mindful of him ?" "Thou crownest him with glory and honour."

2. Consider the joy that was in heaven when the seed of the woman sat down on the throne of the Almighty. With what hallelujahs, with what shouts of joy did the heavenly courts resound! O how beautifully, how sweetly, and how gladly did the holy angels upon that day sing, "Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in! Who is the King of glory? It is the Lord strong and mighty: it is the Lord mighty in battle!" "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive riches, and honour and blessing." If those holy beings are capable of any increase of happiness, they were, without doubt, made more happy on that day, when the Man Christ Jesus ascended into the heavens !

3. Consider that as Jesus Christ ascended bodily into heaven, so we should ascend mentally and spiritually. We should feel that He our Treasure is there, and where our treasure is, there will our hearts be also. But how shall we ascend spiritually into heaven, except by leading a spiritual life upon earth, by cherishing holy affections, and by withdrawing our hearts from all love for the sins and follies of the world! What

saith the Scripture? "Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord, and who shall rise up in His holy place? Even he that hath clean hands and a pure heart; and hath not lift up his mind unto vanity, nor sworn to deceive his neighbour. He shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation." Resolve then, O my soul, so to live here upon earth, that thou mayest be always spiritually present with thy gracious Saviour above; mortify all thy vices, nurture carefully every holy grace, especially cherish and improve the divine gift of faith, that precious faith, which, being "the evidence of things not seen," will enable thee to penetrate the clouds, and mists, and darkness of this world, and to see those glorious realms of eternity where the Son of Man sitteth on the right hand of the Father.

GRANT, O God, I beseech Thee, that in heart and mind I may ascend into Heaven with Thy Son Jesus Christ, and ever dwell in His sacred presence, through the same our Lord. Amen.

PRAYERS TO BE USED AT THE END OF EACH MEDITATION.

I.

ALMIGHTY God, whom truly to know is everlasting life: grant us perfectly to know Thy Son Jesus Christ to be the way, the truth, and the life; that, following the steps of Thy faithful children, we may stedfastly walk in the way that leadeth to eternal life, through the same Thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

II.

GOD, who art the hope of all the ends of the earth, mercifully grant that we may obtain the fulfilment of our hope, and after this life may behold Thee in Thine eternal glory, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

III.

GOD, who art love, grant that we, loving Thee above all things, may obtain Thy heavenly promises, which exceed all that we can desire, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

And now, my friend, I leave these pages in your hands, humbly hoping that they may by God's grace be of some help to you in your Christian pilgrimage for our Lord Jesus Christ's sake.

JOHN HENRY PARKER, OXFORD AND LONDON.

WHERE WERE YOU LAST SUNDAY?

THE weather one Sunday was of a middling sort; there was no bright sunshine, but there was no rain; the roads were not dusty, but they were not wet; the wind was not soft or warm, but it was not bleak or keen. In short it was, as I said, a middling kind of day, nothing in the weather to tempt people out of doors, nothing to keep them in.

But it was Sunday, the Lord's day, the day for Church. There was this to draw people from their houses, while there were neither heavy rains, nor cutting winds, nor any thing in the weather to keep even the weakly and delicate in the house.

Mr. Clifden the rector expected therefore to see a well-filled Church, and after teaching in the Sunday School he walked gladly to the House of Prayer, longing to join with his flock in the holy and blessed task of prayer and praise. Alas! alas! the rector saw many a vacant seat