FEBRUARY 19.

"For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory."-2 Cor. iv. 17.

I think we are too ready with complaint
In this fair world of God's. Had we no hope
Indeed, beyond the zenith, and the slope
Of yon grey blank of sky, we might be faint
To muse upon eternity's constraint,

Round our aspirant souls. But since the scope
Must widen early, is it well to droop,
For a few days consumed in loss and taint?
O pusillanimous heart! be comforted,
And like a cheerful traveller take the road,
Singing beside the hedge. What if the bread
Be bitter in thine inn, and thou unshod
To meet the flints? At least it may be said,
Because the way is short, I thank thee, O my God!

ELIZABETH B. BARRET.

FEBRUARY 20.

Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light."-Col. i. 12.

Thou knowest that I am not blest
As Thou would'st have me be,
Till all the peace and joy of faith
Possess my soul in Thee;
And still I seek 'mid many fears,
With yearnings unexprest,
The comforts of thy strengthening love,
Thy soothing, settling rest.

It is not as Thou wilt with me,
Till, humbled in the dust,
I know no place in all my heart,
Wherein to put my trust.
Until I find, O Lord, in Thee,
The lowly, and the meek,

That fulness which thy own redeemed
In none beneath Thee seek.

Then, O my Saviour, on my soul,
Cast down, but not dismayed ;
Still be thy chastening, healing hand,
In tender mercy laid.

And while I wait for all thy joys

My yearning heart to fill,

Teach me to walk, and work with Thee,

And at thy feet sit still.

Hymns and Meditations.

FEBRUARY 21.

"He hath done all things well.”—St. Mark, vii. 37.

And sweet is youth, although it hath bereft us
Of that which made our childhood sweeter still;
And sweet is middle life, for it hath left us

A newer good to cure an older ill;

And sweet are all things, when we learn to prize them

Not for their sakes, but His, who grants them, or denies them.

AUBREY DE VERE.

FEBRUARY 22.

Behold, I show you a mystery: we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed."-1 Cor.

What possible event could be hailed with such overwhelming joy as the end of this sin-distracted and convulsed world, and the beginning of a new creation-new heavens, illuminated by an unsetting sun of ineffable splendour-a new earth, surrounded with an immortal atmosphere, filled with unfading freshness, sweetness, and beauty; animated with the presence of Nature's eternal and immortal King, and his celestial train; the eternal home of the saints, where sin and sorrow, pain and death, are felt and feared no more.

"In a moment! in the twinkling of an eye !"-perhaps during some prayer, or song of praise,—while in the midst of a monosyllable, one half uttered in time, the other in eternity; the first accent from a mortal, the last from an immortal tongue! In less than time's shortest mark, or minutest point, we have passed the bourne of mortality, and are found, not dwelling in houses of clay founded in death, but in a house from heaven-spiritual, incorruptible, immortal, glorious!

Second Advent Harbinger.

FEBRUARY 23.

"Be not faithless, but believing.”—St. John, xx. 27.

Yes, I do feel, my God, that I am thine;
Thou art my joy-myself, mine only grief;
Hear my complaint, low bending at thy shrine-
'Lord, I believe ; help thou mine unbelief!"
O draw me nearer ! for, too far away,—

The beamings of thy brightness are too brief; While faith, though fainting, still hath strength to pray

"Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief!"

J. S. MONSELL.

FEBRUARY 24.

"Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him, and he will bring it to pass.”—Ps. xxxvii. 5.

I have been enabled to commit every concern to God, and to view Him ordering all my little affairs, as if there were no other being to care for in the universe. It is thus only that we can bring it home to our hearts that the great God careth for us.

Life of Lady Colquhoun.

FEBRUARY 25.

"Sing us one of the songs of Zion."-Ps. cxxxvii. 3.

Sing them, my children, sing them still,

Those sweet and holy songs!

Oh! let the psalms of Zion's hill

Be heard from youthful tongues.

Oh sing them at the cheerful dawn,
The rising morn to cheer;

And sing them round the evening hearth,
When fires are blazing clear.