6. Let humility of mind grow in you. This is the true and genuine loftiness of a Christian. Know that the more

humility of heart abounds in you, the more is the grace of God increasing.

7. Let those who, in days of joy, have despised the compassion of God, when brought under the rod of discipline, tremble before his sorrow.

8. It was necessary Christ should be both God and man, to work our redemption. As He was God, He was able; as He was man, He had aptness. No man nor angel could have effected it. Not man; for how could he, who was dead in sin, give life to others? Not the angels; for they had not sufficiency to stand upright themselves.

9. Though thou be in the dark, yet pray, for thy Father is light. Thou canst not lie hid from His eye; and, therefore, neither faint in thy devotion nor dissemble in hypocrisy, for thy God hears thee in secret as well as sees thee.

10. Though thou be banished, yet Christ is thy associate; though amongst thieves or wild beasts, though at sea in tempests, or on land in troubles, though in hunger, cold, or nakedness, thy Captain stands and sees the combating. Hold out, then, for He will crown thee.

II. If he shall have judgment without mercy that hath not shewed mercy, what judgment shall he receive that hath done others injury?

12. Christ died for men and angels: for men, that they might rise from sin; for angels, that they might not fall into sin. For them, that they might not be wounded; for man, that he might be healed of his wounds. He took

infirmity from man, and gave confirmation to them. He was the wisdom of the Father to enlighten, the power of the Father to uphold.

13. Let us be careful not to revenge our own wrongs, but remember that we ought to suffer much more than we do for the sake of Christ.

14. The thoughts and affections do follow love's direction ; wherefore the Truth saith, 'Where your treasure is, there will your heart be.' Therefore, if our treasure be in heaven, our affections will be in heaven. To lay up this treasure, mark thy thoughts; so thou shalt know thy treasure by thy love, and thy love by thy thoughts.

15. If they go to hell, not because they took away the garment from the naked, but because they did not clothe them; not because they took away the bread from the hungry, but because they did not give their bread to them,-what shall become of them who do not give nor clothe, but do strip off and rob the indigent? Remember the torment of the rich man, and relieve Lazarus, that thou mayest escape damnation.

16. If barrenness be cast into the fire, what shall covetousness deserve? or what shall covetous rapacity receive, when want of charity shall be tormented in hell-fire?

GREGORY (THE GREAT).

BORN 550-DIED 604.

1. As the word of God exercises the understanding of the wise, so does it nourish the simple. It furnishes that with which the little ones may be fed; it contains that which higher minds may admire. It is a river both shallow and deep, in which the lamb may have footing and the elephant may swim.

2. As ointments, unless they are stirred, are not smelt afar off, and as aromatic scents do not give out their fragrance unless they are burned, so it is in their tribulations that the saints give forth their excellencies.

3. For the enlightening of the night of this present life, each star in its turn appears in the face of heaven, until towards the end of the night,-the Redeemer of man rises like the true Morning Star. In order that the radiance of the stars may suit itself to the darkness of our night, Abel comes to shew us guilelessness; Enoch to teach purity of practice; Noah to give lessons of endurance in hope and in work: Abraham to manifest obedience; Isaac to shew an example of chastity in wedded life; Jacob to introduce patience in labour; Joseph the repaying of evil with good; Moses for the shewing forth. of meekness; Joshua to form us to confidence against difficulties; Job to shew patience amid afflictions. Behold what sparkling stars we see in the sky, that our feet may

never stumble as we walk this our night journey! As many saints as He has raised up, so many stars has He sent forth into the sky, over the darkness of erring man, till the true Morning Star should rise, who, being the herald of the eternal morning, should outshine the other stars by the radiance of His Godhead.

4. We sin with our lips two ways, either when we say unjust things, or withhold the just.

5. At the appearing of the eternal Judge, the life of the church's pilgrimage is completed. She then receives the recompence of her labours, when, having finished the time of her warfare, she returns to her native country.

6. The dawn is the new birth of the resurrection, when the church rises to contemplate the vision of eternity; for, if the resurrection were not a birth, it would never have been said of it, 'In the REGENERATION, when the Son of man shall sit upon the throne of His glory' (Matt. xix. 28).

7. Good men dread prosperity in the world more than adversity.

8. The Bridegroom hides Himself when sought, that, not being found, He may be sought for with the more ardent affection.

9. We do not render true service to God so long as we obey from fear, and not from love.

10. He that knows the grace of the Redeemer, and longs for a return to his native land, groans under the burden of his pilgrimage. He that loves to sojourn abroad, instead of his own country, knows not how to grieve even in the midst of grief.

HILDEBERT.

BORN 1057-DIED 1134.

1. He came the first time in the guise of humanity; He is to come the second time in brightness, as a light to the godly, a terror to the wicked. He came the first time in weakness, He is to come the second time in might; the first time in our littleness, the second time in His own majesty; the first time in mercy, the second in judgment; the first time to redeem, the second to recompense, and recompense all the more terribly because of the longsuffering and delay.

2. By the wisdom of the serpent we were deceived, by the wisdom of God we are delivered. The former is called wisdom, though it is our folly; the latter is called folly, though it is great and incomprehensible wisdom.

3. The devil may advise, but cannot force, to sin. If the devil alone were advising, and God keeping silence, man might excuse himself. But God, by reason, by the Scriptures, by ministers, cries, SIN NOT. God is on the right hand, Satan on the left; man is in the midst. God persuades man to good, Satan dissuades; but man yields to the devil, not to God!

4. Unhappy soul! Led captive by the devil, despised by man, forsaken by God; after so many and so great apostasies, in which, forgetting thy Saviour, thou hast cast His words behind thy back,-TURN and RETURN from thy