SEPTEMBER.

SEPTEMBER 1.

SUFFERING.

O fear not in a world like this,
And thou shall know ere long,-
Know how sublime a thing it is
To suffer and be strong.

(Longfellow.)

September 2.

THE BLESSEDNESS OF BEING A CHRISTIAN.

I have known what the enjoyments and advantages of this life are, and what the more refined pleasures which learning and intellectual power can bestow; and with all the experience that more than threescore years can give, I, now on the eve of my departure, declare to you (and earnestly pray that you may hereafter live and

act on the conviction) that health is a great blessing-competence obtained by honourable industry a great blessing-and a great blessing it is to have kind, faithful, and loving friends and relatives; but that the greatest of all blessings, as it is the most ennobling of all privileges, is to be indeed a Christian. (Coleridge.)

September 3.

TRUTH.

Christ said not to His first commissioned

ones,

Go forth, and preach impostures to the world;

But
gave them Truth to build on: and the sound
Was mighty on their lips; nor needed they,
Besides the Gospel, other spear or shield
To aid them, in their warfare for the Faith.

(Dante.)

September 4.

SIMPLICITY AND PURITY.

Purity and simplicity are the two wings with which man soars above the earth and all temporary nature. Simplicity is in the intention, purity in the affection: simplicity turns to God;

purity unites with and enjoys Him. If thou hadst simplicity and purity, thou wouldst be able to comprehend all things without error, and behold them without danger. The pure heart safely pervades not only heaven but hell. (Thomas a' Kempis.)

September 5.

REJECTION OF GREAT TRUTHS.

People frequently reject great truths, not so much for want of evidence, as for want of an inclination to search for it.

(Gilpin.)

September 6.

MYSTERIES INDISPENSABLE TO CHRISTIANITY.

It is absolutely impossible that a true religion should not present a great number of mysteries. Christianity teaches more truths than all other religions; but each of these truths has a relation to the infinite, and in consequence it borders on a mystery. (Vinet.)

September 7.

LOVE, PRAYER, FAITH.

Approach the pages of Holy Writ. What figures, sublime in their simplicity, group themselves there! Contemplate them. Their aspect has more eloquence than these lips of mine.

Is it love you would be convinced of? See Jesus on the cross. Is it the power of prayer? See women on their knees, and near them, the dead who rise! Is it the free action of God's Holy Spirit? See the dying thief, and hear the murmur on his lips-"Remember me."

(La Csse. de Gasparin.)

September 8.

YE MUST BE BORN AGAIN.

If thou art not born again, all thy outward reformation is naught in the sight of God; thou hast shut the door, but the thief is still in the house.

September 9.

(Boston.)

SOME CAUSES FOR THANKFULNESS.

For all that sustains and embellishes life,

For my friends and my kindred, my home and

my wife;