Jesus said unto him, Ek thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, X believe; help thou mine unbelief.—ST. MARK, ix. 23, 24.

PRAYER FOR GOD'S SPIRIT.

PIRIT of God! descend upon my heart;

SP

Wean it from earth, through all its pulses move; Stoop to my weakness, mighty as Thou art,

And make me love Thee as I ought to love.

I ask no dream, no prophet ecstasies,
No sudden rending of the veil of clay :
No angel visitant, no opening skies;

But take the dimness of my soul away.

Hast Thou not bid us love Thee, God and King?
All, all Thine own-soul, heart, and strength, and
mind;

I see Thy cross-there teach my heart to cling:
O let me seek Thee, and oh! let me find.

Croly.

REFLECTIONS.

WHEN the heart has once been alienated from God-when guilt has once polluted it-though repentance and reformation may at length bind up its broken peace, it will never more experience that warmth and fulness of affectionate confidence that entire and unhesitating trust in the Father of mercies, which belong only to pure and innocent minds.

When pride cometh, then cometh shame; but with the lowly is wisdom.—Proverbs, xi. 2.

Thou wilt say then: The branches were broken off that E might be grafted in. Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear.—Romans, xi. 19, 20.

BELIEVE.

AY why thus heavy, O my soul !
Say, why distrustful still,

Thy thoughts with vain impatience roll
O'er scenes of future ill?

Let faith suppress each rising fear,
Each anxious doubt exclude :
Thy Maker's will has placed thee here,
A Maker wise and good.

He to thy ev'ry trial knows
Its just restraint to give ;
Attentive to behold thy woes,

And faithful to relieve.

Then why thus heavy, O my soul !
Say, why distrustful still,

Thy thoughts with vain impatience roll

O'er scenes of future ill ?

Though griefs unnumber'd throng thee round,

Still in thy God confide,

Whose finger marks the seas their bound,
And curbs the headlong tide.

REFLECTIONS.

Merrick.

EVERY deviation from the rules of charity and brotherly love, of gentleness and forbearance, of meekness and patience, which our Lord describes to His disciples, however it may appear to be founded on an attachment to Him and zeal for His service, is in truth a departure from the religion of Him, "the Son of man," who "came not to destroy men's lives, but to save them."-BISHOP MANT.

Wise men lay up knowledge; but the mouth of the foolish is near destruction.—Proverbs, x. 14.

Arise, shine, for thy light is come; and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.—ISAIAH, lx. 1.

THE TRUE TREASURE.

IGNORANT poor man! what dost thou bear, Lock'd up within the casket of thy breast? What jewels, and what riches hast thou there? What heav'nly treasure in so weak a chest?

Look in thy soul and thou shalt beauties find,
Like those which drown'd Narcissus in the flood:
Honour and pleasure both are in thy mind,

And all that in the world is counted good.

Think of her worth, and think that God did mean,
This worthy mind should worthy things embrace;
Blot not her beauties with thy thoughts unclean,
Nor her dishonour with thy passion base.

Davies.

REFLECTIONS.

Where

THERE is no quality of the mind by which men, even good men, are more apt to be misled than zeal; particularly zeal in religion, "zeal of God," as St. Paul terms it. the object is good, the quality is of high value; "it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing;" and beyond controversy, no object can be better than the promotion of God's glory, and the furtherance of His religion. But it ought not to carry us beyonds the bounds of moderation.-BISHOP MANT.

En all labour there is profit; but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury.—PROVERBS, xiv. 23.

But it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing, even when I am not present with you.— GALATIANS, iv. 18.

FOR STRENGTH.

'HOU, who didst sit on Jacob's well
hour of noon,

The weary

The languid pulses Thou canst tell,
The nerveless spirit tune.

Thou from Whose cross in anguish burst
The cry that own'd Thy dying thirst,
To Thee we turn, our last and first,
Our sun and soothing moon.

From darkness here, and dreariness
We ask not full repose,—
Only be Thou at hand, to bless
Our trial hour of woes.

Is not the pilgrim's toil o'erpaid
By the clear rill and palmy shade?

And see we not, up earth's dark glade,

The gate of Heaven unclose?

Keble.

REFLECTIONS.

HE that opposes his own judgment against the consent of the times ought to be backed with unanswerable truths; and he that has truth on his side is a fool, as well as a coward, if he is afraid to own it because of the currency or multitude of other men's opinions.-DE FOE.

The liberal soul shall be made fat; and he that watereth shall be watered also himself.-PROVERBS, xi. 25.

L

Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping.—ST. MARK, xiii. 35, 36.

WE

WORK ZEALOUSLY.

E need not bid, for cloister'd cell,
Our neighbour and our work farewell;
Nor strive to wind ourselves too high,
For sinful man beneath the sky.

The trivial round, the common task,
Would furnish all we ought to ask ;
Room to deny ourselves; a road
To bring us, daily, nearer God.

Seek we no more; content with these,
Let present rapture, comfort, ease,

As Heaven shall bid them, come and go :-
The secret this of rest below.

Only, O Lord, in Thy dear love,
Fit us for perfect rest above;
And help us, this and every day,
To live more nearly as we pray.

REFLECTIONS.

Keble.

THE vulgar and unphilosophic spirit is to be passionate, credulous, precipitate, and obstinate; to be a lover of the marvellous ; the dupe of antiquity or mysterious terrors; to despise simple truth; to see through the eyes of others; to judge of merit by fortune; to decide upon truth or justice by its particular or local ability, by the authority of teachers or the voice of the multitude; to mistake sound for sense, the great speaker for the great man.

Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.-ECCLESIASTES, ix. 10.