January.

66

THE GOD OF MERCY WALKS HIS ROUND, FROM DAY TO DAY, FROM YEAR TO YEAR, AND WARNS US EACH, WITH AWFUL SOUND, NO LONGER STAND YE IDLE HERE.'

SUGGESTIVE THOUGHTS.

JANUARY 1.

THE PRAYER OF WANT.

My God, to me Thy mighty power impart,
Enlighten, comfort, sanctify my heart;

Refine my temper, and my will subdue,
And form me, like to Christ, a creature new;
I want to live on earth a life of faith;
I want to live on all the Bible saith;
I want to imitate my Saviour dear,

And trace His steps in love and filial fear;
I want to make proud rebels seek His throne,
His sceptre kiss, and His salvation own;
I want to feel more full the Spirit's power,
To live prepar'd for death's tremendous hour;
I want a meek, resign'd, and heavenly frame,-
A soul, inflam'd with zeal for Jesu's name.

I want a living sacrifice to be

To Him, who died a sacrifice for me.
I want to be all that my God desires;
I want to do whate'er His will requires.
Pour out then, Lord, Thy Spirit on my soul;
My thoughts, my words, my every act control.
Lead me through life to glorify Thy grace,
And after death to see Thee face to face.

January 2.

KNOCK.

(Unknown.)

It is written over heaven's portal, "To him who knocks, it shall be opened"; but it is written upon no impenitent sinner's forehead, "This man, whensoever he pleases, shall have grace to knock.” (Jeremy Taylor.)

[A solemn thought, calculated to rouse the most thoughtless! Many an impenitent sinner may have remembered with despair, the hours in which he had vaguely hoped that the time for knocking would ever be at his own command.] (P. M.)

January 3.

THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY.

The resurrection of the body is the consummation of the salvation by Christ. It will be the grand evidence that our God in Christ, by the power of the Holy Ghost, has prevailed over all the powers of the enemy, and put away all sin. The demonstration of the forgiveness of sin will not be perfect till the body is raised from the dead, a glorified body.-For if my body were finally held in corruption and death, there would seem to be some power, too mighty for my Redeemer, withholding from me what was mine. The penalty of sin would seem to be still lying on my body; the evidence of my forgiveness would seem to be incomplete. But when my body, my body that played so great part in my temptation, sin and shame,—my body that was the busy and eager servant of my depraved spirit, when this body of sin and death is restored to me, a glorious, incorruptible body, what a cloudless triumphant proof it will be to me, that I am utterly forgiven, and wholly redeemed. (Pulsford.)