JANUARY 27.

If heaven could be obtained without the necessity of a good life, there would be no infidels. We look upon reason as the native lamp of the soul, kindled by the Creator to conduct us in our actions. Far from declining the trial of reason, Religion appeals to it, is supported by it, and cannot continue pure without it.

Richard Bentley, born Jan. 27, 1662.

JANUARY 28.

In 1739, the Rev. George Whitefield arrived in Philadelphia. The multitudes that attended his sermons were enormous. I happened to attend one. I perceived he intended to finish with a collection (for an Orphan Home in Georgia), and I silently resolved he should get nothing from me. I had in my pocket a handful of copper money, three or four silver dollars; and five pistoles in gold. As he proceeded, I began to soften, and concluded to give the copper. Another stroke of his oratory made me ashamed of that, and determined me to give the silver; and he finished so admirably, that I emptied my pocket wholly into the collector's dish, gold and all. B. Franklin.

JANUARY 29.

From all that dwell below the skies
Let the Creator's praise arise;
Let the Redeemer's name be sung
Through every land, by every tongue.

Isaac Watts.

JANUARY 30.

The Church is good only as it is Christian. We hope there will always be enough of Christ's spirit in the society which bears his name to bring about such reforms as may be necessary to make it serve the end for which it was instituted. Should this hope be disappointed, the visible church, as we know it, will pass away, leaving the spirit of Christ room to make a new experiment under happier auspices of self-realization.

Alexander B. Bruce, born Jan. 30, 1831.

JANUARY 31.

A man's task in his life-preserver.

Economy is a high, humane office, a sacrament, when it is the prudence of simple tastes, when it is practiced for freedom, or love, or devotion. Labor is God's education. A man should have a farm or a mechanical craft for his culture. Not only health, but education is in the work.

R. W. Emerson.

FEBRUARY 1.

If we maintain our political union, exceeding all praise, as it exceeds all former political associations, we may be sure of one thing, that, while our country furnishes materials for a thousand masters of the historic art, it will afford no topic for a Gibbon. It will have no Decline and Fall. Daniel Webster.

FEBRUARY 2.

I profess to feel a strong attachment to the Constitution and institutions of the United tSates, to the honor and glory of the Government. I feel every injury inflicted upon this country almost as a personal injury. I blush for every fault which I see committed in its public councils, as if they were faults or mistakes of my own. We cannot withdraw from the commendations or the reproaches of the civilized world. They see us as that Star of empire which was predicted, making its way westward. I wish they may see it as a mild, placid, though brilliant orb, making its way athwart the heavens to the enlightening and cheering of mankind, not a meteor of fire and blood terrifying the nations. Daniel Webster.

FEBRUARY 3.

Long as thy God is God arove,
Thy brother every man below,

So long, dear Land of all my love,

Thy name shall shine, thy fame shall glow.
Sidney Lanier, born Feb. 3, 1842.

The law of our nature is that we love in reply to love. "God is Love." It is the one struggle to believe this. In spite of the clouded mystery in which God has shrouded Himself, in spite of the seeming cruelties of this life, and the gathering of thick darkness and more solemn silence round the soul as life goes on, to believe this, and hold it fast, as a man holds on to a rock with a desperate grip when the salt surf and the driving waves sweep over him,— this is the fight of the Christian life, compared with which all else is easy.

Frederick W. Robertson, born Feb. 3, 1816.

FEBRUARY 4.

Religion without morality is a superstition and a curse. The only salvation for man is in the union of the two.

If a man would strengthen his intellectual faculties, he must exercise them; if he would improve his taste, he must employ it on objects of taste; if he would improve his moral nature, he must perform acts of goodness.

Mark Hopkins, born Feb. 4, 1802.

FEBRUARY 5.

Where God is, there is his foster-child, Patience. She fortifieth faith, guideth peace, assisteth charity, instructeth humility, rules the flesh, bridles the tongue, restrains the hand, treads temptation under foot, orders the rich, consoles the poor, strains not the weak, wastes not the strong, commends the servant to his master, his master to God, adorns the woman, approves the man, is loved in the boy, praised in the young man, respected in the old, is beautiful in every sex, in every age.

Tertullian, died A. D. 230, aged 70.

FEBRUARY 6..

President Lincoln's declaration, "I have a vow registered in heaven that I will preserve,protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States," carried him and the people through the struggles, the dangers, the vicissitudes of the rebellion. That vow, this oath, this duty of the President, the people do not regard as personal to him, but an oath and duty assumed and to be performed as their representative.

William M. Evarts, born Feb. 6, 1818.