Shall not God search this out? for He knoweth the secrets of the heart.-Ps. xliv. 21. Search all my hidden parts; whate'er impure Such pain is followed by eternal joy. Thou'lt cleanse me from my stains of darkest hue, And in Christ's image form my soul anew. TERSTEEGEN. Impurity is another form of leprosy. Impure imaginations, unhallowed desires, these defile the soul as a loathsome disease the body, and with a far worse defilement.-F. W. P. GREENWOOD. As the eye that hath dust in it without, or thick vapors stopping the nerve within, cannot see except it be cleansed from the one and purged from the other so neither can we see God in His works, in His word, or in those manifestations of comfort and joy whereby He often reveals Himself to them that love Him, so long as there is any impurity cleaves to us. - VIN CENT. And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity. -JER. XXXiii. 8. Let your moderation be known unto all men. — PHIL. iv. 5. Moderation is the silken string running through the pearl chain of all virtues. BISHOP HALL. Happy the man whose cautious steps Still keep the golden mean; Whose life, by wisdom's rules well formed, Declares a conscience clean. NEEDHAM. Almost all error is some truth carried to excess: almost all sin is some good or useful principle suffered to be immoderate and ungovernable, or suppressed and denied its proper influence and action. Let, then, moderation be a leading trait of our virtue and piety. Nothing is more wise or more admirable in action than to be resolute, and yet calm; earnest, and yet self-possessed; decided, and yet modest; to contend for truth and right with meekness and charity; to give without pride, and to withhold without meanness; to rejoice with moderation, and to suffer with patience. - Dewey. He that believeth shall not make haste. - ISA. xxviii. 16. Whom have I in heaven but Thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire besides Thee.-Ps lxxiii. 25. In having all things and not Thee, what have I? I wish nor sea, nor land; nor would I be He that hath God hath all things, because God is all things. Take a pen and write down riches, honors, preferments, they are but as so many ciphers, they signify nothing; but write down God alone, and He will raise them to thousands, hundreds of thousands. And then it is that a Christian is truly happy when he can find himself, and all things, in his God. R. HOLDSWORTH. Thou art my portion, O Lord. - Ps. cxix. 57. Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, should follow His steps. -1 PET. ii. 21. that ye "When my pain is most intense, Let Thy cross my lesson prove; The same mind which was in Thee." I exhort you, with calmness, but earnestness, to choose and adopt Jesus Christ as your example, with the whole energy of your wills. I exhort you to resolve on following him, with the full conviction that your whole happiness is concentrated in the force and constancy of your adherence to this celestial guide. — CHANNING. We learn from our Saviour's example how truly and entirely the tenderest susceptibility to pain, and the most intense desire to be saved from it, may consist with the holiest resignation, and the firmest courage and fortitude..- GREENWOOD. Learn of me. - MATT. xi. 29. Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises; that by these ye might be partakers of the Divine nature. - 2 PET. i. 4. Great is the excellency, transcendent the comforts, that are to be found in God's promises: they are the good Christian's Magna Charta for heaven, the only assurance that he hath to claim by. They are a mine of rich treasures, a garden full of choice flowers, able to enrich the soul with all celestial contentments and to sweeten the sourest of conditions. - Joн. Fox. "I leave to Thee whate'er is mine, Thou canst and Thou wilt make me blest; Will never break His promised word." For all the promises of God in him (i.e., Jesus Christ) are yea, and in him Amen. - 2 COR. i. 20). |