As thy days, so shall thy strength be.
Deut. xxxiii. 25.

WHEN with sad footsteps memory roves

O'er smitten joys and buried loves, When sleep my tearful pillow flies And dewy morning drinks my sighs, When like a mourner low I bend, Without a comforter or friend,Then to Thy promise, Lord, I flee, That as my day, my strength shall be. One trial more must yet be past, One pang, the keenest and the last; Then, when with brow convulsed and pale My feeble, quivering heart-strings fail, Redeemer! grant my soul to see

That as her day, her strength shall be. Mrs Sigourney.

January 19.

A threefold cord is not quickly broken.

Eccles. iv. 12.

WHEN the threefold name was spoken,

When the sacred sign was made,

When upon our brows the token
Of our baptism was laid:
Threefold was the sacred promise,—

To renounce, believe, and do;
God of mercy, turn not from us
When those vows we here renew.
From the devil and his dangers,
From the pomp and pride of life
Lord, as pilgrims and as strangers,
Keep us in the holy strife.

Monsell.

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January 20.

A whisperer separateth chief friends.
Prov. xvi. 28.; xvii. 9.; xi. 13.

ALAS! they had been friends in youth,
But whisp'ring tongues can poison
truth;

And life is thorny, and youth is vain;
They parted-ne'er to meet again!
Like cliffs which had been rent asunder,
A dreary sea now flows between ;-
But neither heat, nor frost, nor thunder
Shall wholly do away, I ween,

The marks of that which once had been.

—0—

January 21.

Coleridge.

A woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised: give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her.

FIRMLY she ruleth,

Wisely she reigns,

Guideth the maidens,

The youth restrains,

Prov. xxxi. 30, 31.

Doubleth by thrift her husband's store,
Till the household treasures are flowing o'er.

Her diligent hands

Ceaseless she plieth;

From the whirring spindle

The white thread flieth;

Her carved and shining chests are full

Of the silky flax, and the snowy wool;

For she blendeth the good and the gracious,

And resteth never.

From Schiller.

[ever,

"Lay of the Bell."

A word spoken in due season, how good is it.
Prov. xv. 23.

'TWA

'WAS nothing-
-a mere idle word
From careless lips that fell,
Forgot, perhaps, as soon as said,

And purposeless as well.

But yet, as on the passing wind
Is borne the little seed,
Which blooms unheeded, as a flower,

Or as a noisesome weed

So often will a single word,

Unknown, its end fulfil,

And bear in seed, the flower and fruit

Of actions good or ill.

F. D.

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January 23.

At evening time it shall be light.

Zech. xiv. 7.

AT evening time let there be light;

Life's little day draws near its close;
Around me fall the shades of night-
The night of death, the grave's repose.
To crown my joys, to end my woes,

At evening time let there be light!
At evening time there shall be light;
For God hath spoken, it must be;

Fear, doubt, and anguish take their flight,--
His glory now is risen on me ;

Mine eyes shall His salvation see,

'Tis evening time, and there is light.

James Montgomery.