JANUARY 1.

Ye know not what shall be on the morrow."-James iv. 14. AND if we know not what a day may bring forth, far less are we able to know what the year now just entered on will bring to pass! Of this, however, we may be sure, that many, that great, and frequently distressing changes and events await millions of the sons and daughters of Adam! Many a social band of friends-many a social and happy domestic circle will be broken up before this year is completed. And those members who now meet, and see each other's faces with gladness, will, ere long, meet thus no more! Many, who now go to the house of God together as friends, will cease to walk side by side to worship their common Lord. Death, and various other providences, will scatter many of the former classes far and wide from each other; and the wickedness of bad men, and the weaknesses and prejudices of good men, may sever no few of the latter. Amidst the growing and wide-spreading bickerings, contentions, and party strifes of the times, how many a spirit, now buoyant with hope, and cheerful in the company of its professed christian friends, will be sorrow-smitten, and half broken-hearted at the changes which these contentions will bring over the minds of those they now imagine will be kindred spirits, even unto the end. And thus it is, that by reason of death, and of numberless other events, Friend after friend departs.' Holy and ever-blessed Lord God, may every consideration of these solemn truths raise my soul nearer to thee and to thy kingdom, for Jesus Christ our Redeemer's sake. Amen.

B

JANUARY 2.

"Friend after friend departs,
Who hath not lost a friend?
There is no union here of hearts
That finds not here an end;
Were this frail life our only rest,
Living or dying, none were blest."

How truly do these lines fall in with the facts
of every man's history as he looks through the
year just closed, and carries his retrospect through
a few of its predecessors? Each has swept off
some friend, or divided him from some compa-
nion! Oh, were there no meeting again-no
future day, when those who were once so near
and dear shall hail and bless each other; then,
Living and dying none were blest.' True it is,
that the friends in Christ Jesus are clothed with
mortality, even as others; and each in his ap-
pointed time must taste of death; but the sur-
vivors of this happy family know, that the others
are not lost, but gone before.' Having fallen
asleep in Jesus, these same shall Jesus bring
again with him. Has the love of God been
shed abroad in kindred hearts by the Holy
Ghost, then shall they meet again, and be for
ever with their Lord! When I think only of
the departure, the absence, and present loss of
my beloved christian friends, I cannot but weep;
but when I recollect that every passing day brings
me nearer to the edge of the wilderness-nearer to
the promised Canaan, and nearer to those whose
absence I now mourn, I take courage and wipe
off the starting tear, and bless and praise Thee,
thou Saviour, thou Lord of life and death, that
"There is a world above,

Where parting is unknown;
A long eternity of love,

Formed for the saints alone;

And faith beholds the dying here
Translated to that glorious sphere!"