March 5.

As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted. - ISA. lxvi. 13.

CH

HRIST, as your friend, sympathizes with you at all times, and in all the moral conditions of your nature. Do not think that He sympathizes with you and loves you when in your best moods only; for if you should, you would wrong Him bitterly. A bird is no more surely noted by the Father of all when, glancing upward through the morning light, he pours his liquid notes upon the fragrant air, than when, stricken by cruelty or evil chance, he lies fluttering, a bunch of ruffled and bloody plumage, upon the dewy lawn. And so it is with us. Our souls are not known and noted of God the most, when, light and tuneful, they are lifted in ecstasy upward; but equally watched and as tenderly loved are we, when, stricken in hope and soiled in spirit, we lie groaning and stunned, our purposes broken, our virtue stained, our future dark and forbidding.

ANDREW MURRAY.

THE LOVE OF GOD.

LIKE a cradle rocking, rocking,
Silent, peaceful, to and fro,

Like a mother's sweet looks dropping
On the little face below, -

Hangs the green earth, swinging, turning,
Jarless, noiseless, safe, and slow;

Falls the light of God's face bending
Down and watching us below.

So when we are weak and wretched,
By our sins weighed down, distressed,
Then it is that God's great patience

Holds us closest, loves us best.

O great Heart of God! whose loving
Cannot hindered be nor crossed;

Will not weary, will not even

In our death itself be lost,

Love divine! of such great loving
Only mothers know the cost,

Cost of love, which, all love passing,
Gave a Son to save the lost.

SAXE HOLM.

March 6.

Boast not thyself of to-morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. - PROV. xxvii. 1.

WHERE is to-morrow? In another world
To numbers this is certain! The reverse
Is sure to none.

YOUNG.

LORD, I do discover a fallacy whereby I have long

deceived myself, which is this; I have desired to begin my amendment from my birthday, or from the first day of the year, or from some eminent festival, so that my repentance might bear some remarkable date. But when those days were come, I have adjourned my amendment to some other time. Thus, whilst I could not agree with myself when to start, I have almost lost the running of the race. I am resolved thus to befool myself no longer. I see no day but to-day; the instant time is always the fittest time. In Nebuchadnezzar's image, the lower the members, the coarser the metal; the farther off the time, the more unfit. To-day is the golden opportunity, to-morrow will be the silver season, next day but the brazen one, and so long, till at last I shall come to the toes of clay, and be turned to dust. Grant therefore that to-day I may hear Thy voice; and if this day be obscure in the calendar, and remarkable in itself for nothing else, give me to make it memorable in my soul, thereupon, by Thy assistance, beginning the reformation of my life.

THOMAS FUller.

TO-MORROW.

LORD, what am I, that, with unceasing care,
Thou didst seek after me, — that Thou didst wait,
Wet with unhealthy dews, before my gate,
And pass the gloomy nights of winter there?
O strange delusion, that I did not greet

Thy blest approach! and oh, to heaven how lost,
If my ingratitude's unkindly frost

Has chilled the bleeding wounds upon Thy feet!
How oft my guardian angel gently cried,

"Soul, from thy casement look, and thou shalt see
How He persists to knock and wait for thee!
And oh, how often to that voice of sorrow,
"To-morrow we will open," I replied!

And when the morrow came, I answered still,
"To-morrow."

LOPE DE VEGA.

March 7.

For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.-HEB. x. 36.

THE pebbles in our path weary us, and make us foot

sore, more than the rocks.

It is not the storm which breaks the image of heaven in the stream, but the million pebbles over which it chafes. MRS. CHARLES.

TRIFLES.

THE griefs that fall to every share,
The heavier sorrows that life brings,
The heart can nerve itself to bear;
Great sorrows are half holy things.

But for the ills each hour must make,
The cares with every day renewed,
It seems scarce worth the while to take
Such little things with fortitude.

And he before whose wakened might

The strongest enemies must fall

Is overcome by foes so slight,

He scorns to hold them foes at all.

March 8.

Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of

the world. JOHN i. 29.

"WHY,

66

HY," does any one ask,
press hard to the very end?

why does the battle Why is it ordained for man that he shall walk, all through the course of life, in patience and strife, and sometimes in darkness?" Because from patience is to come perfection. Because from strife is to come triumph. Because from the dark cloud is to come the lightning-flash, that opens the way to eternity!

ORVILLE DEWEY.

O LAMB of God, who takest away the sins of the world,
Grant us thy peace.

O Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world,
Have mercy upon us!

The way is long and dreary,
The path is bleak and bare;
Our feet are worn and weary,
But we will not despair.
More heavy was Thy burden,
More desolate Thy way;
O Lamb of God, who takest
The sin of the world away,
Have mercy on us!

The snows lie thick around us
In the dark and gloomy night;
And the tempest wails above us,
And the stars have hid their light;
But blacker was the darkness
Round Calvary's cross that day;·
O Lamb of God, who takest
The sin of the world away,
Have mercy on us!

Our hearts are faint with sorrow,
Heavy and hard to bear;
For we dread the bitter morrow,
But we will not despair;
Thou knowest all our anguish,
And Thou wilt bid it cease;
O Lamb of God, who takest
The sin of the world away,
Give us Thy peace!

ADELAIDE A. PROCTER.

March 9.

For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. I COR. xiii. 12.

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"AF

H!" said the imprisoned bird, "how unhappy were I in my eternal night, but for those melodious tones which sometimes make their way to me like beams of light from afar, and cheer my gloomy day. But I will myself repeat those heavenly melodies like an echo, until I have stamped them in my heart; and then I shall be able to bring comfort to myself in my darkness!" Thus spoke the little warbler, and soon had learned the sweet airs that were sung to it with voice and instrument. That done, the curtain was raised; for the darkness had been purposely contrived to assist in its instruction.

O man! how often dost thou complain of overshadowing grief and of darkness resting upon thy days; and yet what cause of complaint, unless, indeed, thou hast failed to learn wisdom from suffering? For is not the whole sum of human life a veiling and an obscuring of the immortal spirit of man? Then first, when the fleshly curtain falls away, may it soar upwards into a region of happier melodies!

RICHTER.