To learn in silence is, I know,
Woman's appointed part,

To treasure up her Saviour's words,
And hide them in her heart;
To let them shed their fragrance there,
And breathe their holy calm,-
A bundle of sweet-smelling myrrh,
A precious, healing balm.
So fitted to our lips at length
That holy hymn shall be,

Which told the Virgin mother's joy,

And stedfast trust in Thee.

Hymns and Scenes of Childhood.

JANUARY.

1. Circumcision.

6. Epiphany.

25. Conversion of St. Paul.

Fobson, Levey, and Franklyn, Great New Street, Fetter Lane.

OUR LORD'S POVERTY.

DURING the season of Lent we are called upon not only to mourn for our sins, but also over the various sufferings which Christ our Lord and Saviour underwent on account of them, and of these we ought the more to think as Easter draws nearer.

We should learn to meditate on our Lord's life and death. What is meditating on Christ? It is simply this; thinking continually of Him and of His deeds and sufferings. It is to have Him before our minds as one whom we may pray to when we rise up, when we lie down, when we eat and drink, when we are at home and abroad, when we are working, or walking, or at rest, when we are alone, and again when we are in company: this is meditation.

By this our hearts will come to feel as they ought. Our hearts are hard and stony by nature, like the ground where the seed was sown, but when it sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture. And yet, if we would be saved, our hearts must be soft; and, as is said in the Bible, must be contrite, broken hearts, like ground that has been dug, and watered, and tended. Then they become as gardens, gardens of Eden, acceptable to our God,-gardens in

FEBRUARY, 1845.

which the Lord God may walk and dwell,-filled, not with briers and thorns, but with all sweet-smelling and useful plants, with heavenly trees and flowers. How is this to be done, under God's grace, but by meditating on Christ, that is, by thinking on Him? St. Peter says, speaking of our Lord to those who, like us, had never seen Him, "Whom, having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." (1 Pet. i.) Christ is gone away; He is not seen; we never saw Him; we only hear and read of Him. It is an old saying, "Out of sight, out of mind." Be sure, so it will be, so it must be, as regards our blessed Saviour, unless we make continual efforts to think of Him, His love, His teaching, His gifts, His promises. We must recall to mind what we read in the gospels and in holy books about Him; we must bring before us what we have heard in church; we must pray God to enable us to do so, and to bless the doing so.

It is only by slow degrees that thinking of what Christ did and suffered will soften our hard hearts. It is not once thinking of Christ, or twice thinking of Christ, that will do it: it is by going on quietly and steadily, that we shall gain good from so thinking of Him.

It will be like the unfolding of the leaves in spring. You do not see them grow; you cannot, by watching, detect it. But every day, as it passes, has done something for them; and you are able, perhaps, every morning to say that they are more forward than yesterday.

So is it with our souls; not, indeed, every morning, but from time to time we shall be able to see that we are getting forward in the love and service of Christ. Especially at this season_we should bear about with us the thought of our Lord as He lived on earth. Such thoughts will prepare us for seeing Him in heaven, and in the mean while will prepare us for keeping His Easter festival. Easter-day comes

but once a year; it is short, like other days. Oh, that we may make much of it, that we may make the most of it, that we may enjoy it! Oh, that it may not pass over like other days, and leave no sweetness after it to remind us of it!

Now, then, let us think over some of the things which our Lord bore for our sakes. And, chiefly, He seems to speak to the poor. He came in poverty. St. Paul says, "Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich.” (2 Cor. viii.)

Let not the poor suppose that their hardships are their own only, and that no one else ever felt them. The Most High God, God the Son, who had reigned with the Father from everlasting, He, even He, became a poor man, and suffered the hardships of the poor. What are their hardships? Such as these; that they have bad lodging, bad clothing, not enough to eat, or of a poor kind; that they have few pleasures or amusements; that they are despised; that they depend on others for their living, and have no change for the better to look forward to.

Now, how was it with Christ, the Son of the living God? Where was He born? In a stable; born, not in quiet and comfort, but amid the brute cattle. And what was His first cradle, if we may so call it? A manger. Such were the beginnings of His earthly life; nor did His condition mend as life went on. He says, on one occasion, "Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man hath not where to lay His head." (Luke ix.) He had no home. He was, when He began to preach, what now would be called with contempt a vagrant. There are persons who are obliged to sleep where they can; such, in good measure, seems to have been our blessed Lord. We hear of Martha, who was hospitable to Him, and of others; but, though little is told us, He seems, from what is told, to have lived a rougher life than any village labourer.