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FEBRUARY 13.

Let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith."-Heb. xii. 1, 2.

We need not bid for cloister'd cell,
Our neighbour and our work farewell;
Nor strive to wind ourselves too high
For sinful man beneath the sky.

The trivial round, the common task,
Would furnish all we need to ask ;-
Room to deny ourselves; a road
To bring us daily nearer God.

Seek we no more; content with these,
Let present rapture, comfort, ease,
As heaven shall bid them, come and go :
The secret this of rest below.

Only, O Lord, in thy dear love,
Fit us for perfect rest above;
And help us this and every day,
To live more nearly as we pray.

Christian Year.

FEBRUARY 14.

"Such as be blessed of Him shall inherit the earth."-Ps. xxxvii. 22.

It is neither right nor grateful to see nothing in the earth but a vale of tears. Has not God filled it with the good and the beautiful for our joy? and has He not given to every human being, and to every age, their own objects to benefit by ?—F. BREMER.

FEBRUARY 15.

"So shall we ever be with the Lord."1 Thess. iv. 17.

"For ever with the Lord!"

Oh yes, so let it be!

Life from the dead is in that word

'Tis immortality!

Here in the body pent,

Absent from Him I roam;

Yet nightly pitch my moving tent

A day's march nearer home.

D

My Father's home on high !

Home of my soul! how near,
At times, to faith's foreseeing eye,
Thy golden gates appear!

FEBRUARY 16.

"The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance, and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot."Ps. xvi. 5.

The refinements and elegancies of life are not to be despised; they are to be received with gratitude to Him who has provided them for our enjoyment; but their possession does not ensure happiness. The sources of true joy are not so shallow. Some persons, like some reptiles, have the faculty of extracting poison from everything that is beautiful and sweet; others, like the bee, will gather honey from sources in which we should think no sweet could be found. The cheerful heart, like the kaleidoscope, causes most discordant materials to arrange themselves into harmony and beauty.-Abbot's Fireside.

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FEBRUARY 17.

Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions."-St. John, xiv. 1, 2.

I say to thee-Do thou repeat
To the first man thou mayest meet
In lane, highway, or open street,—

That he, and we, and all men move
Under a canopy of love,

As broad as the blue sky above.

And we on divers shores now cast,
Shall meet—our perilous voyage past—
All in our Father's house at last.

And ere thou leave him, say thou this,
Yet one word more They only miss
The winning of that final bliss,

Who will not count it true, that love-
Blessing, not cursing-rules above,
And that in it we live, and move.

And one thing further make him know,
That to believe these things are so,-
This firm faith never to forego,

Despite of all that seems at strife
With blessing, all with curses rife,-
That this is blessing, this is life.

R. C. TRENCH.

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FEBRUARY 18.

The Lord is my shepherd."-Ps. xxxiii. 1.

The joy of the Lord is the strength of his people. Faith displaces fear in every member of the "little flock." Its appropriating power enables each of them to say: "The Lord is my shepherd." Wondrous words! I, a creature of yesterday,-yet the eternal God is my keeper: I, a frail and dying mortal,-yet the Self-existent is my preserver! His hand has led me all my life long; his bounty has supplied my wants. His long-suffering has borne with the perverseness of my heart; his gracious Spirit has spoken comfort to my soul. Marvellous has been his love for me! He came from heaven to seek me; He called with his voice to find me; He brought me into his fold to secure me; He shed his blood to cleanse me; He has sent his Holy Spirit to revive me. His fulness shall supply me; his wisdom shall direct me; his power shall preserve me; and into his everlasting fold He shall receive me, for He is "my shepherd."-REV. J. STEVENSON.

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