Fourth Bay.

"FOR the Lord taketh pleasure in his people he will beautify the meek with salvation."

We should all endeavor and labor for a calmer spirit, that we may the better serve God in praying to him and praising him, and serve one another in love, that we may be fitted to do and receive good, that we may make our passage to heaven more easy and cheerful, without drooping and hanging the wing. So much as we are quiet and cheerful upon good ground, so much we live, and are as it were in heaven.

Then wake, my soul; thy way prepare,
And lose in this each meaner care;
With steady step that path be trod

Which cheerfully conducts to God.

Fifth Day.

"BUT the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil."

Discipline is God's price for our freedom, and self-denial the only purchase of strength and peace. And every actual peril must come by the way of a yielding conscience.

When struggling conscience fears defeat,

And earnest asks for aid,

Then, Father, send thy strengthening love,
And none shall be afraid.

Sixth Day.

"ARISE and depart, for this is not your rest. Be ye also ready."

It is the fixed and unalterable law of

nature that the fashion of this world should pass away, and that man, its temporary sovereign, should pass away with it.

I cannot shun the stroke of death;
Lord, help me to surmount the fear,
That, when I must resign my breath,
Serene the summons I may hear.

Let all my hope and treasure lie
Where, in thy light, I light may see:

The soul may freely dare to die
That longs to be possess'd of thee.

Seventh Day.

"JESUS answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world. But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him.”

In one sense, there is no light in any one, even the holiest and wisest who ever lived. But how few believe this! How few believe that the spirit of God gives man understanding! We fancy that we have life in ourselves. We try conceitedly

and godlessly to walk by the light of our own eyes. Therefore we do not pray to God for light, nor look for light in God's word. The mistakes that we make come from this, that we will not ask God for light and wisdom; and, forgetting to ask for light and guidance, we put ourselves into the night, and stumble and fall.

I am lost without thy ray;

Guide my wandering footsteps, Lord!
Light my dark and erring way

To the noontide of thy word.

Eighth Day.

"AND let the peace of God rule in your hearts to the which ye are called."

Our whole trouble in our lot in this world rises from the disagreement of our mind therewith. Let the mind be brought to the lot, and the whole tumult is instantly hushed; let it be kept in that disposition, and the man shall stand at ease in his affliction, like a rock unmoved with waters beating on it.

In the heart's depth a peace serene and holy
Abides, and when pain seems to have her will,
O we despair, O, may that peace rise slowly,
Stronger than agony, and we be still!