October 9

James iv.—1. From whence come wars and fightings among you? Come they not hence even of your lusts that war in your members?

2. Ye lust, and have not; ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain; ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.

3. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.

4. Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever, therefore, will be a friend of the world, is the enemy of God.

5. Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?

6. But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

7. Submit yourselves, therefore, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

8. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double-minded.

9. Be afflicted, and mourn and weep: let your

laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.

10. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

11. Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law; but, if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.

12. There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?

13. Go to, now, ye that say, To-day or to-morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain;

14. Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

15. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this or that.

16. But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.

17. Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

The feeling of dependence upon God for all that we enjoy would render us unworldly, humble, temperate, patient, devout, Worldliness, pride, envy, contention, all evil passions, grow from the root of selfishness. Self-consciousness, self-seeking, self-assertion,—this spirit leads us to make alliance with the world as our portion; and as we desire more of the world than we have, or can get, we become envious of others, and restive and resisting under the dispensations of God's providence. And yet all self presumption is as empty and baseless as the vapor that vanishes almost as soon as it rises. Plans, ventures, successes, life itself,—what are these but the fleeting cloud? Ah! if, in our inmost souls, we felt that the Lord's will were our only wish and aim, how serene, thankful, joyful,

would be the lives now vexed with disappointments, distracted with contentions, overwhelmed with cares and sorrow! Then our one anxiety would be to do good, our one care to avoid in. With the consciousness of this unity with the divine will and purpose, we should not only overcome the world, but should cause Satan to flee from us. The secret of true peace lies in the habit of submitting ourselves to God. He who sets out to have his own way in every thing will end in finding happiness in nothing. One must submit to circumstances, to the laws of Nature, to invisible agencies and influences beyond his control. How much better to begin with the voluntary submission of himself to the infinite wisdom, the infinite love, the infinite grace of God!

APPROPRIATE HIMNS.]

Prayer.

[Nos. 30, 41, 72.

We lift up our eyes unto the hills, whence cometh our help: our help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth. Thine angels, O Lord! have encamped round about us in the night-season, and thou hast given them charge concerning us to defend us from all evil. We open our eyes to the remembrance of thy mercy, to the consciousness of thy presence, to the sense of our dependence. Only our sins separate us from thee, our loving Father; and we beseech thee to blot these out for thy name's sake, and to receive us in Christ as thy redeemed and reconciled children.

Help us, O Lord! this day, to walk worthy of thy love, and, as obedient children, to do thy will. [May the children of this family remember thee in the days of their youth! May every one of us daily

acknowledge and serve thee!] Keep us, O Lord! we pray thee, from all evil and sin this day. In our intercourse with others may we be true and just, loving and patient, gentle and kind, and so may we commend unto all the gospel of thy grace!

May thy favor be upon the community in which we dwell, upon thy Church, upon our land! Give peace in our time, O Lord! and incline the hearts of our rulers to that which is just and lawful in thy sight. Have mercy upon the poor, the afflicted, the solitary, the bereaved; and cause that the grace of thy gospel shall go forth everywhere to heal the sins and sorrows of all mankind. Finally bring us unto thine everlasting kingdom, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.