WATCHFULNESS.

"Watch and pray lest ye enter into temptation. truly is ready, but the flesh is weak."-St. Mark.

The spirit

T is a foolish thing to watch the outworks and leave

the fort-royal without a guard; so it is a foolish thing to watch the outworks, the eye, the ear, the tongue, the hand, the feet (though these all must be watched), and to leave the heart, which is a Christian's fort-royal, without a guard.-Brooks.

A believer's watchfulness is somewhat like that of a soldier on guard.-Tozer.

Those that would appear themselves wise must always be watchful.-Henry.

We must never presume upon the strength of our resolutions, so neither upon the weakness of our corruptions, so as to be secure and off our guard.-Henry.

Therefore let us not sleep, as do others, but let us watch and be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith

What

and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. a blessed state to be found in by the Lord at His coming! -The Christian warrior, armed in his divine panoply, awake, and watchful at his post, looking and longing for the promised appearance of the Captain of his salvation; ready to rejoice, with exceeding great joy, when he sees his banner-flag unfolded from the battlements of heaven, and hears the blast of the archangel's trumpet herald ing hisapproach.-White.

WEALTH.

"What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? "- St. Mark.

WH

HAT is unlawfully gained cannot be comfortably used; no, nor that which is inordinately coveted. It is just that the desires that are insatiable should always be unsatisfied, and that those should never have enough who never know when they have enough.-Henry.

Riches are a burden, and they that will be rich do but load themselves with thick clay. There is a burden of care in getting them, fear in keeping them, temptations in using them, guilt in abusing them, sorrow in losing them, and a burden of account, at last, to be given up concerning them.-Henry.

Riches, honours, and pleasures, are the three great hindrances to godliness, especially to those in high stations. -Henry.

The miser's feast is his penance.-Henry.

Let us not so much solicit God for any temporal advantage, as for a heart that may fit us for it, and that He would be the chooser as well as the giver of our portion in this world; for He alone is able to suit and sanctify our condition to us and us to our condition.-South.

If we make our worldly estates serviceable to our religion, we shall find our religion very serviceable to the prosperity of our worldly affairs. We mistake if we think that giving will undo us and make us poor. No, giving for God's honour will make us rich: what we gave, we have.-Henry.

God's bounty should make us bountiful.-Henry.

A Pagan moralist hath represented the folly of an attachment to this world almost as strongly as a Christian could, express it. "Thou art a passenger," says he, "and thy ship put into harbour for a few hours. The tide and the wind serve, and the pilot calls thee to depart, and thou art amusing thyself, and gathering shells and pebbles on the shore, till they set sail without thee." So is every Christian who, being upon his voyage to a happy eternity, delays and loiters, and thinks and acts, as if he were to dwell here for ever.-Jortin.

There is nothing we can truly call our own but our sins and our graves.—Henry.

WISDOM OF GOD.

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WISDOM OF GOD.

"O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!"-St. Paul.

ME

E who cannot see the workings of a Divine wisdom in the order of the heavens, the change of the seasons, the flowing of the tides, the operations of the wind and other elements, the structure of the human body, the circulation of the blood through a variety of vessels wonderfully arranged and conducted, the instinct of beasts, their tempers and dispositions, the growth of plants, and their many effects for meat and medicine; he who cannot see all these, and many other things, as the evident contrivances of a Divine wisdom, is sottishly blind, and unworthy of the name of a man.-Jones.

A man truly wise and good should admire everything; or rather, that infiniteness of wisdom and omnipotence which shows itself in every visible object. Lord, what a beast am I, that I have suffered mine eyes to be taken up with shapes, and colours, and quantities, and have not looked deeper at Thee, with awful adorations and wonder, in every parcel of Thy great creation.-Bp. Hall.

If miracles be ceased, yet marvels will never cease. There is no creature in the world wherein we may not see enough to wonder at; for there is no worm of the earth, no spire of grass, no leaf, no twig, wherein we may not see the footsteps of a Deity.-Bp. Hall.

Glorious things may be expected from Him that is both mighty and holy; who can do everything, and will do everything well, and for the best.-Henry.

The mite has eyes, and turns aside if it meet with such objects as may be hurtful to it. Place it in anything that is black, for the help of your observation, and if, whilst it is walking, you lay but the least bit of straw in its way, you will see it alter its course immediately. And can you think that the crystalline humour, the retina, and the optic nerve, all which convey sight to this little animal, are the products of chance ?-La Bruyère.

THE WISE.

“The wise shall inherit glory: but shame shall be the promotion of fools."-Solomon.

T

HERE are but two classes of the wise-the men who

serve God because they have found Him, and the men who seek Him because they have found Him not.— Cecil.

Those have best learned the meaning of the Scripture that have learned how to apply it as a reproof to their own faults and a rule to their own practice.-Henry.