August I

And while they were looking steadfastly into heaven as He went, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel.—ACTS i. 10.

They shall walk with me in white; for they are worthy.-REV. iii. 4.

THE HE angels of God, as ministers of the Most High, are clad with power which they exercise among men and over Nature; but that quality which appears to have been taken as especially characteristic of them is holiness. Hence they are known as 'the holy angels,' 'the holy ones,' and therefore they are always represented in the Scripture as clothed in white. The angel of the Lord who rolled away the stone from the grave of Jesus on the morning of the Resurrection was clad in raiment white as snow. The angels who visited the disciples as they stood looking steadfastly into heaven after the ascended Lord, were clad in white apparel. DR. H. C. M'COOK.

WITH this fayre flowre your goodly girlonds dight

Of chastity and vertue virginall,

That shall embellish more your beauty bright,
And crowne your heades with heavenly coronall,
Such as the angels wear before God's tribunall.

SPENSER.

WHO are these in dazzling brightness,

Clothed in God's own righteousness,

These, whose robes of purest whiteness
Shall their lustre still possess,
Still untouched by time's rude hand?
Whence came all this glorious band?

These the Almighty contemplating,
Did as priests before Him stand,
Soul and body always waiting
Day and night at His command:
Now in God's most holy place
Blest they stand before His Face.

August 2

F. E. COX.

To obey is better than sacrifice.-1 SAM. xv. 22. Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men.-S. LUKE ii. 14.

LE

ET us consider these two things of them :-that their wills are so entirely agreeing with the will of God, that they can will nothing but as He willeth. Their dial goeth exactly with His sun, and their will set only by His; 'They do His commandments, hearkening to the voice of His words.' And they cannot go a hairbreadth from it to the right hand or left. This is the fair copy we have before us in that petition when we pray, Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.' So that what God mindeth towards the good of men, they do the like. Doth He look and wait for any man's repentance? They do so also. Doth He rejoice for a sinner's conversion? They rejoice also. And that not only out of their entire agreement with the will of God, but also out of their entire love for men. DR. JOHN LIGHTFOOT, 1658.

FAR better in its place the lowliest bird

Should sing aright to Him the lowliest song, Than that a seraph strayed should take the word And sing His glory wrong.

I

JEAN INGELOW.

LIKE to fancy God, in Paradise,
Lifting a finger o'er the rhythmic swing
Of chiming harp and song, with eager eyes
Turned earthward, listening-

The Anthem stilled—the angels leaning there
Above the golden walls—the morning sun
Of Christmas bursting flower-like with the prayer,
'God bless us Every One!'

JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY.

Angust 3

Bless the Lord, ye angels of His: ye mighty in strength that fulfil His word, hearkening unto the voice of His word.--Ps. ciii. 20.

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.-S. MATT. vii. 21.

THE

HE eternal moral law which held good for the sinless Christ, Who, though He were a Son, yet learned obedience by the things which He suffered, must hold good of you and me, and all moral and rational beings-yea, for the very angels in heaven. . . . They have obeyed, and have given up their own wills to be ministers of God's will. In them is neither self-will nor selfishness; and therefore, by faith, that is, by trust and loyalty, they stand. And so, by consenting to lose their individual life of selfishness, they have saved their eternal life in God, the life of blessedness and holiness, just as all evil spirits have lost their eternal life by trying to save their selfish life and be something in themselves without respect to God.

CHARLES KINGSLEY.

SOUL, rule thyself. On passion, deed, desire,

Lay thou the laws of thy deliberate will.

Stand at thy chosen post, faith's sentinel; Though hell's lost legions ring thee round with fire. Learn to endure . . .

Yet is thy guerdon great; thine the reward

Of those elect who, scorning Circe's lure,

R

Grown early wise, make living right their Lord. Clothed with celestial steel, these walk secure ; Masters, not slaves. Over their heads the pure Heavens bow, and guardian seraphs wave God's sword. JOHN ADDINGTON SYMONDS.

August 4

And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.DAN. xii. 3.

Even so let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.-S. MATT. v. 16.

BUT

UT of all that Christ tells us about angels what must have the weightiest practical effect is that we may look to becoming 'like unto the angels' ourselves. Our work hereafter may be like angels' work and our joys like angels' joy. Angels' work and angels' joy go together; for their joy, or a great deal of it, arises out of their work. God operates through the angels, and the sense of His working in them fills them with a pure delight. There is no happiness known to man like that which comesrarely, alas, to most of us-from feeling that God is working in us both to will and to work for His good pleasure.' This, which with even the best of us is only a passing gleam, yields to the angels the steady light in which they dwell.

REV. H. LATHAM.

OD'S saints are shining lights; who stays

GOD'S

Here long must passe

O'er dark hills, swift streams, and steep ways

As smooth as glasse ;

But these all night
Like candles, shed

Theire beames, and light
Us into bed.