the Lord speaks,\i "First the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear."\i0 \PAR\PAR This emblem beautifully{\i"For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones." \i0}-- {\cf11 \ulIsa_57:15}.\PAR\PAR Without an end or bound Thy life lies all outspread in light; Our lives feel Thy life all around, Making our weakness strong, our darkness bright; Yet is it neither wilderness nor sea, But the calm gladness of a full eternity.\PAR\PAR F. W. FABER.\PAR\PAR O truth who art Eternity! And Love who art Truth! And Eternity who art Love! Thou art my God, to Thee do I sigh night and day. When I first knew Thee, Thou liftedst me up, that I might see there was somewhat for me to see, and that I was not yet such as to see. And Thou streaming forth Thy beams of light upon me most strongly, didst beat back the weakness of my sight, and I trembled with love and awe: and I perceived myself to be far off from Thee in the region of unlikeness.\PAR\PAR ST. AUGUSTINE.\PAR\PAR LVAL%ueu%`o'X\I<\%(eeee%e`f'X\J\eheee%e%`;'X\K\eheeueeu w'X\L8\eheeeu%e`f'X\M\uxe%euee0 'X\N\ eeeu%u`n'X\O4\ux(uueeeu` 'X\P\eh0%eeuee` 'X\Q\eh8e%ue%ep 'X\R0\ehe%euue`t'X\S{\i"O fear the Lord, ye His saints: for there is no want to them that fear Him"-\i0}- {\cf11 \ulPsa_34:9}.\PAR\PAR {\i"Thou openest Thine hand, and satisfies the desire of every living thing." \i0}-- {\cf11 \ulPsa_145:16}.\PAR\PAR What Thou shalt to-day provide, Let me as a child receive; What to-morrow may betide, Calmly to Thy wisdom leave.\PAR\PAR 'Tis enough that Thou wilt care; Why should I the burden bear?\PAR\PAR J. NEWTON.\PAR\PAR Have we found that anxiety about possible consequences increased the clearness of our judgment, made us wiser and braver in meeting the present, and arming ourselves for the future? If we had prayed for this day's bread, and left the next to itself, if we had not huddled our days together, not allotting to each its appointed task, but ever deferring that to the future, and drawing upon the future for its own troubles, which must be met when they come whether we have anticipated them or not, we should have found a simplicity and honesty in our lives, a capacity for work, an enjoyment in it, to which we are now, for the most part, strangers.\PAR\PAR F. D. MAURICE.\PAR\PAR mLVALy3THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD \par \par All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: "What have you done?" Daniel 4:35 \par \par How blessed that elementary truth- "The Lord reigns!" To know that there is no chance or accident with God- that He decrees the fall of a sparrow- the destru\i "And has raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Chs were so framed as though the blessing were for each individual. Such are God's blessings--personal, individual. Gracious souls, sometimes, when they have heard the word with any particular sweetness or power, say, \i "It was all for me." \i0 Well, it was all for you; but are you the only \i "me" \i0 in the place? Might not someone sitting by your sid{\i"I the Lord will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee." \i0}-- {\cf11 \ulIsa41:13}.\PAR\PAR {\i"Show Thy marvellous loving-kindness, O Thou that savest by Thy right hand them which put their trust in Thee." \i0}-- {\cf11 \ulPsa_17:7}.\PAR\PAR Take Thy hand, and fears grow still; Behold Thy face, and doubts remove; Who would not yield his wavering will To perfect Truth and boundless Love?\PAR\PAR S. JOHNSON.\PAR\PAR Do not look forward to the changes and chances of this life in fear; rather look to them with full hope that, as they arise, God, whose you are, will deliver you out of them. He has kept you hitherto,-- do you but hold fast to His dear hand, and He will lead you safely through all things; and, when you cannot stand, He will bear you in His arms. Do not look forward to what may happen to-morrow; the same everlasting Father who cares for you to-day, will take care of you to-morrow, and every day. Either he will shield you from suffering, or He will give you unfailing strength to bear it. Be at peace then, and put aside all anxious thoughts and imaginations.\PAR\PAR ST. FRANCIS DE SALES.\PAR\PAR LVAL5n spirit? It is to have faith in God's word, and to resist in God's stren\i "A wise man fears the Lord, and departs from evil -- but the fool rages, and is confident."\i0 -- {\cf11 \ul Pro_14:16}\PAR\PAR I believe no true Christian can be satisfied with a notional religion -- though a miserable backslider, and driven into the fields to feed swine, he cannot feed on their husks, but sighs after the bread of his Father's house. The eyes being enlightened to see the nature of sin, the justice and holiness of God, and the miserable filthiness of self, the quickened soul can find no rest in anything short of a precious discovery of the Lamb of God; and the more that the soul is exercised with trials, difficulties, temptations, do{\i"If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea: even there shall Thy hand lead me, and Thy right hand shall hold me." \i0}-- {\cf11 \ulPsa_139:9}; {\cf11 \ulPsa_139:10}.\PAR\PAR I cannot lose Thee! Still in Thee abiding, The end is clear, how wide soe'er I roam; The Hand that holds the worlds my steps is guiding, And I must rest at last in Thee, my home.\PAR\PAR E. SCUDDER.\PAR\PAR How can we come to perceive this direct leading of God? By a careful looking at home, and abiding; within the gates of thy own soul. Therefore, let a man be at home in his own heart, and cease from his restless chase of and search after outward things. If he is thus at home while on earth, he will surely come to see what there is to do at home,-- what God commands him inwardly without means, and also outwardly by the help of means; and then let him surrender himself, and follow God along whatever path his loving Lord thinks fit to lead him: whether it be to contemplation or action, to usefulness or enjoyment; whether in sorrow or in joy, let him follow on. And if God do not give him thus to feel His hand in all things, let him still simply yield himself up, and go without, for God's sake, out of love, and still press forward.\PAR\PAR J. TAULER.\PAR\PAR LVALjL.z\> lN0|^@"nP2~`B$reat wonder, that the Word was with God, and yet was God. We cannot understand how this could be. In this passage we read of another wonder, yet we are so much accustomed to hear it, that we almost forget to consider the greatness of the wonder, "The Word was made flesh." God became man; he "dwelt among us." \par\par When we look around us at this great world, and at the heavens spangled with stars, and think that He who made all thez  1  2  2  2  2  2  2  2  2  2  2  {\i"In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths." \i0}-- {\cf11 \ulPro_3:6}.\PAR\PAR {\i"He leadeth me." \i0}-- {\cf11 \ulPsa_23:2}.\PAR\PAR In {\i"pastures green"?\i0} Not always; sometimes He Who knoweth best, in kindness leadeth me In weary ways, where heavy shadows be.\PAR\PAR So, whether on the hill-tops high and fair I dwell, or in the sunless valleys, where The shadows lie, what matter? He is there.\PAR\PAR HENRY H. BARRY.\PAR\PAR The Shepherd knows what pastures are best for his sheep, and they must not question nor doubt, but trustingly follow Him. Perhaps He sees that the best pastures for some of us are to be found in the midst of opposition or of earthly trials. If He leads you there, you may be sure they are green for you, and you will grow and be made strong by feeding there. Perhaps He sees that the best waters for you to walk beside will be raging waves of trouble and sorrow. If this should be the case, He will make them still waters for you, and you must go and lie down beside them, and let them have all their blessed influences upon you.\PAR\PAR H. W. SMITH.\PAR\PAR LVAL                                                                                   enabled (when I speak thus, I know well, from soul experience, that it is only God who can do it in us and for us) to throw back the shutters, and look away from those things that so weigh down the mind! Look up, O sinking soul, and see the blessed Sun still shining in the skies of heaven! Why, the very power to do this, the very act of doing so, brings with it a felt blessedness.\PAR\PAR How good, also, to be enabled to make use of Christ as a SHIELD! Oh, how often we go to battle without this shield upon our arm! But depend u{\i"Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like-minded one toward another, according to Christ Jesus." \i0}-- {\cf11 \ulRom_15:5}.\PAR\PAR {\i"Let patience have her perfect work." \i0}-- {\cf11 \ulJam_1:4}.\PAR\PAR Make me patient, kind, and gentle, Day by day; Teach me how to live more nearly As I pray.\PAR\PAR SHARPE'S MAGAZINE.\PAR\PAR The exercise of patience involves a continual practice of the presence of God; for we may be come upon at any moment for an almost heroic display of good temper, and it is a short road to unselfishness, for nothing is left to self; all that seems to belong most intimately to self, to be self's private property, such as time, home, and rest, are invaded by these continual trials of patience. The family is full of such opportunities.\PAR\PAR F. W. FABER.\PAR\PAR Only as we know what it is to cherish love when sore at some unkindness, to overmaster ourselves when under provocation, to preserve gentleness during trial and unmerited wrong,-- only then can we know in any degree the {\i"manner of spirit" \i0}that was in Christ.\PAR\PAR T. T. CARTER.\PAR\PAR LVALN \i "A thousand shall fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it shall not come near you." \i0 {\cf11 \ulPsa_91:7}\PAR\PAR When Noah was shut up in the ark, Noah and the favored few, you know how they were tossed about, the rains coming down from heaven, the waters rushing and dashing below. The windows of heaven were opened and the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and while they were thus dashed upon the waters, not a drop came in unto those who were within. \i "It shall not come near you." \i0 So you see the believer may be surrounded with troubles, and yet \i "it shall not come near him." \i0 \PAR\PAR And there is something more in the expression used in reference to the making of the ark--"And shall pitch it within and without with pitch" \i0 ({\cf11 \ulGen_6:14}). Now, it is a most remarkable fact that the word pitch in Hebrew signifies als{\i"Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feeble-minded, support the weak, be patient toward all men." \i0}--{\cf11 \ul1Th_5:14}\PAR\PAR The little worries which we meet each day May lie as stumbling-blocks across our way, Or we may make them stepping-stones to be Of grace, O Lord, to Thee.\PAR\PAR A. E. HAMILITON.\PAR\PAR We must be continually sacrificing our own wills, as opportunity serves, to the will of others; bearing, without notice, sights and sounds that annoy us; setting about this or that task, when we had far rather be doing something very different; persevering in it, often, when we are thoroughly tired of it; keeping company for duty's sake, when it would be a great joy to us to be by ourselves; besides all the trifling untoward accidents of life; bodily pain and weakness long continued, and perplexing us often when it does not amount to illness; losing what we value, missing what we desire; disappointment in other persons, wilfulness, unkindness, ingratitude, folly, in cases where we least expect it.\PAR\PAR J. KEBLE.\PAR\PAR hLVALt\i "Therefore brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure; for if you do these things, you shall never fall."\i0 - {\cf11 \ul 2Pe_1:10}\PAR\PAR Have you any testimony to your effectual calling? Has grace indeed laid hold of your heart? O that you might know more fully -- more powerfully -- what a blessed hnly begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." \i0 \i "No man has seen God at any time--the only begotten Son who is in the b{\i"Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." \i0}-- {\cf11 \ulPsa_1339:23-24}.\PAR\PAR Save us from the evil tongue, From the heart that thinketh wrong, From the sins, whate'er they be, That divide the soul from Thee.\PAR\PAR ANON.\PAR\PAR Such as are thy habitual thoughts, such also will be the character of thy mind; for the soul is dyed by the thoughts. Dye it then with a continuous series of such thoughts as these: for instance, that where a man can live, there he can also live well. But he must live in a palace: well, then, he can also live well in a palace.\PAR\PAR MARCUS ANTONINUS.\PAR\PAR Who is there that sets himself to the task of steadily watching his thoughts for the space of one hour, with the view of preserving his mind in a simple, humble, healthful condition, but will speedily discern in the multiform, self-reflecting, self-admiring emotions, which, like locusts, are ready to {\i"eat up every green thing in his land," \i0}a state as much opposed to simplicity and humility as night is to day?\PAR\PAR M. A. KELTY.\PAR\PAR `LVALlF such a widow both prays constantly, and does all kinds of good works. It is written in 1 Tim. 5:5, "She who is a widow indeed, and desolate, trusts in God, and continues in supplications and prayers night and day." It is also written that a widow should be "well reported of for good works-if she has brought up children, if she has lodged strangers, if she has washed the believers' feet, if she has relieved the afflictenorth.\PAR\PAR \i "The Lord make his face shine upon you." \i0 Is the Lord, then, sovereign in these matters? Can we not lift up our hand and remove the cloud? We have as much power to stretch forth our hand and sweep away the mists that obscure the Sun of righteousness, as we have power with the same hand to sweep away a London fog. How this puts the creature into his right place! And the creature is only in his right place whe{\i"If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body." \i0}-- {\cf11 \ulJas_3:2}\PAR\PAR {\i"Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips." \i0}-- {\cf11 \ulPsa_141:3}.\PAR\PAR What! never speak one evil word, Or rash, or idle, or unkind!\PAR\PAR Oh, how shall I, most gracious Lord, This mark of true perfection find?\PAR\PAR C. WESLEY.\PAR\PAR When we remember our temptations to give quick indulgence to disappointment or irritation or unsympathizing weariness, and how hard a thing it is from day to day to meet our fellow-men, our neighbors, or even our own households, in all moods, in all discordances between the world without us and the frames within, in all states of health, of solicitude, of preoccupation, and show no signs of impatience, ungentleness, or unobservant self-absorption,-- with only kindly feeling finding expression, and ungenial feeling at least inwardly imprisoned;-- we shall be ready to acknowledge that the man who has thus attained is master of himself, and in the graciousness of his power is fashioned upon the style of a Perfect Man.\PAR\PAR J. H. THOM.\PAR\PAR LVALHMatthew 2:1-8. The wise men's arrival at Jerusalem. \par\par We find from Matthew's account, that our Savior returned to Bethlehem after he had been presented to the Lord in the temple. Perhaps his parents intended to bring him up in Bethpetition at his feet. Nothing will do it but this. \PAR\PAR But you feel and say often, \i "I am so unworthy." \i0 Will you ever be anything else? When do you hope to be worthy? When do you mean to be worthy? If you could be worthy tomorrow, where is your worthiness today? Is the old score yet paid? If you venture upon the ground of 'worthiness' you must have the old score rubbed off before you come to the new. Worthiness! where is it? In man? Never since{\i"Blessed are they that keep judgment, and he that doeth righteousness at all times." \i0}-- {\cf11 \ulPsa_106_3}.\PAR\PAR {\i"Thou shalt be stedfast, and shalt not fear: because thou shalt forget thy misery, and remember it as waters that pass away." \i0}-- {\cf11 \ulJob_11:15-16}.\PAR\PAR In the bitter waves of woe, Beaten and tossed about By the sullen winds that blow From the desolate shores of doubt, Where the anchors that faith has cast Are dragging in the gale, I am quietly holding fast To the things that cannot fail.\PAR\PAR WASHINGTON GLADDEN.\PAR\PAR In the darkest hour through which a human soul can pass, whatever else is doubtful, this at least is certain. If there be no God and no future state, yet even then, it is better to be generous than selfish, better to be chaste than licentious, better to be true than false, better to be brave than to be a coward. Blessed beyond all earthly blessedness is the man who, in the tempestuous darkness of the soul, has dared to hold fast to these venerable landmarks. Thrice blessed is he, who, when all is drear and cheerless within and without, when his teachers terrify him, and his friends shrink from him, has obstinately clung to moral good. Thrice blessed, because {\i"his" \i0}night shall pass into clear, bright day.\PAR\PAR F. W. ROBERTSON.\PAR\PAR iLVALu;Luke 2:8-14. The Angels' appearance to the Shepherds.\par\par In the circumstances of our Savior's birth, there was a great mixture of lowliness and glory. Jesus was laid in a feeding trough; yet angels announced his appearance. But to whom did angels announce it? not to princes, but to shepherds; thus showing that God had chosen the poor of this world. Through all our Savior's life, there was the same mixture of lowliness and glory-he lived with fishermen, yet was sometimes vis\i "Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ."\i0 - {\cf11 \ul Joh_1:17}\PAR\PAR The way to learn truth is to be much in prayer to the Lord Jesus Christ; aAR\PAR \i "And give you peace." \i0 Oh, what a blessing! As Deer says, \i "I'll lay me down and sweetly sleep, for I have peace with God." \i0 It is this that makes the pillow easy in life, and will alone make that pillow easy{\i"Whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe." \i0}-- {\cf11 \ulPro_29:25}.\PAR\PAR {\i"I will cry unto God most high; unto God, that performeth all things for me." \i0}-- {\cf11 \ulPsa_57:2}.\PAR\PAR Only thy restless heart keep still, And wait in cheerful hope; content To take whate'er His gracious will, His all-discerning love hath sent; Nor doubt our inmost wants are known To Him who chose us for His own.\PAR\PAR G. NEUMARK.\PAR\PAR God has brought us into this time; He, and not ourselves or some dark demon. If we are not fit to cope with that which He has prepared for us, we should have been utterly unfit for any condition that we imagine for ourselves. In this time we are to live and wrestle, and in no other. Let us humbly, tremblingly, manfully look at it, and we shall not wish that the sun could go back its ten degrees, or that we could go back with it. If easy times are departed, it is that the difficult times may make us more in earnest; that they may teach us not to depend upon ourselves. If easy belief is impossible, it is that we may learn what belief is, and in whom it is to be placed.\PAR\PAR F. D. MAURICE.\PAR\PAR LVALjL.z\> lN0|^@"nP2~`B$reat wonder, that the Word was with God, and yet was God. We cannot understand how this could be. In this passage we read of another wonder, yet we are so much accustomed to hear it, that we almost forget to consider the greatness of the wonder, "The Word was made flesh." God became man; he "dwelt among us." \par\par When we look around us at this great world, and at the heavens spangled with stars, and think that He who made all thez  1  2  2  2  2  2 {\i"Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you." \i0}-- {\cf11 \ulJer_7:23}.\PAR\PAR And oft, when in my heart was heard Thy timely mandate, I deferred The task, in smoother walks to stray; But thee I now would serve more strictly, if I may.\PAR\PAR W. WORDSWORTH.\PAR\PAR Pray Him to give you what Scripture calls {\i"an honest and good heart," \i0}or {\i"a perfect heart;" \i0}and, without waiting, begin at once to obey Him with the best heart you have. Any obedience is better than none. You have to seek His face; obedience is the only way of seeing Him. All your duties are obediences. To do what He bids is to obey Him, and to obey Him is to approach Him. Every act of obedience is an approach-- an approach to Him who is not far off, though He seems so, but close behind this visible screen of things which hides Him from us.\PAR\PAR J. H. NEWMAN.\PAR\PAR As soon as we lay ourselves entirely at His feet, we have enough light given us to guide our own steps; as the foot-soldier, who hears nothing of the councils that determine the course of the great battle he is in, hears plainly enough the word of command which he must himself obey.\PAR\PAR GEORGE ELIOT.\PAR\PAR LVAL                                                                                   enabled (when I speak thus, I know well, from soul experience, that it is only God who can do it in us and for us) to throw back the shutters, and look away from those things that so weigh down the mind! Look up, O sinking soul, and see the blessed Sun still shining in the skies of heaven! Why, the very power to do this, the very act of doing so, brings with it a felt blessedness.\PAR\PAR How good, also, to be enabled to make use of Christ as a SHIELD! Oh, how often we go to battle without this shield upon our arm! But depend upon it, the Lord would not have provided such a shield for you unless he knew that your enemies we{\i"He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake." \i0}-- {\cf11 \ulPsa_23:2-3}.\PAR\PAR He leads me where the waters glide, The waters soft and still, And homeward He will gently guide My wandering heart and will.\PAR\PAR J. KEBLE.\PAR\PAR Out of obedience and devotion arises an habitual faith, which makes Him, though unseen, a part of all our life. He will guide us in a sure path, though it be a rough one: though shadows hang upon it, yet He will be with us. He will bring us home at last. Through much trial it may be, and weariness, in much fear and fainting of