February 12

But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for a helmet, the hope of salvation.—I THESS. v, 8.

Fainting soul, arise and sing;

Mount, but be sober on the wing;

Mount up, for Heaven is won by prayer,

Be sober, for thou art not there,

Till Death the weary spirit free;

Thy God hath said, 'Tis good for thee

To walk by faith and not by sight:

Take it on trust a little while,

Soon shalt thou read the mystery right

In the full sunshine of His smile.

JOHN KEBLE.

Our mind will wander, but the will should be kept firm. It is not a question of doing what is difficult; do the smallest and most ordinary actions with a heart set on God, as one who is seeking the sole aim of his being and you may do whatever others do, sin only excepted. You will then be a kindly, cheerful, courteous, obliging friend; cheerful at such seasons and in such company as are fitting for a real Christian. You will be sober at table and everywhere else; sober in speech, in expenditure, in judgment, in your intercourse with others, in amusement, even in holy things, according to St. Paul. The love of God teaches this universal sobriety in the use even of all that is best with a most beautiful simplicity. Those who learn it are not constrained, harsh, or scrupulous, but they have a principle of love within which expands the heart and softens it, and without restraint or anxiety fills it with a sensitive care never to offend God, and checks it when there is danger of going too far FENELON.

Sobriety is a care which does not injure pleasure.

ANDRÉ DACIER.