APRIL 29. "The Lord will give strength to his people." PSALM xxix. 11.

HE Lord's people often need strength.

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ties sometimes press upon them that are peculiar and momentous; and under a sense of their inability to discharge them, they exclaim with the apostle, "Who is sufficient for these things ?" Temptations assail them, so subtle-so fierce-s0 unexpected, that they sustain momentary depression and perhaps defeat. Trials of various kinds perplex and harass them. Business affairs are complicated. Employment is scarce. Sickness is endured. Their road becomes thorny and rough, beyond human endurance; and they are ready to faint by the way. Who is there, that has not had his times of weakness? Who is there that has not felt the need of some strength beyond that which earth affords? Happy are we, if we have experienced the strength God gives to his saints! Lest, however, faith should be weak, and you should not be able to grasp the promise before us, let me ask you to remember that this promise is only one of many equally great and precious given in God's word. Think too of the saints who in every age have leaned upon God for support without being deceived. Forget not either, how he has fulfilled this and all other promises in your own case, in times past. Look then, my brother, to the rock that is higher than yourself; you will not look in vain.

Weak as you are, you shall not faint,
Or, fainting, shall not die;

Your God, the strength of every saint,
Will aid you from on high.

APRIL 30. "Take heed therefore how ye hear." LUKE viii. 18.

N one occasion when the Rev. Rowland Hill hearing

the Gospel, he said that some people were very
squeamish about the delivery of different minis-
ters, who preached the same gospel; “But," said
he, "suppose you were attending to hear a will
read, where you expected a legacy to be left you;
would you employ the time when it was being
read in criticising the manner in which the lawyer
read it? No; you would not: you would be giv-
ing all ear to hear if anything had been left to
you, and what it was.” How much profit many
persons lose by cherishing a fastidious and carp-
ing spirit! Either the preacher's voice is not mu-
sical, or his actions and gestures are not graceful,
or his style is not polished, or his views on some
subjects are not similar to theirs; and so they
cannot listen to his ministry, or if they listen, it
is only to find fault. Give me, O Lord, a teach-
able mind! Help me to lay aside all dispositions
and tempers that would prevent me from profit-
ably hearing thy word! May I look more at the
message itself than the manner of its delivery, and
practise what I hear! Let me not prove a way-
side, or a stony-soil, or a thorny-ground hearer ;-
But may my heart, like fertile soil,
Receive the heavenly word;

So shall my fair and ripened fruits
A hundred-fold afford.

MAY 1.

"Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God." 1 Cor. i. 24.

LL things exhibit the perfections of God; but nowhere are they so gloriously set forth as in the person and work of Jesus Christ. The power and wisdom of God are the two attributes to which allusion is made by the Apostle. The Divine power is seen in the incarnation of Christthe events of his life-the wonders of his deaththe triumphs of his resurrection and ascension to his Father's right hand: in the rapidity with which the doctrine of the cross spread during the apostolic age: in the influence of the truth over the hearts and lives of those who believe: and in the final subjugation of the whole earth. The Divine wisdom is seen in the constitution of the Saviour's person and the appointment of such a person to be our Redeemer in the plan of salvation as maintaining justice, law, and holiness; and yet saving the sinner: in restoring the sinner not only to the favour, but also to the image of God: and making the Gospel a grand theme of study and delight to the holy intelligences of all worlds. How insignificant by the side of the cross of Christ are all human plans of salvation! Help me, O God, to study with ever-growing delight the wonders of redemption; and continually to adore thy perfections as they shine there!

How great the wisdom, power, and grace,

Which in redemption shine!

Angels and men with joy confess,

The work is all divine.

MAY 2, "God with us." MAtt. i. 23. HE following striking passage from Chrysostom, one of the early fathers of the church, furnishes a striking and beautiful comment on this day's text. "When thou hearest of Christ, do not think him God only, or man only, but both together. For I know Christ was hungry, and I know that with five loaves he fed five thousand men, beside women and children. I know Christ was thirsty, and know Christ turned water into wine. I know Christ was carried in a ship, and I know Christ walked on the waters. I know Christ died, and I know Christ raised the dead. I know Christ was set before Pilate, and I know Christ sits with the Father. I know Christ was worshipped by the angels, and I know Christ was stoned by the Jews. And truly some of these I ascribe to the human, others to the Divine nature: for by reason of this he is said to be both together."

Veiled in flesh the Godhead see:

Hail the incarnate Deity!

Pleased as man with men to appear,

Jesus our Emmanuel here.

MAY 3. "The Lord knoweth them that are his." 2 TIM. ii. 19.

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"AMAR," says a Puritan writer, "may disguise herself, and walk in an unaccustomed path, so as Judah may not know her. Isaac, through the dimness of his sight, may bless Jacob, and pass Esau. Tract of time may make Joseph to forget or be forgotten of his brethren. Solomon may doubt to whom of right the child be

longeth; and Christ may come to his own, and not be received. But the Lord knoweth who are his, and his eye is always over them. Time, place, speech, or apparel, cannot obscure or darken his eye or ear. He can discern Daniel in the denJob, though never so much changed, on the dunghill;-let Jonah be lodged in the whale's belly, Peter be put into a close prison, Lazarus be wrapped in rags, or Abel rolled in blood; yet can he call them by name, and send his angels to comfort them. Ignorance and forgetfulness may cause love and knowledge to be estranged in the creature; but the Lord is not incident to either; for his eye, as his essence, is everywhere; and he knoweth all things."

Here, O my soul, thy trust repose!

Thy Lord declares, "That soul is mine!"
Not death itself, that last of foes,

Can break a union so divine.

MAY 4. "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." ROM. v. 1.

POOR man, on the coast of Malabar, feeling an overwhelming sense of guilt, and greatly distressed in mind, inquired of certain devotees and priests how he could make atonement for his sins and secure inward peace. They directed him to drive iron spikes, sufficiently blunted, through his sandals; and then to walk a distance of nearly five hundred miles. If, through weariness or loss of blood, he was compelled to halt, he might just wait until his wounds healed, and then he was to pursue his pilgrimage. He commenced his journey. One day, being quite exhausted, he sat down