paration of ourselves for another life. For as all Christians, as such, have renounced the world, to prepare themselves, by daily devotion and universal holiness, for an eternal state of quite another nature, they must look upon worldly employments as upon worldly wants and bodily infirmities; things not to be desired, but only to be endured and suffered, till death and the resurrection has carried us to an eternal state of real happiness.-Law.

AUGUST 12.

Singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.-COLOSSIANS iii. 16. Imagine to yourself that you had been with Moses when he was led through the Red Sea; that you had seen the waters divide themselves, and stand on a heap on both sides; that you had seen them held up till you had passed through, then let fall upon your enemies; do you think that you should have wanted a voice or an ear to have sung with Moses, "The Lord is my strength and my song, and He is become my salvation," etc.? I know your own heart tells you, that all people must have been singers on such an occasion. Let this, therefore, teach you that it is the heart that tunes the voice to sing the praises of God; and that if you cannot sing these same words now with joy, it is because you are not so affected with the salvation of the world by Jesus Christ as the Jews were, or you yourself would have been with their deliverance at the Red Sea.-LAW.

AUGUST 13.

Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.-MATTHEW Xix. 19. If religion requires me to love all persons as God's creatures that belong to Him, that bear His image, enjoy His protection, and make parts of His family and household; if these are the great and necessary reasons why I should live in love and friendship with any one man in the world, they are the same great and necessary reasons why I should live in love and friendship with every man in the world. The sin, therefore, of hating or despising any one man, is like the sin of hating all God's creation; and the necessity of loving any one man, is the same necessity of loving every man in the world. And though many people may appear to us ever so sinful, odious, and extravagant in their conduct, we must never look upon that as the least motive for any contempt or disregard of them; but look upon them with the greater compassion, as being in the most pitiable condition that can be. As it was the sins of the world that made the Son of God become a compassionate, suffering Advocate for all mankind, so no one is of the spirit of Christ but he that has the utmost compassion for sinners.-Law.

AUGUST 14.

Casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you.
1 PETER V. 7.

This is the first thing, indeed, to be looked to, that our desires and cares be brought to a due compass. And what would we have? Think we that contentment lies in so much, and no less? When that is attained, it shall appear as far off as before. When children are at the foot of a high hill, they think it reaches the heavens; and yet, if they were there, they would find themselves as far off as before, or, at least, not sensibly nearer. Men think, Oh, had I this, I were well; and, when it is reached, it is but an advanced standing from which to look higher, and spy out for some other thing. We are, indeed, children in this, to think the good of our estate lies in the greatness, and not in the fitness of it for us. He were a fool that would have his clothes So, and think the bigger and longer they were they would please him the better. And certainly, as in apparel, so in place and state, and in all outward things, their good lies not in their greatness, but in their fitness for us. So, then, I say, all childish, vain, needless cares are to be discharged, and, as being unfit to cast on thy God, are to be quite cast out of thy heart. Entertain no care at all but such as thou mayst put into God's hands-such as He will take off thy hands, and undertake for thee. All needful, lawful care, and that only, will He receive. So, then, rid thyself quite of all thou canst

not take this course with, and then without scruples take confidently this course with all the rest.— LEIGHTON.

AUGUST 15.

Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the Lord.-ISAIAH xli. 14.

O thou of dark forebodings drear,
O thou of such a faithless heart,
Hast thou forgotten what thou art,
That thou hast ventured so to fear?

No weed on ocean's bosom cast,
Borne by its never-resting foam
This way and that, without a home,
Till flung on some bleak shore at last.

But thou the lotus, which above,

Swayed here and there by wind and tide,
Yet still below doth fixed abide,

Fast rooted in the eternal love.

TRENCH.

AUGUST 16.

What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed ?-ROMANS vi. 21.

Let the voluptuous person say it out upon his death-bed, what pleasure or profit doth then abide with him of all his former sinful delights. Let him tell if there remain anything of them all, but that which he would gladly not have to remain, the sting of an accusing conscience, which is as lasting as the delight of sin was short and vanishing. Let the covetous and ambitious declare freely, even those of them who have prospered most in their pursuit of

riches and honour, what ease all their possessions or titles do then help them to. Whether their pains are less because their chests are full, or their houses stately, or a multitude of friends and servants waiting on them with hat and knee. And if all these things cannot ease the body, how much less can they quiet the mind! And, therefore, is it not true that all pains in these things, and the uneven ways with which they sometimes stept aside to serve those ends, were vain rollings and tossings up and down, not tending to a certain haven of peace and happiness? It is a lamentable thing to be deluded a whole lifetime with a false dream. The whole course of a man's life out of Christ is nothing but a continual trading in vanity, running a circle of toil and labour, and reaping no profit at all. Therefore they are called "the unfruitful works of darkness.” -LEIGHTON.

AUGUST 17.

Make me to go in the path of Thy commandments; for therein is my desire.-PSALM cxix. 35.

All prayer and devotion, fastings and repentance, meditation and retirement, all sacraments and ordinances, are but so many means to render the soul divine and conformable to the will of God, and to fill it with thankfulness and praise for everything that comes from God. This is the perfection of all virtues; and all virtues that do not tend to it, or proceed from it, are but so many false ornaments of