learned tongue, that I should know how to uphold by word Him, that is weary. In the morning He wakeneth my ear, that I may hear Him as a master." (Is. 1. 4.)
III. The preparations necessary for receiving this guest are, 1. Frequent prayer, for the disciples in the Gospel of to-day, " besought Him to lay His hands upon them." 2. Retirement from the noise and bustle of the world, for Christ did not cure, the dumb man, until He had "taken him aside from the crowd." 3. Humility, for " wisdom openeth the mouth of the dumb, and makes the tongues of infants eloquent." (Wis. x. 21.) Be, therefore, an infant, that is, without deceit and little in your eyes, in order that you may deserve to be rendered eloquent in the praises of your Lord.
MONDAY.
John's Message to Christ— I.
I. "John heard in prison the works of Christ." (Matt, xi. 2.) Ponder the admirable courage of this precursor of the Messias. He was not afraid of publicly reprehending the impious marriage of the wicked king, but preferred chains, and prison, and death itself to the weakness of dissembling or betraying the truth. Such ought to be the character of all good Christians, particularly of apostolic men. They ought to be full of zeal for the cause of God, to be constant and firm in asserting his rights, and they ought not to know how to yield either to threats or flattery.
II. John being in prison, sent two of his disciples to ask of Christ, " Art Thou He, that art to come?" The Baptist did not himself doubt whether Christ was the
