FEBRUARY 9.

"The love of Christ constraineth us."-2 COR. V. 14.

It was love alone, free and unmerited love, which brought Christ down to the earth. It was love, which caused Him to dwell in this accursed world as a Man of Sorrows, and to take so large a share of its degradation and miseries. It was love, which made Him so willing to be despised and rejected by men, and to be bruised and put to grief by His God. It was love, which enabled Him to bear the exceeding great trouble of His soul in the garden, and the racking agonies of the Cross. All that He suffered for us when on earth, and all that He has been since doing for us in heaven, He has done and suffered solely for this one reason, because He loved us. But the love of Christ influences the conduct of His servants, as well as excites their affections. It not only makes them feel, it makes them act for Christ. It teaches them to do good, as well as to praise and to pray.. It changes their life as well as their heart. Let us

entreat the Father of Mercies to open our hearts to the humbling influence of His life-giving Spirit. Then shall we experience the transforming power of the love of Christ; the efficacy of that grace, which brings to the soul righteousness and peace, pardon and salvation.—C. Bradley.

O Love! who once in Time was slain,

Pierced through and through with bitter woe;

O Love! who wrestling thus didst gain
That we eternal joy might know:
O Love! give myself to Thee,
Thine cver, only Thine to be!

FEBRUARY 10.

"Show me Thy glory."-Exod. xxxiii. 18.

We shall go to those who sit down in the kingdom of God, with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, because being asked to the supper, they made no excuse.

We shall go where there is a paradise of pleasure; where the wretched being who fell among thieves" no longer weeps over his wounds, where the thief himself rejoices in the participation of the heavenly kingdom, where there shall be no more storms or vicissitudes, but the glory of God alone shall shine. We shall go where Jesus has prepared mansions for His servants. The will of Christ is the same as the performance. That we may know His true will, He hath said, "Father, I will that those whom Thou hast given Me be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory." We follow Thee, Lord Jesus, but draw us that we may follow; no one rises without Thee; open to us Thy good, which David desired to see, when he said, "I believe verily to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living." Show us that good which is in its nature unchangeable, and which, when we arrive at heaven, we shall never cease to acknowledge and approve. Let us seek Jesus, that He may say to us, "Fear not, I am the remission of sins; I am the light, I am the life."-St. Ambrose.

Thou shalt see My glory soon,
When the work of grace is done;
Partner of My Throne shalt be—
Say, poor sinner, lov'st thou Me?
Lord, it is my chief complaint,
That my love is weak and faint;
Yet I love Thee and adore-
Oh, for grace to love Thee more.

FEBRUARY 11.

"Godly sorrow worketh repentance."—2 COR. vii. 10.

PIOUS tears, a serious deploring of former iniquities, and a just care of living a better life, with all other pious exercises, are things which we do not thrust away, nor put out of their place: only we search what is the place, what is the peculiar office of those things. And in the first place, this should not be doubted of by any man-that repentance, as it is an excellent gift of God, so it brings forth fruits not to be repented of, according to its office. The office or duty whereof I reckon to be two-fold: the first, is that which duly detests the sins committed; the other, that, which diligently endeavours the reformation of the life, from which follow both great praise and greater fruits. . . Nothing that we can do is sufficient to bring this to pass, but only faith in the Son of God. And therefore repentance with charity, and other offices of that kind, have a necessary connexion with faith; not that they may give form to this, as to a dead matter, but that rather they may receive life and spirit from it.-Foxe.

You have been wretched; yet

The silver shower, whose reckless burden weighs
Too heavily upon the lily's head,

Oft leaves a saving moisture at its root.

FEBRUARY 12.

“My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God."-Ps. xlii. 2.

GOD is gentle and of much mercy, and loves the courteous, the gentle, the lowly, and the merciful. Love Him who drew thee out of the lake of misery, and from the miry clay. Choose Him for thy friend above all thine other friends; for when all things are taken from thee, He alone will keep faith with thee. In the day of thy burial, when all thy friends depart from thee, He will not forsake thee. But He will defend thee from those who roar like lions ready for their prey, and conduct thee through an unknown country, and lead thee onward to the streets of the heavenly Sion, and will place thee with the angels before the face of His Majesty, where thou shalt hear the song of the angels, "Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty."

There is the music of gladness, the voice of joy and health, and of giving of thanks, the voice of praise and alleluia for ever. . . . O my soul, sigh ardently, desire vehemently, that thou mayest arrive at the city which is above. The soul that loves, ascends frequently, and visits the heavenly Jerusalem. Heaven and earth, and all things that are therein, cease not to tell me to love the Lord my God.—St. Augustine.

For Thee, my God, the living God,

My thirsty soul doth pine;

O when shall I behold thy face,

Thou Majesty Divine !

FEBRUARY 13.

Prepare to meet thy God."-AMOS iv. 12.

To be always ready, and prepared to meet his God, is the happy frame and temper of mind which is formed in the believer by faith working by love. He believes, therefore he watches; his faith is operative, therefore it keeps him watchful. It is a faith working by love, therefore it makes him love to watch. He loves God, and finds a heaven of joy in loving Him; and therefore he waits with steadfast hope for the blessed time when he shall be filled with love. what must it be to see and love God in glory, when but a ray of Divine love darted into the soul at present brings with it such pure and spiritual delight as makes all the joys of the world fade into nothing? Happy is that faithful and wise servant whom his Lord when He comes shall find so doing.-William Romaine.

O happy servant he,

In such a posture found!

He shall his Lord with rapture see,

And be with honour crowned.

Oh!