There is a very beautiful device by which the Japanese are accustomed to express their wishes for their friends. It is the figure of a drum in which the birds have built their nest. The story told of it is that once there lived a good king, so anxiously concerned for the welfare of his people that at the palace gate he set a drum, and whoever had any wrong to be redressed or any want, should beat the drum, and at once, by day or night, the king would grant the suppliant an audience and relief. But throughout the land there reigned such prosperity and contentment that none needed to appeal for anything, and the birds built their nests within it and filled it with the music of their song. Such gracious access is granted to us even by the King of Heaven, and day and night His ready hearing and His help are within the reach of all that come to Him; but of all men most blessed are they who have found on earth a blessedness in which all want is forgotten, and trust rests so assured of safety in the Father's care that prayer gives place to ceaseless praise. They _rejoice in the Lord alway_.--_Mark Guy Pearse._ =January 15th.= _They shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint.--Isa. xl. 31._ This, my soul, is the triumph of thy being--to be able to _walk_ with God! Flight belongs to the young soul; it is the _romance_ of religion. To run without weariness belongs to the _lofty_ soul; it is the _beauty_ of religion. But to walk and not faint belongs to the _perfect_ soul; it is the _power_ of religion. Canst thou walk in white through the stained thoroughfares of men? Canst thou touch the vile and polluted ones of earth and retain thy garments pure? Canst thou meet in contact with the sinful and be thyself undefiled? _Then_ thou hast surpassed the flight of the eagle!--_George Matheson._ =January 16th.= _And Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights. Ex. xxiv. 18._ The life of fellowship with God cannot be built up in a day. It begins with the habitual reference of all to Him, hour by hour, as Moses did in Egypt. But it moves on to more and longer periods of communion; and it finds its consummation and bliss in days and nights of intercession and waiting and holy intercourse.--_F. B. Meyer._ =January 17th.= _Elisha said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes that he may see. 2 Kings vi. 17._