Our faith teaches us that our only Lord is goodness itself impersonated; that we are his by birthright and by nature,—his as the child belongs to its parent,—his as a man's thoughts are his own. We are each of us thoughts of God. We owe our being to having been in that infinite mind. * We then, I conceive, are justified in holding clearly and boldly, as the very core of our faith, that God loves eternally and unalterably every creature he has made; and that our sin, while it draws a thick veil over our eyes and makes it impossible to give us the joy of communion with him, yet never changes him, never blackens that sun of love in the heavens.-[F. P. Cobbe.]

The best will is our Father's will,

And we may rest there calm and still:
Oh! make it hour by hour thine own,
And wish for naught but that alone
Which pleaseth God.

[Paul Gerhardt.]

SINNING AND SORROWING.

Look down in pity, Lord, we pray,
On eyes oppressed by moral night,

And touch the darkened lids, and say

The gracious words, "Receive thy sight."

[Bryant.]

What creed can be more to me than this: that God pities me; that God careth for me; and that to me, a wanderer from his presence and love, he hath sent forth his Son, "to bring me nigh to him"? Nigh to him! shelter, protection, peace, joy, blessedness; all, and more than all that words can utter, is summed up in this. The bright realm of heaven that overwhelmed me with its awful majesty, melts and dissolves in dews of mercy upon my thirsting and fainting nature.—[Dewey.]

It is a great thing to feel, in our human sorrows, that it is not fate that is trying us; not necessity that is compelling us, but our dear Father who is dealing with us, working out for us his good ends. It is the sublimest power man ever puts forth, to be able to say, Not my will, but thine, be done." When we can say it in the spirit in which Christ said it, and can let it work in us as it worked in him, we are the conquerors of the world.

[Lathrop.]

-a

There are two ways of looking at every occurrence,bright and a dark side. Two modes of action. Which is most worthy of a rational being, a Christian and a friend? It is absurd for a rational being to torture one's self unnecessarily. It is inconsistent in a Christian to see God's wrath rather than his mercy in everything. How to avoid all morbidity of mind? By prayer. Resist the devil, etc. By turning away from the dark view. Never begin to look darkly at a subject without checking yourself and saying, "Is there not a bright side to this? Has not God promised the bright side to me? Is not my happiness in my own power? Do I not know that I am ruining my own mind and perhaps endangering the peace of others dear to me, by looking at the wrong side?"

[Charles Kingsley.]

Formed

Look at this inward being, and say, what is it? by the Almighty hand, and therefore formed for some purpose; built up in its proportions, fashioned in every part by infinite skill; an emanation, breathed from the spirit of God; say, what is it? Its nature, its necessity, its design, its destiny; what is it? So formed it is, so builded, so fashioned, so exactly balanced, and so exquisitely touched in every part, that sin introduced into it is the direst misery; that every unholy thought falls upon it as a drop of poison; that every guilty desire, breathing upon any delicate part or fibre of the soul, is the plague spot of evil, the blight of death. Made, then, is it for virtue, not for sin; oh! not for sin, for that is death; but made for virtue, for purity as its end, its rest, its bliss; made thus by God Almighty.-[Dewey.]

Times without number have I prayed,
"This only once forgive,"

Relapsing when thy hand was stayed
And suffered me to live.

Yet now the kingdom of thy peace,
Lord, to my heart restore;
Forgive my vain repentances
And bid me sin no more.

[Cowper.]

Let us come to our Father with meekness and humility, in penitence and sorrow, and say: I have sinned, O God, I have sinned against thee, and am not worthy to be called thy child. But do thou have mercy upon me. Remember not against me the transgressions of my youth and the follies and sins of my whole life, but have mercy upon me. Cleanse me from mine iniquities and make me holy. I would give myself up to thee. I would submit to whatever thou mayest appoint. I would obey thee. Cast me not away. O thou who art of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, take pity upon me and save me from my sins. O Lord, lift us up and lead us in the way of life. Make us to know thy great salvation. Quicken us by thine Holy Spirit, and breathe into our hearts newness of life, that as in time past we have lived unto the world, so in time to come we may live to God.—[M. B. J.]

My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord, neither be weary of his correction; for whom the Lord loveth he correcteth, even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.

It may be that in your conscious weakness you have lost hope,—that in your failures it has seemed as if you could no longer look for God's mercy or help; and yet at that moment, could we but understand it, (and what shall we say of ourselves when our minds are closed against this sublimest truth?) heaven is looking down upon us with tender interest. God cares for everything that he has created; but on the whole earth nothing is so interesting to heaven as the fidelity of the soul, the fidelity of a weak heart and feeble will, endeavoring to overcome temptation. All the glory of earth is pale and faded beside the persevering struggles of such a soul.-[E. Peabody.]

Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin, for I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done evil in thy sight. Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not thine holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and

uphold me with thy free spirit.

Eternal self-communion is our destiny.

Shall it be

communion with selves that we must abhor or despise, or with selves into which we can look with gratitude and gladness?-[A. Peabody.]