of the flesh. We have sought after riches, and imagined, if these could be possessed, our happiness would be within our grasp. But wealth and power and fame bring with them only care, anxiety, and vexation of spirit, envy from others, and too frequently discontent and peevishness unto ourselves. There is neither peace nor happiness for us. O God, but in Thee alone! Whether we look upon the rare gems of the East, or contemplate nature in its loveliness, whether we listen to the music of the feathered songsters, or gaze upon the loveliest forms existing in the wide creation, while we behold, the fashion of them passeth away, and there is nothing settled and perfect and beautiful but Thou alone. For all the loveliness of nature is but a faint image of Thy transcendent beauty. Where in any of Thy creatures or in any of the works of Thy hands can we find the perfection that constitutes Thy divine character?
O Lord, Thy perfection is spread abroad throughout all Thy works. If we find anything in one of Thy creatures that is amiable, we know that it exists in all its purity in Thee; yea, Lord, Thou dwellest in everything that is good, and beautiful, and lovely, and true, and useful. Therefore do we pray, O God, give us settledness in Thee! Teach us to ascribe the power to do good, to believe truth, to perform acts of charity, piety, and use, all—all to Thy power within us, and aid us to give all the glory unto Thee alone.
While some trust in modes of faith and doctrine, while others pride themselves in their wisdom and knowledge, may we trust in the name of the Lord our God, and may our settled hope and steadfastness be in Thee alone. Amen.
Our Father, etc.
THURSDAY EVENING.
O LORD Jesus Christ, our Saviour, assured Thou delightest to see Thy creatures happy, though they know Thee not, who often think to please Thee by making themselves miserable, we acknowledge that Thou art ever beneficent. No herb, no flower, no tree, or plant, either for beauty or for use, for odour or for taste, but that hymns Thy praise in its beauty, its use, its fragrance, or its delicious taste. Thou in Thy creating love didst not merely study our necessities, but our comforts our recreations, yea and our pleasures also. O God, all bountiful all liberal, teach us to enjoy Thy blessings without abusing them.
How mercifully hast Thou dealt with us, O Lord. In Thine own person Thou didst exhibit a life of labour, and yet Thou madest it a life of doing good, as though Thou shouldest set us an example not to be slothful in business. Thy word teaches us that the doctrine of charity is the love of usefulness. If happiness consisted in doing nothing, man had never been furnished with hands; if in one continued act of oral prayer, praise, and worship, man had been endowed with such appliances only as aided in the acts of oral adoration. But the constitution of our being proves we are made to labour, that none of us liveth to himself, that to do good and to communicate is an acceptable sacrifice, and with such sacrifice Thou art well pleased. Never could we be happy in a state of idleness, nor indeed in the pursuit of one duty only. Thou hast, therefore, endowed us with a multitude of faculties and
