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August 30.

Take therefore no thought for the morrow; for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. — MATT. vi. 34.

ALL day long my God is moved with compassion. Since

the beginning of the world, not one sigh has ever lost its way between heaven and earth. If once I belong to God, He will prepare for me whatever is best. I may ask everything. God has told me so. I have the liberty to desire. I have equal confidence in trusting my death to God as in submitting my life to Him. From that moment I have peace, God knows what I wish; if it is good for me, He will give it me.

COUNTESS DE GASPARIN.

TO-MORROW.

'TIS late at night, and in the realm of sleep
My little lambs are folded like the flocks;
From room to room I hear the wakeful clocks
Challenge the passing hour, like guards that keep
Their solitary watch on tower and steep;
Far off I hear the crowing of the cocks,

And, through the opening door that time unlocks,
Feel the fresh breathing of To-morrow creep.
To-morrow! the mysterious, unknown guest,
Who cries aloud: "Remember Barmecide,
And tremble to be happy with the rest."
And I make answer: "I am satisfied;
I dare not ask; I know not what is best;
God hath already said what shall betide.'

H. W. LONGFELLOW.

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August 31.

If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His son cleanseth us from all sin.

i. 7.

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I JOHN

OW whenever a man hath been made a partaker of the Divine nature, in him is fulfilled the best and noblest life, and the worthiest in God's eyes that hath been or can be. This life is not chosen in order to serve any end, or to get anything by it, but for love of its nobleness, and because God loveth and esteemeth it so greatly. And whoever saith that he hath had enough of it, and may now lay it aside, hath never tasted or known it; for he who hath truly felt or tasted it can never give it up again. And he who hath put on the life of Christ with the intent to win or deserve aught thereby hath taken it up as an hireling, and not for love, and is altogether without it. For he who doth not take it up for love hath none of it at all; he may dream indeed that he hath put it on, but he is deceived.

THEOLOGIA GERMANICA.

BE NOBLE.

"FOR this true nobleness I seek in vain,
In woman and in man I find it not ;

I almost weary of my earthly lot,

My life-springs are dried up with burning pain."
Thou find'st it not? I pray thee look again,
Look inward, through the depths of thine own soul.
How is it with thee? Art thou sound and whole?
Doth narrow search show thee no earthly stain ?
Be noble and the nobleness that lies
In other men, sleeping, but never dead,
Will rise in majesty to meet thine own;
Then wilt thou see it gleam in many eyes,
Then will pure light around thy path be shed,
And thou wilt never more be sad and lone.

JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL.

September 1.

For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. ROM. V. 15.

TH

HE first thing is to meditate on life itself: all it means, all it involves, all the stores of joy or love which it is treasuring daily, all that must grow out of it through eternity.

Then surely the next step is to seek to connect ourselves with One who will bring to us a stronger strength than our own, a braver courage, a gladder hope; that the burden may not crush us, but may call forth, strengthen, and brace our powers, develop, sanctify, and finally glorify our life. The central thought of the gospel of grace is this, God bending beneath and bearing the burden of the world. We are fearfully and wonderfully made and endowed. Life would be terrible if we had to live it alone, and to bear the burden of it through eternity. He has not taken counsel with us before laying this burden on us, and ordaining that we shall bear it forever; but He has come Himself to stand with us as we strain under it, and add His own almighty strength to ours that it may be borne bravely, and with joy. This is what "the grace of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" means and promises, God's fellowship, partnership, with man, with you and me, in working out this high and hard problem to a successful and even glorious issue.

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JAMES BALDWIN BROWN,

Minister of Claylands Chapel, London.

GOD OUR STRENGTH.

MAN in his weakness needs a stronger stay
Than fellow-men the holiest and the best.
And yet we turn to them from day to day,
As if in them our spirits could find rest.

Gently untwine our childish hands that cling
To such inadequate supports as these,
And shelter us beneath Thy heavenly wing,

Till we have learned to walk alone with ease.

Help us, O Lord, with patient love to bear

Each other's faults, to suffer with true meekness,
Help us each other's joys and griefs to share,
But let us turn to Thee alone in weakness.

S. V. Powys.

September 2.

If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall Thy hand lead me, and Thy right hand shall hold me. Ps. cxxxix. 10, II.

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H, what joy it brings to me to think that I am not a lonely wanderer trying to find my way, but that the vague and inexplicable yearnings which I have, and which I am following, are the drawing-strings thrown out to lead me by One who knows just what my necessities are, and who stands ready to relieve them all!

HENRY WARD BEECHER.

TO A WATERFOWL.

WHITHER, midst falling dew,

While glow the heavens with the last steps of day,
Far through their rosy depths dost thou pursue
Thy solitary way?

Vainly the fowler's eye

Might mark thy distant flight to do thee wrong,
As, darkly limned upon the crimson sky,
Thy figure floats along.

Seek'st thou the plashy brink

Of weedy lake, or marge of river wide,
Or where the rocking billows rise and sink
On the chafed ocean side?

There is a Power whose care

Teaches thy way along that pathless coast,
The desert and illimitable air,

Lone wandering, but not lost.

All day thy wings have fanned,

At that far height, the cold, thin atmosphere,
Yet stoop not, weary, to the welcome land,
Though the dark night is near.

And soon that toil shall end;

Soon shalt thou find a summer home, and rest,
And scream among thy fellows; reeds shall bend,
Soon, o'er thy sheltered nest.

Thou 'rt gone; the abyss of heaven
Hath swallowed up thy form; yet on my heart
Deeply hath sunk the lesson thou hast given,
And shall not soon depart.

He who, from zone to zone,

Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight,
In the long way that I must tread alone
Will lead my steps aright.

WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT.

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September 3.

He discovereth deep things out of darkness, and bringeth
out to light the shadow of death. - JOB Xii. 22.
For God, who commanded the light to shine out of dark-
ness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the
knowledge of the glory of God.- 2 COR. iv. 6.

THE

HE circumstances of our lives are not unmeaning, but infinitely otherwise; but this we very often do not see for want of vision. High as heaven and wide as the earth is the atmosphere of holy opportunity in which our souls have their being. Is it not felt? Then it is only because it is not wished. Not every hour, nor every day, perhaps, can generous wishes ripen into kind actions; but there is not a moment that cannot be freighted with prayer.

WILLIAM MOUNTFORD.

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