WEDNESDAY.

Job i.- -1. There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.

2. And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters.

3. His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she-asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.

4. And his sons went and feasted in their houses, every one his day; and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them.

the edge of the sword; and I only am escap alone to tell thee.

16. While he was yet speaking, there came al another, and said, The fire of God is fallen fro heaven, and hath burned up the sheep and th servants, and consumed them; and I only am e caped alone to tell thee.

17. While he was yet speaking, there came al another, and said, The Chaldeans made out thr bands, and fell upon the camels, and have carri them away, yea, and slain the servants with t edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone tell thee.

18. While he was yet speaking, there came al another, and said, Thy sons and thy daughte 5. And it was so, when the days of their feast-were eating and drinking wine in their elde ing were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified brother's house :

them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered 19. And, behold, there came a great wind fro burnt-offerings according to the number of them the wilderness, and smote the four corners of th all; for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually.

13. And there was a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house:

14. And there came a messenger unto Job, and said, The oxen were ploughing, and the asses feeding beside them;

15. And the Sabeans fell upon them, and took them away; yea, they have slain the servants with

The Book of Job is among the oldest books in the world; | and for this reason alone it would be of great value and interest for its pictures of primitive society in Arabia, and as a repository of early thought upon nature and the problems of life. The venerable patriarch, with his vast possessions, his large family, his numerous retinue, yet living in a grand simplicity, and more honored for his virtue than his wealth; the protector of the poor, the friend of the widow and the fatherless, the judge of the city, "unto whom men gave ear, and waited, and kept silence at his counsel,”—such a picture is unsurpassed by Homer for vivid beauty. Upon the charge of Satan, that Job served God for the sake of temporal rewards, the patriarch was visited by a succession of disasters that must have uprooted any mere worldly confidence. But he bore this sudden and terrible calamity with meek and uncomplaining

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house, and it fell upon the young men, and the are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell the

20. Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, an shaved his head, and fell down upon the groun and worshipped,

21. And said, Naked came I out of my mother womb, and naked shall I return thither. The Lo gave, and the Lord hath taken away: blessed 1 the name of the Lord.

22. In all this Job sinned not, nor charged Go foolishly.

submission and devotion. Bereft of property, family, hom he was now subjected to a painful and loathsome disease whi caused men to shun him. To aggravate his trials, thr friends came, not to condole with him nor to succor him, b to accuse him of secret impiety, because he was visited wi such judgments. This led to a long discussion of the meth of God's dealings with men, in which Job vindicated the pro dence of God, and asserted his own integrity, and his faith in in mortality. But though men could not justly accuse him, y when he contemplated the majesty and glory of God in h works, and the holiness of God's character, he abhorred hi self, and repented in dust and ashes. Then the Lord reme bered him in mercy, and “ blessed the latter end of Job mo than his beginning."

Prayer.

Lord, make us to know our end, and the measure of our days, what it is, that we may know how frail we are. Verily every man, at his best state, is altogether vanity. Yet, Lord, thou wilt not cast off forever: thou dost not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men. We bless thee that thou hast spared us the punishment that we deserve for our sins; and we beseech thee, for Christ's sake, to forgive and save us.

We awake this morning to the light of thy love, to the sense of thy gracious protection, and the joy

[Nos. 26, 27, 108.

sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving. Oh! ke us this day from sin; bless us in our home, in o labors, in our studies; bless all our friends wit both temporal and spiritual good; and rememb all men in mercy. We beseech thee, O Lord! d liver us from evil; but, if calamity and sorrow sha overtake us, may we call to remembrance the p tience of thy servant Job, and, in humble fait await the end of the Lord. Perfect in us all th good pleasure; and bring us at length to the in heritance of thy saints in joy and glory everlas

THURSDAY.

Numbers xiii.-17. And Moses sent them to great; and, moreover, we saw the child spy out the land of Canaan, and said unto them, there. Get you up this way southward, and go up into the mountain;

18. And see the land, what it is, and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they be strong or weak, few or many;

19. And what the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad; and what cities they be that they dwell in, whether in tents, or in strongholds;

20. And what the land is, whether it be fat or lean; whether there be wood therein, or not. And be ye of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land. Now, the time was the time of the first ripe grapes.

23. And they came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff; and they brought of the pomegranates, and of the figs.

24. The place was called the brook Eshcol, because of the cluster of grapes which the children of Israel cut down from thence.

25. And they returned from searching of the land after forty days.

26. And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land.

27. And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us; and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it. 28. Nevertheless, the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very

Eshcol has commonly been located in the vicinity of Hebron; and one may now find clusters on the vines of that lovely valley which would corroborate the statement in verse 23. But Mr. E. H. Palmer, who, in 1870, traversed the desert of Tih very thoroughly, places Eshcol farther south, near to

29. The Amalekites dwell in the south; and the Hittites, and the Je the Amorites, dwell in the mountain Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by Jordan.

30. And Caleb stilled the people be and said, Let us go up at once, and po we are well able to overcome it.

31. But the men that went up with We be not able to go up against the they are stronger than we.

32. And they brought up an evil re land which they had searched unto t of Israel, saying, The land through whi gone to search it is a land that eateth habitants thereof; and all the people t in it are men of a great stature.

33. And there we saw the giants, Anak, which come of the giants; and our own sight as grasshoppers, and so their sight.

Numbers xiv. -1. And all the co lifted up their voice, and cried; and wept that night.

2. And all the children of Israel against Moses and against Aaron; and congregation said unto them, Would G had died in the land of Egypt! or wo had died in this wilderness!

3. And wherefore hath the Lord broug this land, to fall by the sword, that our our children should be a prey? Were it for us to return into Egypt?

4. And they said one to another, Let captain, and let us return into Egypt.

'Ain el Gadis, in which he finds the ancient doubt that region was once quite fertile; and reports "miles of hillsides and valleys covered w stone heaps, in regular swaths, along which the trained, and which still retain the name of grape

Prayer.

[Nos. 127,

APPROPRIATE HYMNS,] Almighty and everlasting God, in whom we live | ily learn to please thee, their Father and move, and have our being, we, thy needy crea- in all that they think and say and d tures, render thee our humble praises for thy these things may we all have the spir preservation of us from the beginning of our lives children!] Keep us from malice and a to this day, and especially for having delivered us envy and pride, from covetousness, w from the dangers of the past night. We thank and all sin. May we be useful in thee that we have been kept from the alarm of and in the Church of Christ! May sickness, of fire, of robbers, of sudden death, and dred and friends be prospered in th have awaked in peace to behold the day. O Lord! undertakings and desires, and all be pa we beseech thee, lift upon us the light of thy thy grace! Mercifully forgive our sins countenance, that we may begin the day in the safely through the perils of this life