CHRIST'S LOVE AND CHARITY.

Where shall we take our pattern but from Thee?—Thou calledst Thy followers Thy friends. Thou didst stoop down to wash their feet, who were not worthy to untie Thy shoe. Thou didst forgive and restore Peter, when he had abjured Thee. Thou didst vouchsafe to satisfy Thomas, who would not believe but upon his own terms. Thou didst

forgive and pray for Thy bloody persecutors. O Thou Fountain and Pattern of love, grant that I may love Thee above all things, and my neighbour as myself.—Bp. Wilson.

We should be suitors unto CHRIST, and lest our manifold sins might make us bashful, He calleth us unto Him, and becomes a suitor to us, saying, "Come unto me all that are weary and heavy laden, and I will refresh you;" not laden, as only sinful; but weary, as desirous to be delivered from sin. Came He to call sinners to repent, and shall He not show mercy on the penitent? Did all the poor creatures come unto the ark to save themselves? did the angels carry Lot out of Sodom? and shall we not come unto Him Who calls us so lovingly, and means no other but to bring us unto His everlasting kingdom?

Wherefore, let neither the multitude of our sins, the terror of the law, nor the fear of God's justice, discourage us in time of distress. CHRIST hath put them all to flight, as David did the Philistines, by killing the killing letter of the law. Sutton.

JANUARY 12.

M. L. GEN. xxi. MATT. x. I E. L. GEN. xxii. Roм. x. Matt. x. 24. "The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord."

He who keeps this saying in his heart will never complain of what he suffers, nor seek for any other way to save himself but by humiliation and the cross.

SUFFERING.

O Lord, grant that whenever I suffer, it may be for being faithful to Thee, and without drawing it unseasonably upon myself.

We are in God's hands; we often take ourselves out of His hands, by trusting to the help and protection of men, more than that of GOD.

GOD can render none miserable but those whom He finds sinners. Let us apply this to ourselves when in affliction, but not unto others, or to their personal faults.— Bp. Wilson.

Howsoever we paint and disfigure Him here below, GOD will ever dwell in spotless light; He will still be circled about with His own rays of unstained and immaculate glory. And, though the Gospel be not God as He is in His own brightness, but GOD veiled and masked to us, GoD in a state of humiliation, and condescent, as the sun in a rainbow, yet it is nothing else but a clear and unspotted mirror of Divine holiness, goodness, purity; in which attributes lie the very life and essence of GOD Himself. The Gospel is GoD descending into the world in our form, and conversing with us in our likeness, that He might allure and draw us up to GOD, and make us partakers of His Divine form. GOD was therefore incarnated, and made man, that He might, as St. Peter expresses it, make us "partakers of the Divine nature."-Cudworth.

This is an unspeakable consolation, which the Christian religion affords us; and a most gracious condescension of the all-wise GOD; that, forasmuch as we who dwell in these houses of clay are far removed from the pure and abstracted Deity, and infinitely disproportioned to it, there should be such a Divine contrivance set on foot, that we should have one of our own flesh and blood, who was in all things tempted like unto us, and had experience of all our difficulties and calamities, who demonstrated His infinite love, in laying down His life for us, and therefore we cannot doubt that He has a most tender sympathy and fellowfeeling with us in all our infirmities; I say, that we should have such a one, exalted to God's right hand, and invested with all authority and power, both in heaven and earth, that He might administer all things for the good of His Church and members, and supply them in all their wants and necessities.- Cudworth.

JANUARY 13.

M. L. GEN. Xxiii. MATT. xi. I E. L. GEN. xxiv. Roм. xi.

Let us accustom ourselves to consider seriously what a fearful thing it must needs be to irritate and offend that infinite Being, on Whom we depend every moment; Who needs but withdraw His mercies, to make us miserable, or His assistance, to make us nothing. Let us frequently remember the shortness and uncertainty of our lives; and how, after we have taken a few turns more in the world, and conversed a little longer among men, we must all go down unto the dark and silent grave, and carry nothing along with us, but anguish and regret for all our sinful enjoyments; and then, think what horrour must needs seize the guilty soul, to find itself naked and alone before the severe and impartial Judge of the world, to render an exact account, not only of its more important and considerable transactions, but of every word that the tongue has uttered, and of the swiftest and most secret thoughts that have ever passed through the mind.-Scougal.

FOR PARDON OF SIN.

O Almighty GoD, and merciful Father, I thine unworthy servant, do with shame and sorrow confess, that I have all my life long gone astray out of Thy ways like a lost sheep; and that, by following too much the vain devices and desires of my own heart, I have grievously offended against Thy holy laws, both in thought, word, and deed: I have many times left undone those good duties which I might and ought to have done; and I have many times done those evils when I might have avoided them, which I ought not to have done. I confess, O Lord, that there is no health at all, nor help in any creature, to relieve me; but all my hope is in Thy mercy, Whose justice I have by my sins so far provoked: have mercy therefore upon me, a miserable offender; spare me, O good God, who confess my faults, that I perish not: and according to Thy gracious promises, declared unto mankind in CHRIST JESUS our Lord, restore me, upon my true repentance, unto Thy grace and favour. And grant, O most merciful Father, for His sake, that I may henceforth study to serve and please Thee, by

leading a godly, righteous, and sober life, to the glory of Thy holy Name, and the eternal comfort of my own soul, through JESUS CHRIST our Lord. Amen.-Bp. Sanderson.

GOOD USE OF TIME.

Grant, O Lord, that as I have but a short time to live, and an eternal interest depending, I may not squander away one moment in vanity, or in that which will not profit me in the day of adversity.

Rom. xi. 16. "Blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in, and so all Israel shall be saved."

O GOD, the God of Abraham, look upon thine everlasting covenant; cause the captivity of Judah and of Israel to return. They were Thy people; O be Thou their Saviour, that all who love Jerusalem and mourn for her, may rejoice with her for JESUS CHRIST's sake, their Saviour and Amen.-Bp. Wilson.

ours.

JANUARY 14.

M. L. GEN. XXV. MATT. xii. I E. L. GEN. xxvi. ROM. xii. Consider, that there may be but a few days, perhaps hours, remaining, before you must appear at the tribunal of JESUS CHRIST, and see Him upon His throne, as one "that is ready to judge the quick and the dead "." Put your soul in mind of the great account you must then give, of all that you have done in the body; and of your sacred actions, no question, as well as of the rest. And therefore ask yourself in the most serious manner, and bid your soul tell you; With what affection hath the death of the Lord been remembered? Hast thou sincerely renounced all thy evil ways, and consecrated thyself to the life of CHRIST, as thou hopest to be saved? As GoD shall judge the world in righteousness, art thou resolved and determined to become a new creature, and to pass the time of thy sojourning here in fear? O how dreadful will He then appear, to those who return with the dog to his vomit, after they have eaten of the holy bread, and drunk of the holy cup! Who can stand before CHRIST, that hath known and remembered His

transcendent love, and yet loved his ease, his pleasure, his money, or any other thing, better than Him and His eternal life?-Bp. Patrick.

Rev. iii. 19. "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten; be zealous, therefore, and repent."

Blessed be God, who vouchsafes, by salutary chastisements, to awaken us when we fall asleep through sloth and lukewarmness.

Grant, O God, that I may never murmur at Thy appointments, nor be exasperated at the ministers of Thy providence.-Bp. Wilson.

When our blessed Saviour was upon the cross, He thus prayed for His enemies, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." Now all Christians readily acknowledge, that this temper of CHRIST is to be the exact rule of our temper on the like occasion, that we are not to fall short of it, but must be perfectly like CHRIST in this charity towards our murderers. But then perhaps they do not enough consider, that for the very same reason, every other temper of CHRIST, is as much the exact rule of all Christians, as His temper towards His murderers. For are we to be thus disposed towards our persecutors and murderers, because CHRIST was so disposed towards His? And is it not as good an argument, that we are to be so and so disposed towards the world, and all worldly enjoyments, because CHRIST was so disposed towards them? He was as right in one case as the other, and no more erred in His temper towards worldly things, than in His temper towards His enemies. Should we not fail to be good Christians, if we fell short of that forgiving spirit, which the blessed JESUS showed upon the cross? And shall we not equally fail to be good Christians, if we fall short of that humble and meek spirit which He showed in all His life ?-W. Law.

JANUARY 15.

M. L. GEN. xxvii. MATT. xiii. | E. L. GEN. xxviii. Rom. xiii. O that Thy HOLY SPIRIT may direct and rule my heart, O GOD, through JESUS CHRIST.

Of Thy bountiful goodness, O Lord, keep me, I beseech Thee, from all things that may hurt me, that I may cheer