I have kept the faith, henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness.'. It presupposes much, it involves much, and it is hard to attain. We might wait for ever until it came of itself! Nay, rather, seeing what importance and value are given to it in the Word of God, we must seek for it, strive after it, pray for it, and so win it.

But you will perhaps say that since some persons are of a more sanguine and hopeful disposition than others, hope is, after all, a matter of temperament, and that it is well for those who have a happy and cheerful nature; to them hope belongs, but not to others. Once more, let us remember that this hope is to be wrought in the heart by the Holy Ghost, and that we must never quietly assume that we can dispense with it. If it be a grace from God, He will give it to those who seek after it diligently and perseveringly. It is true indeed that differences of nature and constitution may affect the enjoyment of it. Some good and true hearts will never be as bright and glad here, as others will. But underlying all diversities, hidden at times from its possessor, little known to the world, shrouded in the deep recesses of the heart, there, in every true Christian, will be found the grace of hope.

...

No more common reproach is brought by the men of this world against religion than that it is dull, gloomy, cheerless, and monotonous. Now this accusation can hardly be against the Gospel of Christ itself, but must be directed against the

followers of Christ in general,—and is it not too often deserved? We do not habitually live in view of the Hope set before us in the Gospel. We too much separate our daily life from our religion; thinking it safe to keep religion for times when the heart must be oppressed and disturbed, for hours of weakness and weariness, for sickness and distress, for pain and for grief; or if we rise above this condition and try to interweave religion into the texture of our being, is it not sometimes too plain that the darker threads are those which religion supplies, giving a hue of sadness to all the rest? Yet ought this to be so? It is most true that religion discloses to us the fearful nature of sin, the evil of our own hearts, and the peril of eternal death; but is it not our blessed privilege to know not only the existence of evil, but the Heaven-sent remedy; to look not merely down into the darkness, but up into the light; to watch the Sun of Righteousness arising with healing on His wings? Life is not to the Christian a cheerless waste, nor is death to him the King of Terrors. When he sees the shadows of evening fall around him, he knows it is only because this must be so, ere he can come to the glory of the next day's unclouded brightness. If we felt assuredly that Christ was our guide; if we were able to commit all our cares to Him who careth for us, if we were persuaded of His love, and knew well that He will never leave us nor forsake us, might we not find it becoming more and more the

settled condition of our hearts to 'rejoice in the Lord alway'?

We now live in the Kingdom of Hope. For our own sakes then, and for the sake of others, let us show ourselves to be citizens of that country. One of the titles of our King is, 'the God of Hope.' 'Let the voice of joy and gladness be in the dwellings of the righteous;' let men 'take knowledge of us that we have been with Jesus' by the serenity and peace which He alone can bestow; and let us abound in Hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.'

ST. GREGORY.

GOOD JESU, Word of the Father, brightness of the Father's glory, into whom the Angels desire to look, teach us to do Thy will, that, led by Thy good Spirit, we may attain to that blessed city, where is eternal day, and the spirit of all is one; where is certain security, and secure eternity, and eternal tranquillity, and tranquil blessedness, and blessed sweetness, and sweet joyousness, where Thou, God, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, livest and reignest to endless ages. Amen.

I

STOOD beside yon fountain, where the sun Looked on the waters as they rose and fell Through the calm air unceasingly, with plash

T

Monotonous.

Their column only gave
Back to the eye a glimmer cold and pale.—
Sudden, a wind descending smote the trees
That stood around, and smote the waters too
As they sprang upward; marring, as it seemed,
The fair proportions of their pillared height:
But as the breeze seized thus upon the jet
And broke it into spray, a thousand gems
Flashed in the sunshine, and the water-cloud
Gave forth a Rainbow, radiant as the first
Set by our Father as His sign in Heaven.

O tossed with tempests and not comforted!
O tried and smitten one! thy weary heart
Must read its lesson here. Thy Saviour's love
(Shaken and broken though thy spirit be)
Sends down this visiting of stormy grief
To mark thee with His Bow of Promise now,
And keep thee for His own eternally,

C.

As one gets further on in life it grows in some

ways easier. 'Tribulation worketh experience, and experience, hope;' and this last hope is the happiest. It is of a very different kind from that with which we began life; it comes most fully into our hearts when we look beyond this world, where we have already learnt that most of our other expectations are kindly and wisely disappointed!

TWENTY-SIXTH DAY.

The Burthen of Self.

THEN spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples, saying, The scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses' seat: all therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not. For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments, and love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi. But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ. But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whosoever