doctrines and commandments, as to keeping them all, and looking surely to the great reward! And O, that we may deeply feel our own unworthiness, our weakness and sinfulness, and watch and pray to be cleansed from every fault, known and unknown! Let there be no sin wilfully committed against the "law of life;" no habit of sin; no such great offence; so that God may never give us over to the chosen wickedness of our own hearts, and thus leave us to perish in our own presumption. Let us pray without ceasing," that all our words and meditations may be such as God will accept. SLADE.

May 11th.

"THE LORD WILL STRENGTHEN HIM UPON THE BED OF LANGUISHING : THOU WILT MAKE ALL HIS BED IN HIS SICKNESS."-Psalm xli. 3.

"THE Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing: Thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness," i.e. strengthen him inwardly, as the outward man decayeth, so that he shall lie easy upon his bed, refreshed with the Lord's inward comforts, while the body is languishing. And when the body grows weak, when heart and flesh fail, when death approacheth, here is a cordial for the drooping spirit. "This God is our God for ever and ever; He will be our guide even unto death. God shall be the strength of our heart, and our portion for ever." Blessed assurance! Oh! treasure it up, and praise the name of Jesus, who died to procure the application of these promises unto thee. "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints."

"Rejoice, believer, in the Lord,
Who makes your cause His own;

The hope that's built upon His word
Can ne'er be overthrown.

J. MADDOCK.

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Weak as you are, you shall not faint,
Or fainting shall not die;

Jesus, the strength of every saint,
Will aid you from on high.

Though unperceiv'd by mortal sense,
Faith views Him always near,
A guide, a glory, a defence,

Then what have you to fear?”

May 12th.

"THE NIGHT IS FAR SPENT, THE DAY IS AT HAND."-Rom. xiii. 12. MOST appropriately has it been said that these words are "just blowing an alarm-peal, just the upbraiding of lethargy, just the animating to effort." Is it a time to be idle, when each moment's delay may take a pearl from the crown, a plume from the wing, sway from the sceptre? Is it a time to be inactive, when every second leaves me a step lower than I might have ascended in the scale of triumph and of majesty? Is it a time to sit with folded hands, when the grave is opening, and there is work to be done which can only be done here, and the day is approaching on which rewards shall be bestowed, and perhaps, as yet, I am but last in the ranks of candidates ? Rather ought we not to rouse ourselves, and say, "Whatsoever our hand findeth to do, let us do it with our might;" for "the night is far spent and the day is at hand."

"Now may grace be imparted to each one of us, so to believe and to rejoice in Christ Jesus, so to follow His footsteps and to imitate His example, that, finally, we may all meet together as His ransomed people in the heavenly kingdom!” "THE PATHWAY OF PROMISE."

"Thou Judge of quick and dead,

Before whose bar severe,

With holy joy or guilty dread,

We all must soon appear.

Oh may we all be found

Obedient to Thy word;

Expecting the last trumpet's sound,
And looking for our Lord."

May 13th.

"THE LORD REIGNETH."-Psalm xciii. 1.

No bow of promise in the "dark and cloudy day" shines more radiantly than this.

God-my God—the God who gave Jesus-orders all events, and overrules all for my good!

"When I," says He, "bring a cloud over the earth." He has no wish to conceal the hand which shadows, for a time, earth's brightest prospects. It is He alike who "brings" the cloud, who brings us into it, and in mercy leads us through it. His kingdom ruleth over all. "The lot is cast into the lap, but the

whole disposing thereof is of the Lord." but, blessed thought, at God's will.

We are tenants at will; He puts the burden on,

and keeps it on, and at His own time will remove it.

Beware of brooding over second causes. It is the worst form of Atheism. When our most fondly-cherished gourds are smitten-our fairest flowers lie withered in our bosomthis is the silencer of all reflections, "The Lord prepared the worm." When the temple of the soul is smitten with lightning-its pillars rent-The Lord is in His holy temple. Accident, chance, fate, destiny, have no place in the Christian's creed. His is no unpiloted vessel left to the mercy of the storm-no weed left to the spoil of the fitful waves. The voice of the Lord is upon the waters. There is but one explanation of all that befals him: "I will be dumb, I will not open my mouth, because Thou didst it."

"BOW IN THE CLOUD."

"GORIFY GOD IN YOUR BODY, AND IN YOUR SPIRIT, WHICH ARE GOD'S." -1 Cor. vi. 20.

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"GLORY to God in the highest" (Luke ii. 14) was the strain that burst from the angelic host when "the good tidings of great joy" was first proclaimed to the shepherds in the fields of Bethlehem. The glory of God the Father was the one chief object of our incarnate Lord, during His sojourn in this "vale of sorrow." For He sought not His own glory, but His that sent Him, (see John vii. 50). His prayer was, Father, glorify Thy name," and His parting testimony, "I have glorified Thee on the earth." Surely, then, dear brethren, the glory of God should be the aim of every Christian pilgrim on his way through this wilderness of woe. We should remember that we are not our own, but bought with a price, and therefore should glorify God in our bodies, and in our spirits, which are His. And if we would but consider how inestimable the price paid for our redemption from Satan's thraldom-that the Father did not redeem us with silver, or gold, or corruptible things, but (as it were) coined the very life's blood of His "wellbeloved Son," to purchase our ransom, surely we would emulate the joy of the angelic choir, and with our lives, as well as with our lips, proclaim "Glory to God in the highest."

"Be Thou, O God, exalted high;

And, as Thy glory fills the sky,

So let it be on earth display'd,

Till Thou art here, as there, obey'd."

UNKNOWN.

May 15th.

"BUT ARE NOW THE PEOPLE OF GOD."-1 Pet. ii. 10.

GREAT as is the diversity apparent in the persons, mental habits, and outward circumstances of the human family, yet in a moral sense, there are to be found only two distinct classes; not, indeed, originally such, as to birth, but since their entrance upon the stage of time. All came into the world under condemnation, "children of wrath," captives of Satan : but some, through grace, are become believers, delivered from condemnation, brought into liberty, and though once "not a people, are now the people of God." Peter describes them as "elect, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father"but he adds, 'through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ." They were called out of darkness into marvellous light, and having obeyed the call, are now light in the Lord: " they have been "born again," and are new creatures in Christ Jesus:" they were carnal, and walked "after the flesh;" now they are spiritual, and "walk after the Spirit:" they are a holy people,holiness is the element in which they live: they are a peculiar people, in their origin, principles, habits, and pursuits: they are a tried people, and they are a happy people,-being privileged to "rejoice in the Lord evermore," and they are destined to be a glorified people.

B. CLARK.

May 16th.

"IN MY FATHER'S HOUSE ARE MANY MANSIONS."-John xiv. 2. Why do we never talk about these mansions? Nay, why do we so seldom think of them? Surely they must be worth our inheriting. Omniscience has planned them, Omniscience has constructed them and He who has unsearchable riches at