February.

1.

WHO shall stand when He appeareth?

for He is like a refiner's fire.

Our inmost hearts refine,

And for Thyself prepare:

Mal. iii. 2.

Cast out all thoughts but thoughts divine,
And reign triumphant there.

2.

The Presentation of Christ in the Temple, commonly called the Purification of St. Mary the Virgin.

BLESSED are the pure in heart: for

they shall see God.

St. Matt. v. 8.

The Lord, who left the heavens
Our life and peace to bring,
To dwell in lowliness with men,
Their Pattern and their King:

He to the lowly soul
Doth still Himself impart,
And for His cradle and His throne
Chooseth the pure in heart.

3.

CASTING all your care upon Him; for

He careth for you.

1 Pet. v.

7.

I can be calm, and free from care,
On any shore, since God is there.

4.

THE Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek Him, He will be found of thee; but if thou forsake Him, He will cast thee off for ever.

1 Chron. xxviii. 9.

Search, try, O God, my thoughts and heart,
If mischief lurks in ang part;

Correct me where I go astray,

And guide me in Thy perfect way.

5.

HIS compassions fail not. They are new

every morning.

Lam. iii. 22, 23.

New every morning is the love
Our wakening and uprising prove;

Through sleep and darkness safely brought,
Restored to life, and power, and thought.

6.

EXAMINE yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves.

2 Cor. xiii. 5.

Each evening to myself I say

My soul, where hast thou glean'd to-day?
Thy labours how bestow'd?

What hast thou rightly said or done,
What grace attain'd, or knowledge won,
In following after God ?"

THY will be done.

7.

St. Matt. vi. 10.

If Thou should'st call me to resign
What most I prize, it ne'er was mine;
I only yield Thee what was Thine→→→
"Thy will be done!”

8.

GODLINESS with contentment is great

gain.

1 Tim. vi. 6.

Hearts good and true have wishes few,

In narrow circles bounded;
And faith that lives on what God gives
Is Christian hope well founded.

9.

MY grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness.

2 Cor. xii. 9.

Grief, nor pain, nor any sorrow
Rends thy heart, to God unknown;
He to-day, and He to-morrow,
Grace sufficient gives His own.
Holy strivings nerve and strengthen,
Long endurance wins the crown;
When the evening shadows lengthen,
Thou shalt lay thy burden down.

10.

FOR now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. 1 Cor. xiii. 12.

Of the bright things in earth and air

How little can the heart embrace!
Soft shades and gleaming lights are there—
I know it well, but cannot trace.

In vain, with dull and tuneless ear,
I linger by soft music's cell,
And in my heart of hearts would hear
What to her own she deigns to tell.

But patience! there may come a time
When these dull ears shall scan aright
Strains, that outring Earth's drowsy chime,
As Heaven outshines the taper's light.

11.

LET us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.

1 John iii. 18.

In a service which Thy will appoints

There are no bonds for me;

For my inmost heart is taught the Truth
That makes Thy children free;

And a life of self-renouncing love

Is a life of liberty.

12.

THERE remaineth therefore a rest to

the people of God.

Heb. iv. 9.

Though worldly pleasures here should fail,
And sorrow for a while prevail;

Though friends forsake, and death remove
The dearest objects of our love :

Yet there remains a heavenly rest

For those whom Christ the Lord hath blest.