the absence of a Divine revelation it is unable to reconcile the meditative life and the practical, because the idle speculations of the human imagination have neither the reality, nor the authority, nor the power necessary to meet the practical wants of the soul.

But in this instance, as in many others, the wisdom of God in His Word has solved the difficulty, and has united action and devotion by bands which can never be broken with impunity. The truths which the Bible reveals, as the subjects of human thought, are the greatest which can be conceived, and there is scarcely a question relative to man's past, present, or future, to which they do not afford an answer. The doctrines of the fall of man, and of the depravity of human nature, and the effects which have followed from it; of the redemption wrought by the incarnate Son of God; of the probationary character of our present condition of justification, conversion, and sanctification; of judgment and the future state of rewards and punishments, supply themes for thought of the most elevating character. Yet each one of them is so closely identified with the hopes and fears, [the duties and temptations of every man living, that they necessarily act upon a man's practical life, and the more they are made the subjects of meditation the more powerfully they must influence character and conduct. This is seen yet more clearly when we recollect that the sole spring of life within the soul is in the Holy Spirit of God. Without His influence the grandest truths will be inef fectual, and the clearest knowledge of the intellect inoperative. The strength of faith, and hope, and love; the power to think and feel, and do, must all come from Him; and in the har

mony of His dealing, this Spirit is only given to those who seek it in personal intercourse with God through Christ Jesus. When this intercourse becomes cold and infrequent, the divine" life in the soul consequently waxes low and feeble; and if the fire is faint in our own souls, how shall it warm the souls of others? Meditation, study of the Word, prayer, and praise, are the divinely-appointed nutriment of the soul's life.

Hence, devotion and action are mutually dependant upon each other, and neither can be neglected without injury. Action cannot be maintained without devotion, and devotion cannot be real and healthy without action. If our labours for God are neither guided by His Spirit in His operations upon our own hearts, nor made effectual by His influence on the hearts of others, they will become formal so far as concerns ourselves, and useless so far as concerns others. To maintain action without seeking the Spirit of God to quicken and bless our work, is much the same as to expect motion in a body from which the living spirit has fled. Hence it follows, that such an extent as to

to multiply our labours for Christ to leave ourselves no time or opportunity for close personal intercourse with God, in reading, thinking, praying, and praising, is to frustrate our own objects, and to throw away our own blessing. On the other hand, devotion cannot healthily be maintained without action. There is a manifest inconsistency, and therefore an unreality in the act, in praying for the coming of the kingdom of Christ, when we do nothing to hasten it. The graces of the soul, moreover, need to be strengthened by exercise as much as the bodily members. Some of them are disciplined in those secret struggles of the heart which are

known to none but to itself and God; but others can only be developed by the exercise of self-denial, by generosity, patience, and forbearance, called out in the course of active Christian labour.

While, therefore, we heartily rejoice in the increase of a missionary spirit, and devoutly thank God for it, it is well for Christians to be on their guard against the temptations which may possibly accompany it. For the sake of Christian action itself we must be zealous for the cultivation of Christian devotion. Every publication issued with this idea deserves, therefore, a cordial welcome, provided it be scriptural in doctrine. and in sentiment. The very large number of such publications only indicates the greatness of the want out of which they grow. Each one doubtless fills its own sphere, and has its own circle of influence; their very variety of form adapts them the better to the peculiarities of individual minds, as the emotional tendencies of the author fall in with the emotional tendencies of the reader. The accumulated influence of these publications may effect, under God's blessing, a wide-spread benefit which no single publication, however admirable, could possibly accomplish.

The compilation contained in this volume is not without a character of its own. The selection of a special text for each day in the year has been maintained, and a brief meditation from some author of repute has been appended, which may tend to explain the safe meaning of the text. These passages are distinctively not expository, but meditative, and are in each case subordinate to the text. God's own Word is the incorruptible seed, and the appended passage may be compared to

the hand of the gardener who tends the soil in which it is sown; or, if in such a relation it may be permitted to use the expression which the authoress herself has selected-they may be compared to the "dew" which waters it. Such a comparison is not intended to detract in the slightest degree from the sole sufficiency and undivided sovereignty of that Holy Spirit who alone is competent to give force to truth, and to bestow the spiritual eye by which things are spiritually discerned. Indeed, the illustration itself implies only a secondary and subordinate, not a primary and quickening influence; for the dew is in some sort born of the earth as well as of the skies. The thoughts of devout men, themselves taught of God, and resting their own teaching on the written Word alone, must be recognised as a secondary means of spiritual good, and can scarcely fail to be the suggestive seeds of further and independent thoughts. There are many persons who need such aid to meditation, and to them this little work, unpretending in its object, but rich in its variety, is commended, in the earnest hope, in which none will unite more fervently than the lady who has compiled it, that the Spirit of God may make it the seed of incorruptible life to many hearts.

EDWARD GARBETT.

CHRIST CHURCH,

SURBITON HILL,

Feb. 10th, 1864.