heart melts; it throbs with affection towards this most loving Saviour.

And how is He dealing with me at this very moment? He might have cut me off, and then perhaps I should have been at this moment in hell. This would have been no more than I deserve. But no; He is even now dealing tenderly and lovingly with me. He has stopped me in my wayward course, that He might lead me into a better and a happier path. He has brought me into the net, and laid affliction upon my loins,'

"

that He might gather me into His fold. He has "loved me with an everlasting love, therefore with loving-kindness hath he drawn me."

FRIDAY.

“Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest.”

Ps. LV. 6.

REST-this is what I want.

Some

times, when I have come home at night, after working hard, I have felt, "How sweet is rest!" Sometimes, after a toilsome week, when the Sabbath dawns, I have said to myself, "How refreshing is this day of rest!" And now, in my sickness, when I have been racked with pain during a long and lonesome day, or have passed a sleepless night, I have thought, "Oh that I had wings like a dove, for then would I fly away, and be at rest!"

Now, is this a right wish? or is it a wrong one?

It is a wrong wish, when it arises

merely from a desire to be released from present suffering. Elijah, being tired of life, "requested for himself that he might die." Jonah, in a moment of disappointment, made a like petition. And David, under much the same feelings, uttered the words before us. The world sometimes goes ill with us. We are weary of it, and long to be quit of it.

How is it with myself? Am I weary of my sick chamber? Do I feel that the joys of earth have left me, and therefore I wish to be gone? God forbid. I will cheerfully bear all. I will lie here just so long as my Father pleases. His will-His blessed, holy, perfect will-and not mine, be done! "It is good for me. to bear the yoke."

But is not the wish which David

expresses sometimes a right wish?

Yes, when it comes from the lips of a true Christian, who longs for heaven, and is ripe for it. If we love any one, we shall desire his company. And if our hearts throb with love to our absent Saviour, well may we long to be with Him. Thus St. Paul had "a desire to depart, and to be with Christ." It was not because the world had shaken him off, or that he was weary of its toils and trials. No, he desired heaven, because his Saviour was there, and he panted to find himself by His side.

O God, give me such faith. Make me not only willing to leave this world at Thy summons, but ready to welcome that summons, saying, "Even so come, Lord Jesus; come quickly!"

SATURDAY.

"I know their sorrows."-EXODUS III. 7.

THANK God for this! I have often said within myself, "No one knows my sorrows: no one can tell what I suffer." But now I hear, as it were, a voice from heaven, saying to me, "I know thy sorrows."

It is my Father who speaks these words. And He measures out every sorrow to me. There is not one too many. There is not one heavier, or sharper, than is needful. Neither am I called upon to bear them one day longer than is good for me.

No matter what my sorrow is; whether it arise from pain of body or anguish of heart, it is the cross that is laid upon me, and I will cheerfully bear it. I will kiss the hand that smites me, for it is my Father's.