And whilst Thou shalt smile upon me,
God of wisdom, love, and might,
Foes may hate and friends disown me,—
Show Thy face, and all is bright.

Man may trouble and distress me,

"T will but drive me to Thy breast; Life with trials hard may press me, Heaven will bring me sweeter rest.

Oh! 't is not in grief to harm me,
While Thy love is left to me;
Oh! 't were not in joy to charm me,
Were that joy unmix'd with Thee!

Saint Thomas the Apostle.

THE COLLECT.

ALMIGHTY and everliving God, who for the more confirmation of the faith didst suffer Thy holy Apostle Thomas to be doubtful in Thy Son's resurrection; Grant us so perfectly, and without all doubt, to believe in Thy Son Jesus Christ, that our faith in Thy sight may never be reproved. Hear us, O Lord, through the same Jesus Christ, to whom, with Thee and the Holy Ghost, be all honour and glory, now and for evermore. Amen.

THE EPISTLE.

"Groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit."EPH. ii. 21, 22.

IF

F we be the temple of the Lord, what an additional responsibility does this lay upon us to keep ourselves pure! St. Paul reasons upon these grounds

against fornication. (1 Cor. vi.) But, with equal propriety, the argument will hold against the other works of the flesh which he enumerates (Gal. v.), and which our Lord (Mark vii.) declares to be the things which defile a man. Some of these may be greater or lesser than others; but the golden calves of Jeroboam were not the less idolatry, because Manasseh introduced Baal into the temple of the Lord. Our heart is the place wherein God has said His name shall dwell; and the collected body of the Christian brotherhood, in heaven and earth, constitutes the temple. This is a great truth, and it involves two phases: our relation first to Him who fills the temple-whose presence therein lays an additional restraint; and, secondly, our fellowship with, and relation to, the materials of which it is composed-our fellow stones, the apostles, prophets, evangelists, and all good Christians, of all ages, whom we have no more right to pollute by contact, than to offend by impurity the great Tenant who occupies it.

THE GOSPEL.

"Thomas, because thou hast seen Me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed."-JOHN xx. 29.

WE have either the same amount of evidence for

WE

the truth of our religion as the eye-witnesses of its miracles, or we have not. If we have, why should not our faith be as strong as theirs? If we have not,

and it be as strong, we have the superior comfort of the prospect of superior blessedness. A Corinthian, who was prevailed upon by "the signs of an apostle " to newness of life and obedience to the faith, was happy indeed; but a modern sinner, whom the words of the Gospel, or of an ordinary minister of the Gospel, have impressed, has the more comfortable proof of his blessedness, by how much the victory of his faith is more glorious. Lord, evermore give us this faith! "No man can call Jesus Christ Lord, but

by the Holy Ghost."

Away, my unbelieving fears!

Let fear in me no more take place:
My Saviour doth not yet appear;

He hides the brightness of His face:

But shall I therefore let Him go,
And basely to the tempter yield?
No, in the strength of Jesus, no!
I never will give up my shield.

Away, each unbelieving fear!

Let fear to cheering hope give place;

My Saviour will at length appear,

And show the brightness of His face;

Though now my prospects all be crossed,
My blooming hopes cut off I see;

Still will I in my Jesus trust,

Whose boundless love can reach to me.

In hope-believing against hope-
His promised mercy will I claim;
His gracious word shall bear me up,
To seek salvation in His name:

Soon, my dear Saviour, bring it nigh: My soul shall then outstrip the wind, On wings of love mount up on high,

And leave the world and sin behind.