XX.

Overcoming Difficulties.

"Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, for God now accepteth thy works."-ECCLESIASTES ix. 7.

"Now is our salvation nearer than when we believed; let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light." -ROMANS Xiii. 11, 12.

WHEN joy no longer soothes or cheers,

And e'en the hope that threw

A moment's sparkle o'er our tears,

Is dimm'd and vanish'd too;

Then sorrow, touched by Thee, grows bright
With more than rapture's ray,

As darkness shows us worlds of light
We could not see by day!

TWENTIETH DAY.

BEFORE

EFORE a determined and resolute mind difficulties will often vanish, while they make rapid advance upon one that is timid and fearful. It is the slothful man who cries, There is a lion in the way!" And, indeed, this is true. But then, although there be a lion, or even, were there two of them, we hear the voice of Watchful, saying, "Come on, fearlessly, for the lions are chained." In this way, some exert a power of mind over difficulties that would crush others down to the dust. It is not infrequent that serious difficulties break out in Christian communities, which baffle the wisdom of the most acute minds. Such an unhappy circumstance once led a church to seek the sage advice of one, well known for his ability, to give counsel. He cheerfully afforded them help; but at the moment of sending them his advice, he

happened to be writing to a tenant of his, and so placed the address, in both cases, on the wrong letters! When the church

therefore was met to hear the advice, which was to settle their disputes, the chairman read out as follows: "You

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will see to the repair of the fences, that they be built high and strong, and you will take special care of the old black bull.” This mystical advice puzzled the good people not a little, until one more discerning than the rest, said, "My brethren, this is the advice we most need; the direction to repair the fences, is to admonish us to take good heed in the admission and government of our members! we must guard the church by our Master's laws, and keep out strange cattle from the fold. And we must in a particular manner set a watchful guard over the devil, the old black bull, who has done so much hurt of late." The Christian may always say, “I can do all things through Christ, who strengtheneth me."

XXI.

Talking with God.

"They shall go, and seek the LORD their God. They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward."-JEREMIAH 1. 4, 5.

"THAT the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ." -2 THESSALONIANS i. 12.

O LOD, increase our faith! we pray;
While here on earth we be,

Let crosses still reveal Thy will,

And bring us nearer Thee.
Help, hold us fast, until at last

Our perfect joy be given;

When, as a vesture's changed. Thy hand

Makes new both earth and heaven.

TWENTY-FIRST DAY.

UNTO

NTO whom can we go for pity? The sweet singer of Israel answers the question; "Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him." The compassion of the Lord is more than pity,-it is a father's pity. So tender, so strong, because He is the Everlasting Father. Soon the sympathy

of a mere mortal declines, or becomes exhausted; but our Heavenly Father's pity is constancy itself. But suppose the pity of a man could be felt to be undiminished by years, yet, with the close of a brief lifetime, we must part with the pity and compassion of the tenderest of parents. As is the boundless nature of God, so are all His attributes. Love, pity, and power, flow on in a full tide with wisdom, truth, and faithfulness. Think, how He pities us on account of our weakness, and puts