Thou King of saints, Almighty Word Of wisdom chief, our stay in grief, O Christ! the Saviour of our race, Dost draw thy fish From angry waves of wicked seas; O steps of Christ, our path to heaven! Christ Jesus, Light divine of those We children fed with dewy grace, And hymns unstained To Christ our King; Such pious tribute give the mighty Child Ye people called, Ye born in Christ, A band of peace, Join all to praise the peace of God!" In Clement's hymn there are many figures used which have disappeared from sacred poetry; scarcely any, however, which are not taken from the Scriptures, and their number is inexhaustible; for it is the same God that makes the world of nature and gives us our religious faith. Text-EPHESIANS V. 19. UPON DAILY FAULTS. THERE are many faults that are voluntary to a certain degree, though they are not committed with a deliberate purpose of disobedience to God. We often reproach a friend for a fault that he knows gives us pain, and that he still repeats with this knowledge, although not with the design to offend us. We sometimes commit such faults towards God. They are in truth voluntary, because, though we do not reflect at the moment, yet we have an interior light in our consciences, that should be sufficient at least to make us hesitate before we act. These are often the faults of very good people. Small offences become great in our eyes, as the light from God increases within us; just as the sun, when rising, reveals to us the magnitude of objects, of which we had only a confused idea in the night. As this light rises within us, we must expect that the imperfections which we now discover will appear greater and more sinful, and that we shall see springing up from our hearts numerous defects that we never suspected there. We shall there find weaknesses enough to destroy our self-love, and to demolish to the very foundation the fabric of human pride. Nothing proves more certainly the real advancement of the soul than the power to see these imperfections without being discouraged by them. When we perceive an inclination to do wrong, before we have committed a fault, we must abstain from it; but after we have committed it, we must courageously endure the humiliation that follows. When we perceive the fault before we commit it, we must beware of resisting the Spirit of God, that is warning us of danger, and that may, if we neglect it, be silenced within us, and that will in time leave us, if we do not yield to it. The faults of hastiness or of frailty are nothing in comparison with those which render us deaf to this voice of the Holy Spirit that is beginning to speak in the bottom of our hearts. Those faults that we do not perceive till after they are committed, will not be cured by inquietude and vexation with ourselves; on the contrary, this fretfulness is only the impatience of pride at the view of its own downfall. The only use, then, to be made of such errors, is to submit quietly to the humiliation they bring; for it is not being humble to resist humility. We must condemn our faults, lament them, repent of them, without seeking any excuse, viewing ourselves as in the presence of God, with all our imperfections upon our heads, and, without any feeling of bitterness or discouragement, meekly improving our disgrace. Thus may we draw from the serpent a cure for the venom of his wound. Very often, what we would offer to God is not what he calls upon us to relinquish. What he demands of us is often what we most cherish; it is this Isaac of our hearts, this only son, this well-beloved, that he commands us to resign; it is his will that we should yield up all that is most dear; and short of this obedience, we have no repose. "Who is he that has resisted the Almighty, and been at peace?" Do you desire the blessing of God upon your efforts? Give up everything to him, and the God of peace will be with you. What consolation, what liberty, what strength, what enlargement of heart, what growth in grace, when the love of ourselves is no longer between us and our Creator, and we have made, without hesitation, the last sacrifice! Never let us be discouraged with ourselves. It is not when we are conscious of our faults that we are the most wicked; on the contrary, we are less so. We see by a brighter light; and let us remember for our consolation, that we never perceive our sins till we begin to cure them. We must neither flatter, nor be impatient with ourselves, in the correction of our faults. Despondency is not a state of humility; on the contrary, it is the despair and vexation of a cowardly pride; nothing is worse: whether we stumble or whether we fall, we must only think of rising again and going on in our course. Our faults may be useful to us, if they cure us of a vain confidence in ourselves, and do not deprive us of an humble and salutary confidence in God. Let us bless God with as true thankfulness, if he has enabled us to make any progress in virtue, as if we had made it through our own strength; and let us not be troubled with the weak agitations of self-love; let them pass; do not think of them. God never makes us feel our weaknesses but that we may be led to seek strength from him. What is involuntary should not trouble us; but the great thing is, never to act against the light within us, and to desire to follow where God would lead us. Text-1 JOHN i. 8, 9. SELF-EXAMINATION. SUM up at night what thou hast done by day, REMARKS ON THE LIVES AND CHARACTERS OF THE APOSTLES. WITH respect to the circumstances of the external conditions-country, fortune and education-of these twelve chosen servants of our Lord, we find that they were such as most readily presented themselves to the search of Jesus, and yet not such, by any means, as we should suppose would have been effective in the accomplishment of his designs. In the first place, the apostles were all Galileans, natives or inhabitants of the district of Galilee. This country constituted the northern portion of Palestine, and its people, though hardy and brave, were not much respected by the Jews of Jerusalem, who regarded them as illiterate and unpolished, and unworthy of producing a prophet. The Pharisees, reproving Nicodemus for the interest which he expressed in Jesus, said to him tauntingly, "Art thou also of Galilee? Search and look; for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet." The very speech of the Galileans was a provincial dialect, and betrayed their remoteness from the capital; as we see was the case with Peter in the palace of Caiaphas. Jesus, though born in Bethlehem, was brought up in Nazareth, which was the most despised town in this most despised province; and therefore, in selecting Galileans to be his apostles, he selected those who were nearest to him, and with whom he was most familiar. And yet what materials were they for constructing and building up a new religion, which was to be the wonder, the beauty and the glory of the earth! How little adapted they seemed to be for their lofty destination! They were the last men, these poor Galileans, the very last men, as we should have supposed, to confound the learned, to resist the mighty, to convert the world. These Galileans were also poor. Four of them were certainly fishermen; and others of their number were probably of the same profession. One was a publican, and of the inferior order of publicans. They not only belonged to an under-valued province, but they were destitute of one of these means by which great ends are usually produced in the world. They were not, indeed, wretchedly destitute. They were abore actual want, though they worked for their living; and their dwellings, though humble, appear to have been comfortable. And yet, without wealth, they effected what no wealth could have brought to pass, and became of more consequence than ever invests princes. With regard to their natural dispositions, talents and endowments of mind, there was among them the same assortment and variety of genius and character as would generally be found in the same number of men called together in a similar manner. Peter was irascible, impetuous, fervent, generous. John was amiable, affectionate, steadfast. Thomas was honest and scrutinizing. Matthew was modest and sensible. James the Greater was active and aspiring. James the Less was dignified in his sentiments and deportment. Some were forward, and some were retired. Some were eloquent, and others were silent. All, but one, appear to have been virtuous, and even that one was not without his use. They all, with that single exception, combined harmoniously in attachment to their Master and devotion to his cause. We may see in this fact how Christianity was adapted to different dispositions and received by different minds; we see, too, an instance of the truth, which is at once so obvious and so little regarded, that a variety of genius and disposition is in accordance with the designs of Providence in its most important operations with human instruments, as well as in the daily and social business of the world; and that a character is by no means to be despised because its qualities are not shining and striking. There are different parts to be performed, requiring different powers and capacities, and he who achieves his part, though it be a silent and undistinguished one, is a good servant. We are told much, in the writings of the New Testament, of the words and actions of Simon Peter; but little or nothing of those of Simon Zelotes and Bartholomew; and yet these latter may have accomplished tasks which were necessary to the progress of the great work, but which |