After all communion we dwell as upon islands, dotted over a great archipelago, each upon his little rock with the sea dashing between us; but the time comes when, if our hearts are set upon that great Lord whose presence makes us one, there shall be no more sea and all the isolated rocks shall be parts of a great continent . . . If we cultivate that sense of detachment from the present and of having our true affinities in the unseen, if we dwell here as strangers because our citizenship is in heaven, then death will not drag us away from our associates nor hunt us into a lonely land, but will bring us where closer bonds shall knit the "sweet societies" together, and the sheep shall couch close by one another because all gathered round the one Shepherd. Then many a tie shall be re-woven, and the solitary wanderer meet again the dear ones whom he had "loved long since and lost awhile."--_Alex. McLaren._ =February 9th.= _Therefore will the Lord wait, that He may be gracious unto you. Isa. xxx. 18._ This is God's way. In the darkest hours of the night His tread draws near across the billows. As the day of execution is breaking, the angel comes to Peter's cell. When the scaffold for Mordecai is complete, the royal sleeplessness leads to a reaction in favor of the threatened race. Ah, soul, it may have come to the worst with thee ere thou art delivered; but thou wilt be! God may keep thee waiting, but He will ever be mindful of His covenant, and will appear to fulfil His inviolable word.--_F. B. Meyer._ =February 10th.= _He loveth our nation and he hath built us a synagogue. Luke vii. 5._ Marble and granite are perishable monuments, and their inscriptions may be seldom read. _Carve your names on human hearts_; they alone are immortal!--_Theodore Cuyler._ =February 11th.= _As many as I love I . . . chasten. Rev. iii. 19._ I once saw a dark shadow resting on the bare side of a hill. Seeking its cause I saw a little cloud, bright as the light, floating in the clear blue above. Thus it is with our sorrow. It may be dark and cheerless here on earth; yet look above and you shall see it to be but a shadow of His brightness whose name is Love.--_Dean Alford._ =February 12th.= _What means these stones? Josh. iv. 21._ _Ye also as living stones. 1 Pet. ii. 5. (R. V.)_