{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_23241/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_23241","id":"gutenberg_23241","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/23241","summary":null,"tags":["Calendars","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Devotional exercises"],"text":"E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Anne Storer, and the Project\nGutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)\n\n\n\nTranscriber's Note:\n\n   In the \"April 15\" meditation, the author mentions reading from\n   Tennyson's \"Palace of Sin\", which doesn't appear to exist.\n   Possibly \"Vision of Sin\" was meant?\n\n\n\n\n\nDAILY MEDITATION\n\n  \"_The greatest living master of the homiletic art._\"\n                  --_British Weekly._\n\nby\n\nJ. H. JOWETT, D.D.\n\nThings That Matter Most\n    Devotional Papers. A Book of Spiritual Uplift\n    and Comfort. 12mo, cloth,                  net $1.25\n\nThe Transfigured Church\n    A Portrayal of the Possibilities Within the\n    Church. 12mo, cloth,                       net $1.25\n\nThe High Calling\n    Meditations on St. Paul's Letter to the\n     Philippians, 12mo, cloth,                 net $1.25\n\nThe Silver Lining\n    A Message of Hope and Cheer, for the\n    Troubled and Tried. 12mo, cloth,           net $1.00\n\nOur Blessed Dead\n    16mo, boards,                                net 25c\n\nThe Passion for Souls\n    Devotional Messages for Christian Workers.\n    16mo, cloth,                                 net 50c\n\nThe Folly of Unbelief\n    And Other Meditations for Quiet Moments.\n    12mo, cloth,                                 net 50c\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n_SENTENCE PRAYERS for EVERY DAY_\n================================\n\n    \"Brief, pertinent, helpful. Each prayer can be read\n    in a minute, but will give inspiration for the entire\n    day.\"\n\nThe Daily Altar\n    A Prayer for Each Day. Cloth,                net 25c\n    Leather,                                     net 35c\n\nYet Another Day\n    A Prayer for Each Day. 32mo, cloth,          net 25c\n    Leather,                                     net 35c\n    A new large type edition. Cloth,             net 75c\n    Leather,                                   net $1.00\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\nMY DAILY MEDITATION FOR THE CIRCLING YEAR\n\nby\n\nJOHN HENRY JOWETT\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNew York    Chicago\nFleming H. Revell Company\n\nCopyright, 1914, by\nFleming H. Revell Company\nNew York: 158 Fifth Avenue\nChicago: 125 N. Wabash Ave.\nToronto: 25 Richmond St., W.\nLondon: 21 Paternoster Square\nEdinburgh: 100 Princes Street\n\n\n\n\nFOREWORD\n\n\nThe title of this book sufficiently interprets its purpose. I hope it may\nlead to such practical meditation upon the Word of God as will supply\nvision to common tasks, and daily nourishment to the conscience and\nwill. And I trust that it may so engage the thoughts upon the wonders of\nmeditation, as will fortify the soul for its high calling in Jesus Christ\nour Lord.\n\n                                       J. H. JOWETT.\n\n   Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church,\n              New York.\n\n\n\n\n\nJANUARY The First\n\n_THE UNKNOWN JOURNEY_\n\n\"_He went out not knowing whither he went._\"\n     --HEBREWS xi. 6-10.\n\n\nAbram began his journey without any knowledge of his ultimate destination.\nHe obeyed a noble impulse without any discernment of its consequences. He\ntook \"one step,\" and he did not \"ask to see the distant scene.\" And that\nis faith, to do God's will here and now, quietly leaving the results to\nHim. Faith is not concerned with the entire chain; its devoted attention\nis fixed upon the immediate link. Faith is not knowledge of a moral\nprocess; it is fidelity in a moral act. Faith leaves something to the\nLord; it obeys His immediate commandment and leaves to Him direction and\ndestiny.\n\nAnd so faith is accompanied by serenity. \"He that believeth shall not make\nhaste\"--or, more literally, \"shall not get into a fuss.\" He shall not get\ninto a panic, neither fetching fears from his yesterdays nor from his\nto-morrows. Concerning his yesterdays faith says, \"Thou hast beset me\nbehind.\" Concerning his to-morrows faith says, \"Thou hast beset me\nbefore.\" Concerning his to-day faith says, \"Thou hast laid Thine hand\nupon me.\" That is enough, just to feel the pressure of the guiding hand.\n\n\n\n\nJANUARY The Second\n\n_THE LARGER OUTLOOK_\n\nGENESIS xv. 5-18.\n\n\n\"And He brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven!\" The\ntent was changed for the sky! Abraham sat moodily in his tent: God brought\nhim forth beneath the stars. And that is always the line of the Divine\nleading. He brings us forth out of our small imprisonments and He sets our\nfeet in a large place. He desires for us height and breadth of view. For\n\"as the heavens are high above the earth\" so are His thoughts higher than\nour thoughts, and His ways than our ways. He wishes us, I say, to exchange\nthe tent for the sky, and to live and move in great, spacious thoughts of\nHis purposes and will.\n\nHow is it with our love? Is it a thing of the tent or of the sky? Does it\nrange over mighty spaces seeking benedictions for a multitude? Or does it\ndwell in selfish seclusion, imprisoned in merely selfish quest? How is it\nwith our prayers? How big are they? Will a tent contain them, or do they\nmove with the scope and greatness of the heavens? Do they just contain our\nown families, or is China in them, and India, and \"the uttermost parts of\nthe earth\"? \"Look now towards the heavens!\" Such must be our outlook if we\nare the companions of God.\n\n\n\n\nJANUARY The Third\n\n_THE NEVER-FAILING SPRINGS_\n\nGENESIS xvii. 1-8.\n\n\n\"I will establish My covenant.\" The good promises of God are never\nrevoked. They are like springs which know no shrinking in times of\ndrought. Nay, in time of drought they reveal a richer fulness. The\npromises are confirmed in the hour of my need, and the greater my need the\ngreater is my bounty. And so it was that the Apostle Paul came to \"rejoice\nin his infirmities,\" for through his infirmities he discovered the riches\nof Divine grace. He brought a bigger pitcher to the fountain, and he\nalways carried it away full. \"As thy days so shall thy strength be.\"\n\nSo I need never fear that the promise of yesterday will exhaust itself\nbefore to-morrow. God's covenant goes with us like the ever-fresh waters\nof the wilderness. \"They drank of that rock which followed them, and that\nrock was Christ.\" Every fulfilment of God's promise is the pledge of one\nto come.\n\nGod has no road without its springs. If His path stretches across the\nwaste wilderness the \"fountains shall break out in the desert,\" and \"the\nwilderness shall rejoice and blossom as the rose.\"\n\n\n\n\nJANUARY The Fourth\n\n_THE GOD OF THEIR SUCCEEDING RACE_\n\nEXODUS vi. 2-8.\n\n\n\"I appeared unto Abraham.... I will be to you a God.\" The covenant made\nwith the father was renewed to the children. The father's death did not\ndisannul the promise of the Lord. Death has no power in the realms of\ngrace. His moth and his rust can never destroy the ministries of Divine\nlove. Abraham died and was laid to rest, but the river of life flowed on,\nand the bounties of the Lord never failed. The village well quenches the\nthirst of many generations: and so is it through the generations with the\nwells of grace and salvation. The villagers have not to dig a new well\nwhen the patriarch dies: \"the river of God is full of water.\"\n\nAnd thus I am privileged to share the spiritual resources of Abraham, and\nthe still richer resources of the Apostle Paul. Nothing was given to him\nthat is withheld from me. He is like a great mountaineer, and he has\nclimbed to lofty heights; but I need not be dismayed. All the strength\nthat was given to him, in which he reached those lofty places, is mine\nalso. I may share his elevation and his triumph. \"For the promise is\nunto you and your children, and to all that are afar off.\"\n\n\n\n\nJANUARY The Fifth\n\n_THE FLOWERS THAT NEVER FADE_\n\n1 PETER i. 1-9.\n\n\n\"An inheritance incorruptible.\" I am writing these words in the Island\nof Arran. To-morrow I shall leave the land behind, but I shall take the\nlandscape with me! It will be with me in the coming winter, and I shall\ngaze upon Goat Fell in the streets of New York. The land is a temporary\npossession, the landscape abides!\n\nThe praise of men often dies with the shout that proclaims it. Another\nidol appears and the feverish worship is transferred to him. The world's\ngarland begins to fade as soon as it is laid upon the brow. The morning\nafter the coronation I possess a handful of withering leaves. But the\ngarland of God's praise acquires new grace and beauty with the years. It\nis never so fresh and flourishing as just when everything else is fading\naway. It is glorious in the hour of death! The soul goes, wearing her\ngarland, into the presence of the gracious Lord who gave it.\n\nWe can begin even now to wear the flowers of Paradise. We can begin even\nnow to furnish our minds with lovely thoughts and memories. We can have\n\"the mind of Christ.\"\n\n\n\n\nJANUARY The Sixth\n\n\"_COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS_\"\n\nPSALM cv. 1-15.\n\n\n\"Count your blessings!\" Yes, but over what area shall I look for them?\nThere is my personal life. Let me search in every corner. I have found\nforget-me-nots on many a rutty road. I have found wild-roses behind a\nbarricade of nettles. Professor Miall has a lecture on \"The Botany of a\nRailway Station.\" He found something graceful and exquisite in the midst\nof its soot and grime. So I must look even in the dark patches of life,\namong my disappointments and defeats, and even there I shall find tokens\nof the Lord's presence, some flowers of His planting.\n\nAnd there is my share in the life of the nation. \"Ye seed of Abraham His\nservant, ye children of Jacob His chosen.\" There are hands that stretch\nout to me from past days, laden with bequests of privilege and freedom.\nOur feet \"stand in a large place,\" and the place was cleared by the\nfidelity and the courage of the men of old. I have countless blessings\nthat were bought with blood. The red marks of sacrifice are over all my\ndaily ways. Let me not take the inheritance and overlook the blood marks,\nand stride about as though it were nought but common ground. Mercies\nabound on every hand! \"Count your blessings!\"\n\n\n\n\nJANUARY The Seventh\n\n_A JOURNAL OF MERCIES_\n\nNEHEMIAH ix. 6-11.\n\n\n\"Thou hast performed Thy words: for Thou art righteous.\" Frances Ridley\nHavergal kept a journal of mercies. She had a record book, and she crowded\nit with her remembrances of God's goodness. She was always on the look-out\nfor tokens of the Lord's grace and bounty, and she found them everywhere.\nEverywhere she had communion with a covenant-keeping God. The Bible became\nto her more and more the history of her own life and experience. Promise\nafter promise told the story of her own triumphs. She appropriated the\ngoodness of God, and she set her own seal to the testimony that God is\ntrue.\n\nMany a complaining life would be changed into music and song by a journal\nof mercies. Many a fear can be dispersed by a ready remembrance. Memory\ncan be made the handmaid of hope. Yesterday's blessing can kindle the\ncourage of to-day. That is the purposed ministry of \"the days that have\nbeen.\" We are to harness the strength of their experiences to the tasks\nand burdens of to-day; and in the remembrance of God's providences we\nshall march through our difficulties with singing.\n\n\n\n\nJANUARY The Eighth\n\n_HE IS FAITHFUL!_\n\n1 KINGS viii. 54-61.\n\n\n\"There hath not failed one word of all His good promise.\" Supposing one\nword had failed, how then? If one golden promise had turned out to be\ncounterfeit, how then? If the ground had yielded anywhere we should\nhave been fearful and suspicious at every part of the road. If the bell\nof God's fidelity had been broken anywhere the music would have been\ndestroyed. But not one word has failed. The road has never given way in\ntime of flood. Every bell of heaven is perfectly sound, and the music is\nfull and glorious. \"God is faithful, who also will do it.\"\n\n\"God is love,\" and \"love never faileth.\" The lamp will not die out\nat the midnight. The fountain will not fail us in the wilderness. The\nconsolations will not be wanting in the hour of our distresses. Love will\nhave \"all things ready.\" \"He has promised, and shall He not do it?\" All\nthe powers of heaven are pledged to the fulfilment of the smallest word of\ngrace. We can never be deserted! \"God cannot deny Himself.\" Every word of\nHis will unburden its treasure at the appointed hour, and I shall be rich\nwith the strength of my God.\n\n\n\n\nJANUARY The Ninth\n\n_THE PERILS OF POSSESSIONS_\n\nGENESIS xiii. 1-9.\n\n\nThere is nothing more divisive than wealth. As families grow rich their\nmembers frequently become alienated. It is rarely, indeed, that love\nincreases with the increase of riches. Luxurious possessions appear to be\na forcing-bed in which the seeds of sleeping vices waken into strength.\nFor one thing, selfishness is often quickened with success. Plenty, as\nwell as penury, can \"freeze the genial currents of the soul.\" And with\nselfishness comes a whole brood of mean and petty dispositions. Envy comes\nwith it, and jealousy, and a morbid sensitiveness which readily leaps into\nstrife.\n\nSo do our possessions multiply our temptations. So does the bright day\n\"bring forth the adder.\" So do we need extra defences when \"fortune smiles\nupon us.\" But our God can make us proof against \"the fiery darts\" of\nsuccess. Abram remained unscathed in \"the garish day.\" The Lord delivered\nhim from \"the destruction that wasteth at noonday.\" His wealth increased,\nbut it was not allowed to force itself between his soul and God. In the\nmidst of all his prosperity, he dwelt in \"the secret place of the Most\nHigh,\" and he abode in \"the shadow of the Almighty.\"\n\n\n\n\nJANUARY The Tenth\n\n_THE LUST OF THE EYE_\n\nGENESIS xiii. 10-18.\n\n\nLook at Lot. He was a man of the world, sharp as a needle, having an eye\nto the main chance. He boasted to himself that he always \"took in the\nwhole situation.\" He said that what he did not know was not worth knowing.\nBut such \"knowing\" men have always very imperfect sight. Lot saw \"all the\nwell-watered plain of Jordan,\" but he overlooked the city of Sodom and its\nexceedingly wicked and sinful people. And the thing he overlooked was the\nbiggest thing in the outlook! It was to prove his undoing, and to bring\nhis presumptuous selfishness to the ground.\n\nLook at Abram. His spirit was cool and thoughtful, unheated by the\nfeverish yearning after increased possessions. He had a \"quiet eye,\" the\nfruit of his faithful communion with God. He was more intent on peace than\nplenty. He preferred fraternal fellowship to selfish increase. And so he\nchose the unselfish way, and along that way he discovered the blessing of\nGod. \"The Lord is mindful of His own. He remembereth His children.\" In the\nunselfish way we always enjoy the Divine companionship, and in that\ncompanionship we are endowed with inconceivable wealth.\n\n\n\n\nJANUARY The Eleventh\n\n_SELF-MADE OR GOD-MADE_\n\nMATTHEW vi. 26-33.\n\n\nThink of Lot and then think of a lily of the field! Think of the\nfeverishness of the one and of the serenity of the other, or think of the\nugly selfishness of the one, and of the graceful beauty of the other! Look\nupon avarice at its worst, upon a Shylock, and then gaze upon a lily of\nthe field! How alarming is the contrast! The one is self-made, guided by\nvicious impulses; the other is the handiwork of God. The one is rooted in\nself-will; the other is rooted in the power of the Divine grace. God has\nnothing to do with the one; He has everything to do with the other. So one\nbecomes \"big\" and ugly; the other grows in strength and beauty.\n\nNow the wonder is this, that we, too, may be rooted in the power from\nwhich the lily draws its grace. We may draw into our souls the wealth of\nthe Eternal, even the unsearchable riches of Christ. We may put on \"the\nbeauty of holiness.\" We may become clothed in the graces of the Spirit.\nWhen we are in the field of the lilies we may appear unto the Lord as\nkindred flowers of His own garden.\n\n\"He that abideth in Me and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit.\"\n\"Rooted in Him,\" we shall \"grow up in all things unto Him.\"\n\n\n\n\nJANUARY The Twelfth\n\n_TWO OPPOSITES_\n\n\"If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.\"\n     --1 JOHN ii. 13-17.\n\n\nNo man can love two opposites any more than he can walk in contrary\ndirections at the same time. No man can at once be mean and magnanimous,\nchivalrous and selfish. We cannot at the same moment dress appropriately\nfor the arctic regions and the tropics. And we cannot wear the habits of\nthe world and the garments of salvation. When we try to do it the result\nis a wretched and miserable compromise. I have seen a shopkeeper on the\nSabbath day put up one shutter, out of presumed respect for the Holy Lord,\nand behind the shutter continue all the business of the world! That one\nshutter is typical of all the religion that is left when a man \"loves the\nworld\" and delights in its prizes and crowns. His religion is a bit of\nidle ritual which is an offence unto God!\n\nSo I must make my choice. Shall I travel north or south? Which of the two\nopposites shall I love--God or the world? Whichever love I choose will\ndrive out and quench the other. And thus if I choose the love of God it\nwill destroy every worldly passion, and the river of my affections and\ndesires will be like \"the river of water of life, clear as crystal.\"\n\n\n\n\nJANUARY The Thirteenth\n\n_THE MIRACLE IN A DRY PLACE_\n\nPSALM cvii. 33-43.\n\n\n\"He turneth ... the dry ground into water-springs.\" This is one of the\nmiracles of grace. The good Lord makes a dry experience the fountain of\nblessing. I pass into an apparently waste place and I find riches of\nconsolation. Even in \"the valley of the shadow\" I come upon \"green\npastures\" and \"still waters.\" I find flowers in the ruts of the hardest\nroads if I am in \"the way of God's commandments.\" God's providence is the\npioneer of every faithful pilgrim. \"His blessed feet have gone before.\"\nWhat I shall need is already foreseen, and foresight with the Lord means\nforethought and provision. Every hour gives the loyal disciples surprises\nof grace.\n\nLet me therefore not fear when the path of duty turns into the wilderness.\nThe wilderness is as habitable with God as the crowded city, and in His\nfellowship my bread and water are sure. The Lord has strange manna for the\nchildren of disappointment, and He makes water to \"gush forth from the\nrock.\" Duty can lead me nowhere without Him, and His provision is abundant\nboth in \"the thirsty desert and the dewy mead.\" There will be a spring at\nthe foot of every hill, and I shall find \"lilies of peace\" in the lonely\nvalley of humiliation.\n\n\n\n\nJANUARY The Fourteenth\n\n_FORGETTING GOD_\n\nDEUTERONOMY viii. 11-20.\n\n\n\"Beware ... lest when thou hast eaten and art full ... thine heart be\nlifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God.\" I was in a little cottage\nnear Warwick. I said to the good man who lived in it, \"Can you see the\ncastle?\" and he replied, \"We can see it best in the winter when the leaves\nare off the trees. In the summer time it is apt to be hid!\" The summer\nbounty hid the castle; the winter barrenness revealed it! And so it is in\nlife. In the season of fulness we are prone to be blind to \"the house of\nmany mansions,\" and we forget the Master of the house, the Lord our God.\nOur material wealth hides our eternal treasure.\n\nWhat, then, shall we do in the days of our prosperity, when all our trees\nare in full leaf? We must pray that material things may never become\nopaque, that they may be always transparent, so that through the seen we\nmay behold the unseen. This is a gift of the Spirit, and it may be ours.\nHe will anoint our eyes with the eye-salve of grace, and everything will\nbecome to us a symbol of something better, so that even in the midst of\nmaterial plenty our hearts will be with our treasure in heaven. Everything\nwill be to us \"as it were transparent glass.\"\n\n\n\n\nJANUARY The Fifteenth\n\n_THE MINISTRY OF PRAISE_\n\nPSALM cxv.\n\n\n\"The Lord hath been mindful of us: He will bless us.\" In that joyful\nassurance there is both retrospect and prospect. There is the trodden\npathway of Providence, and there is the star of hope! The eyes are\nsteadied and refreshed in sacred memories, and then they gaze into the\nfuture with serene and happy confidence. And so the Ebenezer of the soul\nbecomes both a thanksgiving and a reconsecration.\n\nNow perhaps our hopes are thin because our praises are scanty. Perhaps our\nexpectations are clouded because our memories are dim. There is nothing so\nquickens hope as a journey among the mercies of our yesterdays. The heart\nlays aside its fears amid the accumulated blessings of our God. Worries\npass away like cloudlets in the warmth of a summer's morning. And the\nrecollections of God's goodness always make summer even in the wintriest\nday.\n\nNow I see why the New Testament is so urgent in the matter of praise.\nWithout praise many other virtues and graces cannot be born. Without\npraise they have no breath of life. Praise quickens a radiant company\nof heavenly presences, and among them is the shining spirit of hope.\n\n\n\n\nJANUARY The Sixteenth\n\n_THE DISTINCTION OF BEING RECOGNIZED_\n\nJOHN x. 1-18.\n\n\nThe Good Shepherd knows His sheep, and knows them by name. And that is\nwhat I am tempted to forget. I think of myself as one of an innumerable\nmultitude, no one of whom receives personal attention. \"My way is\noverlooked by my God.\" But here is the evangel--the Saviour would\nmiss me, even me!\n\nAt a great orchestral rehearsal, which Sir Michael Costa was conducting,\nthe man who played the piccolo stayed his fingers for a moment, thinking\nthat his trifling contribution would never be missed. At once Sir Michael\nraised his hand, and said: \"Stop! Where's the piccolo?\" He missed the\nindividual note. And my Lord needs the note of my life to make the music\nof His Kingdom, and if the note be absent He will miss it, and the\nglorious music will be broken and incomplete.\n\nThere is a common vice of self-conceit, but there is also a common vice of\nexcessive self-depreciation. \"My Lord can do nothing with me!\" Yes, my\nLord knows thee and needs thee! And by the power of His grace thou canst\naccomplish wonders!\n\n\n\n\nJANUARY The Seventeenth\n\n_SPIRITUAL DISCERNMENT_\n\n\"_My sheep hear My voice!_\"\n     --JOHN x. 19-30.\n\n\nThis is spiritual discernment. We may test our growth in grace by our\nexpertness in detecting the voice of our Lord. It is the skill of the\nsaint to catch \"the still small voice\" amid all the selfish clamours of\nthe day, and amid the far more subtle callings of the heart. It needs a\ngood ear to catch the voice of the Lord in our sorrows. I think it\nrequires a better ear to discern the voice amid our joys! The twilight\nhelps me to be serious; the noonday glare tends to make me heedless.\n\n\"_And they follow Me!_\" Discernment is succeeded by obedience. That is the\none condition of becoming a saint--to follow the immediate call of the\nLord. And it is the one condition of becoming an expert listener. Every\ntime I hear the voice, and follow, I sharpen my sense of hearing, and the\nnext time the voice will sound more clear.\n\n\"_And I give unto them eternal life._\" Yes, life is found in the ways of\na listening obedience. Every faculty and function will be vitalized when I\nfollow the Lord of life and glory. \"In Christ shall all be made alive.\"\n\nMy Saviour, graciously give me the listening ear! Give me the obedient\nheart.\n\n\n\n\nJANUARY the Eighteenth\n\n_FALSE SHEPHERDS_\n\nEZEKIEL xxxiv. 1-10.\n\n\nThis word of the Lord puts before me the unlovely lineaments of the false\nshepherds.\n\nThey are self-seeking. They \"_feed themselves_,\" but they \"_feed not\nthe flock_.\" They take up religion for what they can make out of it! It\nis a carnal ambition, not a holy service. It is used for getting, not for\ngiving, for self-glorification and not for self-sacrifice. It is\nselfishness masquerading as holiness, the thief in the garb of the\nshepherd.\n\nAnd, therefore, the false shepherds are devoid of sympathy. \"_The diseased\nhave ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick._\"\nSelfishness always tends to benumbment. Humaneness is fostered by\nsacrifice. Our sympathetic chords are kept refined by chivalrous deeds.\nDrop the deeds and all our refinements begin to coarsen, and we make no\nresponse to our brother's cries of need and pain.\n\nAnd because there is no sympathy there is no quest. \"_My sheep wandered\n... and none did seek after them._\" How can we seek them if we have never\nmissed them, if we have no sense that they are lost? Our Lord came in\ntravail of soul to \"seek that which was lost.\" And I must share His\ntravail if I would share in the search.\n\n\n\n\nJANUARY The Nineteenth\n\n_THE LOST SHEEP_\n\nEZEKIEL xxxiv. 11-19.\n\n\nAnd now, again, I am bidden to contemplate the gracious ministries of the\nGood Shepherd.\n\nThe Good Shepherd searches the \"far country\" for His lost sheep. \"_I will\nbring them ... out of all places where they have been scattered._\" He goes\ninto the hard wilderness of cold indifference, and wasteful pride, and\ndesolating sin, searching \"high and low\" for His foolish sheep. And no\nplace is unvisited by the Great Seeker! Every perilous ravine, where a\nsheep can be lost, knows the footprints of the Shepherd. And He knows my\nfar-country, and He is seeking me!\n\nAnd the Good Shepherd brings His wandering sheep back home. \"_I will bring\nthem ... to their own land._\" We return from the land of pride to the home\nof lowliness, from hard indifference to gracious sympathy, from the\nbarrenness of sin to the beauty of holiness. We come back to God's\nbeautiful \"lily-land\" of eternal light and peace.\n\nAnd what nutriment the Good Shepherd provides for the home-coming sheep!\n\"_I will feed them in a good pasture._\" Our wasted powers shall be renewed\nand strengthened by the fattening diet of grace. Love shall be both host\nand meat! \"He will satisfy thy mouth with good things.\"\n\n\n\n\nJANUARY The Twentieth\n\n_THE PASSING OF THE BEAST_\n\nEZEKIEL xxxiv. 23-31.\n\n\nWhen the Good Shepherd has charge of His flock \"_the wild beasts will\ncease out of the land_.\" All beastly passions shall be destroyed. The fair\ngardens of our souls shall no longer be ravaged by sleek pride, or fierce\nappetite, or ravenous lust. \"Thou shalt tread upon the lion and the adder,\nthe young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.\"\n\nAnd the forces of nature shall be in friendly co-operation. \"_I will cause\nthe shower to come down in his season._\" We are to have mystic allies in\nsky and field. Nature sides with the man who sides with God. Our very\ngarden becomes our helpmeet when we are cultivating the fruits of the\nSpirit. The heavens assume a friendly aspect when we are \"marching to\nbeautiful Zion.\" But when we are against the Lord all these forces appear\nto be hostile. \"The stars in their courses fought against Sisera.\"\n\nAnd we are to have a joyful assurance of the companionship of our God.\n\"_This shall they know, that I, the Lord their God, am with them._\" And\nin that precious assurance every other treasure is found! Only be sure of\nthat, and we shall walk about as kings and queens!\n\n\n\n\nJANUARY the Twenty-first\n\n_THE VALUE OF ONE SOUL_\n\nMATTHEW xviii. 7-14.\n\n\nWhat an infinite value the Lord attaches to one soul! \"And _one of them_\nbe gone astray!\" I thought He might never have missed the one! And yet the\nEastern shepherd says that out of his great flock he can miss the\nindividual face. A face is missing, as though a child were absent from the\nfamily circle. When a soul is wandering in the far country there is an\nawful gap in the Father's house! Is thy place empty? Is mine?\n\nAnd mark the pangs of the Shepherd's quest. He \"_goeth into the mountain\nand seeketh!_\" The Eastern shepherd goes out in tempest, and in rocky\nravine, or in thorny scrub that tears the hands and feet, he seeks and\nfinds his sheep. And my Lord sought me, in stony and thorny places, in the\ndarkness of Gethsemane, and in the awful desolations of The Hill.\n\nAnd the Shepherd found His sheep, and He returns across the hills singing\nthe song of the triumph of grace--\n\n    \"And up from the mountains, thunder-riven,\n      And up from the rocky steep,\n     A cry arose to the gates of heaven,\n      'Rejoice! I have found My sheep!'\n     And the angels echo around the throne,\n     'Rejoice! for the Lord brings back His own!'\"\n\n\n\n\nJANUARY The Twenty-second\n\n_MY OWN SHEPHERD_\n\nPSALM xxiii.\n\n\nHow shall we touch this lovely psalm and not bruise it? It is exquisite as\n\"a violet by a mossy stone!\" Exposition is almost an impertinence, its\ngrace is so simple and winsome.\n\nThere is the ministry of rest. \"_He maketh me to lie down in green\npastures._\" The Good Shepherd knows when my spirit needs relaxation. He\nwill not have me always \"on the stretch.\" The bow of the best violin\nsometimes requires to have its strings \"let down.\" And so my Lord gives me\nrest.\n\nAnd there is the discipline of change. \"_He leadeth me in the paths of\nrighteousness._\" Those strange roads in life, unknown roads, by which I\npass into changed circumstances and surroundings! But the discipline of\nthe change is only to bring me into new pastures, that I may gain fresh\nnutriment for my soul. \"Because they have no changes they fear not God.\"\n\nAnd there is \"_the valley of the shadow_,\" cold and bare! What matter? He\nis there! \"I will fear no evil.\" What if I see \"no pastures green\"? \"Thy\nrod and Thy staff they comfort me!\" The Lord, who is leading, will see\nafter my food. \"Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine\nenemies.\" I have a quiet feast while my foes are looking on!\n\n\n\n\nJANUARY The Twenty-third\n\n_THE GIVER'S HAND_\n\nGENESIS iv. 3-15.\n\n\nCain and Abel both brought an offering unto the Lord, but one was accepted\nand the other rejected. It is the giver who determines the worth or the\nworthlessness of the gift. God looks not at the gift, but at the hand that\nbrings it. \"Your hands are full of blood!\" \"Your hands are unclean!\" The\nLord demands \"clean hands.\" He will not have our compliments if there is\ndefilement behind them. Our courtesies are rejected if iniquity attends\nthem. The shining gloss on the linen is an offence if the dirt looks\nthrough! Who cares for food if presented by unclean hands? \"Be ye clean,\nye that bear the vessels of the Lord!\"\n\nEvery gift is welcome to the Lord if offered with clean hands. A mite, or\na cup of cold water, or our daily labour, or the first-fruits of garden or\nfield--all receive the blessing of our God if the hands that bring them\nare free from defilement. So is it with everything we offer to the Lord. A\nsong of praise makes sweet music in the hearing of our God if it come from\npure lips! Purity, as Thomas a' Kempis says, gives the wings which carry\neverything into the Father's presence.\n\n\n\n\nJANUARY The Twenty-fourth\n\n_THE VOICE OF THE DEAD_\n\nHEBREWS xi. 1-6.\n\n\nWith what voice shall we speak when we are dead? What will men hear when\nthey turn their thoughts toward us? What part of us will remain alive,\nsinging or jarring in men's remembrance? It is the biggest part of us that\nretains its voice. In some it is wealth, in others it is goodness; some\ngo on speaking in their cruelty, others in their gentleness. Cain still\nspeaks in his jealous passion. Abel speaks in his faith. Dorcas speaks in\nher \"good works and alms-deeds which she did\"; Judas Iscariot speaks in\nhis betrayal. Yes, something goes on speaking. What shall it be?\n\nBut these biggest things not only continue to speak in the ears of memory,\nthey persist as actual forces in the common life of men. Our faith is not\nburied with our bones, nor is our avarice or pride. Our characters do not\ndie when our hearts cease to beat. \"The evil that men do lives after\nthem,\" and so does the good. But deeper than our deeds, our dominant\ndispositions persist and mingle as friends or enemies in the lives of\nothers. By them we, being dead, still speak, and we speak in subtle forces\nwhich aid or hinder other pilgrims who are fighting their way to God and\nheaven.\n\n\n\n\nJANUARY The Twenty-fifth\n\n_FIRST, MY BROTHER!_\n\nMATTHEW v. 17-24.\n\n\n\"First be reconciled to thy brother.\" We are to put first things first.\nWhen we bring a gift unto the Lord He looks at the hand that brings it. If\nthe hand is defiled the gift is rejected. \"Wash you, make you clean.\"\n\"First be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.\"\n\nAll this tells us why some resplendent gifts are rejected, and why some\ncommonplace gifts are received amid heavenly song. This is why the widow's\nmite goes shining through the years. The hand that offered it was hallowed\nand purified with sacrifice. Shall we say that in that palm there was\nsomething akin to the pierced hands of the Lord? The mite had intimate\nassociations with the Cross.\n\nAnd it also tells me why so much of our public worship is offensive to our\nLord. We come to the church from a broken friendship. Some holy thing has\nbeen broken on the way. Someone's estate has been invaded, and his\ntreasure spoiled. Someone has been wronged, and God will not touch our\ngift. \"Leave there thy gift; first be reconciled to thy brother.\"\n\n\n\n\nJANUARY The Twenty-sixth\n\n_THE FIRE OF ENVY_\n\n\"_Where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work!_\"\n     --JAMES iii. 13-18.\n\n\nIn Milton's \"Comus\" we read of a certain potion which has the power to\npervert all the senses of everyone who drinks it. Nothing is apprehended\ntruly. Sight and hearing and taste are all disordered, and the victim is\nall unconscious of the confusion. The deadly draught is the minister of\ndeceptive chaos.\n\nAnd envy is like that potion when it is drunk by the spirit. It perverts\nevery moral and spiritual sense. The envious is more fatally stricken than\nthe blind. He gazes upon untruth and thinks it true. He looks upon\nconfusion and thinks it order. Envy is colour-blind. It is like jealousy,\nof which it is a blood-relation. It never sees anything in its natural\nhues. It misinterprets everything.\n\nNo one can quench the unholy fire of envy but the mighty God Himself. It\nis like a prairie fire: once kindled it is beyond our power to stamp it\nout. But God's coolness is more than a match for all our feverish heat.\nHis quenchings are transformations. He converts the perverted and changes\nenvy into goodwill. The bitter pool is made sweet. For confusion He gives\norder, for ashes He gives beauty, and in the face of an old enemy we see\nthe countenance of a friend.\n\n\n\n\nJANUARY The Twenty-seventh\n\n_THE CONFESSION OF SIN_\n\n\"_I acknowledge my transgressions; and my sin is ever before me._\"\n     --PSALM li. 1-12.\n\n\nSin that is unconfessed shuts out the energies of grace. Confession makes\nthe soul receptive of the bountiful waters of life. We open the door to\nGod as soon as we name our sin. Guilt that is penitently confessed is\nalready in the \"consuming fire\" of God's love. When I \"acknowledge my sin\"\nI begin to enter into the knowledge of \"pardon, joy, and peace.\" But if I\nhide my sin I also hide myself from \"the unsearchable riches of Christ.\"\n\"If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and\nto cleanse us from all unrighteousness.\"\n\nI must then make confession of sin in my daily exercises in the presence\nof the Lord. I am taking the way to recovered victory when I tell the Lord\nthe story of my defeat. Satan strengthens his awful chains when he can\ninduce me to keep silence concerning my sin. All his plans are thrown into\nconfusion as soon as I \"pour out my soul before the Lord.\" When I fall let\nme not add to my guilt the further sin of secrecy. Unconfessed sin breeds\nin its lurking-place and multiplies its hateful offspring. The soul that\nmakes confession is washed through and through, and the seeds of iniquity\nare driven out of my soul.\n\n\n\n\nJANUARY The Twenty-eighth\n\n_CLEAN AND UNCLEAN ANGER_\n\nEPHESIANS iv. 25-32.\n\n\n\"Let all anger be put away from you.\" And yet only a moment ago the\nApostle had written the words, \"Be ye angry and sin not.\" My power of\nanger is not to be destroyed, it is to be transformed and purified. Anger\ncan be like an unclean bonfire; it can also be like \"a sea of glass\nmingled with fire.\" There can be more smoke than light in it, more selfish\npassion than holy purpose. The fuel that feeds it may be envy, and\njealousy, and spite, and not a big desire for the good of men and the\nglory of God. Worldly anger \"is set on fire of hell\"; holy anger borrows\nflame from the altar-fires of God.\n\nOur anger reveals our character. What is the quality of our anger? What\nkindles it? Is it incited by our own wrongs or by the wrongs of another?\nIs it set on fire by self-indulgence or by a noble sympathy? Here is a\nsentence which describes the anger of the Apostle Paul: \"Who is made to\nstumble and I burn not?\" Paul's holy anger was made to burn by oppression,\nby the cruelty inflicted upon his fellow-men. His fire had nothing unclean\nin it; it was pure as the flame of oxygen.\n\nThis is the anger we must cherish. We cannot \"work ourselves up\" into it.\nWe must seek to be \"baptized with the Holy Ghost _and with fire_.\"\n\n\n\n\nJANUARY The Twenty-ninth\n\n_NOBLE REVENGE_\n\n\"_I have delivered him that without cause is mine enemy._\"\n--PSALM vii. 4.\n\n\nThat is the noblest revenge, and in those moments David had intimate\nknowledge of the spirit of his Lord. \"If thine enemy hunger, feed him!\"\n\n_Evil for good is devil-like._ To receive a favour and to return a blow!\nTo obtain the gift of language, and then to use one's speech to curse the\ngiver! To use a sacred sword is unholy warfare! All this is devil-like.\n\n_Evil for evil is beast-like._ Yes, the dog bites back when it is bitten.\nThe dog returns snarl for snarl, venom for venom. And if, when I have been\ninjured, I \"pay a man back in his own coin,\" if I \"give him as good as he\ngave,\" I am living on the plane of the beast.\n\n_Good for good is man-like._ When I requite a man's kindness by kindness!\nWhen I send presents to one who loads me with benefits! This is a true and\nmanly thing to do, and lifts us far above the beast.\n\n_Good for evil is God-like._ Yes, that lifts me into \"the heavenly places\nin Christ Jesus.\" Then I have \"the mind of Christ.\" Then do I unto others\nas my Saviour has done unto me.\n\n\n\n\nJANUARY The Thirtieth\n\n_IRRESISTIBLE ARTILLERY_\n\n\"_When I cry unto Thee, then shall mine enemies turn back._\"\n--PSALM lvi.\n\n\nBut it must be a real \"cry\"! It must not be an idle recitation which sheds\nno blood. It must be a cry like the cry of the drowning, a cry which\ncleaves the air like a bullet. Said a man to me some while ago, \"Assault\nthe heavens with cries for me!\" That is the cry which takes the kingdom by\nstorm.\n\nWhen such a cry rends the heavens, \"my enemies turn back.\" A secret and\nirresistible artillery begins to play upon them, and their strength fails.\nYes, believing prayer calls these invisible allies into the field. \"The\nmountains are full of horses and chariots of fire round about!\" And the\nenemy flies!\n\n\"_This I know._\" The psalmist is building upon experience. The miracle\nhas happened a hundred times. Many a morning has he seen the enemy\nvaingloriously tramping the field, and he has cried unto the Lord, and\nbefore nightfall there has been a perfect rout. Blessed is the man who has\nhad such heartening dealings with the Lord that he can now face a hostile\nhost in unclouded faith and assurance!\n\n\n\n\nJANUARY The Thirty-first\n\n_UNDER HIS WINGS_\n\n\"_In the shadow of Thy wings will I make my refuge._\"\n--PSALM lvii.\n\n\nCould anything be more tenderly gracious than this figure of hiding under\nthe shadow of God's wings? It speaks of bosom-warmth, and bosom-shelter,\nand bosom-rest. \"Let me to Thy bosom fly!\"\n\nAnd what strong wings they are! Under those wings I am secure even from\nthe lions. My animal passions shall not hurt me when I am \"hiding in God.\"\nThe fiercest onslaughts of the devil are powerless to break those mighty\nwings. The tenderest little chick, \"one of these little ones,\" nestling\nbehind this soft and gentle shelter, shall be perfectly secure; \"none of\nits bones shall be broken.\"\n\nI do not wonder that this sheltering psalmist begins to sing! \"_I will\nsing and give praise!_\" I have often listened to the sheltering chicks,\nhiding behind the mother's wings, and I have heard that quaint,\ncomfortable, contented sound for which our language has no name. It is a\nsound of incipient song, the musical murmur of satisfaction. \"I will sing\nunto Thee ... for Thy mercy is great.\"\n\n\n\n\nFEBRUARY The First\n\n_THE SOUL IN PRISON_\n\n\"_Bring my soul out of prison!_\"\n--PSALM cxlii.\n\n\nI too, have my prison-house, and only the Lord can deliver me.\n\nThere is _the prison-house of sin_. It is a dark and suffocating\nhole, without friendly light or morning air. And it is haunted by such\naffrighting shapes, as though my iniquities had incarnated themselves in\nugly and repulsive forms. None but the Lord can bring me out.\n\nAnd there is _the prison-house of sorrow_. My griefs sometimes wrap me\nabout like cold confining walls, which have neither windows nor doors. It\nseems as though a fluid sorrow can congeal into a cold, hard temperament,\nand hold me in its icy embrace. And none but the Lord can bring me out.\n\nAnd there is _the prison-house of death_. I must perforce pass through the\ngate of death. Shall I find it a castle of gloom, or is there another gate\nthrough which I shall emerge into the fair, sweet paradise of God? My\nMaster is Lord of the road! And He tells me that death shall not be a\ncastle of captivity, but only a thoroughfare through which I shall pass\ninto the realm of eternal day.\n\n\n\n\nFEBRUARY The Second\n\n_HOW TO APPROACH A CRISIS_\n\n\"_It shall be given you in that same hour._\"\n--MATTHEW x. 16-28.\n\n\nAnd so I am not to worry about the coming crisis! \"God never is before His\ntime, and never is behind!\" When the hour is come, I shall find that the\ngreat Host hath made \"all things ready.\"\n\nWhen the crisis comes _He will tell me how to rest_. It is a great matter\nto know just how to rest--how to be quiet when \"all without tumultuous\nseems.\" We irritate and excite our souls about the coming emergency, and\nwe approach it with worn and feverish spirits, and so mar our Master's\npurpose and work.\n\nWhen the crisis comes _He will tell me what to do_. The orders are not\ngiven until the appointed day. Why should I fume and fret and worry as to\nwhat the sealed envelope contains? \"It is enough that He knows all,\" and\nwhen the hour strikes the secrets shall be revealed.\n\nAnd when the crisis comes _He will tell me what to say_. I need not begin\nto prepare my retorts and my responses. What shall I say when death comes,\nto me or to my loved one? Never mind, He will tell thee. And what when\nsorrow or persecution comes? Never mind, He will tell thee.\n\n\n\n\nFEBRUARY The Third\n\n_TRANSFORMING THE HARD HEART_\n\n_The Lord \"turned the flint into a fountain of waters.\"_\n--PSALM cxiv.\n\n\nWhat a violent conjunction, the flint becoming the birthplace of a spring!\nAnd yet this is happening every day. Men who are as \"hard as flint,\" whose\nhearts are \"like the nether millstone,\" become springs of gentleness and\nfountains of exquisite compassion. Beautiful graces, like lovely ferns,\ngrow in the home of severities, and transform the grim, stern soul into a\ngarden of fragrant friendships. This is what Zacch\u00e6us was like when his\nflint became a fountain. It is what Matthew the publican was like when the\nLord changed his hard heart into a land of springs.\n\nNo one is \"too far gone.\" No hardness is beyond the love and pity of God.\nThe well of eternal life can gush forth even in a desert waste, and \"where\nsin abounds grace doth much more abound.\" Let us bring our hardness to the\nLord. Let us see what He can make of our flint. When we are dry and\n\"feelingless,\" and desire is dead, let us bring this Sahara to the great\nRestorer, and \"the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the rose.\"\n\n\n\n\nFEBRUARY The Fourth\n\n_SPIRITUAL BUOYANCY_\n\n\"_When thou passeth through the waters they shall not overflow thee._\"\n--ISAIAH xliii. 1-7.\n\n\nWhen Mrs. Booth, the mother of the Salvation Army, was dying, she quietly\nsaid, \"The waters are rising but I am not sinking.\" But then she had been\nsaying that all through her life. Other floods besides the waters of death\nhad gathered about her soul. Often had the floods been out and the roads\nwere deep in affliction. But she had never sunk! The good Lord made her\nbuoyant, and she rode upon the storm! This, then, is the promise of the\nLord, not that the waters of trouble shall never gather about the\nbeliever, but that he shall never be overwhelmed. He shall \"keep his head\nabove them.\" Yes, to him shall be given the grace of \"aboveness.\" He shall\nnever be under, always above! It is the precious gift of spiritual\nbuoyancy, sanctified good spirits, the power of the Christian hope. When\nwe are in Christ Jesus circumstances shall never be our master. One is our\nMaster, and \"we are more than conquerors in Him that loved us, and washed\nus from our sins in His own blood.\"\n\n\n\n\nFEBRUARY The Fifth\n\n_EVERYWHERE THE GATE OF HEAVEN_\n\n\"_Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not._\"\n--GENESIS xxviii. 10-22.\n\n\nThat is the first time for many a day that Jacob had named the name of\nGod. In all the dark story of his wicked intrigue the name of God is never\nmentioned. Jacob wanted to forget God! God would be a disturbing presence!\nBut here he encounters Him in a dream, and in the most unlikely place.\n\"And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place!\"\n\nJacob had yet to learn that there is everywhere \"a ladder set up on the\nearth and the top of it reaches to heaven.\" There was a ladder from the\nvery tent in which he wore his deceptive skin. There was a ladder from the\nsecret place where he and his mother wove their mischievous plot. There is\nno corner of earth which is cut away from the Divine vigilance. God gets\nat us everywhere.\n\nBut there is a merciful side to all this. If the ladder be everywhere, and\nGod can get at us, then also everywhere we can get at God. There are\n\"ascending angels\" who will carry our confessions, our prayers, our sighs\nand mournings, to the very heart of the eternally gracious God.\n\n\n\n\nFEBRUARY The Sixth\n\n_THE HOME-BIRD_\n\nPSALM xci. 1-12.\n\n\nI read a sentence the other day in which a very powerful modern writer\ndescribes a certain woman as \"having God on her visiting list.\" We may\nrecoil from the phrase, but it very vitally describes a very awful\ncommonplace. Countless thousands have God on their visiting lists. They\npay Him courtesy-calls, and between the calls He is forgotten. Perhaps the\ncall is paid once a week in the social function of worship. Perhaps it is\npaid more rarely, like calls between comparative strangers. How great the\ncontrast between a caller and one who dwells in the secret place! It is\nthe difference between a flirt and a \"home-bird,\" between one who flits\nabout on a score of fancies, and one who settles down in the solid\nsatisfaction of a supreme affection.\n\n\"_Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty._\" Such is the reward of\nthe \"home-bird,\" the settled friend of the Lord. The shadow of the Lord\nshall rest upon him continually. I sometimes read of our monarchs being\n\"shadowed\" by protective police. In an infinitely more real and intimate\nsense the soul that dwells in \"the secret place\" is shadowed by the\nsleepless grace and love of God.\n\n\n\n\nFEBRUARY The Seventh\n\n_LEAVING ITS MARK_\n\n\"_Fear not, thou worm Jacob, I will make thee a threshing\ninstrument with teeth._\"\n--ISAIAH xli. 8-14.\n\n\nCould any two things be in greater contrast than a worm and an instrument\nwith teeth? The worm is delicate, bruised by a stone, crushed beneath a\npassing wheel; an instrument with teeth can break and not be broken, it\ncan grave its mark upon the rock. And the mighty God can convert the one\ninto the other. He can take a man or a nation, who has all the impotence\nof the worm, and by the invigoration of His own Spirit He can endow them\nwith strength by which they will leave a noble mark upon the history of\ntheir time.\n\nAnd so the \"worm\" may take heart. The mighty God can make us stronger than\nour circumstances. We can bend them all to our good. In God's strength we\ncan make them all pay tribute to our souls. We can even take hold of a\nblack disappointment, break it open, and extract some jewel of grace. When\nGod gives us wills like iron we can drive through difficulties as the iron\nshare cuts through the toughest soil. \"I will make thee,\" saith the Lord,\n\"and shall He not do it?\"\n\n\n\n\nFEBRUARY The Eighth\n\n_REVISITING OLD ALTARS_\n\n\"_I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me\nin the day of my distress._\"\n--GENESIS xxxv. 1-7.\n\n\nIt is a blessed thing to revisit our early altars. It is good to return\nto the haunts of early vision. Places and things have their sanctifying\ninfluences, and can recall us to lost experiences. I know a man to whom\nthe scent of a white, wild rose is always a call to prayer. I know another\nto whom Grasmere is always the window of holy vision. Sometimes a\nparticular pew in a particular church can throw the heavens open, and we\nsee the Son of God. The old Sunday-school has sometimes taken an old man\nback to his childhood and back to his God. So I do not wonder that God led\nJacob back to Bethel, and that in the old place of blessing he\nreconsecrated himself to the Lord.\n\nIt is a revelation of the loving-kindness of God that we have all these\nhelps to the recovery of past experiences. Let us use them with reverence.\nAnd in our early days let us make them. Let us build altars of communion\nwhich in later life we shall love to revisit. Let us make our early home\n\"the house of God and the gate of heaven.\" Let us multiply deeds of\nservice which will make countless places fragrant for all our after\nyears.\n\n\n\n\nFEBRUARY The Ninth\n\n_THE ROCK AND THE BOWING WALL_\n\nPSALM lxii.\n\n\nHere are two symbols by which the psalmist describes the confidence of the\nrighteous. \"_He only is my rock._\" Only yesterday I had the shelter of a\ngreat rock on a storm-swept mountain side. The wind tore along the\nheights, driving the rain like hail, but in the opening of the rock our\nshelter was complete.\n\nAnd the second symbol is this: \"_He is my high place._\" The high place is\nthe home of the chamois, out of reach of the arrow. \"Flee as a bird to\nyour mountain!\" Get beyond the hunter's range! Our security is found in\nloftiness. It is our unutterable privilege to live in the heavenly places\nin Christ Jesus. Such is the confidence of the righteous.\n\nIn this psalm there is also another pair of symbols describing the\nfutility of the wicked. The wicked is \"_as a bowing wall._\" The wall is\nout of perpendicular, out of conformity with the truth of the plumb-line,\nand it will assuredly topple into ruin. So is it with the wicked: he is\nbuilding awry, and he will fall into moral disaster. He is also \"_as a\ntottering fence._\" The wind and the rain dislodge the fence, it rots at\nits foundations, and one day it lies prone upon the ground.\n\n\n\n\nFEBRUARY The Tenth\n\n_REGISTERING A VERDICT_\n\n\"_The Lord our God will we serve, and His voice will we obey._\"\n--JOSHUA xxiv. 22-28.\n\n\nHere was a definite decision. Our peril is that we spend our life in\nwavering and we never decide. We are like a jury which is always hearing\nevidence and never gives a verdict. We do much thinking, but we never make\nup our minds. We let our eyes wander over many things, but we make no\nchoice. Life has no crisis, no culmination.\n\nNow people who never decide spend their days in hoping to do so. But this\nkind of life becomes a vagrancy and not a noble and illumined crusade. We\ndrift through our days, we do not steer, and we never arrive at any rich\nand stately haven.\n\nIt is therefore vitally wise to \"make a vow unto the Lord.\" It is good to\npull our loose thinkings together and to \"gird up the loins of the mind.\"\nLet a man, at some definite place, and at some definite moment, make the\nsupreme choice of his life.\n\n\n\n\nFEBRUARY The Eleventh\n\n_THE HILL COUNTRY OF THE SOUL_\n\nPSALM cxxi.\n\n\nThere should be a hill country in every life, some great up-towering peaks\nwhich dominate the common plain. There should be an upland district, where\nsprings are born, and where rivers of inspiration have their birth. \"I\nwill lift up mine eyes unto the hills.\"\n\nThe soul that knows no hills is sure to be oppressed with the monotony of\nthe road. The inspiration to do little things comes from the presence of\nbig things. It is amazing what dull trifles we can get through when a\nradiant love is near. A noble companionship glorifies the dingiest road.\nAnd what if that Companion be God? Then, surely, \"the common round and\ndaily task\" have a light thrown upon them from \"the beauty of His\ncountenance.\"\n\nThe \"heavenlies\" are our salvation and our defence. \"His righteousness is\nlike the great mountains.\" \"The mountains bring forth peace unto His\npeople.\"\n\n\n\n\nFEBRUARY The Twelfth\n\n_THE BULB AND THE SOIL_\n\n\"_He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them,\nhe it is that loveth Me._\"\n--JOHN xiv. 15-24.\n\n\nYes, but how can I keep them? Some one sent me a bulb which requires a\ncertain kind of soil, but he also sent me the soil in which to grow it. He\nsent instructions, but he also sent power. And when I am bidden to keep a\ncommandment I feel as though I have received the bulb but not the soil!\nBut is this God's way of dealing with His people? I will read on if\nperchance I may find the gift of the soil.\n\n\"He that abideth in Me ... the same bringeth forth much fruit.\" That is\nthe gift I seek. For the keeping of His commandments the Lord provides\nHimself. I am not called upon to raise fruits out of the soil of my own\nwill, out of my own infirmity of aspiration or desire. I can rest\neverything in God! I can \"abide in Him,\" and I may have the holy energies\nof the Godhead to produce in me the fruits of a holy and obedient life.\nThe good Lord provides both the bulb and the soil.\n\nIt is the tragedy of life that we forget this, and seek to make a soil-bed\nof our own. And thus do we suffer the calamity of fruitless labour, the\nheavy drudgery of tasks beyond our strength. \"Come unto Me, all ye that\nlabour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.\"\n\n\n\n\nFEBRUARY The Thirteenth\n\n_GRUDGES_\n\n\"_Thou shalt not bear any grudge._\"\n--LEVITICUS xix. 11-18.\n\n\nHow searching is that demand upon the soul! My forgiveness of my brother\nis to be complete. No sullenness is to remain, no sulky temper which so\neasily gives birth to thunder and lightning. There is to be no painful\naloofness, no assumption of a superiority which rains contempt upon the\noffender. When I forgive, I am not to carry any powder forward on the\njourney. I am to empty out all my explosives, all my ammunition of anger\nand revenge. I am not to \"bear any grudge.\"\n\nI cannot meet this demand. It is altogether beyond me. I might utter words\nof forgiveness, but I cannot reveal a clear, bright, blue sky without a\ntouch of storm brewing anywhere. But the Lord of grace can do it for me.\nHe can change my weather. He can create a new climate. He can \"renew a\nright spirit within me,\" and in that holy atmosphere nothing shall live\nwhich seeks to poison and destroy. Grudges shall die \"like cloud-spots in\nthe dawn.\" Revenge, that awful creation of the unclean, feverish soul,\nshall give place to goodwill, the strong genial presence which makes its\nhome in the new heart.\n\n\n\n\nFEBRUARY The Fourteenth\n\n_IMPERFECT CONSECRATION_\n\nMATTHEW xix. 16-22.\n\n\nThe rich young ruler consecrated a part, but was unwilling to consecrate\nthe whole. He hallowed the inch but not the mile. He would go part of the\nway, but not to the end. And the peril is upon us all. We give ourselves\nto the Lord, but we reserve some liberties. We offer Him our house, but\nwe mark some rooms \"Private.\" And that word \"Private,\" denying the Lord\nadmission, crucifies Him afresh. He has no joy in the house so long as any\nrooms are withheld.\n\nDr. F. B. Meyer has told us how his early Christian life was marred and\nhis ministry paralyzed just because he had kept back one key from the\nbunch of keys he had given to the Lord. Every key save one! The key of one\nroom kept for personal use, and the Lord shut out. And the effects of the\nincomplete consecration were found in lack of power, lack of assurance,\nlack of joy and peace.\n\nThe \"joy of the Lord\" begins when we hand over the last key. We sit with\nChrist on His throne as soon as we have surrendered all our crowns, and\nmade Him sole and only ruler of our life and its possessions.\n\n\n\n\nFEBRUARY The Fifteenth\n\n_THE WITNESS OF YESTERDAY_\n\nPSALM lxxviii. 1-8.\n\n\nOur yesterdays are to be the teachers of our children. We are to take them\nover our road, and show them the pitfalls where we stumbled and the snares\nthat lured us away. And we are to show them how we found the springs of\ngrace, and how the Lord made Himself known to us in daily providence and\ncare. We are to relate His exploits, \"His wonderful dealings with the\nchildren of men.\" We must make our life witness of God to our children,\nand when their minds roam over our road they must see it radiant with the\ngrace and mercy of the Lord.\n\nThe best inheritance I can give my child is a steadfast witness of my\nknowledge of God. The testimony of a light that never failed may give him\nthe needful wisdom when his own way becomes troubled with clouds and\ndarkness. And what a story it is, this story of the deeds of our gracious\nGod. It is full of quickening for weary and desponding souls. It is a\nperfect reservoir of inspiration for those whose desire has failed, and in\nwhose lives the wells of impulse have become dry. Let us bring forward\nyesterday's wealth to enrich the life of to-day. \"Do ye not remember the\nmiracle of the loaves?\"\n\n\n\n\nFEBRUARY The Sixteenth\n\n_CROWDING OUT GOD_\n\n\"_Lest thou forget._\"\n--DEUTERONOMY iv. 5-13.\n\n\nThat is surely the worst affront we can put upon anybody. We may oppose a\nman and hinder him in his work, or we may directly injure him, or we may\nignore him, and treat him as nothing. Or we may forget him! Opposition,\ninjury, contempt, neglect, forgetfulness! Surely this is a descending\nscale, and the last is the worst. And yet we can forget the Lord God. We\ncan forget all His benefits. We can easily put Him out of mind. We can\nlive as though He were dead. \"My children have forgotten Me.\"\n\nWhat shall we do to escape this great disaster? \"_Take heed to thyself!_\"\nTo take heed is to be at the helm and not asleep in the cabin. It is to\nsteer and not to drift. It is to keep our eyes on the compass and our\nhands on the wheel. It is to know where we are going. We never\ndeliberately forget our Lord; we carelessly drift into it. \"Take heed.\"\n\n\"_And keep thy soul diligently._\" Gardens run to seed, and ill weeds grow\napace. The fair things are crowded out, and the weed reigns everywhere. It\nis ever so with my soul. If I neglect it, the flowers of holy desire and\ndevotion will be choked by weeds of worldliness. God will be crowded out,\nand the garden of the soul will become a wilderness of neglect and sin.\n\n\n\n\nFEBRUARY The Seventeenth\n\n_BLESSINGS AND CURSINGS_\n\n\"_He read all the words of the law, the blessings and the cursings._\"\n--JOSHUA viii. 30-35.\n\n\nWe are inclined to read only what pleases us, to hug the blessings and to\nignore the warnings. We bask in the light, we close our eyes to the\nlightning. We recount the promises, we shut our ears to the rebukes. We\nlove the passages which speak of our Master's gentleness, we turn away\nfrom those which reveal His severity. And all this is unwise, and\ntherefore unhealthy. We become spiritually soft and an\u00e6mic. We lack moral\nstamina. We are incapable of noble hatred and of holy scorn. We are\ninvertebrate, and on the evil day we are not able to stand.\n\nWe must read \"all the words of the law, the blessings and the cursings.\"\nWe must let the Lord brace us with His severities. We must gaze steadily\nupon the appalling fearfulness of sin, and upon its terrific issues. At\nall costs we must get rid of the spurious gentleness that holds compromise\nwith uncleanness, that effeminate affection which is destitute of holy\nfire. We must seek the love which burns everlastingly against all sin; we\nmust seek the gentleness which can fiercely grip a poisonous growth and\ntear it out to its last hidden root. We must seek that holy love which is\nas a \"consuming fire.\"\n\n\n\n\nFEBRUARY The Eighteenth\n\n_THE SUBTLETY OF TEMPTATION_\n\nJAMES i. 12-20.\n\n\nEvil enticements always come to us in borrowed attire. In the Boer War\nammunition was carried out in piano cases, and military advices were\ntransmitted in the skins of melons. And that is the way of the enemy of\nour souls. He makes us think we are receiving music when he is sending\nexplosives; he promises life, but his gift is laden with the seeds of\ndeath. He offers us liberty, and he hides his chains in dazzling flowers.\n\"Things are not what they seem.\"\n\nAnd so our enemy uses mirages, and will-o'-the-wisps and tinselled crowns.\nHe lights friendly fires on perilous coasts to snare us to our ruin. And\ntherefore we need clear, sure eyes. We need a refined moral sense which\ncan discriminate between the true and the false, and which can discern the\nenemy even when he comes as \"an angel of light.\" And we may have this\nwisdom from \"the God of all wisdom.\" By His grace we may be kept morally\nsensitive, and we shall know our foe even when he is a long way off.\n\n\n\n\nFEBRUARY The Ninteenth\n\n_THE THOUGHT AFAR OFF_\n\nPSALM cxxxix. 1-12.\n\n\n\"Thou knowest my thought afar off.\" That fills me with awe. I cannot find\na hiding-place where I can sin in secrecy. I cannot build an apparent\nsanctuary and conceal evil within its walls. I cannot with a sheep's skin\nhide the wolf. I cannot wrap my jealousy up in flattery and keep it\nunknown. \"Thou God seest me.\" He knows the bottom thought that creeps in\nthe basement of my being. Nothing surprises God! He sees all my sin. So am\nI filled with awe.\n\n\"Thou knowest my thought afar off.\" This fills me also with hope and joy.\nHe sees the faintest, weakest desire, aspiring after goodness. He sees the\nsmallest fire of affection burning uncertainly in my soul. He sees every\nmovement of penitence which looks toward home. He sees every little\ntriumph, and every altar I build along life's way. Nothing is overlooked.\nMy God is not like a policeman, only looking for crimes; He is the God of\ngrace, looking for graces, searching for jewels to adorn His crown. So am\nI filled with hope and joy.\n\n\n\n\nFEBRUARY The Twentieth\n\n_TAMPERING WITH THE LABEL_\n\n1 JOHN iii. 4-10.\n\n\nSin is transgression. It is the deliberate climbing of the fence. We see\nthe trespass-board, and in spite of the warning we stride into the\nforbidden field. Sin is not ignorance, it is intention. We sin when we are\nwide-awake! There are teachers abroad who would soften words like these.\nThey offer us terms which appear to lessen the harshness of our actions;\nthey give our sin an aspect of innocence. But to alter the label on the\nbottle does not change the character of the contents. Poison is poison\ngive it what name we please. \"Sin is the transgression of the law.\"\n\nLet us be on our guard against the men whose pockets are filled with\ndeceptive labels. Let us vigilantly resist all teachings which would\nchloroform the conscience. Let us prefer true terms to merely nice ones.\nLet us call sin by its right name, and let us tolerate no moral conjuring\neither with ourselves or with others. The first essential in all moral\nreformation is to call sin \"sin.\" \"If we confess our sin He is faithful\nand just to forgive us our sin.\"\n\n\n\n\nFEBRUARY The Twenty-first\n\n_GRACE REIGNS!_\n\nROMANS v. 12-21.\n\n\nWhen old Mr. Honest came to the river, and he entered the cold waters of\ndeath, the last words he was heard to utter by those who stood on the\nshore were these:--\"Grace reigns!\" All through his pilgrimage old Mr.\nHonest had been in Emmanuel's land where grace reigned night and day. It\nwas through grace that he had found the way of life. It was through grace\nthat he had been delivered from the beasts and pitfalls of the road. It\nwas grace that had given him lilies of peace, and springs of refreshment,\nand the fine air that inspired him in difficult tasks. And in death he\nstill found \"grace abounding,\" and the Lord of the changing road was also\nLord of the dark waters through which he passed into the radiant glories\nof the cloudless day.\n\nIn every yard of a faithful pilgrimage we shall find the decrees of\nsovereign love. We are never in alien country. \"Grace reigns\" in every\nhill and valley, through every green pasture and over every rugged road,\nin every moment of \"the day of life,\" and in the last sharp passage\nthrough the transient night of death.\n\n\n\n\nFEBRUARY The Twenty-second\n\n_THE THREE GARDENS_\n\nREVELATION xxii. 1-14.\n\n\nThe Bible opens with a garden. It closes with a garden. The first is the\nParadise that was lost. The last is Paradise regained. And between the two\nthere is a third garden, the garden of Gethsemane. And it is through the\nunspeakable bitterness and desolation of Gethsemane that we find again the\nglorious garden through which flows \"the river of water of life.\" Without\nGethsemane no New Jerusalem! Without its mysterious and unfathomable night\nno blessed sunrise of eternal hope! \"We were reconciled to God by the\ndeath of His Son.\"\n\nWe are always in dire peril of regarding our redemption lightly. We hold\nit cheaply. Privileges easily come to be esteemed as rights. And even\ngrace itself can lose the strength of heavenly favour and can be received\nand used as our due. \"Gethsemane can I forget?\" Yes, I can; and in the\nforgetfulness I lose the sacred awe of my redemption, and I miss the real\nglory of \"Paradise regained.\" \"Ye are not your own; ye are bought with a\nprice.\" That is the remembrance that keeps the spirit lowly, and that\nfills the heart with love for Him \"whose I am,\" and whom I ought to\nserve.\n\n\n\n\nFEBRUARY The Twenty-third\n\n_THE PROCESS AND THE END_\n\n\"_Ye have seen the end of the Lord: that the Lord\nis very pitiful, and of tender mercy._\"\n--JAMES v. 7-11.\n\n\nAnd so we are bidden to be patient. \"We must wait to the end of the Lord.\"\nThe Lord's ends are attained through very mysterious means. Sometimes the\nmeans are in contrast to the ends. He works toward the harvest through\nwinter's frost and snow. The maker of chaste and delicate porcelain\nreaches his lovely ends through an awful mortar, where the raw material of\nbone and clay is pounded into a cream. In that mortar-chamber we have no\nhint of the finished ware. But be patient, even in this chamber of\naffliction the ware is on the way to glory!\n\nAnd so it is with the ministries of our Lord. He leads us through discords\ninto harmonies, through opposition into union, through adversities into\npeace. His means of grace are processes, sometimes gentle, sometimes\nsevere; and our folly is to assume that we have reached His ends when we\nare only on the way to them. \"The end of the Lord is very pitiful, and of\ntender mercy.\" \"Be patient, therefore,\" until it shall be spoken of thee\nand me, \"And God saw that it was good.\"\n\n\n\n\nFEBRUARY The Twenty-fourth\n\n_MOVING TOWARDS DAYBREAK_\n\n\"_He hath brought me into darkness, but not into light._\"\n--LAMENTATIONS iii. 1-9.\n\n\nBut a man may be in darkness, and yet in motion toward the light. I was in\nthe darkness of the subway, and it was close and oppressive, but I was\nmoving toward the light and fragrance of the open country. I entered into\na tunnel in the Black Country in England, but the motion was continued,\nand we emerged amid fields of loveliness. And therefore the great thing to\nremember is that God's darknesses are not His goals; His tunnels are means\nto get somewhere else. Yes, His darknesses are appointed ways to His\nlight. In God's keeping we are always moving, and we are moving towards\nEmmanuel's land, where the sun shines, and the birds sing night and day.\n\nThere is no stagnancy for the God-directed soul. He is ever guiding us,\nsometimes with the delicacy of a glance, sometimes with the firmer\nministry of a grip, and He moves with us always, even through \"the valley\nof the shadow of death.\" Therefore, be patient, my soul! The darkness is\nnot thy bourn, the tunnel is not thy abiding home! He will bring thee out\ninto a large place where thou shalt know \"the liberty of the glory of the\nchildren of God.\"\n\n\n\n\nFEBRUARY The Twenty-fifth\n\n_THE FRESH EYE_\n\n\"_His compassions fail not: they are new every morning._\"\n--LAMENTATIONS iii. 22-33.\n\n\nWe have not to live on yesterday's manna; we can gather it fresh to-day.\nCompassion becomes stale when it becomes thoughtless. It is new thought\nthat keeps our pity strong. If our perception of need can remain vivid, as\nvivid as though we had never seen it before, our sympathies will never\nfail. The fresh eye insures the sensitive heart. And our God's compassions\nare so new because He never becomes accustomed to our need. He always sees\nit with an eye that is never dulled by the commonplace; He never becomes\nblind with much seeing! We can look at a thing so often that we cease to\nsee it. God always sees a thing as though He were seeing it for the first\ntime. \"Thou, God, seest me,\" and \"His compassions fail not.\"\n\nAnd if my compassions are to be like a river that never knows drought, I\nmust cultivate a freshness of sight. The horrible can lose its horrors.\nThe daily tragedy can become the daily commonplace. My neighbour's needs\ncan become as familiar as my furniture, and I may never see either the one\nor the other. And therefore must I ask the Lord for the daily gift of\ndiscerning eyes. \"Lord, that I may receive my sight.\" And with an always\nnewly-awakened interest may I reveal \"the compassions of the Lord!\"\n\n\n\n\nFEBRUARY The Twenty-sixth\n\n_THE CELLARS OF AFFLICTION_\n\nPSALM xxxiv. 9-22.\n\n\nSamuel Rutherford used to say that whenever he found himself in the\ncellars of afflictions he used to look about for the King's wine. He would\nlook for the wine-bottles of the promises and drink rich draughts of\nvitalizing grace. And surely that is the best deliverance in all\naffliction, to be made so spiritually exhilarant that we can rise above\nit. I might be taken out of affliction, and emerge a poor slave and\nweakling. I might remain in affliction, and yet be king in the seeming\nservitude, \"more than conqueror\" in Christ Jesus. It is a great thing to\nbe led through green pastures and by still waters; I think it is a greater\nthing to have a \"table prepared before me _in the presence of mine\nenemies_.\" It is good to be able to sing in the sunny noon; it is better\nstill to be able to sing \"songs in the night.\"\n\nAnd this deliverance may always be ours in Christ Jesus. The Lord may not\nsmooth out our circumstances, but we may have the regal right of peace. He\nmay not save us from the sorrows of a newly-cut grave, but we may have the\nglorious strength of the immortal hope. God will enable us to be masters\nof all our circumstances, and none shall have a deadly hold upon us.\n\n\n\n\nFEBRUARY The Twenty-seventh\n\n_THE MIGHT OF FRAILTY_\n\nPSALM cv. 23-36.\n\n\nThat is the wonder of wonders, that the Almighty God will use frail\nhumanity as the vehicles of His power, and will make Moses and Aaron shine\nwith reflected glory. Man can send an electric current into a fragile\ncarbon film and make it incandescent. He can send his voice across a\ncontinent, and make it speak on a distant shore. And the Lord God can do\nwonders compared with which these are only as the dimmest dreams. He can\nsend His holy power into human speech, and the words can wake the dead. He\ncan send His virtue into the human will, and its strength can shake the\nthrones of iniquity. He can send His love into the human heart, and the\npower of its affection can capture the bitterest foe.\n\nAnd so the word \"impossible\" becomes itself impossible when the soul of\nman is in fellowship with the Lord of Hosts. The pliant will becomes an\niron pillar. The weak heart becomes \"as a defended city\" when it is the\nhome of God. Dumb lips become the thrones of mysterious eloquence when\ntouched with divine inspiration.\n\n\n\n\nFEBRUARY The Twenty-eighth\n\n_THE TEST OF FULNESS_\n\nDEUTERONOMY viii. 1-10.\n\n\n\"And thou shalt eat and be full, and thou shalt bless the Lord thy God.\"\nFulness is surely a more searching test than want. Fulness induces sleep\nand forgetfulness. Many a man fights a good fight with Apollyon in the\nnarrow way, who lapses into sleepy indifference on the Enchanted Ground.\nMen often sit down to a full table without \"grace.\" Pain cries out to God,\nwhile boisterous health strides along in heedlessness. Yes, it is our\nfulness that constitutes our direst peril. \"This was the iniquity of\nSodom, _fulness_ of bread and abundance of idleness.\"\n\nAnd so our tests may come on the sunny day. A nation's supreme tests may\ncome in its prosperity. The sunshine may do more damage than the\nlightning. The soul may falter even in Beulah land, where \"the sun shines\nnight and day.\"\n\nPrayer must not, therefore, tarry until sickness and adversity come. We\nmust \"pray without ceasing\" in the cloudless noon, lest we are stricken\nwith \"the arrow that flieth by day.\" We must seek the eternal strength\nwhen no apparent enemy crouches at our gate, and when our easy road is\nlined with luxuriant flowers and fruit.\n\n\n\n\nFEBRUARY The Twenty-ninth\n\n_INVINCIBLE RELIANCE_\n\nHEBREWS xi. 17-22.\n\n\n\"Accounting that God was able.\" That is the faith that makes moral heroes.\nThat is the faith that prompts mighty ventures and crusades. It is faith\nin God's willingness and ability to redeem His promises. It is faith that\nif I do my part He will most assuredly do His. It is faith that He cannot\npossibly fail. It is faith that when He makes a promise the money is\nalready in the bank. It is faith that when He sends me into the wilderness\nthe secret harvest is already ripe from which He will give me \"daily\nbread.\" It is faith that \"all things are now ready,\" and in that faith I\nwill face the apparently impossible task.\n\nAnd thus the \"impossible\" leads me to the \"prepared.\" The desert leads me\nto \"fields white already.\" The hard call to sacrifice leads me to the\n\"lamb in the thicket.\" \"God is able,\" and He is never behind the time. The\ncritical need unveils His grace.\n\nFaith goes out on this invincible reliance. It is \"the assurance of things\nhoped for.\" And by faith it inherits these things and is rich and strong\nin their possession.\n\n\n\n\nMARCH The First\n\n_OVERCHARGING THE HEART_\n\nLUKE xxi. 25-36.\n\n\nHere is a great peril. Our hearts may be \"_overcharged with surfeiting,\nand drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you\nunawares_.\" Our mode of living may send our spirits to sleep. Yes, we may\nso ill-use our bodies that the watchman sleeps at his post! We can\nover-eat, and dim our moral sight. A man's daily meals have vital\nrelationship with his vision of the Lord. If I would have a clear spirit I\nmust not overburden the flesh.\n\nAnd therefore am I bidden to \"_take heed_\" to myself. I must exercise\ncommon sense, the most important of all the senses. I must put a bridle\nupon my appetite, and hold it in subjection to my Lord.\n\nAnd I must \"_watch_!\" The devil is surpassingly cunning, and, if he can,\nhe will mix an opiate even with the sacramental wine. He will lure me\namong the winsome poppies, and put me into a perilous sleep.\n\nAnd I must \"_pray_!\" I have a great and glorious Defender! Let me humbly\nyet confidently use Him, and I shall be delivered from the snares of\nappetite, and from the benumbing influence of all excess.\n\n\n\n\nMARCH The Second\n\n_THE POWER OF THE CROSS_\n\nJOHN x. 11-18.\n\n\n\"I lay down my life.\" In that supreme sacrifice all other sacrifices turn\npale. In the power of that sacrifice the blackest guilt finds forgiveness.\nIts energies seek out the ruined and desolate life with glorious offer of\nrenewal. When the Lord laid down His life the entire race found a new\nbeginning. Our hope is born at the Cross. It is there that \"the burden of\nour sin rolls away.\" In His night we find daybreak. When He said, \"It is\nfinished,\" our soul could sing, \"Life is begun.\"\n\nAnd so pilgrims gather at the Cross. Songs are heard there, the \"sweetest\never sung by mortal tongues.\" And the power of the Cross never wanes. Its\nglorious grace reaches the soul to-day as in the earliest days. It\ninspires the despairing heart. It transforms the mind. It remakes the\ntissues of the will. There is no shattered power that the power of the\nCross cannot restore. \"We are complete in Him.\"\n\n    \"In the Cross of Christ I glory,\n      Towering o'er the wrecks of time;\n    All the light of sacred story\n      Gathers round its head sublime.\"\n\n\n\n\nMARCH The Third\n\n_PREPARING FOR THE BRIDE_\n\nJOHN xiv. 1-14.\n\n\nOur Lord has prepared a place. It is the Bridegroom \"getting the house\nready\" for the bride. And, therefore, the preparations are not made\ngrudgingly and with slow reluctance. Everything is of the best, and done\nwith the swift delight of love. \"Come, for all things are now ready.\"\n\nAnd our Lord will fetch His bride to the prepared place. \"I am the way.\"\nWe become so wrapt up in Him that nothing else counts. I once travelled\nthrough the Black Country with a fascinating friend, and I never saw it!\nAnd we can become so absorbed in our glorious Bridegroom that we shall be\nalmost oblivious of adverse circumstances which may beset us. Yes, even\nthis is possible: \"He that believeth in Me shall never see death!\"\n\n\"I will receive you unto Myself.\" The last obscuring veil is to be rent,\nand we are to see Him \"face to face.\" And that will be home, for that will\nbe satisfaction and peace. The deepest hunger of the soul will be\ngratified in a glorious contentment, and we shall find that \"the half hath\nnot been told.\"\n\n\n\n\nMARCH The Fourth\n\n_THE GREAT COMPANION_\n\nJOHN xiv. 15-31.\n\n\nAnd so even the road is to have the home-feeling in it. \"_I will not leave\nyou orphans._\" Yes; there is to be something of home even in the way to\nit. I find something of Devonshire even in Dorsetshire; Shropshire gives\nme a taste of Wales. My Lord will not leave me comfortless. Heaven runs\nover, and I find its bounty before I arrive at its gate. The \"Valley of\nBaca\" becomes \"a well.\"\n\nAnd there are to be wonderful visions to speed the pilgrim's feet. \"_I\nwill manifest Myself unto him._\" At unexpected corners the glory will\nbreak! We shall be assuming that we have picked up a common traveller, and\nsuddenly we shall discover it is the Lord, for He will be made known to us\n\"in the breaking of bread.\" And at many \"risings\" of the road, where the\nclimbing is stiff and burdensome, we shall be inspired with many a\nglorious view, and we shall see \"the land that is very far off.\"\n\nThe one condition is, that I keep His word. If I am obedient, He will\nappear unto me, and the humdrum road will shine with miracles of grace.\n\n\n\n\nMARCH The Fifth\n\n_THE TENT AND THE BUILDING_\n\n2 CORINTHIANS v. 1-9.\n\n\nAt present we live in a tent--\"_the earthly house of this tabernacle._\"\nAnd often the tent is very rickety. There are rents through which the rain\nenters, and it trembles ominously in the great storm. Some tents are frail\nfrom the very beginning, half-rotten when they are put up, and they have\nno defence even against the breeze. But even the strongest tent becomes\nweather-worn and threadbare, and in the long run it \"falls in a heap!\" And\nwhat then?\n\nWe shall exchange the frail tent for the solid house! \"_If the earthly\nhouse of this tabernacle be dissolved, we have a building of God, a house\nnot made with hands, eternal in the heavens._\" When we are unclothed we\nshall find ourselves clothed with our house which is from heaven. The\nglory of this transition can only be confessed by \"the saints in light.\"\nTo awake, and discover that the creaking, breaking cords are left behind,\nthat all the leakages are over, that we are no longer exposed to the\ncutting wind, that pain is passed, and sickness, and death--this must be a\nwonder of inconceivable ecstasy!\n\nAnd \"absent from the body\" we shall be \"present with the Lord.\"\n\n\n\n\nMARCH The Sixth\n\n_HOME-LIFE IN GOD_\n\nJOHN xvii. 20-26.\n\n\nThe home-life in God is to be a life of perfect union--\"_I in them, and\nThou in Me._\" Home is only another name for union. It is the perfect\nfusion of life with life, the harmonizing of differences as many different\nnotes combine to form the mystery of choral song. And so will it be in the\nhome-land! Our manifold individualities will be retained, but we shall\n\"fit into one another,\" and in the perfect harmony we shall hear the \"new\nsong\" of heaven.\n\nAnd we are to prepare that union by the contemplation of the glory of the\nLord. \"_That they may behold My glory._\" Yes, and we can begin to do that\nnow. We can lift our eyes away from the ugly compromises of men and fix\nthem upon the radiant holiness of the Lord. We can look away from the\ndirty Alpine village and gaze upon the virgin snow of the uplifted\nheights. \"Looking unto Jesus!\"\n\nAnd in that contemplation we shall most assuredly become transformed. \"_I\nhave given unto them the glory which Thou gavest Me._\" That is our\nwonderful possibility. For thee and me is this prize offered, we can\n\"awake in His likeness.\"\n\n\n\n\nMARCH The Seventh\n\n_THINGS MISSING IN HEAVEN_\n\nREVELATION xxi. 1-7.\n\n\nWhat a number of \"conspicuous absences\" there are to be in \"the\nhome-land!\"\n\nNo more sea! John was in Patmos, and the sea rolled between him and his\nkinsmen. The sea was a minister of estrangement. But in the home-country\nevery cause of separation is to be done away, and the family life is to be\none of inconceivable intimacy. No more sea!\n\nAnd no more pain! Its work is done, and therefore the worker is put away.\nWhen the building is completed the scaffolding may be removed. When the\npatient is in good health the medicine bottles can be dispensed with. And\nso shall it be with pain and all its attendants. \"The inhabitant never\nsays: 'I am sick!'\"\n\nAnd no more death! \"The last enemy that shall be destroyed is Death.\" Yes,\nhe, too, shall drop his scythe, and his lax hand shall destroy no more for\never. Death himself shall die! And all things that have shared his work\nshall die with him. \"The former things have passed away.\" The wedding-peal\nwhich welcomes the Lamb's bride will ring the funeral knell of Death and\nall his sable company.\n\n\n\n\nMARCH The Eighth\n\n_THE CITIZENS OF THE HOME-LAND_\n\nREVELATION vii. 9-17.\n\n\nThe citizen of \"the home-land\" wears white robes. His habits are perfectly\nclean. And the purity which he wears is a Divine gift and not a human\naccomplishment. It cannot be attained by self-sacrifice; it is ours\nthrough the sacrifice of our Lord. \"They have washed their robes and made\nthem white in the blood of the Lamb.\"\n\nAnd every citizen of the home-land bears a palm in his hand. It is the\nemblem of conquest and sovereignty. By the grace of Christ they have been\nlifted above self and sin, and the devil, and death, and \"made to sit with\nHim\" on His throne. The palm is the heavenly symbol that all their\nspiritual enemies are under their feet.\n\nAnd every citizen of the home-land takes part in the new song. The\nhome-folk are therefore one in purity, one in self-conquest, and one in\npraise. \"Salvation unto our God which sitteth upon the throne!\" In that\nmelody of thankfulness their union is deepened and enriched.\n\nAnd we, too, can begin now to wear the white robe! And even now can we\ncarry the palm! And even now we can join in the song of ceaseless praise.\n\n\n\n\nMARCH The Ninth\n\n_NEARING HOME!_\n\n2 TIMOTHY iv. 1-8.\n\n\nHere is a most valiant pilgrim nearing home! By the mercy of Christ he can\nlook back upon a brave day, and there's a fine hopeful light in the\nevening sky.\n\nHe has fought well! \"_I have fought a good fight._\" And his has been a\nhard field. The enemy has ever regarded him as a leader in the army of the\nLord and against him has the fiercest fight been waged. But he has never\nlost or stained his flag.\n\nAnd he has run well! \"_I have finished my course._\" There was no\nmelancholy turning back when the feverish start had cooled. There was no\nshrinking when the biting wind of malice and persecution swept across his\ntrack. On and on he ran, with increasing speed and ardour, until he\nreached the goal.\n\nAnd well had he guarded his treasure! \"_I have kept the faith._\" He was\nthe custodian of \"unsearchable riches,\" and he watched, day and night,\nlest any infernal burglar should despoil him of his wealth. He guarded his\ngospel, his liberty, his hope, as the sentinels guard the crown jewels in\nthe Tower.\n\nAnd now the hard day is nearly over. \"Henceforth there is laid up for me a\ncrown of righteousness which the Lord will give me at that day.\"\n\n\n\n\nMARCH The Tenth\n\n_EXALTATION BY SEPARATION_\n\n2 CORINTHIANS vi. 11-18.\n\n\nWhen we turn away from the world, and leave it, we ourselves are not left\nto desolation and orphanhood. When we \"come out from among them\" the Lord\nreceives us! He is waiting for us. The new companionship is ours the\nmoment the old companionship is ended. \"I will not leave you comfortless.\"\nWhat we have lost is compensated by infinite and eternal gain. We have\nlost \"the whole world\" and gained \"the unsearchable riches of Christ.\"\n\nAnd therefore separation is exaltation. We leave the muddy pleasures of\nSodom and we \"drink of the river of His pleasures.\" We leave \"the garish\nday,\" and all the feverish life of Vanity Fair, and He maketh us \"to lie\ndown in green pastures,\" \"He leadeth us beside the still waters.\" We leave\na transient sensation, we receive the bread of eternity. We forfeit\nfireworks, we gain the stars!\n\nWhat fools we are, and blind! We prefer the scorched desert of Sodom to\nthe garden of Eden. We prefer a loud reputation to noble character. We\nprefer delirium to joy. We prefer human applause to the praise of God. We\nprefer a fading garland to the crown of life. Lord, that we may receive\nour sight!\n\n\n\n\nMARCH The Eleventh\n\n_GOOD AND BAD ROADS_\n\nPSALM i.\n\n\nThere is nothing breaks up more speedily than a badly-made road. Every\nseason is its enemy and works for its destruction. Fierce heat and\nintensest cold both strive for its undoing. And \"the way of the ungodly\"\nis an appallingly bad road. There is rottenness in its foundations, and\nthere is built into it \"wood, and hay, and stubble,\" How can it stand?\n\"The Spirit of the Lord breatheth upon it,\" and it is surely brought to\nnought. All the forces of holiness are pledged to its destruction, and\nthey shall pick it to pieces, and shall scatter its elements to the winds.\n\n\"I am the way!\" That road remains sound \"in all generations.\" Changing\ncircumstances cannot affect its stability. It is proof against every\ntempest, and against the most violent heat. It is a road in which little\nchildren can walk in happiness and in which old people can walk in peace.\nIt is firm in the day of life, and it is absolutely sure in the hour of\ndeath. It never yields! \"Thou hast set my feet upon a rock and hast\nestablished my goings.\" \"This is the way, walk ye in it.\"\n\n\n\n\nMARCH The Twelfth\n\n_THE COMING OF THE LORD_\n\nLUKE xvii. 22-32.\n\n\nIn a certain very real way the Lord is coming every moment. And the great\nart of Christian living is to be able to discern Him when He arrives. He\nmay appear as the village carpenter; or we may \"suppose Him to be one of\nthe gardeners,\" and we may mistake His appearing! He may meet us in some\nlowly duty, or in some seemingly unpleasant task. He may shine in the\ncheeriness of some triumph, or whisper to us in a message of good news. \"I\ncome again.\" And if our eyes are open we shall see Him coming continually.\nIt is by this perception that the value of our life is measured and\nweighed.\n\nBut He will also come again \"suddenly,\" when the soul will be translated\ninto unknown climes. He will come again in the sable robes of death. Shall\nwe know Him? Will our eyes be so keen and true that we shall be able to\npierce the dark veil and say \"It is the Lord!\" This has been the joyful\nexperience of countless multitudes. When the summons came their souls went\nforth, not as victims to encounter death, but as the bride \"to meet the\nbridegroom!\" They had intimacy with Him in life; they had glorious\nfellowship with Him in death!\n\n\n\n\nMARCH The Thirteenth\n\n_SICKNESS AMONG CHRIST'S FRIENDS_\n\nJOHN xi. 1-16.\n\n\nAnd so sickness can enter the circle of the friends of the Lord. \"_He whom\nThou lovest is sick._\" My sicknesses do not mean that I have lost His\nfavour. The shadow is His, as well as the sunshine. When He removes me\nfrom the glare of boisterous health it may be because of some spiritual\nfern which needs the ministry of the shade. \"_This sickness is ... for the\nglory of God._\" Something beautiful will spring out of the shadowed\nseclusion, something which shall spread abroad the name and fame of God.\n\nAnd, therefore, I do not wonder at the Lord's delay. He did not hasten\naway to the sick friend: \"_He abode two days still in the same place where\nHe was._\" Shall I put it like this: the awaking bulbs were not yet ready\nfor the brighter light--just a little more shade! We are impatient to get\nhealthy; the Lord desires that we become holy. Our physical sickness is\ncontinued in order that we may put on spiritual strength.\n\nAnd there are others besides sick Lazarus concerned in the sickness: \"I am\nglad _for your sakes_ I was not there.\" The disciples were included in the\ndivine scheme. Their spiritual welfare was to be affected by it. Let me\never remember that the circle affected by sickness is always wider than\nthe patient's bed. And may God be glorified in all!\n\n\n\n\nMARCH The Fourteenth\n\n\"_EVEN NOW!_\"\n\nJOHN xi. 17-31.\n\n\nLet me consider this marvellous confession of Martha's faith. \"I know that\n_even now_, whatsoever Thou wilt ask of God, God will give it Thee!\" Mark\nthe \"even now\"! Lazarus was dead, and it was midnight in the desolate\nhome. But \"even now\"! Beautiful it is when a soul's most awful crises are\nthe seasons of its most radiant faith! Beautiful it is when our lamp\nshines steadily in the tempest, and when our spiritual confidence remains\nunshaken like a gloriously rooted tree. Beautiful it is when in our\nmidnight men can hear the strains of the \"even now\"!\n\nAnd let me consider the wonder of the Divine response. \"_I am the\nresurrection and the life._\" A faith like Martha's will always win the\nSaviour's best. And here is an overwhelming best before which we can only\nbow in silent homage and awe. He is the Fountain in whom the stagnant\nbrook shall find currency again. He is the Life in whom the fallen dead\nshall rise to their feet again.\n\nAnd what is this? \"Whosoever liveth and believeth in Me _shall never\ndie_!\" We shall go to sleep, but we shall never taste the bitterness of\ndeath. In the very act of closing our material eyes we shall open our\nspiritual eyes, and find ourselves at home!\n\n\n\n\nMARCH The Fifteenth\n\n_JESUS AT A GRAVE_\n\nJOHN xi. 32-45.\n\n\nHere is Jesus weeping. \"Jesus wept.\" Why did He weep? Perhaps He wept out\nof sheer sympathy with the tears of others. And perhaps, too, He wept\nbecause some of our tears were needless. If we were better men we should\nknow more of the love and purpose of our Lord, and perhaps many of our\ntears would be dried. Still, here is the sweet and heartening evangel. He\nsympathizes with my grief! Never a bitter tear is shed without my Lord\nsharing the tang and the pang.\n\nHere is Jesus praying! \"Father, I thank Thee that Thou hast heard Me.\"\nThen it is not so much a prayer as a thanksgiving. He gives thanks for\nwhat He is \"about to receive.\" Is this my way? Perhaps I do it before I\ntake a meal. Do I do it before I begin to live the day? In the morning do\nI thank my God for what I am about to receive? Can I confidently give\nthanks before I receive the gifts of God, before the dish-covers are\nremoved? Can I trust Him?\n\nAnd here is Jesus commanding, clothed in sovereign power: \"Lazarus, come\nforth!\" That is the same voice which \"in the beginning created the heavens\nand the earth.\"\n\n\n\n\nMARCH The Sixteenth\n\n_THE NEMESIS OF BIGOTRY_\n\nJOHN xi. 46-57.\n\n\nA fearful nemesis waits upon the spirit of bigotry. Oliver Wendell Holmes\nhas said that bigotry is like the pupil of the eye, the more light you\npour into it the more it contracts. The scribes and Pharisees became\nsmaller men the more the Lord revealed His glory. In the raising of\nLazarus they saw nothing of the glory of the resurrection life, nothing of\nthe joy of the reunited family, nothing of the gracious ministry of the\nLord! \"Darkness had blinded their eyes.\"\n\nAnd it is also the nemesis of bigotry to be bitter, cruel, and violent.\nThey sought to kill the Giver of life!\n\nIt is the ministry of light to ripen and sweeten the dispositions. \"The\nfruit of the light is in all goodness.\" It is the ministry of the darkness\nto make men sour and unsympathetic, and revengeful, and to so pervert the\nheart as to make it a minister of poison and death.\n\nAnd yet, how powerless is bigotry in the long run! It can no more stay the\nprogress of the Kingdom than King Canute could check the flowing tide!\nBigotry slew the Lord, and He rose again! And so it ever is. \"Truth\ncrushed to earth shall rise again; the eternal years of God are hers.\"\n\n\n\n\nMARCH The Seventeenth\n\n_THE COMMONPLACE OF DEATH_\n\nLUKE vii. 11-18.\n\n\nDeath is never a commonplace. We never become so accustomed to funerals as\nnot to see them. Everybody sees the mournful procession go along the\nstreet. A momentary awe steals over the flippant thought, and for one\nbrief season the superficial opens into the infinite abyss.\n\nAnd yet, while a thousand are arrested, only a few are compassionate.\nThere can be awe without pity; there can be interest without service. When\nthis humble funeral train trudged out of the city of Nain our Lord halted,\nand His heart melted! There was an \"aching void,\" and He longed to fill\nit. There was a bleeding, broken heart, and He yearned to stand and heal\nit. He found His own joy in removing another's tears, His own satisfaction\nin another's peace.\n\n\"_The Lord hath visited His people!_\" That is what the people said, and I\ndo not wonder at the saying! And let me, too, be a humble visitor in the\ntroubled ways of men! Let my heart be a well of sweet compassion to all\nthe sons and daughters of grief! Like Barnabas, let me be \"a son of\nconsolation.\"\n\n\n\n\nMARCH The Eighteenth\n\n_SERENITY IN THE TEMPEST_\n\nJOB xix. 23-27.\n\n\nPerhaps I am akin to Job in having experienced the pressure of calamity. I\nhave felt the shock of adverse circumstances, and the house of my life has\ntrembled in the convulsion. Or death has been to my door and has returned\nagain and again, and every time he has left me weeping! All God's billows\nhave gone over me! Verily, I can take my place by the patriarch Job.\n\nBut can I share his witness, \"_I know that my Redeemer liveth_\"? Have I a\ncalm assurance that my ruler is not caprice, and that my comings and\ngoings are not determined by unfeeling chance? When death knocked at my\ndoor, did I know that the King had sent him? When some cherished scheme\ntoppled into ruin, had I any thought that the Lord's hand was concerned in\nthe shaking? Even when my circumstances are dubious, and I cannot trace a\ngracious purpose, do I know that my Vindicator liveth, and that some day\nHe will justify all the happenings of the troubled road?\n\nI will pay for this gracious confidence. I would have a firm step even\namong disappointments; yea, I would \"sing songs in the night!\"\n\n\n\n\nMARCH The Nineteenth\n\n_DEATH AS MY SERVANT_\n\nREVELATION xx. 1-6.\n\n\nEven now I would rise from the dead. Even now I would know \"the power of\nHis resurrection.\" Even now I would taste the rapture of the deathless\nlife. And this is my glorious prerogative in grace. Yes, even now I can be\n\"risen with Christ,\" and \"death shall no more have dominion over me!\"\n\nAnd yet I must die! Yes, but the old enemy shall now be my friend. He will\nnot be my master, but my servant. He shall just be the porter, to open the\ndoor into my Father's house, into the home of unspeakable blessedness and\nglory. Death shall not hurt me!\n\nI have seen a little child fall asleep while out in the streets of the\ncity, and the kind nurse has taken charge of the sleeper, and when the\nlittle one awaked she was at home, and she opened her eyes upon her\nmother's face.\n\nSo shall it be with all who are alive in Christ, and who have risen from a\nspiritual grave. They shall just fall into a brief sweet sleep, and gentle\ndeath shall usher them into the glory of the endless day.\n\n\n\n\nMARCH The Twentieth\n\n_THE LORD IS AT HAND!_\n\n\"_Ye know not what hour your Lord doth come._\"\n--MATTHEW xxiv. 42-51.\n\n\nThen let me always live as though my Lord were at the gate! Let me arrange\nmy affairs on the assumption that the next to lift the latch will be the\nKing. When I am out with my friend, walking and talking, let me assume\nthat just round the corner I may meet the Lord.\n\nAnd so let me practise meeting Him! Said a mother to me one day concerning\nher long-absent boy: \"I lay a place for him at every meal! His seat is\nalways ready!\" May I not do this for my Lord? May I not make a place for\nHim in all my affairs--my choices, my pleasures, my times of business, my\nseason of rest? He may come just now; let His place be ready!\n\nIf He delay, I must not become careless. If He give me further liberty, I\nmust not take liberties with it. Here is the golden principle, ever to\nlive, ever to think, ever to work as though the Lord had already arrived.\nFor indeed, He has, and when the veil is rent I shall find Him at my\nside.\n\n\n\n\nMARCH The Twenty-first\n\n_IN THE GOLDEN CITY_\n\nISAIAH lii. 1-12.\n\n\nAnd so these are the glories of the golden city. There is _wakefulness_.\n\"Awake! awake!\" In the golden city none will be asleep. Everybody will be\nbright-eyed, clear-minded, looking upon all beautiful things with fresh\nand ready receptiveness. \"The eyes of them that see shall not be dim.\"\n\nThere is _strength_. \"Put on thy strength!\" There will be no broken wills\nin the golden city, and no broken hearts. No one will walk with a limp!\nEverybody will go with a brave stride as to the strains of a band. And no\none will tire of living, and the inhabitant never says, \"I am sick.\"\n\nAnd there is _beauty_. \"Put on thy beautiful garments.\" Bare strength\nmight not be attractive. But strength clothed in beauty is a very gracious\nthing. The tender mosses on the granite make it winsome. Strength is\ncompanionable when it is united with grace. In the golden city there will\nbe tender sentiment as well as rigid conviction.\n\nAnd these glories will be our defence. A positive virtue is our best\nrampart against vice. A robust health is the best protection against the\nepidemic. \"The prince of this world cometh, and he hath nothing in me.\"\n\n\n\n\nMARCH The Twenty-second\n\n_COUNSEL AND MIGHT_\n\nPSALM cxix. 33-40.\n\n\nThe psalmist prays for an _illumined understanding_. \"Teach me, O Lord,\nthe way of Thy statutes.\" We are so prone to be children of the twilight,\nand to see things out of their true proportions. Therefore do we need to\nbe daily taught. I must go into the school of the Lord, and in docility of\nspirit I must sit at His feet. \"O, teach me, Lord, teach even me!\"\n\nAnd the psalmist prays for _rectified inclinations_. \"Incline my heart\nunto Thy testimonies.\" We so often have the wrong bias, the fatal taste,\nand our desires are all against the will of the Lord. If only my leanings\nwere toward the Lord how swift my progress would be! I strive to walk\nafter holiness, while my inclinations are in the realm of sin. And so I\nneed a clean mouth, with an appetite for the beautiful and the true.\n\"Blessed are they that hunger after righteousness.\"\n\nAnd the psalmist prays for _a strenuous will_. \"Make me to go in the path\nof Thy commandments.\" He is praying for \"go,\" for moral persistence, for\npower to crash through all obstacles which may impede his heavenly\nprogress. And such is my need. Good Lord, endow me with a will like \"an\niron pillar,\" and help me to \"stand in the evil day.\"\n\n\n\n\nMARCH The Twenty-third\n\n_THE DARK BETRAYAL_\n\nJOHN xviii. 1-14.\n\n\nOur Master was betrayed by a disciple, \"one of the twelve.\" The blow came\nfrom one of \"His own household.\" The world employed a \"friend\" to execute\nits dark design. And so our intimacy with Christ may be our peril; our\nvery association may be made our temptation. The devil would rather gain\n_one_ belonging to the inner circle than a thousand who stand confessed as\nthe friends of the world. What am I doing in the kingdom? Can I be\ntrusted? Or am I in the pay of the evil one?\n\nAnd our Master was betrayed in the garden of prayer. In the most hallowed\nplace the betrayer gave the most unholy kiss. He brought his defilement\ninto the most awe-inspiring sanctuary the world has ever known. And so may\nit be with me. I can kindle the unclean fire in the church. I can stab my\nLord when I am on my knees. While I am in apparent devotion I can be in\nleague with the powers of darkness.\n\nAnd this \"dark betrayal\" was for money! The Lord of Glory was bartered for\nthirty pieces of silver! And the difference between Judas and many men is\nthat they often sell their Lord for less! From the power of Mammon, and\nfrom the blindness which falls upon his victims, good Lord, deliver me!\n\n\n\n\nMARCH The Twenty-fourth\n\n_IN GETHSEMANE_\n\nLUKE xxii. 39-46.\n\n\nSurely this is the very Holy of Holies! It were well for us to fall on our\nknees and \"be silent unto the Lord.\" I would quietly listen to the awful\nwords, \"Remove this cup from Me!\" and I would listen again and again until\nnever again do I hold a cheap religion. It is in this garden that we learn\nthe real values of things, and come to know the price at which our\nredemption was bought. No one can remain in Gethsemane and retain a\nfrivolous and flippant spirit.\n\n\"_And there appeared unto Him an angel from heaven, strengthening Him._\" I\nknow that angel! He has been to me. He has brought me angel's food, even\nheavenly manna. Always and everywhere, when my soul has surrendered itself\nto the Divine will, the angel comes, and my soul is refreshed. The laying\ndown of self is the taking up of God. When I lose my will I gain the\nInfinite. The moment of surrender is also the moment of conquest. When I\nconsecrate my weakness I put on strength and majesty like a robe.\n\n\"_And when He rose up from His prayer_\"--what then? Just this, He was\nquietly ready for anything, ready for the betraying kiss, ready for\ncrucifixion. \"Arise, let us be going.\"\n\n\n\n\nMARCH The Twenty-fifth\n\n_THE FEAR OF MAN_\n\nJOHN xviii. 15-27.\n\n\nAnd this is the disciple who had been surnamed \"The Rock\"! Our Lord looked\ninto the morrow, and He saw Simon's character, compacted by grace and\ndiscipline into a texture tough and firm as granite. But there is not much\ngranite here! Peter is yet loose and yielding; more like a bending reed\nthan an unshakable rock. A servant girl whispers, and his timid heart\nflings a lie to his lips and he denies his Lord.\n\nPeter denied the Master, not because he coveted money, but because he\nfeared men. He was not seeking crowns, but escaping frowns. He was not\nclutching at a garland, but avoiding a sword. It was not avarice but\ncowardice which determined his ways. He shrank from crucifixion! He saw a\npossible cross, and with a great lie he passed by on the other side.\n\nBut the Lord has not done with Peter. He is still \"in the making.\" Some\nday he will justify his new name. Some day we shall find it written: \"When\nthey saw the boldness of Peter, they marvelled\"! Once a maid could make\nhim tremble. Now he can stand in high places, \"steadfast and unmovable\"!\n\nFrom the spirit of cowardice and from all temporising, and from the unholy\nfear of man, deliver me, good Lord!\n\n\n\n\nMARCH The Twenty-sixth\n\n_THE KING OF KINGS_\n\nJOHN xviii. 28-38.\n\n\nWhat a strange King our Lord appears, claiming mystic sovereignty, and yet\nbetrayed by a false friend!\n\nAnd yet, even in His apparent subjection His majestic kingliness stands\nrevealed. When I watch the demeanours of Pilate and Jesus, I can see very\nclearly who it is who is on the throne; Pilate wears the outer trappings\nof royalty, but my Lord's is \"the power and the glory.\" Pilate fusses\nabout in a little \"brief authority,\" but my Lord stands possessed of a\nserene dominion. Even at Pilate's judgment bar Jesus is the King.\n\nBut His kingdom is \"_not of this world_.\" And therefore this King is\nunlike every other King. He seeks His possessions not by fighting, but by\n\"lighting\"; not by coercion, but by constraint. His servants do not go\nforth with swords, but with lamps; not to drive the peoples, but to lead\nthem. His visible throne is a cross, and His conquests are made in the\npower of sacrifice.\n\nAnd so His armaments are the Truth, and the Truth alone. \"_For this cause\ncame I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the Truth._\" When\nthe Truth wins and wooes, the triumph is lasting. Garlands won by the\nsword perish before the evening. To be one of the King's subjects is to\nshare His nature. \"Everyone that is of the truth heareth My voice.\"\n\n\n\n\nMARCH The Twenty-seventh\n\n_THE SILENCE OF JESUS_\n\n\"_He answered him nothing!_\"\n--LUKE xxiii. 1-12.\n\n\nAnd yet, \"Ask, and it shall be given you!\" Yes, but everything depends\nupon the asking. Even in the realm of music there is a rudeness of\napproach which leaves true music silent. Whether the genius of music is to\nanswer us or not depends upon our \"touch.\" Herod's \"touch\" was wrong, and\nthere was no response. Herod was flippant, and the Eternal was dumb. And\nI, too, may question a silent Lord. In the spiritual realm an idle\ncuriosity is never permitted to see the crown jewels. Frivolousness never\ngoes away from the royal Presence rich with surprises of grace. \"Thy touch\nhas still its ancient power!\" So it has, but the healing touch is the\ngracious response to the touch of faith. \"She touched Him, and...!\"\n\n\"_And Herod ... mocked Him._\" That was the real spirit behind the eager\ncuriosity. And I, too, may mock my Lord! I may bow before Him, and array\nHim in apparent royalty, while all the time my spirit is full of flippancy\nand jeers. I may lustily sing: \"Crown Him Lord of all,\" while I will not\nrecognize His rights on a single square foot of the soil of my\ninheritance. And this it is to be the kinsman of Herod. And this, too,\nwill be the issue; the heavens will be as brass, and the Lord will answer\nus nothing.\n\n\n\n\nMARCH The Twenty-eighth\n\n_THE CHOICE OF BARABBAS_\n\nLUKE xxiii. 13-24.\n\n\nBarabbas rather than Christ! The destroyer of life rather than the Giver\nof life! This was the choice of the people; and it is a choice which has\noften stained and defiled my own life.\n\nWhen I choose revenge rather than forgiveness, I am preferring Barabbas to\nChrist. For revenge is a murderer, while forgiveness is a healer and\nsaviour of men. But how often I have sent the sweet healer to the cross,\nand welcomed the murderer within my gate!\n\nWhen I choose carnal passion before holiness, I am preferring Barabbas to\nChrist. For is there any murderer so destructive as carnality? And\nholiness stands waiting, ready to make me beautiful with the wondrous\ngarments of grace. But I spurn the angel, and open my door to the beast.\n\nThe devil is always soliciting my service, and the devil \"is a murderer\nfrom the beginning.\" Have I never preferred him, and sent my Lord to be\n\"crucified afresh,\" and \"put Him to an open shame\"?\n\nAgain let me pray--for all my unholy and unwholesome choices, for all my\npreference of the murderer, forgive me, good Lord!\n\n\n\n\nMARCH The Twenty-ninth\n\n_MYSTIC ALARM-BELLS_\n\nMATTHEW xxvii. 19-25.\n\n\nPilate was warned. Pilate's wife had a dream, and in the dream she had\nglimpses of reality, and when she awoke her soul was troubled. \"Have thou\nnothing to do with that just man!\"\n\nAnd I, too, have mysterious warnings when I am treading perilous ways.\nSometimes the warning comes from a friend. Sometimes \"the angel of the\nLord stands in the way for an adversary.\" My conscience rings loudly like\nan alarm-bell in the dead of night. Yes, the warnings are clear and\npertinent, but...!\n\nPilate ignored the warning, and handed the Lord to the revengeful will of\nthe priests. Pilate defiled his heart, and then he washed his hands! What\na petty attempt to escape the certain issues! And yet we have shared in\nthe small evasion. We have crucified the Lord, and then we wear a\ncrucifix. We violate the spirit, and then we do reverence to the letter.\nWe hand the Lord over to be crucified, and then we practise the postures\nand gait of the saints. Yes, we have all sought an escape in outer\nceremony from the nemesis of our shameful deeds.\n\nMy soul, attend thou to the mystic warnings, and \"play the man\"!\n\n\n\n\nMARCH The Thirtieth\n\n_THE VICTORY OF MEEKNESS_\n\n1 PETER ii. 17-25.\n\n\nThen I may be not only the betrayer, but the betrayed. In my inner circle\nthere may be a friend who will play me false, and hand me over to the\nwolves. What then? Just this--I must imitate the grace of my Lord, and\n\"consider Him.\"\n\nThere must be no violent retaliation. \"_When He was reviled, He reviled\nnot again._\" The fire of revenge may singe or even scorch my enemy, but it\nwill do far more damage to the furniture of my own soul. After every\nindulgence in vengeful passion some precious personal possession has been\ndestroyed. The fact of the matter is, this fire cannot be kept burning\nwithout making fuel of the priceless furnishings of the soul. \"Heat not a\nfurnace for your foe so hot that it do singe yourself.\"\n\nThere must be a serene committal of the soul to the strong keeping of the\nEternal God. \"_He committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously._\"\nThis is the way of peace, as this is the way of victory. If ever the enemy\nis to be conquered this must be the mode of the conquest. When men\npersecute us, let us rest more implicitly in our God.\n\n\n\n\nMARCH The Thirty-first\n\n_AT THE CROSS!_\n\nMATTHEW xxvii. 38-50.\n\n\nLet me listen to the ribald jeers which were flung upon my Lord. And let\nme listen, not as a judge, but as one who has been in the company of the\ncallous crowd. For I, too, have mocked Him! I have said: \"Hail, King!\" and\nI have bowed before Him, but it has been mock and empty homage! I have\nsung: \"Crown Him Lord of all!\" but there has been no real recognition of\nHis sovereignty; mine has been a mock coronation. From the seat of the\nmocker, deliver me, good Lord!\n\nAnd let me stand near the cross while that awful voice of desolation rends\nthe heavens. \"_My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?_\" In that\nagonizing cry I am led to the real heart of the atonement. My Saviour was\nstanding where His believers will never stand. That was the real death,\nthe death of an inconceivable abandonment. And \"He died for me!\" He so\ndied in order that I may never taste death. \"He that liveth and believeth\nin Me shall never die.\"\n\nEvery believer will go to sleep, and through a short sleep he will wake in\nthe glory of the Eternal Presence. But he will never die: no, never die!\n\n\n\n\nAPRIL The First\n\n_THE SHADOW OF THE CROSS_\n\nLUKE xxiii. 33-47.\n\n\nLook at our Lord in relation to His foes. \"_Father, forgive them; for they\nknow not what they do!_\" Their bitterness has not embittered Him. The\n\"milk of human kindness\" was still sweet. Nothing could sour our Lord, and\nconvert His goodwill into malice, His serene beneficence into wild\nrevenge. And how is it with me? Are my foes able to maim my spirit as well\nas my body? Do they win their end by making me a smaller man? Or am I\nmagnanimous even on the cross?\n\nAnd look at our Lord in relation to the penitent thief. \"_To-day shalt\nthou be with Me in Paradise._\" There was no self-centredness in our\nSaviour's grief. He was the good Physician, even when His body was mangled\non the cross. He healed a broken heart even in the very pangs of death.\nWhen \"there was darkness over all the earth,\" He let the light of the\nmorning into the heart of a desolate thief. And, good Lord, graciously\nhelp me to do likewise!\n\nAnd all this amazing graciousness is explained in our Lord's relation to\nHis Father. \"_Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit!_\" Yes,\neverything is there! When I and My Father are one, my spirit will remain\nsweet as the violet and pure as the dew.\n\n\n\n\nAPRIL The Second\n\n\"_ON HIM!_\"\n\n\"_The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all._\"\n--ISAIAH liii.\n\n\nLet me tell a dream which was given by night to one of my dearest friends.\nHe beheld a stupendous range of glorious sun-lit mountains, with their\nlower slopes enfolded in white mist. \"Lord,\" he cried, \"I pray that I may\ndwell upon those heights!\" \"Thou must first descend into the vale,\" a\nvoice replied.\n\nInto the vale he went. And down there he found himself surrounded with all\nmanner of fierce, ugly, loathsome things. As he looked upon them he saw\nthat they were the incarnations of his own sins! There they were, sins\nlong ago committed, showing their threatening teeth before him!\n\nThen he heard some One approaching, and instinctively he knew it was the\nLord! And he felt so ashamed that he drew a cloak over his face, and stood\nin silence. And the Presence came nearer and nearer, until He, too, stood\nsilent. After a while my friend mastered sufficient courage to lift the\ncorner of his cloak and look out upon the Presence: and lo! all the\nloathsome things were _on Him_!\n\n\"The Lord had laid on Him the iniquity of us all.\"\n\n\n\n\nAPRIL The Third\n\n_THE STONE ROLLED AWAY_\n\nMARK xvi. 1-8.\n\n\nI am always wondering who will roll away the stone! There is a great\nobstacle in the way, and my frailty is incompetent to its removal. And lo!\nwhen I arrive at the place I find that the angel has been before me, and\nthe obstacle is gone! And I would that I might learn wisdom to-day from\nthe miracle of yesterday. Let me not be confounded about a new stone when\nI know that my fears about the old one had no foundation.\n\nAnd then the young man at the sepulchre! He is a type of eternal youth,\nand he is sitting serenely in a routed grave. He represents the\nunwithering in the very home of corruption. And this, too, is my hope! It\nis mine in Christ to put on incorruption, and through a brief sleep to\nbecome clothed with immortal youth. \"There everlasting spring abides, and\nnever withering flowers!\"\n\nAnd I may have the assurance of the coming glory even now. Even now may I\ntaste the heavenly feast, and wear some of the unfading flowers of the\nglorified. Yes, even now my leaf need not wither, and my hopes may remain\nunshaken through all my troubled years.\n\n\n\n\nAPRIL The Fourth\n\n_THE RESURRECTION MORNING_\n\nMATTHEW xxviii. 1-15.\n\n\nLet me reverently mark the happenings of this most wonderful morn. \"_It\nbegan to dawn._\" Yes, that was the first significance of the resurrection.\nIt was a new day for the world. Everything was to be seen in a new light.\nEverything was to wear a new face--God, and heaven, and life, and duty,\nand death! \"All things are become new.\"\n\n\"_And there was a great earthquake._\" Yes, and this was significant of the\ntremendous upheaval implied in the resurrection. The kingdom of the devil\nwas upheaved from its foundations. All the boasted pomp of his showy\nempire was turned upside down. \"I beheld Satan falling!\"\n\n\"_And the angel rolled away the stone._\" And that, too, is significant of\nthe resurrection. The awful barrier was rolled away, and the grave became\na thoroughfare! \"This is the Lord's doing; it is marvellous in our eyes.\"\n\nAnd there was \"_fear and great joy_.\" And mingled awe and gladness, a\nreverential delight.\n\n\n\n\nAPRIL The Fifth\n\n_THE EMPTY TOMB_\n\nLUKE xxiv. 1-12.\n\n\nThat empty tomb means the conquest of death. The Captive proved mightier\nthan the captor. He emerged from the prison as the Lord of the prison, and\ndeath reeled at His going. In the risen Saviour death is dethroned; he\ntakes his place at the footstool to do the bidding of his sovereign Lord\nand King. And that empty tomb means the conquest of sin. Sin had done its\nworst, and had failed. All the forces of hell had been rallied against the\nLord, and above them all He rose triumphant and glorified. A little while\nago I discovered a spring. I tried to choke it. I heaped sand and gravel\nupon it; I piled stones above it! And through them all it emerged,\nnoiselessly and irresistibly, a radiant resurrection!\n\nAnd so the empty tomb becomes the symbol of a thoroughfare between life in\ntime and life in the unshadowed Presence of our God. Death is now like a\nshort tunnel which is near my home; I can look through it and see the\nother side! In the risen Lord death becomes transparent. \"O death, where\nis thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?\"\n\n\n\n\nAPRIL The Sixth\n\n_FIRST-HAND KNOWLEDGE OF CHRIST_\n\n\"_Last of all He was seen of me also._\"\n--1 CORINTHIANS xv. 1-11.\n\n\nAnd by that vision Saul of Tarsus was transformed. And so, by the ministry\nof a risen Lord we have received the gift of a transfigured Paul. The\nresurrection glory fell upon him, and he was glorified. In that\nsuperlative light he discovered his sin, his error, his need, but he also\nfound the dynamic of the immortal hope.\n\n\"Seen of me also!\" Can I, too, calmly and confidently claim the\nexperience? Or am I altogether depending upon another man's sight, and are\nmy own eyes unillumined? In these realms the witness of \"hear-says\" counts\nfor nothing; he only speaks with arresting power who has \"seen for\nhimself.\" \"Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee\nof Me?\" That is the question which is asked, not only by the Master, but\nby all who hear us tell the story of the risen Lord. \"Has He been seen of\nthee also?\"\n\nMy Saviour, I humbly pray Thee to give me first-hand knowledge of Thee.\nLet me be a witness who can say, \"I know that my Redeemer liveth!\" Before\nall the doubts and hesitancies of man enable me to answer, \"Have I not\nseen Jesus Christ our Lord?\"\n\n\n\n\nAPRIL The Seventh\n\n_IF CHRIST WERE DEAD!_\n\n1 CORINTHIANS xv. 12-26.\n\n\n\"_If Christ be not risen!_\" That is the most appalling \"if\" which can be\nflung into the human mind. If it obtains lodging and entertainment, all\nthe fairest hopes of the soul wither away like tender buds which have been\nnipped by sharp frost! See how they fade!\n\n\"_Your faith is vain._\" It has no more strength and permanency than\nJonah's gourd. Nay, it has really never been a living thing! It has been a\npathetic delusion, beautiful, but empty as a bubble, and collapsing at\nJoseph's tomb.\n\n\"_Ye are yet in your sins._\" The hope of forgiveness and reconciliation is\nstricken, and there is nothing left but \"a certain fearful looking-for of\njudgment.\" Nemesis has only been hiding behind a screen of decorated\nfalsehoods, and she will pursue us to the bitter end.\n\n\"_We are of all men the most miserable._\" Joy would fall and die like a\nfatally wounded lark. The song would cease from our souls. The holy place\nwould become a tomb.\n\n\"But now _is_ Christ risen from the dead!\" Yes, let me finish on that\nword. That gives me morning, and melody, and holy merriment that knows no\nend.\n\n\n\n\nApril The Eighth\n\n_MY INHERITANCE IN THE RISEN LORD_\n\n1 PETER i. 1-9.\n\n\nIn my risen Lord I am born into \"a living hope,\" a hope not only vital,\nbut vitalizing, sending its mystic, vivifying influences through every\nhighway and by-way of my soul.\n\nIn my risen Lord mine is \"_an inheritance incorruptible_.\" It is not\nexposed to the gnawing tooth of time. Moth and rust can not impair the\ntreasure. It will not grow less as I grow old. Its glories are as\ninvulnerable as my Lord.\n\nIn my risen Lord mine is \"an inheritance ... _undefiled_.\" There is no\nalloy in the fine gold. The King will give me of His best. \"Bring forth\nthe best robe, and put it on him.\" The holiest ideal proclaims my\npossibility, and foretells my ultimate attainment. Heaven's wine is not to\nbe mixed with water. I am to awake \"in His likeness.\"\n\nAnd mine is \"an inheritance ... that _fadeth not away_.\" It shall not be\nas the garlands offered by men--green to-day and to-morrow sere and\nyellow. \"Its leaf also shall not wither.\" It shall always retain its\nfreshness, and shall offer me a continually fresh delight. And these are\nall mine in Him!\n\n    \"Thou, O Christ, art all I want.\"\n\n\n\n\nAPRIL The Ninth\n\n_THE EVER-LIVING LORD_\n\nREVELATION i. 9-18.\n\n\nLet me take the simple words, and quietly gaze into the wonderful depths\nof their fathomless simplicity. An old villager used to tell me it would\nstrengthen my eyes if I looked long into deep wells. And it will assuredly\nstrengthen the eyes of my soul to gaze into wells like these.\n\n\"_I am He that liveth._\" What a marvellous transformation it worked upon\nDr. Dale, when one day, in his study, it flashed upon him, as never\nbefore, that Jesus Christ is alive! \"Christ is alive!\" he repeated again\nand again, until the clarion music filled all the rooms in his soul.\n\"Christ is alive!\"\n\n\"_And was dead._\" Yes, the Lord has gone right through that dark place.\nThere are footprints, and they are the footprints of the Conqueror, all\nalong the road. \"Christ leads me through no darker room than He went\nthrough before.\"\n\n\"_And, behold, I am alive for ever more._\" \"Jesus has conquered death and\nall its powers.\" Never more will it sit on a transient throne. Its power\nis broken, its \"sting\" has lost its poison, there isn't a boast left in\nits apparently omnivorous mouth! \"Where's thy victory, O grave?\" And here\nis the gospel for me--\"Because I live ye shall live also.\"\n\n\n\n\nAPRIL The Tenth\n\n_RESURRECTION-LIGHT_\n\n\"_If we believe that Jesus died and rose again...._\"\n--1 THESSALONIANS iv. 13-18.\n\n\nThat is the eastern light which fills the valley of time with wonderful\nbeams of glory. It is the great dawn in which we find the promise of our\nown day. Everything wears a new face in the light of our Lord's\nresurrection. I once watched the dawn on the East Coast of England. Before\nthere was a grey streak in the sky everything was held in grimmest gloom.\nThe toil of the two fishing-boats seemed very sombre. The sleeping houses\non the shore looked the abodes of death. Then came grey light, and then\nthe sun, and everything was transfigured! Every window in every cottage\ncaught the reflected glory, and the fishing-boats glittered in morning\nradiance.\n\nAnd everything is transfigured in the Risen Christ. Everything is lit up\nwhen \"the Sun of Righteousness arises with healing in His wings.\" Life is\nlit up, and so is death, and so are sorrow and daily labour and human\nfriendships! Everything catches the gleam and is changed. \"We are no\nlonger of the night, but of the day.\" \"Walk as children of light.\" \"Awake,\nthou that sleepest, arise from the dead, and Christ shall shine upon\nthee.\"\n\n\n\n\nAPRIL The Eleventh\n\n_THROUGH DEATH TO LIFE_\n\nROMANS v. 1-11.\n\n\nThe Lord went through death to make a path to life. He descended into\nshame and suffering, and appalling desolation in order that He might \"open\nthe Kingdom of Heaven to all believers.\" And the way is now open!\n\nTherefore, \"_let us have peace with God_.\" Let us reverently and willingly\ntread the heavenly road, and seek the King's presence, and gratefully\naccept \"the everlasting covenant.\" Let us go, as once rebel soldiers, and\nlet us surrender our arms, and at His bidding take them again, to fight in\nHis service.\n\nAnd let us \"_glory in tribulation_.\" If we are in the King's road, at\npeace with the King, every stormy circumstance will be made to do us\nservice. Yes, all our troubles will be compelled to minister to us, to\nrobe us, and to adorn us, and to make us more like the sons and daughters\nof a royal house. \"Out of the eater will come forth meat, and out of the\nstrong will come forth sweetness.\"\n\nAnd, therefore, let us \"_joy in God_.\" Don't let us be \"the King's own,\"\nand yet march in the sulks! Let us march to the music of grateful song and\npraise.\n\n    \"Children of the heavenly King,\n     As ye journey, sweetly sing.\"\n\n\n\n\nAPRIL The Twelfth\n\n_THE LAMB ON THE THRONE_\n\n\"_In the midst of the throne stood a Lamb as it had been slain!_\"\n--REVELATION v. 6-14.\n\n\nHow strange and unexpected is the figure! A lamb--the supreme type of\ngentleness! A throne, the supreme symbol of power! And the one is in the\nvery midst of the other. The sacrificial has become the sovereign: the\nCross is the principal part of the throne. \"I, if I be lifted up, will\ndraw all men unto Me.\"\n\nYes, this sovereign sacrificial Lord is to receive universal homage and\nworship. \"_Every creature which is in heaven and on the earth_\" is to pay\ntribute at His feet. And this, not by a terrible coercion, but by a\ngracious constraint. We are not to be driven, we are to be drawn; we are\nto move by love--compulsion: the Lamb in God is to win the wills of men.\n\nAnd I, too, may take my harp and make melodious praise before my King. And\nI, too, may fill the \"golden vials\" with my grateful intercession, and\nheaven shall be the sweeter for the odour of my prayers. And I, too, may\nsound my loud \"Amen,\" the note of gladsome resignation to the sovereign\nwill of God. Yes, even now I may be one of \"the multitude whom no man can\nnumber,\" who, in a new song, ascribe all worthiness to \"the Lamb that was\nslain.\"\n\n\n\n\nAPRIL The Thirteenth\n\n_PURE GOLD_\n\n\"_Thou shalt overlay it with pure gold....\nAnd there I will meet with thee._\"\n--EXODUS xxv. 10-22.\n\n\nI must put my best into my preparations, and then the Lord will honour my\nwork. My part is to be of \"pure gold\" if my God is to dwell within it. I\nmust not satisfy myself with cheap flimsy and then assume that the Lord\nwill be satisfied with it. He demands my very best as a condition of His\nenriching Presence.\n\nMy prayers must be of \"pure gold\" if He is to meet me there. There must be\nnothing vulgar about them, nothing shoddy, nothing hastily constructed,\nnothing thrown up anyhow. They must be chaste and sincere, and overlaid\nwith pure gold.\n\nMy home must be of \"pure gold\" if He is to meet me there. No unclean\npassion must dwell there, no carnal appetite, no defiling conversation, no\nimmoderateness in eating and drinking. How can the Lord sit down at such a\ntable, or make One at such a fireside?\n\nLet me present to Him pure gold. Let me offer Him nothing cheap. Let me\never make the ark of my best, and the Lord will meet me there.\n\n\n\n\nAPRIL The Fourteenth\n\n_RELIGION AS MERE MAGIC_\n\n\"_And when the ark of the covenant of the Lord came into\nthe camp, all Israel shouted with a great shout._\"\n--1 SAMUEL iv. 1-11.\n\n\nThey were making more of the ark than of the Lord. Their religion was\ndegenerating into superstition. I become superstitious whenever the means\nof worship are permitted to eclipse the Object of worship. I then possess\na magic instrument, and I forget the holy Lord.\n\nIt can be so with prayer. I may use prayer as a magic minister to protect\nme from invasive ills. I do not pray because I desire fellowship with the\nFather, but because I should not feel safe without it. The ark is more\nthan the Lord.\n\nIt can be so with a crucifix. A crucifix may become a mere talisman, and\nso supplant the Lord. I may wear the thing and have no fellowship with the\nPerson. And so may it be with the Lord's Supper. I may come to regard it\nas a magic feast, which makes me immune from punishment, but not immune\nfrom sin. It may be a minister of safety, but not of holiness.\n\nSo let mine eyes be ever unto the Lord! Let me not be satisfied with the\nark, but let me seek Him whose name is holy and whose nature is love.\n\n\n\n\nAPRIL The Fifteenth\n\n_DEGRADING HOLY THINGS_\n\n1 SAMUEL vi. 1-15.\n\n\nI must remember that a holy thing can be the minister of a plague. Things\nthat were purposed to be benedictions can be changed into blights. The\nvery ark of God must be in its appointed place or it becomes the means of\nsickness and destruction. So it is with all the holy things of God: if I\ndethrone them they will uncrown me.\n\nIt is even so with music. Unless I give it its holy sovereignty it will\nbecome a minister of the passions, and the angel within me is mastered by\na beast. Let me read again Tennyson's \"Palace of Sin,\" and let me\nheedfully note how music becomes the instrument of ignoble sensationalism,\nand aids in man's degradation. \"But exalt her, and she shall exalt thee.\"\n\nIt is even so with art. It is purposed to be the holy dwelling-place of\nGod, but I can so abuse it as to make it the agent of degradation. Instead\nof hallowing the life it will debase and impoverish it.\n\nI will therefore remember that, if I infringe the Divine order, I can turn\nthe sacramental cup into a vehicle of moral poison and spiritual blight.\n\"They must be holy who bear the vessels of the Lord.\"\n\n\n\n\nAPRIL The Sixteenth\n\n_PRIESTS OF THE LORD_\n\n\"_None ought to carry the ark of God but the Levites._\"\n--1 CHRONICLES xv. 1-3, 11-15.\n\n\nThere are prepared people for prepared offices. The Lord will fit the man\nto the function, the anointed and consecrated priest for the consecrated\nand consecrating ministry.\n\nBut now, in the larger purpose of the Lord, and in \"the exceeding riches\nof His grace,\" everybody may be a priest of the Lord. \"He hath made us to\nbe priests and kings unto God.\" And He will prepare us to carry our ark,\nand to \"minister in holy things.\"\n\nI can be His priest in the home. He will anoint me as one who is to engage\nin holy ministries, and I shall be serving at the altar even while engaged\nin the lowly duties of the house. The humble meal will be sacramental, and\ncommon work will be heavenly sacrifice.\n\nI can be His priest in my class. The Lord will clothe me in \"linen clean\nand white,\" and in my consecrated spirit my scholars shall discern the\nincense of sacrifice. And woe is me if I attempt to fill the godly office\nwithout my God.\n\nAnd I can be His priest in my workshop. Yes, in the carpenter's shop I may\nwear the radiant robe of the sanctified. And I, too, as one of the priests\nof the Lord, can \"bear the sin of many, and make intercession for the\ntransgressor.\"\n\n\n\n\nAPRIL The Seventeenth\n\n_GREAT PRAISE_\n\n1 CHRONICLES xvi. 7-36.\n\n\n\"Great is the Lord!\" So many people have such a little God! There is\nnothing about Him august and sublime. And so He is not greatly praised.\nThe worship is thin, the thanksgivings are scanty, the supplications are\nindifferent.\n\nAll great saints have a great God. He fills their universe. Therefore do\nthey move about in a fruitful awe, and everywhere there is only a thin\nveil between them and His appearing. Everywhere they discern His holy\npresence, as the face of a bride is dimly seen beneath her bridal veil.\nAnd so even the common scrub of the wilderness is aflame with sacred fire:\nthe humble \"primrose on the rock\" becomes \"the court of Deity\": and the\n\"strength of the hills is His also\"!\n\nYes, a great God inspires great praise, and in great praise small cares\nand small meannesses are utterly consumed away. When praise is mean,\nanxieties multiply. Therefore let me contemplate the greatness of God in\nnature and in providence, in His power, and His holiness, and His love.\nLet me \"stand in awe\" before His glory: and in the fruitful reverence the\nsoul will be moved in acceptable praise.\n\n\n\n\nAPRIL The Eighteenth\n\n_MECHANICAL PIETY_\n\nPHILEMON 10-18.\n\n\nThe Apostle Paul declares that benefits may be given in one of two\nways--\"_of necessity_\" and \"_willingly_.\" One is mechanical, the other is\nspontaneous. I once saw a little table-fountain playing in a drawing-room,\nbut I heard the click of its machinery, and the charm was gone! It had to\nbe wound up before it would play, and at frequent periods it \"ran down.\" A\nlittle later I saw another fountain playing on a green lawn, and it was\nfed from the deep secret resources of the hills!\n\nThere is a generosity which is like the drawing-room fountain. If you\nlisten you can hear the mechanical click, and a sound of friction, arising\nfrom murmuring and complaint. And there is a generosity which is like the\nfountain that is the child of the hills. It is clear, and sweet, and\nmusical, and flows on through every season! One is \"of necessity\"; the\nother is \"willingly.\" And \"God loveth a cheerful giver.\"\n\nAnd prayer can be of the same two contrary orders. One prayer is\nmechanical, it is hard, formal, metallic. The other is spontaneous,\nforceful, and irresistible. Listen to the Pharisee--\"Lord, I thank Thee\nthat I am not as other men are.\" It is the click of the machine! Listen to\nthe publican--\"God be merciful to me, a sinner!\" It is the voice of the\ndeeps.\n\n\n\n\nAPRIL The Ninteenth\n\n_UNION IN HARMONY_\n\n\"_Be ye all of one mind._\"\n--1 PETER iii. 8-17.\n\n\nBut this is not unison: it is harmony. When an orchestra produces some\ngreat musical masterpiece, the instruments are all of one mind, but each\nmakes its own individual contribution. There is variety with concordance:\neach one serves every other, and the result is glorious harmony. \"By love\nserve one another.\" It is love that converts membership into fraternity:\nit is love that binds sons and daughters into a family.\n\nLook at a field of wild-flowers. What a harmony of colour! And yet what a\nvariety of colours! Nothing out of place, but no sameness! All drawing\nresource from the same soil, and breathing the vitalizing substance from\nthe same air!\n\n\"And ye, being rooted and grounded in love,\" will grow up, a holy family\nin the Lord. If love be the common ground the varieties in God's family\nmay be infinite!\n\nAnd so the unity which the apostle seeks is a unity of mood and\ndisposition. It is not a unity which repeats the exact syllables of a\ncommon creed, but a unity which is built of common trust, and love, and\nhope. It is not sameness upon the outer lips, but fellowship in the secret\nplace.\n\n\n\n\nAPRIL The Twentieth\n\n_THE JOY OF THE LOVER_\n\nROMANS xii. 9-18.\n\n\nLove finds her joy in seeing others crowned. Envy darkens when she sees\nthe garland given to another. Jealousy has no festival except when she is\n\"Queen of the May.\" But love thrills to another's exaltation. She feels\nthe glow of another's triumph. When another basks in favour her own \"time\nof singing of birds is come!\"\n\nAnd all this is because love has wonderful chords which vibrate to the\nsecret things in the souls of others. Indeed, the gift of love is just the\ngift of delicate correspondence, the power of exquisite fellow-feeling,\nthe ability to \"rejoice with them that do rejoice, and to weep with them\nthat weep.\" When, therefore, the soul of another is exultant, and the\nwedding-bells are ringing, love's kindred bells ring a merry peal. When\nthe soul of another is depressed, and a funeral dirge is wailing, love's\nkindred chords wail in sad communion. So love can enter another's state as\nthough it were her own.\n\nOur Master spake condemningly of those who have lost this exquisite gift.\nThey have lost their power of response. \"We have piped with you, and ye\nhave not danced; we have mourned with you, and ye have not lamented.\" They\nlived in selfish and loveless isolation. They have lost all power of\ntender communion.\n\n\n\n\nAPRIL The Twenty-first\n\n_LOVE AS THE GREAT MAGICIAN_\n\n1 JOHN ii. 1-11.\n\n\nA new commandment! And yet it is an old one with a new meaning. It is the\nold water-pot, but its water has been changed into wine. It is the old\nletter with a new spirit. It is the old body with a new soul. Love makes\nall things new! It changes duty into delight, and statutes into songs.\n\nWhat a magic difference love makes to a face. It at once becomes a face\nillumined. Love makes the plainest face winsome and attractive. It adds\nthe light of heaven, and the earthly is transfigured. No cosmetics are\nneeded when love is in possession. She will do her own beautifying work,\nand everybody will know her sign.\n\nWhat a magic difference love makes in service! The hireling goes about his\nwork with heavy and reluctant feet: the lover sings and dances at his\ntoil. The hireling scamps his work: the lover is always adding another\ntouch, and is never satisfied. Just one more touch! And just another! And\nso on until the good God shall say that loving \"patience has had her\nperfect work.\"\n\nLove lights up everything, for she is the light of life. Let her dwell in\nthe soul, and every room in the life shall be filled with the glory of the\nLord.\n\n\n\n\nAPRIL The Twenty-second\n\n_SPEECH AS A SYMPTOM OF HEALTH_\n\n\"_The tongue of the wise is health._\"\n--PROVERBS xii. 13-22.\n\n\nOur doctors often test our physical condition by the state of our tongue.\nWith another and deeper significance the tongue is also the register of\nour condition. Our words are a perfect index of our moral and spiritual\nhealth. If our words are unclean and untrue, our souls are assuredly\nsickly and diseased. A perverse tongue is never allied with a sanctified\nheart. And, therefore, everyone may apply a clinical test to his own life:\n\"What is the character of my speech? What do my words indicate? What do\nthey suggest as to the depths and background of the soul?\" \"By thy words\nthou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.\"\n\nGod delighteth in truthful lips. Right words are fruit from the tree of\nlife. The Lord turns away from falsehood as we turn away from material\ncorruption, only with an infinitely intenser loathing and disgust.\n\nIt is only the lips that have been purified with flame from the holy altar\nof God that can offer words that are pleasing unto Him.\n\n    \"Take my lips and let them be\n     Filled with messages from Thee.\"\n\n\n\n\nAPRIL The Twenty-third\n\n_MASCULINE FORGIVENESS_\n\nCOLOSSIANS iii. 12-17.\n\n\nTrue forgiveness is a very strong and clean and masculine virtue. There is\na counterfeit forgiveness which is unworthy of the name. It is full of\n\"buts,\" and \"ifs,\" and \"maybes,\" and \"peradventures.\" It moves with\nreluctance, it offers with averted face, it takes back with one hand what\nit gives with the other. It forgives, but it \"cannot forget.\" It forgives,\nbut it \"can never trust again.\" It forgives, but \"things can never be the\nsame as they were.\" What kind of forgiveness is this? It is the mercy of\nthe police-court. It is the remission of penalty, not the glorious\n\"abandon\" of grace! It is a cold \"Don't do it again,\" not the weeping and\ncompassionate goodwill of the Lord.\n\n\"_Even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye._\" That is to be our motive,\nand that is to be our measure. We are to forgive _because_ Christ forgave\nus. The glorious memory of His grace is to make us gracious. His tender,\nhealing words to us are to redeem our speech from all harshness. In the\ncontemplation of His cross we are to become \"partakers of His sufferings,\"\nand by the shedding of our own blood help to close and heal the alienation\nof the world.\n\nAnd we are to forgive _as_ Christ forgave us. Resentment is to be changed\ninto frank goodwill, and filled with the grace of the Lord.\n\n\n\n\nAPRIL The Twenty-fourth\n\nLIMITED FORGIVENESS\n\nLUKE xvii. 3-10.\n\n\nWe are always inclined to set a limit to our moral obligations. We wish,\nas we say, \"to draw a line somewhere.\" We want to appoint a definite place\nwhere obligation ceases, and where the moral strain may be released. The\nApostle Peter wished his Master to draw such a line in the matter of\nforgiveness. \"Lord, how oft shall I forgive? Till seven times?\" He wanted\na tiny moral rule which he could apply to his brother's conduct.\n\nNot so the Lord. Our Master tells His disciple that in those spiritual\nrealms relations are not governed by arithmetic. We cannot, by counting,\nmeasure off our obligations. Our repeated acts of forgiveness never bring\nus nearer to the freedom of revenge. No amount of sweetness will ever\npermit us to be bitter. We cannot, by being good, obtain a license to be\nevil. The fact of the matter is, if our goodness is of genuine quality,\nevery act will more strongly dispose us to further goodness. It is the\ncounterfeit element in our goodness that inclines us to the opposite camp.\nIt is when our forgiveness is tainted that we anticipate the \"sweetness\"\nof revenge.\n\n\n\n\nAPRIL The Twenty-fifth\n\n_THE HIDDEN FOES_\n\nMATTHEW v. 21-26.\n\n\nOur Lord always leads us to the secret, innermost roots of things. He does\nnot concern Himself with symptoms, but with causes. He does not begin with\nthe molten lava flowing down the fair mountain slope and destroying the\nvineyards. He begins with the central fires in which the lava is born. He\ndoes not begin with uncleanness. He begins with the thoughts which produce\nit. He does not begin with murder, but with the anger which causes it. He\npierces to the secret fires!\n\nNow, all anger is not of sin. The Apostle Paul enjoins his readers to \"be\nangry, and sin not.\" To be altogether incapable of anger would be to offer\nno antagonism to the wrongs and oppressions of the world. \"Who is made to\nstumble, and I burn not?\" cries the Apostle Paul. If wrong stalked abroad\nwith heedless feet he burned with holy passion. There is anger which is\nlike clean flame, clear and pure, as \"the sea of glass mingled with fire.\"\nAnd there is anger which is like a smoky bonfire, and it pollutes while it\ndestroys.\n\nIt is the unclean anger which is of sin. It seeks revenge, not\nrighteousness. It seeks \"to get its own back,\" not to get the wrong-doer\nback to God. It follows wrong with further wrong. It spreads the devil's\nfire.\n\n\n\n\nAPRIL The Twenty-sixth\n\n_GOLIATH VERSUS GOD!_\n\n1 SAMUEL xvii. 1-11.\n\n\nGoliath seemed to have everything on his side _except_ God. And the things\nin which he boasted were just the things in which men are prone to boast\nto-day.\n\nHe had physical strength. \"His height was six cubits and a span.\"\nAthletics had done all they could for him, and he was a fine type of\nanimal perfection.\n\nHe had splendid military equipment. \"A helmet of brass,\" and \"a coat of\nmail,\" and \"a spear like a weaver's beam!\" Surely, if fine material\nequipment determines combats, the shepherd-lad from the hills of Bethlehem\nwill be annihilated.\n\nAnd he enjoyed the enthusiastic confidence of the Philistines. He was his\nnation's pride and glory! He strode out amid their shouts, and the cheers\nwere like iron in his blood.\n\nBut all this counted for nothing, because God was against him. Men and\nnations may attain to a fine animalism, their warlike equipment may\nsatisfy the most exacting standard, and yet, with God against them, they\nshall be as structures woven out of mists, and they shall collapse at the\ntouch of apparent weakness. The issue was not Goliath versus David, but\nGoliath versus God!\n\n\n\n\nAPRIL The Twenty-seventh\n\n_OBSCURE BIRTHPLACES_\n\n1 SAMUEL xvii. 12-27.\n\n\nGod's champion is at present feeding sheep! Who would have expected that\nGoliath's antagonist would emerge from the quiet pastures? \"Genius hatches\nher offspring in strange places.\" Very humble homes are the birthplaces of\nmighty emancipations.\n\nThere was a little farm at St. Ives, and the farmer lived a quiet and\nunsensational life. But the affairs of the nation became more and more\nconfused and threatening. Monarchical power despoiled the people's\nliberties, and tyranny became rampant. And out from the little farm strode\nOliver Cromwell, the ordained of God, to emancipate his country.\n\nThere was an obscure rectory at Epworth. The doings in the little rectory\nwere just the quiet practices of similar homes in countless parts of\nEngland. And England was becoming brutalized, because its religious life\nwas demoralized. The Church was asleep, and the devil was wide awake! And\nforth from the humble rectory strode John Wesley, the appointed champion\nof the Lord to enthuse, to purify, and to sweeten the life of the people.\n\nOn what quiet farm is the coming deliverer now labouring? Who knows?\n\n\n\n\nAPRIL The Twenty-eighth\n\n_PREPARING FOR GREAT ENCOUNTERS_\n\n1 SAMUEL xvii. 28-37.\n\n\nThis young champion of the Lord had won many victories before he faced\nGoliath. Everything depends on how I approach my supreme conflicts. If I\nhave been careless in smaller combats I shall fail in the larger. If I\ncome, wearing the garlands of triumph won in the shade, the shout of\nvictory is already in the air! Let me look at David's trophies before he\nremoved Goliath's head.\n\nHe had conquered his temper. Read Eliab's irritating taunt in the\ntwenty-eighth verse, and mark the fine self-possession of the young\nchampion's reply! That conquest of temper helped him when he took aim at\nGoliath! There is nothing like passion for disturbing the accuracy of the\neye and the steadiness of the hand.\n\nHe had conquered fear. \"_Let no man's heart fail because of him._\" There\nwas no panic, there was no feverish and wasteful excitement. There was no\nshouting \"to keep the spirits up!\" He was perfectly calm.\n\nAnd he had conquered unbelief. He had a rich history of the providential\ndealings of God with him, and his confidence was now unclouded and serene.\nHe had known the Lord's power when he faced the bear and the lion. Now for\nGoliath!\n\n\n\n\nAPRIL The Twenty-ninth\n\n_THE MOOD OF TRIUMPH_\n\n\"_I come to thee in the name of the Lord of Hosts._\"\n--1 SAMUEL xvii. 38-54.\n\n\nThe man who comes up to his foes with this assurance will fight and win.\nReasonable confidence is one of the most important weapons in the\nwarrior's armoury. Fear is always wasteful. The man who calmly expects to\nwin has already begun to conquer. Our mood has so much to do with our\nmight. And therefore does the Word of God counsel us to attend to our\ndispositions, lest, having carefully collected our material implements, we\nhave no strength to use them.\n\nAnd the man who comes up to his foes with holy assurance will fight with\nconsummate skill. He will be quite \"collected.\" All his powers will wait\nupon one another, and they will move together as one. He is as\nself-possessed upon the battlefield as upon parade, as undisturbed before\nGoliath as before a flock of sheep! And therefore do I say that, fighting\nwith perfect composure, he fights with superlative skill. The right moment\nis seized, the right stone is chosen, the right aim is taken, and great\nGoliath is brought low.\n\n\n\n\nAPRIL The Thirtieth\n\n_THE TEST OF VICTORY_\n\n\"_David behaveth himself wisely._\"\n--1 SAMUEL xvii. 55--xviii. 5.\n\n\nThe hour of victory is a more severe moral test than the hour of defeat.\nMany a man can brave the perils of adversity who succumbs to the\nseductions of prosperity. He can stand the cold better than the heat! He\nis enriched by failure, but \"spoilt by success.\" To test the real quality\nof a man, let us regard him just when he has slain Goliath! \"David behaved\nhimself wisely\"!\n\nHe was not \"eaten up with pride.\" He developed no \"side.\" He went among\nhis friends as though no Goliath had ever crossed his way. He was not for\never recounting the triumph, and fishing for the compliments of his\naudience. He \"behaved wisely.\" So many of us tarnish our victories by the\nmanner in which we display them. We put them into the shop-window, and\nthey become \"soiled goods.\"\n\nAnd in this hour of triumph David made a noble friend. In his noonday he\nfound Jonathan, and their hearts were knit to each other in deep and\nintimate love. It is beautiful when our victories are so nobly borne that\nthey introduce us into higher fellowships, and the friends of heaven\nbecome our friends.\n\n\n\n\nMAY The First\n\n_THE CONDITIONS OF SERENITY_\n\nPSALM cxxiv.\n\n\nIf I would be like the Psalmist, I must _clearly recognize my perils_. He\nsees the \"waters,\" the \"proud waters.\" He beholds the \"enemy,\" and his\n\"wrath,\" and his \"teeth.\" He sees \"the fowler\" with his snare! I must not\nshut my eyes, and \"make my judgment blind.\" One of the gifts of grace is\nthe spirit of discernment, the eyes which not only detect hidden treasure,\nbut hidden foes. The devil is an expert in mimicry; he can make himself\nlook like an angel of light. And so must I be able to discover his snares,\neven when they appear as the most seductive food.\n\nAnd if I would be like the Psalmist, I must _clearly recognize my great\nAlly_. \"If it has not been the Lord, who was on our side!\" To see the Ally\non the perilous field, and to see Him on my side, gives birth to holy\nconfidence and song. \"The Lord is on my side, whom shall I fear?\" I must\nmake sure of the Ally, and \"victory is secure.\"\n\nAnd if I would be like the Psalmist, I must not omit the doxology of\npraise. When the prayer is answered, I am apt to forget the praise. My\nthanksgivings are not so ready as my requests. And so the apparently\nconquered enemy steals in again at the door of an ungrateful heart.\n\n\n\n\nMay The Second\n\n_THE HAPPY WARRIOR_\n\nEPHESIANS vi. 10-18.\n\n\nHere is a portrait of the happy warrior! Let me first look at the warrior,\nand then at the implements with which he fights.\n\n\"You cannot fight the French merely with red uniforms; there must be men\ninside them!\" So said Thomas Carlyle. Well, look at this man.\n\"_Strengthened in the Lord, and in the power of His might._\" There is a\nsecret communion with the Almighty, and he draws his resources from the\nInfinite. The water in my home comes from the Welsh hills; every drop was\ngathered on those grand and expansive uplands. And this man's soldierly\nstrength is drawn from the hills of God; every ounce of his fighting blood\ncomes from the veins of the Lord.\n\nAnd mark the nature of his armoury. His weapons are dispositions. He\nfights with \"truth,\" and \"righteousness,\" and \"peace,\" and \"faith,\" and\n\"prayer\"! There are no implements like these. A sword will fail where a\ncourtesy will prevail. We can kill our enemies by kindness. And as for the\ndevil himself there is nothing like a grace-filled disposition for putting\nhim to flight! A prayerful disposition can drive him off any field, at any\nhour of the day or night. \"Put on the whole armour of God.\"\n\n\n\n\nMay The Third\n\n_OTHER GODS!_\n\n\"_Thou shalt have no other gods before Me._\"\n--EXODUS xx. 1-11.\n\n\nIf we kept that commandment all the other commandments would be obeyed. If\nwe secure this queen-bee we are given the swarm. To put nothing \"before\"\nGod! What is left in the circle of obedience? God first, always and\neverywhere. Nothing allowed to usurp His throne for an hour! I was once\nallowed to sit on an earthly throne for a few seconds, but even that is\nnot to be allowed with the throne of God. Nothing is to share His\nsovereignty, even for a moment. His dominion is to be unconditional and\nunbroken. \"Thou shalt have no other gods beside Me.\"\n\nBut we have many gods we set upon His throne. We put money there, and\nfame, and pleasure, and ease. Yes, we sometimes usurp God's throne, and we\nourselves dare to sit there for days, and weeks, and years, at a time.\nSelf is the idol, and we enthrone it, and we fall down and worship it. But\nno peace comes from such sovereignty, and no deep and vital joy. For the\nreal King is not dead, and He is out and about, and our poor little\nmonarchy is as the reign of the midge on a summer's night. Our real\nkingship is in the acknowledgment of the King of kings. When we worship\nHim, and Him only, He will ask us to sit on His throne.\n\n\n\n\nMAY The Fourth\n\n_A HEALTHY PALATE_\n\n\"_How sweet are Thy words unto my taste._\"\n--PSALM cxix. 97-104.\n\n\nSome people like one thing, and some another. Some people appreciate the\nbitter olive; others feel it to be nauseous. Some delight in the sweetest\ngrapes; others feel the sweetness to be sickly. It is all a matter of\npalate. Some people love the Word of the Lord; to others the reading of it\nis a dreary task. To some the Bible is like a vineyard; to others it is\nlike a dry and tasteless meal. One takes the word of the Master, and it is\n\"as honey to the mouth\"; to another the same word is as unwelcome as a\nbitter drug. It is all a matter of palate.\n\nBut what is a man to do who has got a perverted palate, and who calls\nsweet things bitter and bitter things sweet? He must get a new mouth! And\nwhere is he to get it? Not by any ministry of his own creation; his own\nendeavours will be impotent. A healthy moral palate depends upon the\npurity of the heart. Our spiritual discernments are all determined by the\nstate of the soul. If the heart be pure, the mouth will be clean, and we\nshall love God's law. If the soul-appetite be healthy, God's words will be\nsweet unto our taste. And so does the good Lord give us new palates by\ngiving us new hearts. \"Create within us clean hearts, O God, and renew\nright spirits within us.\"\n\n\n\n\nMAY The Fifth\n\n_HEALTHY LISTENING_\n\n\"_Be ye doers of the word and not hearers only._\"\n--JAMES i. 21-27.\n\n\nWhen we hear the word, but do not do it, there has been a defect in our\nhearing. We may listen to the word for mere entertainment. Or we may\nattach a virtue to the mere act of listening to the word. We may assume\nthat some magical efficacy belongs to the mere reading of the word. And\nall this is perverse and delusive. No listening is healthy which is not\nmentally referred to obedience. We are to listen _with a view to\nobedience_, with our eyes upon the very road where the obedient feet will\ntravel. That is to say, we are to listen with purpose, as though we were\nAmbassadors receiving instructions from the King concerning some momentous\nmission. Yes, we must listen with an eye on the road.\n\n\"Doing\" makes a new thing of \"hearing.\" The statute obeyed becomes a song.\nThe commandment is found to be a beatitude. The decree discloses riches of\ngrace. The hidden things of God are not discovered until we are treading\nthe path of obedience. \"And it came to pass that as he went he received\nhis sight.\" In the way of obedience the blind man found a new world. God\nhas wonderful treasures for the dutiful. The faithful discover the \"hidden\nmanna.\"\n\n\n\n\nMAY The Sixth\n\n_THE PERFECTING OF LOVE_\n\n\"_Herein is our love made perfect._\"\n--1 JOHN iv. 11-21.\n\n\nHow? By dwelling in God and God in us. Love is not a manufacture; it is a\nfruit. It is not born of certain works; it springs out of certain\nrelations. It does not come from doing something; it comes from living\nwith Somebody. \"Abide in Me.\" That is how love is born, for \"love is of\nGod, and God is love.\"\n\nHow many people are striving who are not abiding. They live in a\nmanufactory, they do not live in a home. They are trying to make something\ninstead of to know Somebody. \"This is life, to know Thee.\" When I am\nrelated to the Lord Jesus, when I dwell with Him, love is as surely born\nas beauty and fragrance are born when my garden and the spring-time dwell\ntogether. If we would only wisely cultivate the fellowship of Jesus,\neverything else would follow in its train--all that gracious succession of\nbeautiful things which are called \"the fruits of the Spirit.\"\n\nAnd \"herein is our love made perfect.\" It is always growing richer,\nbecause it is always drawing riches from the inexhaustible love of God.\nHow could it be otherwise? Endless resource must mean endless growth. \"Our\nlife is hid with Christ in God,\" and hence our love will \"grow in all\nwisdom and discernment.\"\n\n\n\n\nMAY The Seventh\n\n_IN THE WAYS OF OBEDIENCE_\n\nPSALM xix. 7-14.\n\n\nLet me listen to the exquisite chimes of this wonderful psalm as they ring\nout the blessedness of the man whose delight is in the law of the Lord.\nWhat shall he find in the ways of obedience?\n\nHe shall find restoration. \"Restoring the soul.\" He shall find new stores\nof food along the way. In every emergency he shall find fresh provision;\nevery new need shall discover new supplies. When one store is spent,\nanother shall take its place. \"Thou re-storest my soul.\" In the ways of\nrighteousness the good Lord has appointed ample stores for the provision\nof all His faithful pilgrims.\n\nHe shall find joy. \"Rejoicing the heart.\" In the way of obedience there\nshall be springs of delight as well as stores of provision. \"With joy\nshall ye draw waters out of the wells of salvation.\" Fountains of\ndelicious satisfaction rise in the realm of duty, the satisfaction of\nbeing right with God, and in union with the eternal will. There is no day\nwithout its spring, and \"the joy of the Lord is our strength.\"\n\nHe shall find vision. \"Enlightening the eyes.\" The eyes of the obedient\nare anointed with the eye-salve of grace, and wondrous panoramas break\nupon the sight. Visions of grace! Visions of love! Visions of glory!\n\n\n\n\nMAY The Eighth\n\n_HOW NOT TO FORGET_\n\nDEUTERONOMY xi. 18-25.\n\n\nIf we wish to retain \"the word of the Lord\" everything depends upon where\nwe keep it. If we just keep it in the mind, a leaky memory may waste the\ntreasure. A Chinese convert declared that he found the best way to\nremember the word was to do it! The engraved word became character,\nwritten upon the fleshy tables of the heart. He incarnated the word, and\nit became a vital part of his own personality. He lived it and it lived in\nhim. The word became flesh. This is the only really vital \"way of\nremembrance,\" to convert the word into the primary stuff of the life.\n\nThere is a secondary way by which we may help our apprehension of God's\nword. \"Ye shall teach them.\" Our hold upon a truth is increased while we\nimpart it to others. The gospel becomes more vivid as we proclaim it to\nour fellow-men. We see it while we explain it. It grips us the more firmly\nas we use it to grip our children. This is a great law in life. In these\nmatters it is literally true that memory best retains what she gives away.\nA truth that is never shared is never really possessed. The word that we\nteach becomes rooted in our own mind.\n\n\n\n\nMAY The Ninth\n\n_LOVING THE LORD_\n\nLUKE x. 21-28.\n\n\nThe secret of life is to love the Lord our God, and our neighbours as\nourselves. But how are we to love the Lord? We cannot manufacture love. We\ncannot love to order. We cannot by an act of will command its appearing.\nNo, not in these ways is love created. Love is not a work, it is a fruit.\nIt grows in suitable soils, and it is our part to prepare the soils. When\nthe conditions are congenial, love appears, just as the crocus and the\nsnowdrop appear in the congenial air of the spring.\n\nWhat, then, can we do? We can seek the Lord's society. We can think about\nHim. We can read about Him. We can fill our imaginations with the grace of\nHis life and service. We can be much with Him, talking to Him in prayer,\nsinging to Him in praise, telling Him our yearnings and confessing to Him\nour defeats. And love will be quietly born. For this is how love is born\nbetween heart and heart. Two people are \"much together,\" and love is born!\nAnd when we are much with the Lord, we are with One who already loves us\nwith an everlasting love. We are with One who yearns for our love and who\nseeks in every way to win it. \"We love Him because He first loved us.\" And\nwhen we truly love God, every other kind of holy love will follow. Given\nthe fountain, the rivers are sure.\n\n\n\n\nMAY The Tenth\n\n_GOD'S USE OF MEN_\n\n\"_I have surely seen the affliction of My people ...\ncome now, therefore, I will send thee._\"\n--EXODUS iii. 1-14.\n\n\nDoes that seem a weak ending to a powerful beginning? The Lord God looks\nupon terrible affliction and He sends a weak man to deal with it. Could He\nnot have sent fire from heaven? Could He not have rent the heavens and\nsent His ministers of calamity and disasters? Why choose a man when the\narch-angel Gabriel stands ready at obedience?\n\nThis is the way of the Lord. He uses human means to divine ends. He works\nthrough man to the emancipation of men. He pours His strength into a worm,\nand it becomes \"an instrument with teeth.\" He stiffens a frail reed and it\nbecomes as an iron pillar.\n\nAnd this mighty God will use thee and me. On every side there are Egypts\nwhere affliction abounds, there are homes where ignorance breeds, there\nare workshops where tyranny reigns, there are lands where oppression is\nrampant. \"Come now, therefore, I will send thee.\" Thus saith the Lord, and\nHe who gives the command will also give the equipment.\n\n\n\n\nMAY The Eleventh\n\n_BUT----!_\n\n\"_And Moses answered and said, But_----\"\n--EXODUS iv. 1-9.\n\n\nWe know that \"but.\" God has heard it from our lips a thousand times. It is\nthe response of unbelief to the divine call. It is the reply of fear to\nthe divine command. It is the suggestion that the resources are\ninadequate. It is a hint that God may not have looked all round. He has\noverlooked something which our own eyes have seen. The human \"buts\" in the\nScriptural stories make an appalling record.\n\n\"Lord, I will follow Thee, but----\" There is something else to be attended\nto before discipleship can begin. Obedience is not primary: it must wait\nfor something else. And so our obedience is not a straight line: it is\ncrooked and circuitous; it takes the way of by-path meadow instead of the\nhighway of the Lord. We do not wait upon the Lord's pleasure; we make Him\nwait upon ours.\n\nThere need be no \"buts\" in our relationship to the King's will. Everything\nhas been foreseen. Nothing will take the Lord by surprise. The entire\nfield has been surveyed, and the preparations are complete. When the Lord\nsays to thee or me, \"I will send thee,\" every provision has been made for\nthe appointed task. \"I will not fail thee.\"\n\n\n\n\nMAY The Twelfth\n\n_MOUTH AND MATTER_\n\n\"_Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth._\"\n--EXODUS iv. 10-17.\n\n\nAnd what a promise that is for anyone who is commissioned to proclaim the\nKing's decrees. Here can teachers and preachers find their strength. God\nwill be with their mouths. He will control their speech, and order their\nwords like troops. He does not promise to make us eloquent, but to endow\nour words with the \"demonstration of power.\"\n\n\"_And I will teach thee what thou shall say._\" The Lord will not only be\nwith our mouths, but with our minds. He will guide our thoughts as well as\nour words. He will be as sentinel at the lips. He will be our guide in our\nprocesses of meditation and judgment, and He will bring us to enlightened\nends. All of which is just this: He will give us mouth and matter.\n\nThis does not put a premium upon idleness. The Lord guides when men are\nhonestly groping. He gives us fire when we have built the altar. He works\nHis miracle when we have provided the five loaves. He sends His light\nthrough diligent thinking. The divine power is given through the\nconsecrated strength.\n\n\n\n\nMAY The Thirteenth\n\n_COMMONPLACE FIDELITIES_\n\nEXODUS ii. 11-25.\n\n\nGod prepares us for the greater crusades by more commonplace fidelities.\nThrough the practice of common kindnesses God leads us to chivalrous\ntasks. Little courtesies feed nobler reverences. No man can despise\nsmaller duties and do the larger duties well. Our strength is sapped by\nsmall disobediences. Our discourtesies to one another impair our worship\nof God. The neglect of the \"pointing\" of a house may lead to dampness and\nfatal disease.\n\nAnd thus the only way to live is by filling every moment with fidelity. We\nare ready for anything when we have been faithful in everything. \"Because\nthou hast been faithful in that which is least!\" That is the order in\nmoral and spiritual progress, and that is the road by which we climb to\nthe seats of the mighty. When every stone in life is \"well and truly laid\"\nwe are sure of a solid, holy temple in which the Lord will delight to\ndwell. The quality of our greatness depends upon what we do with \"that\nwhich is least.\"\n\n\n\n\nMAY The Fourteenth\n\n_CALAMITY AS REVEALER_\n\n\"_In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord._\"\n--ISAIAH vi. 1-8.\n\n\nHe lost a hero, and he found the Lord. He feared because a great pillar\nhad fallen: and he found the Pillar of the universe. He thought everything\nwould topple into disaster, and lo! he felt the strength of the\neverlasting arms. When Uzziah lived Isaiah had forgotten his Lord. He so\ndepended on the earthly that he had overlooked the heavenly. Uzziah\nconcealed his Lord as a thick veil can hide a face. And when Uzziah died,\nwhen the earthly king passed away, the eternal King was revealed; as when\nby the passing of an earth-born cloud the moon reigns radiant in the open\nsky.\n\nAnd thus it is that apparent calamity is often the minister of revelation.\nThe great storm clears the air, and luminous vistas come into view. The\nhowling wind of adversity drives away the earth-born clouds and we see the\nface of God. Our sorrows prove the occasion of our visions. We see new\npanoramas through our tears. Bereavement gives us spiritual surprises, and\ndeath becomes the servant of life. And so it happens that days which began\nin gloom end in revelation, and we keep their recurring anniversary with\ndeepening praise.\n\n\n\n\nMAY The Fifteenth\n\n_GOD IS WIDE-AWAKE_\n\n\"_Jeremiah, what seest thou? And I said,\nI see a rod of an almond tree._\"\n--JEREMIAH i. 7-19.\n\n\nAnd through the almond tree the Lord gave the trembling young prophet the\nstrength of assurance. The almond tree is the first to awake from its\nwintry sleep. When all other trees are held in frozen slumber the almond\nblossoms are looking out on the barren world. And God is like that, awake\nand vigilant. Nobody anticipates Him. Wherever Jeremiah was sent on his\nprophetic mission the Lord would be there before him. Before the prophet's\nenemies could get to work the Lord was on the field. In the wintriest\ncircumstances of a prophet's life God is wide awake: \"He that keepeth\nIsrael shall neither slumber nor sleep.\"\n\nAnd still the almond tree has its heartening significance for thee and me.\nOur God is wide-awake. He looks out upon our wintry circumstances, and\nnothing is hid from His sight. There is no unrecognized and uncounted\nfactor which may steal in furtively and take Him by surprise. Everything\nis open. He is wide-awake on the far-off field where the isolated\nmissionary is ploughing his lonely furrow. He is wide-awake on the field\nof common labour where some young disciple finds it hard to keep clean\nhands while he earns his daily bread.\n\n\n\n\nMAY The Sixteenth\n\n_THE DETAILS OF PROVIDENCE_\n\n\"_The very hairs of your head are all numbered._\"\n--MATTHEW x. 24-31.\n\n\nProvidence goes into details. Sometimes, in our human intercourse, we\ncannot see the trees for the wood. We cannot see the individual sheep for\nthe flock. We cannot see the personal soul for the masses. We are blinded\nby the bigness of things; we cannot see the individual blades of grass\nbecause of the field.\n\nNow God's vision is not general, it is particular. There are no \"masses\"\nto the Infinite. \"He calleth His own sheep _by name_.\" The single one is\nseen as though he alone possessed the earth. When God looks at the wood He\nsees every tree. When He looks at the race He sees every man.\n\nAnd, therefore, I need not fear that \"my way is overlooked by my God.\" He\nknows every turning. He knows just where the strain begins at the hill. He\nknows the perils of every descent. He knows every happening along the\nroad. He knows every letter that came to me by this morning's post. He\nknows every visitor who knocks at the door of my life, whether the visitor\ncome at the high noon or at the midnight. \"There is nothing hid.\" \"The\nvery hairs of your head are all numbered.\"\n\n\n\n\nMAY The Seventeenth\n\n_MY BODILY INFIRMITIES_\n\nJOHN ix. 1-12.\n\n\nAn infirmity becomes doubly burdensome when we give it a false\ninterpretation. The weight of a thing is determined by our conception of\nit. If I look upon my ailment as the stroke of an offended God, I wear it\nlike the chains of a slave. If I look upon it as the fire of the gracious\nRefiner, I can calmly await the beneficent issue. It is my Lord, engaged\nin chastening His jewels!\n\nAnd so our Master first of all relieves the blind man of the false\ninterpretation of his infirmity. \"_Neither did this man sin, nor his\nparents._\" That lifts the sorrow out of the winter into the spring. It\nsets it in the warm, sweet light of grace. It becomes transfigured. It\nwears a new face, placed there in \"the light of His countenance.\"\n\nAnd then our Lord relieves the blind man of the infirmity itself. The\nministry of blindness was accomplished, and sight was given. No man is\nkept in the darkness a moment longer than infinite love deems good. Our\nLord does not overlook the prison-house, and leave us there forgotten. \"He\nthat keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.\" So cheer thee, my\nsoul! The Lord is on thy side! The Miracle-worker knows His time and \"the\ndreariest path, the darkest way, shall issue out in heavenly day.\"\n\n\n\n\nMAY The Eighteenth\n\n_BLINDED JUDGMENTS_\n\nJOHN ix. 13-25.\n\n\nHere is a ceremonialism which is blind to the humane. Its scrupulous\nritualisms have dried up its philanthropy. It thinks more of etiquette\nthan equity. It esteems genuflexions more than generosity. It values the\nhusk more than the kernel. It is Sabbatarian but not humanitarian. My God,\ndeliver me from all pious conventionalities which make me indifferent to\nthe ailments and cries of my fellow-men!\n\nAnd here is a dense prejudice which is blind to the evident. \"_They did\nnot believe that he had been blind._\" A prejudice can deflect the\njudgment, as subtle magnetic currents can deflect the needle. The film of\nan ecclesiastical prejudice can be so opaque as to make us \"blind to\nfacts.\" We do not \"see things as they are.\" Our perverted eyes give us a\ncrooked world.\n\nAnd here is a bitter violence which is blind to the glory of the Lord. \"We\nknow that this man is a sinner!\" And so it comes to that. Our judgments\ncan become so warped that when we look upon Him, \"who is the chief among\nten thousand and the altogether lovely,\" \"there is no beauty that we\nshould desire Him\"! And therefore let this be my daily prayer, \"Lord, that\nI might receive my sight!\"\n\n\n\n\nMAY The Nineteenth\n\n_THE ROCK OF EXPERIENCE_\n\nJOHN ix. 26-41.\n\n\nThe Lord gains a witness, and a stalwart witness too! First, he stood upon\nhis own inalienable experience. \"_One thing I know, that whereas I was\nblind, now I see._\" Second, he drew his own firm inferences from the\nbeneficence of the work. And, in the third place, he reached his grand\nconclusion. \"_If this man were not of God, He could do nothing._\" A grand\ntestimony, and given by one who \"dared to stand alone!\"\n\nAnd the witness gained a Friend. \"Jesus heard that they had cast him out,\nand when He had found him....\" Our Lord is always seeking the outcasts. He\nnever abandons the abandoned. When the faithful witness is driven into the\nwilderness he finds \"a table spread\" before him \"in the presence of his\nenemies.\" The man who had recovered his sight was cast out, but on the\nthreshold he met his Lord!\n\nAnd further sight was given. By the first sight he could see his parents,\nby the second sight he saw the Son of God. The film was first removed from\nhis eyes, and then from his soul, and he saw \"the glory of the Lord.\" \"And\nhe said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped Him.\"\n\n\n\n\nMAY The Twentieth\n\n_THE LONE CRY IN THE BIG CROWD_\n\nMARK x. 46-52.\n\n\nOur Lord hears the cry of need even when it rises from the midst of the\ntumultuous crowd. A mother can hear the faint cry of her child in the\nchamber above, even when the room resounds with the talk and laughter of\nher guests. And our Lord heard the wail of poor Bartim\u00e6us! That lone,\nsorrowful cry pierced the clamour, \"and Jesus stood still.\" My soul, cry\nto Him! \"Jesus of Nazareth passeth by.\"\n\nAnd Bartim\u00e6us knew what he wanted. He merged all his petitions in one.\n\"Lord, that I might receive my sight!\" And let me, too, come to my Saviour\nwith some great, dominant, all-commanding request. I trifle with my\nMaster. I ask Him for toys, for petty things, while all the time He is\nwaiting to give me \"unsearchable wealth,\" \"sight, riches, healing of the\nmind.\" \"The Lord is great\"; and shall I add, \"and greatly to be _prayed_!\"\n\nAnd how delicately gracious it is that our Lord should attribute the\nmiracle to Bartim\u00e6us himself. \"_Thy faith hath made thee whole!_\" As\nthough the Lord had had no share in the ministry! He makes so much of our\nfaith, and our endeavour, and our obedience. \"If ye had faith as a grain\nof mustard-seed!\" That's all He wants, and miracles are accomplished.\n\n\n\n\nMAY The Twenty-first\n\n_HUMAN FRAILTIES_\n\nISAIAH xlii. 1-7.\n\n\nWhat a winsome revelation of the delicate gentleness of the Lord! \"The\nbruised reed\"--is it the impaired musical reed, that cannot now emit a\nmusical sound, and can only be thrown away? He will not snap it and cast\nit to the void. The discordant life can be made tuneful again: He will put\n\"a new song in my mouth.\"\n\n\"And the smoking flax\"--the life that has lost its fire, and therefore its\nlight, its enthusiasm, and therefore its ideals; the life that is\nsmouldering into the cold ashes of moral and spiritual death! He will not\nstamp it out with His foot. The smouldering fire can be rekindled, a spent\nenthusiasm can be revived. \"He shall baptize you ... with fire!\"\n\nAnd so He comes to minister to the infirm. He comes to restore injured\nfaculty; \"_to open blind eyes_.\" He comes to give vision to restored\nsight: \"_to be a light of the Gentiles_.\" And He comes to endow the\nrestored life with a rich and gracious freedom: \"_to bring out the\nprisoners from the prison_.\" Sight, and light, and freedom! And my Lord is\nat the gate, and these gifts are in His hand.\n\n\n\n\nMAY The Twenty-second\n\n_THE LIGHT AS DARKNESS_\n\nMATTHEW xiii. 10-17.\n\n\nThe condition of the heart determines the quality of my discernment. If\n\"the heart is waxed gross,\" the ears will be \"dull of hearing,\" and the\neyes will be \"closed.\" My spiritual senses gain their acuteness or\nobtuseness from my affections. If my love is muddy my sight will be dim.\nIf my love be \"clear as crystal\" the spiritual realm will be like a\ngloriously transparent air.\n\nAnd the awful nemesis of sin-created blindness is this, that it interprets\nitself as sight. \"The light that is in thee is darkness.\" We think we see,\nand all the time we are the children of the night. We think it is \"the\ndawn of God's sweet morning,\" and behold! it is the perverse flare of the\nevil one. He has given us a will-o'-the-wisp, and we boastfully proclaim\nit to be \"the morning star.\"\n\nBut there is hope for any man, however blind he be, who will humbly lay\nhimself at Jesus' feet. Let this be my prayer, O Lord, \"Cleanse Thou me\nfrom secret faults.\" Deliver me from self-deception, save me from\nconfusing the fixed light of heaven with the wandering beacon-lights of\nhell. And again and again will I pray, \"Lord, that I might receive my\nsight!\"\n\n\n\n\nMAY The Twenty-third\n\n_WIND AND FIRE_\n\nACTS ii. 1-21.\n\n\nThe Holy Spirit will minister to me as a _wind_. He will create an\natmosphere in my life which will quicken all sweet and beautiful growth.\nAnd this shall be my native air. Gracious seeds, which have never awaked,\nshall now unfold themselves, and \"the desert shall rejoice and blossom as\nthe rose.\" It was a saying of Huxley, that if our little island were to be\ninvaded by tropical airs, tropical seeds which are now lying dormant in\nEnglish gardens and fields would troop out of their graves in bewildering\nwealth and beauty! \"Breathe on me, breath of God!\"\n\nAnd the Holy Spirit will minister to me as a _fire_. And fire is our\nsupreme minister of cleansing. Fire can purify when water is impotent. The\ngreat fire burnt out the great plague. There are evil germs which cannot\nbe dealt with except by the searching ministry of the flame. \"He shall\nbaptize you ... _with fire_.\" He will create a holy enthusiasm in my soul,\nan intense and sacred love, which will burn up all evil intruders, but in\nwhich all beautiful things shall walk unhurt.\n\n    \"Kindle a flame of sacred love\n     On these cold hearts of ours.\"\n\n\n\n\nMAY The Twenty-fourth\n\n_CALVARY AND PENTECOST_\n\nACTS ii. 22-36.\n\n\nThe Apostle Peter traces the stream of Pentecostal blessing to a tomb.\nThis \"river of water of life\" has its \"rise\" in a death of transcendent\nsacrifice. And I must never forget these dark beginnings of my eternal\nhope. It is well that I should frequently visit the sources of my\nblessedness, and kneel on \"the green hill far away.\"\n\nIt will save me from having a cheap religion. I shall never handle the\ngifts of grace as though they had cost nothing. There will always be the\nmarks of blood upon them, the crimson stain of incomparable sacrifice.\n\nAnd it will save me from all flippancy in my religious life. When I visit\nthe cross and the tomb, life is transformed from a picnic into a crusade.\nFor that is ever my peril, to picnic on the banks of the river and to\nspend my days in emotional loitering.\n\nAfter all, my Pentecost is purposed to prepare me for my own Gethsemane\nand Calvary! Life is given me in order that I may spend it again in ready\nand fruitful sacrifice.\n\n\n\n\nMAY The Twenty-fifth\n\n_VISIONS AND DREAMS_\n\nJOEL ii. 21-32.\n\n\nAnd this old-world promise is good for me to-day. It is like some\nweather-stained well, whose waters have continued flowing throughout the\ngenerations, right down to my own time. Let me drink!\n\nHoly inspiration will give me insight into the mind of my God. \"_Your sons\nand your daughters shall prophesy._\" The breath of God creates an\natmosphere in which spiritual realities are clearly seen. It is like the\nSabbath air in some busy city, when the fumes and smoke of commerce have\nbeen blown away. \"Thou shalt behold the land that is very far off.\"\n\nAnd so in my younger days holy inspiration will give me visions. \"Your\nyoung men shall see visions.\" I shall be an idealist, and I shall see\nthings as they exist in God's idea, even though at present they be maimed\nand imperfect. I shall see them \"according to the pattern on the Mount.\"\n\nAnd in my later days holy inspiration will give me dreams. \"_Your old men\nshall dream dreams._\" And what shall they dream about? Not like the\nChinese, of a golden age in a distant past, but of a golden age to be.\nTheir dreams shall have a \"forward-looking eye.\" They shall see \"the new\nJerusalem coming down out of heaven from God.\"\n\n\n\n\nMAY The Twenty-sixth\n\n_THE UNITING OF SUNDERED PEOPLES_\n\n\"_On the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost._\"\n--ACTS x. 34-48.\n\n\nAnd this is ever the issue of a true outpouring of the Spirit: sundered\npeoples become one. At \"low tide\" there are multitudes of separated pools\nalong the shore: at \"high tide\" they flow together, and the little\ndistinctions are lost in a splendid union.\n\nIt is so racially. \"Jew and Gentile!\" Peter and Cornelius lose their\nprejudices in the emancipating ministry of the Spirit. And so shall it be\nwith English and Irish, with French and German, with Asiatic and European:\nthey shall be \"all one\" in Christ.\n\nIt is so socially. \"Bond and free!\" The master and the servant shall\ndiscover a glorious intimacy and union. And so shall rich and poor, the\nlearned and the illiterate, the many-talented and the obscure. The pools\nshall flow together.\n\nIt is so ecclesiastically. Our sectarianisms are always most frowning and\nobtrusive when spiritually we are at \"low tide.\" When the tide rises, it\nis amazing how the ramparts are submerged. It is not round-table\nconferences that we need, but seasons of communion when together we shall\nawait the outpouring of the Holy Ghost.\n\n\n\n\nMAY The Twenty-seventh\n\n_RECEIVING THE HOLY GHOST_\n\nACTS ii. 37-47.\n\n\nThe sacred process by which the Holy Spirit is received is the same\nthroughout all the years.\n\nFirst there is _repentance_. And repentance is not a flow of emotion, but\na certain direction of mind. I may repent with dry eyes. It is not a\nmatter of feeling, but of willing. It is to lay hold of the aimless,\ndrifting thought, and _steer it toward God_! It is a change of mind.\n\nSecond, there is a definite and avowed choice of my new Goal, my new Lord\nand King. The Christian life cannot be a subterfuge. It cannot be lived\nincognito. I cannot be the Christ's and wear the livery of an alien power.\nThere must be _confession_, a bold and clarion-like avowal that henceforth\nI am a soldier of the Lord.\n\nAnd the spiritual experiences will be sure, as sure as the law-governed\nprocesses of the material world. There will be \"_remission of sins_.\" The\nold guilt will fall away from my soul as the chains fell from Peter's\nlimbs when the angel touched them. And there will be \"_the gift of the\nHoly Ghost_.\" A new dynamic is mine! I enter into fellowship with the\npower of the ascended Lord.\n\n\n\n\nMAY The Twenty-eighth\n\n_THE SONS OF GOD_\n\n\"_For as many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the sons of God._\"\n--ROMANS viii. 9-17.\n\n\nAnd how unspeakably wealthy are the implications of the great word!\n\nIf a son, then what holy freedom is mine! Mine is not \"_the spirit of\nbondage_.\" The son has \"the run of the house.\" That is the great contrast\nbetween lodgings and home. And I am to be at home with the Lord.\n\nAnd if a son, then heir! \"All things are yours.\" Samuel Rutherford used to\ncounsel his friends to \"take a turn\" round their estate. And truly it is\nan inspiring exercise! The Spirit shall lead me over my estate, and I will\nsurvey, with the sense of ownership, \"the things which God hath prepared\nfor them that love Him.\"\n\nI wonder if I have the manner of a king's son? I wonder if there is\nanything in my very \"walk\" which indicates distinguished lineage and royal\nblood? Or am I like a vagrant who has no possessions and no heartening\nexpectations?\n\n\"Lord, I would serve, and be a son!\"\n\n\n\n\nMAY The Twenty-ninth\n\n_MANY GIFTS--ONE SPIRIT_\n\n1 CORINTHIANS xii. 1-13.\n\n\nThere is no monotony in the workmanship of my God. The multitude of His\nthoughts is like the sound of the sea, and every thought commands a new\ncreation. When He thinks upon me, the result is a creative touch never\nagain to be repeated on land or sea. And so, when the Holy Spirit is given\nto the people, the ministry does not work in the suppression of\nindividualities, but rather in their refinement and enrichment.\n\nOur gifts will be manifold, and we must not allow the difference to breed\na spirit of suspicion. Because my brother's gift is not mine I must not\nsuspect his calling. To one man is given a trumpet, to another a lamp, and\nto another a spade. And they are all the holy gifts of grace.\n\nAnd thus the gifts are manifold in order that every man may find his\ncompleteness in his brother. One man is like an eye--he is a seer of\nvisions! Another man is like a hand--he has the genius of practicality! He\nis \"a handy man\"! One is the architect, the other is the builder. And each\nrequires the other, if either is to be perfected. And so, by God's\ngracious Spirit, the individual man is only a bit, a portion, and he is\nintended to fit into the other bits, and so make the complete man of the\nrace.\n\n\n\n\nMAY The Thirtieth\n\n_FINDING THE DEEP THINGS_\n\n\"_The Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God._\"\n--1 CORINTHIANS ii. 7-12.\n\n\nThe deep things of God cannot be discovered by unaided reason. \"_Eye hath\nnot seen:_\" they are not to be apprehended by the artistic vision. \"_Ear\nhath not heard:_\" they are not unveiled amid the discussion of the\nphilosophic schools. \"_Neither hath entered into the heart of man:_\" even\npoetic insight cannot discern them. All the common lights fail in this\nrealm. We need another illumination, even that provided by the Holy\nSpirit. And the Spirit is offered unto us \"that we might know the things\nthat are freely given to us of God.\"\n\nAnd here we have the reason why so many uncultured people are spiritually\nwiser than many who are learned. They lack talent, but they have grace.\nThey lack accomplishments, but they have the Holy Ghost. They lack the\ntelescope, but they have the sunlight. They are not scholars, but they are\nsaints. They may not be theologians, but they have true religion. And so\nthey have \"the open vision.\" They \"walk with God,\" and \"the deep things of\nGod\" are made known to their souls.\n\nWe must put first things first. We may be busy polishing our lenses when\nour primary and fundamental need is light. It is not a gift that we\nrequire, but a Friend.\n\n\n\n\nMAY The Thirty-first\n\n_CONNECTION AND CONCORD_\n\n\"_By one Spirit are we all baptized into one body._\"\n--1 CORINTHIANS xii. 12-19.\n\n\nIt is only in the spirit that real union is born. Every other kind of\nunion is artificial, and mechanical, and dead. We can dovetail many pieces\nof wood together and make the unity of an article of furniture, but we\ncannot dovetail items together and make a tree. And it is the union of a\ntree that we require, a union born of indwelling life. We may join many\npeople together in a fellowship by the bonds of a formal creed, but the\nresult is only a piece of social furniture, it is not a vital communion.\nThere is a vast difference between a connection and a concord.\n\nMany members of a family may bear the same name, may share the same blood,\nmay sit and eat at the same table, and yet may have no more vital union\nthan a handful of marbles in a boy's pocket. But let the spirit of a\ncommon love dwell in all their hearts and there is a family bound together\nin glorious union.\n\nAnd so it is in the spirit, and there alone, that vital union is to be\nfound. And here is the secret of such spiritual union. \"By one Spirit are\nwe all baptized into one body.\" The Spirit of God, dwelling in all our\nspirits, attunes them into glorious harmony. Our lives blend with one\nanother in the very music of the spheres.\n\n\n\n\nJUNE The First\n\n_THE BEAUTY OF VARIETY_\n\n1 CORINTHIANS xii. 20-31.\n\n\nGod's glory is expressed through the harmony of variety. We do not need\nsameness in order to gain union. I am now looking upon a scene of\nsurpassing loveliness. There are mountains, and sea, and grassland, and\ntrees, and a wide-stretching sky, and white pebbles at my feet. And a\nwhite bird has just flown across a little bank of dark cloud. What\nvariety! And when I look closer the variety is infinitely multiplied.\nEverything blends into everything else. Nothing is out of place.\nEverything contributes to finished power and loveliness. And so it is in\nthe grander sphere of human life. The glory of humanity is born of the\nglory of individuals, each one making his own distinctive contribution.\n\nAnd thus we have need of one another. Every note in the organ is needed\nfor the full expression of noble harmony. Every instrument in the\norchestra is required unless the music is to be lame and broken. God has\nendowed no two souls alike, and every soul is needed to make the music of\n\"the realm of the blest.\"\n\n\n\n\nJUNE The Second\n\n_OUR SPIRITUAL GUIDE_\n\n\"_When He, the Spirit of truth, is come,\nHe will guide you into all truth._\"\n--JOHN xvi. 7-14.\n\n\nHow great is the difference between a guide-post and a guide! And what a\ndifference between a guide-book and a companion! Mere instructions may be\nvery uninspiring, and bare commandments may be very cold. Our Guide is an\ninseparable Friend.\n\nAnd how will He guide us? He will give us insight. \"He will guide you into\nall truth.\" He will refine our spirits so that we may be able to\ndistinguish \"things that differ,\" and that so we may know the difference\nbetween \"the holy and the profane.\" Our moral judgment is often dull and\nimperceptive. And our spiritual judgment is often lacking in vigour and\npenetration. And so our great Spirit-guide puts our spirits to school, and\nmore deeply sanctifies them, that in holiness we may have discernment.\n\nAnd He will also give us foresight. He will enable us to interpret\ncircumstances, to apprehend their drift and destiny. We shall see harvests\nwhile we are looking at seeds, whether the seeds be seeds of good or evil.\nAll of which means that the Holy Spirit will deliver our lives from the\ngovernance of mere whim and caprice, and that He will make us wise with\nthe wisdom of God.\n\n\n\n\nJUNE The Third\n\n_THE SAFETY OF THE OCCUPIED HEART_\n\nGALATIANS v. 16-25.\n\n\nTwo friends were cycling through Worcestershire and Warwickshire to\nBirmingham. When they arrived in Birmingham I asked them, among other\nthings, if they had seen Warwick Gaol along the road. \"No,\" they said, \"we\nhadn't a glimpse of it.\" \"But it is only a field's length from the road!\"\n\"Well, we never saw it.\" Ah, but these two friends were lovers. They were\nso absorbed in each other that they had no spare attention for Warwick\nGaol. Their glorious fellowship made them unresponsive to its calls. They\nwere otherwise engaged.\n\n\"Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh.\" That\ngreat Companionship will make us negligent of carnal allurements. \"The\nworld, and the flesh, and the devil\" may stand by the wayside, and hold\ntheir glittering wares before us, but we shall scarcely be aware of their\npresence. We are otherwise engaged. We are absorbed in the \"Lover of our\nsouls.\"\n\nThis is the only real and effective way to meet temptation. We must meet\nit with an occupied heart. We must have no loose and trailing affections.\nWe must have no vagrant, wayward thoughts. Temptation must find us engaged\nwith our Lover. We must \"offer no occasion to the flesh.\" Walking with the\nHoly One, our elevation is our safety.\n\n\n\n\nJUNE The Fourth\n\n_LIFE'S REAL VALUES_\n\nPROVERBS viii. 10-19.\n\n\nHere is a man who knows the relative values of things. \"_Instruction is\nbetter than silver_\"; \"_knowledge rather than choice gold_\"; \"_wisdom is\nbetter than rubies._\" He weighs the inherent worth of things, and puts his\nchoice upon the best.\n\nLet me remember that \"all is not gold that glitters.\" The leaden casket is\noften the shrine of the priceless scroll. The glaring and the theatrical\nhave often a ragged and seamy interior, and won't bear \"looking into.\" A\nman may have much display and be very lonely; he may have piles of wealth\nand be destitute of joy. His libraries may cover an acre, and yet he may\nhave no light. And a man may have only \"a candle, and a table, and a bed,\"\nand he may be the companion of the eternal God.\n\nI would seek these priceless things. And I would \"_seek them early_.\" I\nhave so often been late in the search. I have given the early moments to\nseeking the world's silver and gold, and the later weary moments have been\nidly devoted to God. \"They that seek Me early shall find Me.\" Let me put\n\"first things first.\" \"Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His\nrighteousness.\"\n\n\n\n\nJUNE The Fifth\n\n_THE SPEECH OF EVENTS_\n\nACTS xiii. 14-23.\n\n\nDo I sufficiently remember the witness of history? Do I reverently listen\nto the \"great voice behind me\"? God has spoken in the speech of events.\n\"Day unto day\" has uttered speech. There has been a witness in national\nlife, sometimes quiet as a fragrance, and sometimes \"loud as a vale when\nstorms are gone.\" Is it all to me as though it had never been, or is it\npart of the store of counsel by which I shape and guide my life?\n\nAnd do I sufficiently remember my own providences, \"_all the way my God\nhas led me_\"? When a day is over, do I carry its helpful lamp into the\nmorrow? Do I \"learn wisdom\" from experience? That is surely God's purpose\nin the days; one is to lead on to another in the creation of an ever\nbrightening radiance, that so at eventide it may be light.\n\nAnd do I sufficiently remember that I, too, am making history for my\nfellows who shall succeed me? What kind of a witness will it be? Grim and\nfull of warning, like the pillar of salt, or winsome and full of\nheartiness, like some \"sweet Ebenezer\" built by life's way? Let me pray\nand labour that my days may so shine with grace that all who remember me\nshall adore the goodness of my Lord.\n\n\n\n\nJUNE The Sixth\n\n_LOVE'S EXPENDITURES_\n\n1 JOHN iii. 11-18.\n\n\nHereby perceive we the love of God, because \"_He laid down His life for\nus_.\" And the real test of any love is what it is prepared to \"lay down.\"\nHow much is it ready to spend? How much will it bleed? There is much\nspurious love about. It lays nothing down; it only takes things up! It is\nself-seeking, using the speech and accents of love. It is a \"work of the\nflesh,\" which has stolen the label of a \"fruit of the Spirit.\" Love may\nalways be known by its expenditures, its self-crucifixions, its Calvarys.\nLove is always laying down its life for others. Its pathway is always a\nred road. You may track its goings by the red \"marks of the Lord Jesus.\"\n\nAnd this is the life, the love-life, which the Lord Jesus came to create\namong the children of men. It is His gracious purpose to form a spiritual\nfellowship in which every member will be lovingly concerned about his\nfellows' good. A real family of God would be one in which all the members\nbleed for each, and each for all.\n\nHow can we gain this disposition of love? \"God is love.\" \"We love because\nHe first loved us.\" At the fountain of eternal love we too may become\nlovers, becoming \"partakers of the divine nature,\" and filled with all\n\"the fulness of God.\"\n\n\n\n\nJUNE The Seventh\n\n_MORAL SURGERY_\n\nGALATIANS vi. 1-8.\n\n\nThis is a surgical operation in the realm of the soul. A man has been\n\"_overtaken in a fault_,\" some evil passion has pounced upon him, and he\nis broken. Some holy relationship has been snapped, and he is crippled in\nhis moral and spiritual goings. Perhaps his affections have been broken,\nor his conscience, or his will. Or perhaps he has lost his glorious hope\nor the confidence of his faith. Here he is, a broken man, the victim of\nhis own broken vows, lame and halt in the pilgrim-way! And some surgeon is\nneeded to re-set the dislocation, and to make him whole again.\n\nAnd who is to be the surgeon? \"_Ye which are spiritual restore such a\none._\" The men who live under the control of God's Spirit are to be the\nsurgeons for broken hearts and souls. When a man has fallen by reason of\nsin, the Christian is to be a Good Samaritan, seeking to restore the\ncripple to health and strength again. We are to kneel and minister to him,\nbinding up his wounds, giving him the balm and cordial of oil and wine.\n\nAnd what is to be the spirit of the surgeon? \"The spirit of meekness.\" We\nare not to be supercilious, for the \"touch\" of pride is never the minister\nof healing. We are to heal as though some day we may need to be healed.\n\n\n\n\nJUNE The Eighth\n\n_THE NEW BIRTH_\n\nJOHN iii. 1-21.\n\n\nHere is the Life in contact with the icy legalism of the day. Nicodemus\nwas a Pharisee, and his piety was cold and mechanical. Religion had become\na bloodless obedience to lifeless rules. Men cared more about being proper\nthan about being holy. Modes were emphasized more than moods. An external\npose was esteemed more highly than an internal disposition. The popular\nSaint lived on \"the outsides of things.\"\n\nThen came the Life. And what will He say to the externalist? \"Ye must be\nborn again.\" Nothing else could He have said. If the mechanical is to\nbecome the vital there is nothing for it but a new birth. To get from the\noutside into the inside of things, from the letter into the spirit, we\nneed the miracle of renewal, the recreating ministry of grace.\n\nAnd so it is to-day. The ritualistic is vitalized by the evangelistic. If\nthe mechanical is to become the spontaneous, there is need of the \"well of\nliving water, springing up unto eternal life.\" When we are born again,\nritual becomes helpful trellis for the spiritual flowers; the outward form\nbecomes the helpmeet of redeeming grace.\n\n\n\n\nJUNE The Ninth\n\n_THE STORY OF A SORROWFUL SOUL_\n\nPSALM iii.\n\n\nThis tearful little psalm tells me where a sorrowful soul found a place of\nhelp and consolation. He resorted to God.\n\n\"_Thou art a shield about me._\" He got the Lord between him and his\ncircumstances. There is nothing else subtle enough to interpose. Our\nhurtful circumstances are so invasive and so immediate that only God can\ncome between us and them. But when God gets in between we are immune.\n\"Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear.\"\n\n\"_Thou art my glory._\" And that is an honour that need never be stained.\nMy worldly glory can be besmirched. An evil man throws mud, and my poor\nreputation is gone. \"There's always somebody ready to believe it!\" But my\nglory with God, and in God--man's mud cannot touch that fair fame! Even\nAbsalom cannot defile that resplendent robe.\n\n\"_Thou art the lifter-up of my head._\" The flower is \"looking up\" again!\nIn the Lord's presence we recover our lost spirits. \"He restoreth my\nsoul.\" \"And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round\nabout me.\"\n\n\n\n\nJUNE The Tenth\n\n_PILLARS OF CLOUD AND FIRE_\n\n\"_The Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud._\"\n--EXODUS xiii. 17--xiv. 4.\n\n\nI need His leadership in the daytime. Sometimes the daylight is my foe. It\ntempts me into carelessness. I become the victim of distraction. The\n\"garish day\" can entice me into ways of trespass, and I am robbed of my\nspiritual health. Many a man has been faithful in the twilight and night\nwho has lost himself in the sunshine. He went astray in his prosperity:\nsuccess was his ruin. And so in the daytime I need the shadow of God's\npresence, the cooling, subduing, calming influence of a friendly cloud.\n\n\"_And by night in a pillar of fire._\" And I need God's leadership in the\nnight. Sometimes the night fills me with fears, and I am confused. The\ndarkness chills me, sorrow and adversity make me cold, and I shiver along\nin uncertain going. But my God will lead me as a presence of fire. He will\nkeep my heart warm even in the midnight, and He will guide me by the\nkindlings of His love. There shall be \"nothing hid from the heat thereof.\"\nAnd my bewildering fears shall flee away, and I will sing \"songs in the\nnight.\"\n\n\n\n\nJUNE The Eleventh\n\n_THE PATH ACROSS THE SEA_\n\n\"_Thy way is in the sea._\"\n--PSALM lxxvii. 11-20.\n\n\nAnd the sea appears to be the most trackless of worlds! The sea is the\nvery symbol of mystery, the grim dwelling-house of innumerable things that\nhave been lost. But God's way moves here and there across this trackless\nwild. God is never lost among our mysteries. He knows his way about. When\nwe are bewildered He sees the road, and He sees the end even from the\nbeginning. Even the sea, in every part of it, is the Lord's highway. When\nHis way is in the sea we cannot trace it. Mystery is part of our appointed\ndiscipline. Uncertainty is to prepare us for a deeper assurance. The\nspirit of questioning is one of the ordained means of growth. And so the\nbewildering sea is our friend, as some day we shall understand. We love to\n\"lie down in green pastures,\" and to be led \"beside the still waters,\" and\nGod gives us our share of this nourishing rest. But we need the mysterious\nsea, the overwhelming experience, the floods of sorrows which we cannot\nexplain. If we had no sea we should never become robust. We should remain\nweaklings to the end of our days.\n\nGod takes us out into the deeps. But His way is in the sea. He knows the\nhaven, He knows the track, and we shall arrive!\n\n\n\n\nJUNE The Twelfth\n\n_WAITING FOR THE SPECTACULAR_\n\n\"_The waves covered their enemies....\nThen believed they His words._\"\n--PSALM cvi. 1-12.\n\n\nTheir faith was born in a great emergency. A spectacular deliverance was\nneeded to implant their trust in the Lord. They found no witness in the\nquiet daily providence; the unobtrusive miracle of daily mercy did not\nawake their song. They dwelt upon the \"special\" blessing, when all the\ntime the really special blessing was to be found in the sleepless care\nwhich watched over them in their ordinary and commonplace ways.\n\nIt is the old story. We are wanting God to appear in imperial glory; and\nHe comes among us as a humble carpenter. We want great miracles, and we\nhave the daily Providence. We see His dread goings in the earthquake; we\ndo not feel His presence in the lilies of the field. We watch Him in the\nsmoke and flames of Vesuvius; we do not recognize His footprints in the\nlittle turf-clad hill that is only a few yards from our own door.\n\nIt is a great day when we discover our God in the common bush. That day is\nmarked with glory when our daily bread becomes a sacrament. When we enjoy\na closer walk with God, common things will wear the hues of heaven.\n\n\n\n\nJUNE the Thirteenth\n\n_CLOUDED BUT NOT LOST!_\n\n\"_Clouds and darkness are round about Him._\"\n--PSALM xcvii.\n\n\nWhen Lincoln had been assassinated, and word of the tragedy came to New\nYork, \"the people were in a state of mind which urges to violence.\" A man\nappeared on the balcony of one of the newspaper offices, waving a small\nflag, and a clear voice rang through the air: \"Fellow-citizens! Clouds and\ndarkness are round about Him! His pavilion is dark waters, and thick\nclouds of the skies! Justice and judgment are the habitation of His\nthrone! Fellow-citizens, God reigns!\" It was the voice of General\nGarfield.\n\nThat voice proclaimed the divine sovereignty, even when the heavens were\nblack with the menace of destruction. Lincoln had been assassinated, but\nGod lived! Human confusion does not annihilate His throne. God liveth!\n\"The firm foundation standeth sure.\" This is the only rock to stand upon\nwhen the clouds have gathered, and the waters are out, and the great deeps\nare broken up. God's sceptre does not fall from His grasp, nor is snatched\nby alien hands. The throne abideth. Joy will rise from the apparent chaos\nas springs are unsealed by the earthquake. He will bring fortune out of\nmisfortune; the darkness shall be the hiding-place of His grace.\n\n\n\n\nJUNE The Fourteenth\n\n_THE LAW IN THE HEART_\n\n\"_I will put My laws into their hearts._\"\n--HEBREWS x. 16-22.\n\n\nEverything depends on where we carry the law of the Lord. If it only rests\nin the memory, any vagrant care may snatch it away. The business of the\nday may wipe it out as a sponge erases a record from a slate. A thought is\nnever secure until it has passed from the mind into the heart, and has\nbecome a desire, an aspiration, a passion. When the law of God is taken\ninto the heart, it is no longer something merely remembered: it is\nsomething loved. Now things that are loved have a strong defence. They are\nin the \"keep\" of the castle, in the innermost custody of the stronghold.\nThe strength of the heart is wrapped about them, and no passing vagrant\ncan carry them away.\n\nAnd this is where the good Lord is willing to put His laws. He is wishful\nto put them among our loves. And the wonderful thing is this: when laws\nare put among loves they change their form, and His statutes become our\nsongs. Laws that are loved are no longer dreadful policemen, but\ncompassionate friends. \"O! how I love Thy law!\" That man did not live in a\nprison, he lived in a garden, and God's will was unto him as gracious\nflowers and fruits. And so shall it be unto all of us when we love the law\nof the Lord.\n\n\n\n\nJUNE The Fifteenth\n\n_THE KING'S GUESTS_\n\n\"_Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord?_\"\n--PSALM xxiv.\n\n\nWho shall be permitted to pass into the sanctuary of the cloud, and have\ncommunion with the Lord in the holy place? \"He that hath clean hands.\"\nThese hands of mine, the symbols of conduct, the expression of the outer\nlife, what are they like? \"Your hands are full of blood.\" Those hands had\nbeen busy murdering others, pillaging others, brutally ill-using their\nfellow-men. We may do it in business. We may do it in conversation. We may\ndo it in a criminal silence. Our hands may be foul with a brother's blood.\nAnd men and women with hands like these cannot \"ascend into the hill of\nthe Lord.\" There must be no stain of an unfair and scandalous life.\n\n\"And a pure heart.\" We need not trouble about the hands if the heart be\nclean. If all the presences that move in the heart--desires, and motives,\nand sentiments, and ideals--are like white-robed angels \"without spot, or\nwrinkle, or any such thing,\" everything that emerges into outer life will\nshare the same radiant purity. The heart expresses itself in the hands.\nCharacter blossoms in conduct. The quality of our current coin is\ndetermined by the quality of the metal in the mint. \"As a man thinketh in\nhis heart, so is he.\"\n\n\n\n\nJUNE The Sixteenth\n\n_SINAI AND CALVARY_\n\nHEBREWS xii. 18-28.\n\n\nWe need not live at the foot of Mount Sinai. It is like living at the foot\nof Mount Pelee, the home of awful eruption, and therefore the realm of\ngloom and uncertainty and fear. We are not saved by law, neither indeed\ncan we be. Neither can law heal us after our transgressions and defeats.\nThe law has nothing for prodigal men but \"blackness, and darkness, and\ntempest.\" It has no sound but dreaded decree, no message but menace, no\nlook but a frown. Who will build his house at the foot of Mount Sinai?\n\n\"But ye are come unto Mount Zion.\" Our true home is not at Sinai, but at\nCalvary. There is no place for the sinner at the first mount; at the\nsecond mount there is a place for no one else. At Calvary we may find our\nway back to the holiness we lost at Sinai. Through grace we may drop the\nburden of our sin and begin to wear the garments of salvation. The way\nback to heaven is by \"the green hill, without a city wall.\" It is a mount\nthat can be reached by the most exhausted pilgrim; and the one who has\n\"spent all\" will assuredly find a full restoration of life at the gate of\nhis Saviour's death. \"Ye are come to Jesus, the mediator of the new\ncovenant.\"\n\n\n\n\nJUNE The Seventeenth\n\n_THE INVISIBLE PRESENCE_\n\n\"_Show me Thy glory._\"\n--EXODUS xxxiii. 12-23.\n\n\nMoses wist not what he asked. His speech was beyond his knowledge. The\nanswer to his request would have consumed him. He asked for the blazing\nnoon when as yet he could only bear the quiet shining of the dawn. The\ngood Lord lets in the light as our eyes are able to bear it. The\nrevelation is tempered to our growth. The pilgrim could bear a brightness\nin Beulah land that he could not have borne at the wicket-gate; and the\nbrilliance of the entry into the celebrated city throws the splendours of\nBeulah into the shade. Yes, the gracious Lord will unveil His glory as our\n\"senses are exercised to receive it.\"\n\n\"My Presence shall go with thee.\" That is all the glory we need upon the\nimmediate road. His companionship means everything. The real glory is to\npossess God; let Him show us His inheritance as it shall please Him.\nLife's glory is to \"feel Him near.\" When the loving wife feels that the\nhusband is in the house, and when the loving husband feels that the wife\nis in the house, that is everything! The joy of each other's presence is\nthe crown of married bliss. And so it is with the soul that is married to\nthe Lord: His presence is the soul's delight. \"Thou, O Christ, art all I\nwant.\" \"O Master, let me walk with Thee.\"\n\n\n\n\nJUNE The Eighteenth\n\n_THE BENEFITTED AS BENEFACTORS_\n\n\"_Who comforteth us ... that we may be able to comfort._\"\n--2 CORINTHIANS i. 3-7.\n\n\nAnd how does the Lord comfort us? He has a thousand different ways, and no\none can ever tell by what way the comfort will come to his soul. Sometimes\nit comes by the door of memory, and sometimes by the door of hope.\nSometimes it is borne to us through the ministry of nature, and at other\ntimes through the ministry of human speech and kindness. But always, I\nthink, it brings us the sense of a Presence, as though we had a great\nFriend in the room, and the troubled heart gains quietness and peace. The\nmist clears a little, and we have a restful assurance of our God.\n\nNow comforted souls are to be comforters. They who have received benefits\nof grace are to be benefactors. They who have heard the sweet music of\nGod's abiding love are to sing it again to others. They who have seen the\nglory are to become evangelists. We must not seek to hoard spiritual\ntreasure. As soon as we lock it up we begin to lose it. A mysterious moth\nand rust take it away. If we do not comfort others, our own comfort will\nturn again to bitterness; the clouds will lower and we shall be imprisoned\nin the old woe. But the comfort which makes a comforter grows deeper and\nricher every day.\n\n\n\n\nJUNE The Nineteenth\n\n_RECKONING UP THINGS_\n\nPSALM xc. 1-12.\n\n\nNumbering things is one of the healthful exercises of the spiritual life.\nUnless we count, memory is apt to be very tricky and to snare us into\nstrange forgetfulness. Unless we count what we have given away, we are\nvery apt to exaggerate our bounty. We often think we have given when we\nhave only listened to appeals; the mere audience has been mistaken for\nactive beneficence. The remedy for all this is occasionally to count our\nbenevolences and see how we stand in a balance-sheet which we could\npresent to the Lord Himself.\n\nAnd we must count our blessings. It is when our arithmetic fails in the\ntask, and when counting God's blessings is like telling the number of the\nstars, that our souls bow low before the eternal goodness, and all\nmurmuring dies away \"like cloud-spots in the dawn.\"\n\nAnd we must also \"number our days.\" We are wasteful with them, and we\nthrow them away as though they are ours in endless procession. And yet\nthere are only seven days in a week! A day is of immeasurable\npreciousness, for what high accomplishment may it not witness? A day in\nhealth or in sickness, spent unto God, and applied unto wisdom, will\ngather treasures more precious than rubies and gold.\n\n\n\n\nJUNE The Twentieth\n\n_THE REVEALING PRESENCE OF THE LORD_\n\nEPHESIANS vi. 1-10.\n\n\nA starling never reveals the richness of its hues until we see it in the\nsunlight. A duty never discloses its beauties until we set it in the light\nof the Lord. It is amazing how a dull road is transfigured when the\nsunshine falls upon it! God's grace reveals the graces in all healthy\nthings. Hidden lovelinesses troop out when we set them in the presence of\nthe Lord.\n\nAnd so the Apostle counsels an obedience which is \"in the Lord.\" He wants\nus to know how beautiful common things can be when they are linked to\nChrist. And what he says about obedience he says about everything. One of\nthe great secrets in the teaching of Paul is expressed in just this\nphrase, \"in the Lord,\" \"in Christ.\" It meant connection with a power-house\nwhose energy would light up all the common lamps of life--the lamps of\nhope, of faith, of love, of daily labour, and of human service.\n\nAnd this is the secret of the Christian life. We need no other; at least,\nall other secrets are involved in this. If we attend to this little\npreposition \"in,\" we have entry into the infinite. If we are \"in Christ,\"\nwe are in the kingdom of everything that endures, and we are outside\nnothing but sin.\n\n\n\n\nJUNE The Twenty-first\n\n_ROOM FOR THE SAPLINGS_\n\n\"_Children crying in the temple, saying Hosanna!_\"\n--MATTHEW xxi. 1-16.\n\n\nChildren's voices mingling in the sounds of holy praise! A little child\ncan share in the consecrated life. Young hearts can offer love pure as a\nlimpid spring. Their sympathy is as responsive as the most sensitive harp,\nand yields to the touch of the tenderest joy and grief. No wonder the Lord\n\"called little children unto Him\"! They were unto Him as gracious streams,\nand as flowers of the field.\n\nLet the loving Saviour have our children. Let there be no waiting for\nmaturer years. Maturity may bring the impaired faculty and the embittered\nemotion. Let Him have things in their beginnings, the seeds and the\nsaplings. Let Him have life before it is formed, before it is \"set\" in\nfoolish moulds. Let us consecrate the cradle, and the good Lord will grow\nand nourish His saints.\n\n\n\n\nJUNE The Twenty-second\n\n_CHILDLIKENESS_\n\nMARK ix. 33-41.\n\n\nIt is the child-spirit that finds life's golden gates, and that finds them\nall ajar. The proudly aggressive spirit, contending for place and power,\nmay force many a door, but they are not doors which open into enduring\nwealth and peace. Real inheritances become ours only through humility.\n\nThe proud are, therefore, self-deceived. They think they have succeeded\nwhen they have signally failed. They have the shadow, but they have missed\nthe substance. They may have the applause of the world, but the angels\nsigh over their defeat. They pride themselves on having \"got on\"; the\nangels weep because they have \"gone down.\"\n\nWhen we grow away from childlikeness we are \"in a decline.\" \"God resisteth\nthe proud; He giveth grace to the humble.\" The lowly make great\ndiscoveries; to them the earth is full of God's glory.\n\n\n\n\nJUNE The Twenty-third\n\n_THE GREATEST BENEFACTORS_\n\nMATTHEW x. 29-42.\n\n\nIt is a very wonderful thing that the finest services are within the power\nof the poorest people. The deepest ministries find their symbols in \"cups\nof cold water,\" which it is in the power of everybody to give. The great\nbenefactors are the great lovers, and their coin is not that of material\nmoney, but the wealth of the heart. A bit of affection is worth infinitely\nmore than the gift of a necklace of pearls. To kindle hope in a fainting\nsoul is far more precious than to adorn the weary pilgrim with dazzling\ngems. \"He brought me heaps of presents, but I was hungering for love!\"\nSuch was the pathetic cry of one who was \"clothed in purple and fine\nlinen, and fared sumptuously every day.\"\n\n\"Cups of cold water,\" simple ministries of refreshment, the love-thought,\nthe love-prayer, the love-word--these are the privileged services of all\nof us. And everybody needs these gentle and gracious services of\nrefreshment, and often there is greatest need where there seems to be\nleast.\n\n\n\n\nJUNE The Twenty-fourth\n\n_AT EASE IN ZION_\n\n\"_Woe to them that are at ease in Zion!_\"\n--AMOS vi. 1-7.\n\n\nI would be delivered from the folly of confusing ease and rest. There is\nan infinite difference between comforts and comfort. It is one thing to\nlie down on a luxurious couch: it is a very different thing to \"lie down\nin green pastures\" under the gracious shepherdliness of the Lord. The ease\nwhich men covet is so often a fruit of stupefaction, the dull product of\nsinful drugs, the wretched sluggishness of carnal gratification and\nexcess. The rest which God giveth is alive and wakeful, abounding in\ntireless and fruitful service. \"Oh, rest in the Lord.\"\n\nBut is it not a strange thing that men can be \"at ease in Zion\"? That they\ncan play the beast in the holy place? Zion was full of holy memory, and\nabounded with suggestions of the Divine Presence. And yet here they could\ncarouse, and lose themselves in swinish indulgence! A little while ago I\nsaw a beautiful old church which had been turned into a common\neating-house!\n\nMy soul, be on thy guard. Be watchful and diligent, and busy thyself in\nthe practice of \"self-knowledge, self-reverence, self-control.\"\n\n\n\n\nJUNE The Twenty-fifth\n\n_DESOLATIONS WROUGHT BY SIN_\n\n\"_The Lord hath spoken this word._\"\n--ISAIAH xxiv. 1-12.\n\n\n\"The Lord hath spoken this word,\" and it is a word of judgment. It unveils\nsome of the terrible issues of sin.\n\nSee the effects of sin upon the spirit of man. \"_The merry-hearted do\nsigh._\" Life loses its wings and its song. The buoyancy and the optimism\ndie out of the soul. The days move with heavy feet, and duty becomes very\nstale and unwelcome. If only our ears were keen enough we should hear many\na place of hollow laughter moaning with troubled and restless sighs. The\nsoul cannot sing when God is defied.\n\nBut see another effect of sin. \"_The earth moaneth._\" That is a frequent\nnote in Bible teaching. The forces of nature are mysteriously conditioned\nby the character of man. When man is degraded, nature is despoiled. The\nbeauty of the garden is checked when man has lost his crown. \"The whole\ncreation groaneth in pain,\" waiting for the manifestation of the children\nof God.\n\nSin spreads desolation everywhere. When I sin, I become the centre of\ndemoralizing forces which influence the universe. And so let me ever pray,\n\"Deliver me from evil.\"\n\n\n\n\nJUNE The Twenty-sixth\n\n_CRUCIFYING THE FLESH_\n\n\"_Arm yourselves likewise with the same mind._\"\n--1 PETER iv. 1-8.\n\n\nLet not the body be dominant, but the soul. Let me study the example and\ncounsel of the Apostle Paul.\n\n\"_I keep my body under._\" Literally, I pummel it! If it is obtrusive and\naggressive, its appetites clamouring for supremacy, I pummel it! Paul was\nnot afraid of severe measures where carnality was concerned. He would fast\na whole day in order to put the flesh in its place. And so should it be\nwith all the Lord's children. We are too self-indulgent. It is well at\ntimes to put the body on the cross, and crucify its cravings.\n\n\"_Give no occasion to the flesh._\" Do not give it a chance of mastery!\nAnd, therefore, do not feed it with illicit thought. Turn the mind away\nfrom the subjects in which the body will find exciting stimulant. It is\nthought which awakes passion, and thought can do much to destroy it. \"Set\nyour mind on things which are above.\" Keep the mind pure, and the swine\nwill never enter the holy place.\n\n\n\n\nJUNE The Twenty-seventh\n\n_GOD IS LIGHT!_\n\n\"_In Him is no darkness at all._\"\n--1 JOHN i.\n\n\nThat wonderful mansion of God's Being is gloriously radiant in every room!\nIn the house of my life there are dark chambers, and rooms which are only\npartially illumined, the other parts being in the possession of night.\nSome of my faculties and powers are dark ministers, and some of my moods\nare far from being \"homes of light.\" But \"God is light,\" and everything is\nglorious as the meridian sun! His holiness, His grace, His love, His\nmercy: there are no dark corners where uncleanness hides; everything\nshines with undimmed and speckless radiancy!\n\nAnd if I \"walk in the light,\" I, too, shall become illumined. \"They looked\nunto Him and were lightened.\" We are fashioned by our highest\ncompanionships. We acquire the nature of those with whom we most\nconstantly commune.\n\nAnd the light He gives is also fire. It will burn away our sin. We may\nmeasure the reality and strength of our communion by the destruction of\nour sin. A great burning will be proceeding in our life, and one evil\nhabit after another will be in the love-furnace of purification. The Lord\nstill \"purifies Jerusalem by the spirit of burning.\"\n\n\n\n\nJUNE The Twenty-eighth\n\n_THE WAITING LIGHT_\n\n2 CORINTHIANS iv. 1-6.\n\n\nI can shut out the sweet light of the morning. I can refuse to open the\nshutters and draw up the blinds. And I can shut out the Light of life. I\ncan draw the thick blinds of prejudice, and close the impenetrable\nshutters of sin. And the Light of the world cannot get into my soul.\n\nAnd I can let in the waiting light of the morning, and flood my room with\nits glory. And the Light is \"a gracious, willing guest.\" No fuss is\nneeded, no shouting is required. Open thy casement, and the gracious guest\nis in! And my Lord has no reluctance in His coming; we have not to drag\nHim to our table. Open thy heart, and the Lord is in!\n\nAnd when the light is within there will be radiance at the windows. And\nwhen the Lord is shining in our hearts there will be a witness in the\nlife. Men will see that we are \"with Jesus,\" because we are \"light in the\nLord.\"\n\nGood Lord, deliver me from \"the god of this world\" lest I be blinded and\nbecome unable to see Thee! I open my heart to Thee! Shine in, Thou light\nof life, and make my soul the radiant witness of Thy grace.\n\n\n\n\nJUNE The Twenty-ninth\n\n_EFFECTUAL PRAYERS_\n\n\"_The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much._\"\n--JAMES v. 13-20.\n\n\nOr, as Weymouth translates it, \"The heartfelt supplication of a righteous\nman exerts a mighty influence.\" Prayer may be empty words, with no more\npower than those empty shells which have been foisted upon the Turks in\ntheir war with the Balkan States. Firing empty shells! That is what many\nprofessed prayers really are; they have nothing in them, and they\naccomplish nothing. They are just forged upon the lips, and they drop to\nthe earth as soon as they are spoken. Effectual prayers are born in the\nheart; they are stocked with heart-treasure, with faith, and hope, and\ndesire, and holy urgency, and they go forth with power to shake the world.\n\nWhat are my prayers like? _If I were God, could I listen to them?_ Are\nthey mere pretences at prayer, full of nothing but sound? Is there any\nreasonable ground for assuming that they can accomplish anything? Or are\nmy prayers weighted with sincere desire? Do they comprehend my brother's\ngood as well as my own? Are they spoken in faith? Do they go forth in\ngreat expectancy? Then do they surely \"exert a mighty influence,\" and they\nbecome fellow-labourers with all God's ministries of grace. The greatest\nthing I can do is greatly to pray.\n\n\n\n\nJUNE The Thirtieth\n\n_GOD MY STRENGTH AND SONG_\n\n\"_The Lord is my strength and my song._\"\n--PSALM cxviii. 14-21.\n\n\nYes, first of all \"my strength\" and then \"my song\"! For what song can\nthere be where there is languor and fainting? What brave music can be born\nin an organ which is short of breath? There must first be strength if we\nwould have fine harmonies. And so the good Lord comes to the songless, and\nwith holy power He brings the gift of \"saving health.\"\n\n\"And my song\"! For when life is healthy it instinctively breaks into song.\nThe happy, contented soul goes about the ways of life humming its\nsatisfactions to itself, and is now and again heard by the passer-by. The\nLord fills the life with instinctive music. When life is holy it becomes\nmusical with His praise.\n\nSo here I see the appointed order in Christian service. It is futile to\ntry to make people joyful unless we do it by seeking first to make them\nstrong. First the good, and then the truly happy! First the holy, and then\nthe musical. First God, and then the breath of His Holy Spirit, and then\n\"the new song.\"\n\n\n\n\nJULY The First\n\n_THE LIFE OR THE LIGHT OF MEN_\n\n\"_In Him was life._\"\n--JOHN i. 1-18.\n\n\nNot merely a pool of life, but the well-spring. All rivers of enriching\nvitality have their source in Him. Nowhere is there a crystal stream which\nwas not born at the Fountain. Let us make our claim for the Lord\nall-comprehensive and inclusive. Whatever energizes body, mind, or soul,\nhas its origin in our Sovereign King. \"All our springs are in Thee.\" \"Thou\nof life the Fountain art.\"\n\n\"_And the life was the light of men._\" And what did He not light up? His\namazing rays streamed down the darkest ways of men, and illumined the\nvast, sombre chambers of human circumstance. He lit up sin and showed its\ntrue colour! He lit up sorrow, and transfigured it! He lit up duty, and\ngave it a new face. He lit up common work, and glorified it. He lit up\ndeath, and we could see through it! But, above all, He lit up God, and\n\"the people that sat in darkness saw a great light.\"\n\n\"_And the darkness apprehended it not._\" The darkness could not lay hold\nof it and quench it! It was not overwhelmed and eclipsed by the murkiest\nfog of prejudice, or by the dingiest antagonism of sinful pride. \"The\nlight showeth in the darkness,\" inviolable and invincible!\n\n\n\n\nJULY The Second\n\n_LIGHT AND LIGHTNING_\n\n\"_And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him._\"\n--ISAIAH xi. 1-10.\n\n\nAnd the spirit is one of light! All the doors and windows are open. His\ncorrespondences are perfect and unbroken. He is of \"quick understanding,\"\nkeen-scented to discern the essences of things, alert to perceive the\nreality behind the semblance, to \"see things as they are.\" All the great\nprimary senses are awake, and He has knowledge of every \"secret place.\"\n\n\"_He shall smite ... with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His\nlips shall He slay._\" The spirit of light follows a crusade of holiness.\nThe light becomes lightning! The \"breathing,\" which cools the\nfever-stricken, can also become a hot breath, which wastes and destroys\nevery plant of evil desire. It is an awful thing, and yet a gracious\nthing, that \"our God is a consuming fire.\" It was foretold of our Lord\nthat He should baptize \"with fire.\"\n\nAnd this crusade of holiness is in the ministry of peace. He will burn\naway all that defileth, in order that He may create a profound and\npermanent fellowship. When His work is done, there will be a mingling of\napparent opposites, and antagonisms will melt into a gracious union. \"The\nsucking child will play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall\nput his hand on the adder's den.\"\n\n\n\n\nJULY The Third\n\n_MY ELDER BROTHER_\n\nHEBREWS ii. 9-18.\n\n\nAnd doth my Lord call me one of His brethren? Let me leisurely think upon\nit, until my very soul moves amid my affairs in noble and hallowed\ndignity. If I steadily remember \"who I am,\" it will assuredly transfigure\n\"what I am.\" I lose the sense of my high kinship, and then I am quite\ncontent to be \"sent into the fields to feed swine.\"\n\nAnd my elder Brother came to \"destroy the works of the devil.\" That is the\nentire ministry of destruction. Nothing beautiful does He destroy, nothing\nwinsome: only the insidious presences which are the foes of these things.\nHe will destroy only the pestiferous microbes which ravage the vital peace\nof the soul. Our Lord is the enemy of the deadly, and therefore of \"him\nthat had the power of death--that is, the devil!\"\n\nAnd in this holy ministry of destruction He can defend my soul as \"one who\nknows,\" Himself \"having been tempted.\" He knows the subtlety of the devil,\nand where the soul is most perilously exposed, and He is therefore \"able\nto succour them that are tempted.\"\n\n\n\n\nJULY The Fourth\n\n_EMPTYING ONESELF_\n\n\"_He emptied Himself._\"\n--PHILIPPIANS ii. 1-11.\n\n\nIn Mr. Silvester Horne's garden a very suggestive scene was one day to be\nwitnessed. A cricketer of world-wide renown was playing a game with Mr.\nHorne's little four-year-old son! And the fierce bowler \"emptied himself,\"\nand served such gentle, dainty little balls that the tiny man at the\nwickets was not in the least degree afraid! And the Lord of glory \"emptied\nHimself,\" fashioning Himself to our \"low estate,\" and in His unspeakably\ngentle approaches we find our peace.\n\nAnd I, too, am to seek a corresponding lowliness of mind in order that I,\ntoo, may be of service to my weak and needy brother. It is for me to empty\nmyself of the pride of strength, the brutal aggressiveness of success, the\nsometimes unfeeling obtrusiveness of health; I must empty myself, and \"get\ndown\" by the side of weakness and infirmity, and in gentle fellowship\nhumbly proffer my help.\n\nAnd if the mind is to be in me \"which was also in Christ Jesus,\" it is\nneedful for me to commune with Him \"without ceasing.\" His gentleness can\nmake me great.\n\n\n\n\nJULY The Fifth\n\n_THE DISCIPLESHIP THAT TELLS_\n\n\"_He that followeth Me._\"\n--JOHN viii. 12-20.\n\n\nYes, but I must make sure that I follow Him in Spirit and in truth. It is\nso easy to be self-deceived. I may follow a pleasant emotion, while all\nthe time a bit of grim cross-bearing is being ignored. I may be satisfied\nto be \"out on the ocean sailing,\" singing of \"a home beyond the tide,\"\nwhile all the time there is a piece of perilous salvage work to be done\nbeneath the waves. To \"follow Jesus\" is to face the hostility of scribes\nand Pharisees, to offer restoring friendship to publicans and sinners, to\npray in blood-shedding in Gethsemane, to brave the derision of the brutal\nmob, and to be \"ready\" for the appalling happenings on Calvary! Therefore,\nfollowing is not a light picnic; it is a possible martyrdom!\n\nBut if I set my face \"to go,\" the Lord Himself will visit me with \"_the\nlight of life_.\" And the resource shall not be broken and spasmodic: it\nshall be mine without ceasing. \"Be thou faithful ... and I will give\nthee ... life.\" That life will flow into my soul, just as the oxygenating\nair flows down to the diver who is faithfully busy recovering wreckage\nfrom the wealth-strewn bed of the mighty sea. Let me be faithful, and\nevery moment the Lord will crown me with His own vitalizing life!\n\n\n\n\nJULY The Sixth\n\n_LIFE AS A VOICE_\n\nJOHN i. 19-34.\n\n\nThis man humbly desires to be \"_a voice_.\" He has no ambition to receive\npopular homage. He does not covet the power of the lordly purple. He does\nnot crave to be a great person; he only wants to be a great voice! He\nwants to articulate the thought and purpose of God. He is quite content to\nbe hidden, like a bird in a thick bush, if only his song may be heard.\n\nAnd in order that he may be a voice he retires into the silent solitudes\nof the desert. He will listen before he speaks. Come thou, my soul, into\nhis secret! The air is clamorous with speech behind which there has been\nno hearing. Men speak, and in their words there is no pulse of the\nInfinite. In their consolations there is no balm. In their reproaches\nthere is no sword. Their words are empty vessels, full of sound! Let my\nvoice be hushed until I have heard the voice of the Highest. \"He that hath\nears to hear, let him hear.\"\n\nAnd when he spake, it was in clear and definite testimony, \"Behold the\nLamb of God!\" The \"voice\" succeeded, for men began to look away from the\nherald to the herald's Lord. In forgetting John they found the King. They\npassed the _signpost_, and arrived at _home_!\n\n\n\n\nJULY The Seventh\n\n_IN THE GOLDEN AGE_\n\nISAIAH xl. 1-10.\n\n\nAnd so these things are to happen when the Lord has come to His own, and\nHis decrees are honoured in our midst.\n\nCertain _inequalities_ are to be ended. Valleys are to be exalted, and\nmountains are to be made low. There is to be a levelling! Men are to be\nequal in freedom and opportunity.\n\nCertain _crookednesses_ are to be ended. They are to be \"made straight.\"\nSociety has become warped with the heat of lust, and the fierce fever of\ncompetition, and the hot, devouring fires of greed. When the Lord is\nenthroned the fires will be put out, the heat will pass, and the twisted\nfellowships will be rectified.\n\nCertain _roughnesses_ are to be ended. Class works against class with\njagged edge, like the teeth of a saw. They tear and rend one another, and\nthe family of God is always bleeding. These \"rough places\" are to be \"made\nplain.\" We are to \"work in to one another,\" smoothly, congenially, in a\nfrictionless peace.\n\nAnd this Lord is coming, coming every day, and \"His arm shall rule for\nHim.\" \"Say unto the cities of Judah--Behold your God!\"\n\n\n\n\nJULY The Eighth\n\n_WHAT MANNER OF MAN?_\n\nMATTHEW xi. 7-15.\n\n\nThere are some men who are only as _desert reeds_! They move to the breath\nof the desert wind. They bend before it, no matter in what way it may be\nblowing. They never resist the wind. They never become \"hiding places from\nthe wind,\" stemming a popular drift. They are the victims of passing\nopinions, and are swayed by the current passions.\n\nAnd some men are \"_clothed in soft raiment_\"! They shrink from the rough\nfustian, the labourer's cotton smock, the leather suit of George Fox. They\nare ultra-\"finicky.\" They are afraid of the mire. They touch the sorrows\nof the world with a timid finger, not with the kindly, healing grasp of a\nsurgeon.\n\nAnd other men are \"_prophets_\"! They have a secret fellowship with the\nInfinite. When we listen to them it is like putting one's ear to the\nseashell: we catch the sound of the ocean roll. \"The voice of the Great\nEternal dwells in their mighty tones.\"\n\nAnd others are \"_children of the Kingdom_.\" They are greater than the old\nprophets, because the mystic voice has become a Presence, and they have\n\"seen the Lord.\" The veil has been rent, and they \"walk in the light\" as\n\"children of light.\"\n\n\n\n\nJULY The Ninth\n\n_SCHOLARS IN CHRIST'S SCHOOL_\n\n\"_He taught His disciples._\"\n--MARK ix. 30-37.\n\n\nAnd my Lord will teach me. He will lead me into \"the deep things\" of God.\nThere is only one school for this sort of learning, and an old saint\ncalled it the Academy of Love, and it meets in Gethsemane and Calvary, and\nthe Lord Himself is the teacher, and there is room in the school for thee\nand me.\n\nBut the disciples were not in the mood for learning. They were not\nambitious for heavenly knowledge, but for carnal prizes, not for wisdom,\nbut for place. \"They disputed one with another who was the greatest.\" And\nthat spirit is always fatal to advancement in the school of Christ. Our\npetty ambitions close the door and windows of our souls, and the heavenly\nlight can find no entrance. We turn Gethsemane into \"a place of strife,\"\nand we carry our clamour even to Calvary itself. From this, and all other\nsinful folly, good Lord, redeem us!\n\nThey who would be great scholars in this school must become \"as little\nchildren.\" Through the child-like spirit we attain unto God-like wisdom.\nBy humility is honour and life.\n\n\n\n\nJULY The Tenth\n\n_THE GREAT RENUNCIATION_\n\nMATTHEW xvii. 1-13.\n\n\nWhat if the Transfiguration was the type of the purposed consummation of\nevery life? If we had remained \"without sin,\" it may be that we should\nhave gradually ripened up to a moment when we should have become\ntransfigured, and in the surpassing brilliance have been translated to\nhigher planes of being. Perhaps our Lord had reached this material\nconsummation, and was now on the wonderful border land, and could by\nchoice slip into \"the glory!\"\n\nBut He made another choice. And this was, of a truth, the \"great\nrenunciation!\" He turned His back on the glory, and deliberately faced the\ndarkening way which led to Calvary and the grave. I do not wonder that His\nmysterious visitors spake with Him \"of the decease which He should\naccomplish at Jerusalem.\" He could talk about nothing else! He \"set His\nface to go.\"\n\nAnd in my Master's choice of death I find my hope of life. Through \"the\ndark gate\" I can find \"the mount.\" My transfiguration is made possible in\nHis humiliation. If my Lord had never descended I could never have\nascended. If He had abode on the mount I should have remained in my sin.\nHe has \"opened to me the gates of righteousness.\"\n\n\n\n\nJULY The Eleventh\n\n_THE FRIEND OF THE BRIDEGROOM_\n\n\"_He that hath the bride is the bridegroom._\"\n--JOHN iii. 23-36.\n\n\nWe ministers sometimes speak of \"my church.\" I occasionally read of Mr.\nSo-and-So's church! I know that the phrase is colloquially used, but\nnevertheless, it is unfortunate. Words that are perversely used tend to\npervert the spirit. And this phrase tends to displace the Bridegroom. It\nhelps to make us obtrusive, unduly aggressive, when we ought to be\nreverently hiding our faces with our wings. The Bride is His!\n\n\"_But the friend of the bridegroom._\" That is my place, and that is my\ndignity. And what a title it is, making me a member of the finest and most\nselect aristocracy in heaven or on earth! The \"friend of the bridegroom\"\nused to carry messages to the bride, to share in the wooing, and to help\nto bring the wedding about. And that, too, is my gracious office, to be a\nmatch-maker for my Lord, to testify concerning Him, to speak His praises,\nuntil the soul \"fall in love\" with Him.\n\n\"_He must increase, but I must decrease._\" Yes, when the sun is rising the\nmoon becomes dim! When the glory of the Bridegroom breaks upon the bride\nHe becomes \"all in all,\" \"the chief among ten thousand, and the altogether\nlovely.\"\n\n\n\n\nJULY The Twelfth\n\n_PREPARING HIS SERVANTS_\n\nJOHN i. 35-51.\n\n\nOur Lord does not stumble upon His disciples by accident. His discoveries\nare not surprises. He knows where His nuggets lie. Before He calls to\nservice He has been secretly preparing the servant. \"I girded thee, though\nthou hast not known Me.\"\n\nHe knew all about Simon. \"_Thou art Simon_\"--just a _listener_, not yet a\nstrong, bold doer: a man of many opinions not yet consolidated into the\ntruth of experimental convictions. \"_Thou shalt be called Peter._\" Simon\nbecome Peter! Loose gravel become hard rock! Hear-says become the\n\"verilies\" of unshakable experience! The Lord proclaims our glorious\npossibilities.\n\nAnd He knew all about Nathanael. \"_When thou wast under the fig-tree I saw\nthee._\" \"In that secret meditation of thine, when thy wishes and desires\nwere being born, 'I saw thee!'\" \"When others saw nothing, I had fellowship\nwith thee in the secret place.\"\n\nAnd He knows all about thee and me. \"I know My sheep.\" We do not take Him\nby surprise. He does not come in late, and find the performance half over!\nHe is in at our beginnings, when grave issues are being born. \"I am\nAlpha.\"\n\n\n\n\nJULY The Thirteenth\n\n_PLAIN GLASS_\n\n\"_They were fishers._\"\n--MATTHEW iv. 12-22.\n\n\nAnd so our Lord went first to the fishing-boats and not to the schools.\nLearning is apt to be proud and aggressive, and hostile to the\nsimplicities of the Spirit. There is nothing like plain glass for letting\nin the light! And our Lord wanted transparent media, and so He went to the\nsimple fishermen on the beach. \"God hath chosen the foolish things of the\nworld.\"\n\nAnd by choosing labouring men our Master glorified labour. He Himself had\nworn the workman's dress, and the garment which the King wears becomes\nregal attire. Yes, the workingman, if he only knew it, is wearing the\nimperial robe. He is one of the kinsmen of the Lord of Glory!\n\nOur Lord took the fisherman's humble calling, and made it the symbol of\nspiritual service. \"_I will make you fishers of men._\" And He will do the\nsame for thee and me. He will turn our daily labour into an apocalypse,\nand through its ways and means He will make us wise in the ministry of the\nkingdom. He will make the material the handmaid of the spiritual, and\nthrough the letter He will lead us into the secret places of the soul.\n\n\n\n\nJULY The Fourteenth\n\n_THE POSSIBILITIES OF THE UNLIKELY_\n\nMATTHEW ix. 1-13.\n\n\nA Disciple from among the publicans! In what waste places our Lord Jesus\nfinds His jewels! What exquisite possibilities Ruskin saw in a pinch of\ncommon dust! What radiant glory the lapidary can see in the rough,\nunpolished gem! The Lord loves to go into the unlikely place, and lead\nforth His saints. \"In the wilderness shall waters break out!\"\n\nWe must prayerfully cultivate this sacred confidence in the possibilities\nof the unlikely. We can never be successful helpers of the Lord unless we\ncan see the diamond in the soot, and the radiant saint in the disregarded\npublican. It is a most gracious art to cultivate, this of discerning a\nman's possible excellencies even in the blackness of his present shame. To\nsee the future best in the present worst, that is the true perception of a\nchild of light.\n\n\"O give us eyes to see like Thee!\" Well, this is the medium of\nvision:--\"Blessed are the pure in heart, for _they shall see_ God,\" and\nthe god-like, even in the wilderness of sin. \"Anoint thine eyes with\neye-salve, that thou may'st see!\"\n\n\n\n\nJULY The Fifteenth\n\n_THE DAILY CROSS_\n\nLUKE ix. 18-26.\n\n\nOur Lord never bribes His disciples by promising them ways of sunny ease.\nHe does not buy them with illicit gold. He does not put the glittering\ncrown upon the entrance-gate, and hide the cross behind the wall. No: on\nthe very first stage of the sacred pilgrimage there falls \"the shadow of\nthe Cross.\" \"_Let him take up his cross daily, and follow Me._\"\n\nAnd yet, the Lord's blessing is hidden in the apparent curse. In the act\nof bearing the cross we increase our strength. That is the heartening\nparadox of grace. Virtuous energies pass from our very burdens into our\nspirits, and thus \"out of the eater comes forth meat.\" We bravely shoulder\nour load, and lo! a mystic breath visits the heart, and a strange facility\nattends our goings! The dead cross becomes a tree of life, and a secret\nvitality renews our souls.\n\nHow foolish, then, O heart of mine, to avoid and evade Thy cross! Refuse\nthe burden, and thou declinest the strength! Ignore the duty, and thou\nshalt feel no inspiration! Carefully husband thy blood, and thou shalt\nremain for ever an\u00e6mic! But lose thy life, and thou shalt find it!\n\n\n\n\nJULY The Sixteenth\n\n_THE VINE AND THE BRANCH_\n\nJOHN xv. 1-16.\n\n\nI need the Lord. What can a branch do apart from the vine? It may retain a\ncertain, momentary greenness, but death is advancing apace. And there are\nmultitudes of professing Christians who are like detached branches; their\nspiritual life is ebbing away: they do not startle the beholder and cause\nhim to exclaim, \"How full of life!\" They do not _strike_ at all! They have\nno splendid \"_force_ of character,\" and they therefore exercise no\narresting witness for the King. They are not \"abiding\" in the Eternal, and\ntherefore there is no powerful pulse from the Infinite. \"Apart from Me ye\ncan do nothing!\"\n\nAnd my Lord needs me. For the vine has need of the branch! The vine\nexpresses itself in the branch, and comes to manifestation in leaf, and\nflower, and fruit. And my Lord would manifest Himself in me, and cause my\nbranch to be heavy with the glorious fruits of His grace. And if I deprive\nHim of the branch, and deny Him this means of expression, I am \"limiting\nthe Holy One of Israel.\" \"My son, give Me thine heart!\"\n\nLord, help me to abide in Thee! Save me from the follies of a fatal\nindependence! Good Lord, \"Abide in me.\"\n\n\n\n\nJULY The Seventeenth\n\n_THE DYING OF SELF_\n\nJOHN xii. 12-36.\n\n\n\"Except a corn of wheat ... die!\" Yes, it is through death we pass to\nlife. Discipleship in which there is no death can never be truly alive.\nThe nipping winter is essential to the green and flowery spring. No tomb,\nno resurrection glory! In every life there must be a grave, and self must\nbe buried within it.\n\nWe must die to self _in our prayers_. In many prayers self is obtrusive\nand aggressive from end to end. It is self, self, self! That self must be\ncrucified. We must make more room for others in our supplications. On our\nknees the egotist must die, and the altruist be born. And \"if it die, it\nbringeth forth much fruit\"! There are multitudes of professing Christians\nwho would experience a wonderful resurrection if they were more \"given to\nhospitality\" in their communion with the Lord.\n\nAnd if self die in our prayers, nowhere else will it be seen. That which\nis truly slain when we are upon our knees will not reassert itself when we\nreturn to common ways of work and service. And, therefore, let the corn of\nwheat fall into the ground and die!\n\n\n\n\nJULY The Eighteenth\n\n_THE MESMERISM OF THE WORLD_\n\nMATTHEW xix. 23-30.\n\n\nMaterial possessions multiply our spiritual difficulties. It is hard for a\nrich man \"_to enter into the kingdom of heaven_.\" For what is the kingdom?\nIt is \"righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.\" It is easy\nfor a rich man to appear respectable, but how hard is it to be holy! He\nmay surround himself with comforts, but how hard to get into peace! He may\nmove in the cold gleam of a glittering happiness, but how hard to get into\nthe rich, warm quietness of an abiding joy! Yes, our material possessions\nso easily range themselves as ramparts between us and our destined\nspiritual wealth.\n\nAnd if we find that any material thing so mesmerizes us that we are held\nin fatal bondage, we are to sacrifice it. \"If thine eye offend thee, pluck\nit out, and cast it from thee!\" Whatever interposes itself between us and\nour Lord must go! It is a hard way, but it leads to a sound and boisterous\nhealth. We verily \"receive an hundredfold!\" We lose \"a thing,\" and gain a\ngrace. We lose fickle sensations and gain abounding inspiration. We lose\nthe world, and gain the Lord!\n\n\n\n\nJULY The Nineteenth\n\n_THE WRATH OF THE LAMB_\n\nJOHN ii. 13-22.\n\n\nThe narrative of the cleansing follows the story of the wedding-feast. In\nthe one the Lord has taken the spirit of the sanctuary into a worldly\nfeast, and thereby illumined and glorified the feast. In the other, the\nspirit of the world has invaded the sanctuary, and thereby defiled and\ndishonoured it. The spirit of worldliness, like an unclean, insurgent\nflood, would enter and possess the entire realm of human life and service.\nAnd here it converted a legitimate convenience into an unhallowed\nbusiness. It transformed a needful expedient into an unholy end. It fixed\nits tables in the very courts of the Temple, and exalted the quest of\nmoney above the worship of God.\n\n\"_And He made a scourge of cords._\" And is this \"the Lamb of God\"? Yes,\n\"the Lamb of God\" is also \"the lion of Judah.\" The mild sunshine can\nbecome focussed into scorching flame! As soon as blessings touch sin they\nbecome curses. \"For this was the Son of Man manifested, that He might\ndestroy the works of the devil.\"\n\nMy soul, remember thou the scourge of thy Lord, and do not trifle in His\nholy place! Seek thou the clean hands and the pure heart, and the thunders\nof Sinai shall come to thee as beatific music from the hill.\n\n\n\n\nJULY The Twentieth\n\n_DEFILING THE HOLY PLACE_\n\nMARK xi. 11-19.\n\n\nIt was a teaching of the old Rabbis that no one should make a thoroughfare\nof the Temple, or enter it with the dust upon his feet. The teaching was\nfull of sacred significance, however far their practice may have departed\nfrom its truth.\n\nLet me not use the Temple as a mere passage to something else. Let me not\nuse my religion as an expedient for more easily reaching \"the chief seats\"\namong men. Let me not put on the garments of worship in order that I may\nreadily and quickly fill my purse. Let me not make the sanctuary \"a short\ncut\" to the bank!\n\nAnd let me not carry the dust of the world on to the sacred floor. Let me\n\"wipe my feet.\" Let me sternly shake off some things--all frivolity,\neaseful indifference, the spirit of haste and self-seeking. Let me not\ndefile the courts of the Lord.\n\nAnd let me remember that \"the whole earth is full of His glory.\"\nEverywhere, therefore, I am treading the sacred floor! Lord, teach me this\nhigh secret! Then shall I not demean the Temple into a market, but I shall\ntransform the market into a temple. \"Lo, God is in this place, and I knew\nit not!\"\n\n\n\n\nJULY The Twenty-first\n\n_PURIFYING THE SANCTUARY_\n\n2 CHRONICLES xxix. 1-11, 15-19.\n\n\nWorship has vital connections with work. There are nerve-relationships\nbetween the heart and the hand. The condition of the sanctuary is\nreflected in the state of the empire. If there is uncleanness in \"the holy\nplace,\" there will be blight and degeneracy among the people. The fatal\nseeds of national instability and decay are not found in economics; they\nare found in the sanctuary. \"Until I went into the sanctuary ... then\nunderstood I!\"\n\nHezekiah cleansed \"the house of the Lord.\" He cast forth the filthiness\nout of the holy place. He ushered in his golden age with the reformation\nof worship. He recalled exiled and white-robed Piety to her appointed\nthrone. He began the re-establishment of right by recognizing the rights\nof God. He gave the Lord His due! All our rights are born out of our\n\"being right\" with God! We begin to be rich when we cease to rob God!\n\n\"_And when the burnt offering began, the song of the Lord began also._\"\nThat is ever so. Our real songs begin with our sacrifices. We enter the\nrealm of music when we enter the realm of self-surrender. A willing\noffering, on a clean altar, introduces the soul into \"the joy of the\nLord.\"\n\n\n\n\nJULY The Twenty-second\n\n_VISIONS AND TASKS_\n\n2 CHRONICLES xxxiv. 1-11.\n\n\nJosiah \"_began to seek after God_.\" The other day I saw a young art\nstudent copying one of Turner's pictures in the National Gallery. His eyes\nwere being continually lifted from his canvas to his \"master.\" He put\nnothing down which he had not first seen. He was \"seeking after\" Turner!\n\nAnd thus it was with Josiah. His eyes were \"ever toward the Lord!\" He\nstudied the \"ways\" of the Lord, in order that he might incarnate them in\nnational life and practice. Wise doings always begin in clear seeing. We\nshould be far more efficient in practice if we were more diligently\nassiduous in vision. It is never a waste of time to \"look unto Him.\"\nLooking is a most needful part of our daily discipline. \"What I say unto\nyou, I say unto all, _Watch_!\"\n\nAnd because Josiah saw the holiness of the Lord he saw the uncleanness of\nthe people. He had a vision of God's holy place, and he therefore saw the\ndefilement of the material worship.\n\n\"_In the twelfth year he began to purge Judah._\" Yes, that is the\nsequence. The reformer follows the seer. We shall begin to sweep the\nstreets of our own city when we have gazed upon the glories of the holy\ncity, the New Jerusalem.\n\n\n\n\nJULY The Twenty-third\n\n_A GREAT SOUL AT PRAYER_\n\n2 CHRONICLES vi. 12-21.\n\n\nLet me reverently study this great prayer in order that, when I go to the\nhouse of God, I may be able to enrich its ministry by the wealth of my own\nsupplications.\n\nSolomon prayed that the eyes of the Lord might be open toward the house\n\"day and night.\" Like the eyes of a mother upon her child! Like the eyes\nof a lover upon his beloved! And therefore it is more than protective\nvision; shall we reverently say that it is _inventive_ vision, devising\ngracious surprises, anticipating needs, preparing love-gifts; it is sight\nwhich is both insight and foresight, ever inspecting and prospecting for\nthe loved one's good.\n\nAnd Solomon prayed that God's ear might be open to the cry of His people's\nneed. \"_Hear Thou from Thy dwelling-place._\" He prayed that the house of\nGod might be the place of open communion. That is ever the secret of\npeace, and therefore of power. If I know that I have correspondence with\nthe Holy One, I shall walk and work as a child of light. If God hear me,\nthen I can sing!\n\nAnd Solomon prays for the grace of forgiveness. He prays for the sense of\nsweet emancipation which is the gift of grace. It is the miracle of\nrenewal, and it ought to happen every time we open the doors of the\nsanctuary.\n\n\n\n\nJULY The Twenty-fourth\n\n_LOVE OF THE SANCTUARY_\n\nPSALM lxxxiv.\n\n\nGracious is the strength of this man's desire for the holy place. He\ncovets the privilege of the very sparrow which builds its nest beneath the\nsacred eaves! When he is away from the Temple its worship and music haunt\nhis mind and soul. It wooes him in the market-place. Its insistent call is\nwith him by the fireside. Yes, \"in his heart are the highways to Zion!\"\n\nAnd the permanency of this devotional mood transfigures every place. It\nturns \"_the valley of weeping_\" into \"_a place of springs_.\" The colour of\nany place is largely determined by our moods. It is surprising what\ntreasures we find when our soul is full of light. What discoveries old\nScrooge made when the Christmas mood possessed his own heart! When we\ncarry about the spirit of the sanctuary, we convert every spot into rich\nand hallowed ground.\n\n\"_I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of my God than to dwell in\nthe tents of wickedness._\" Better to have the temple-spirit, even as a\nmenial, than the unhallowed heart in the glittering high places of sin.\n\"God's worst is better than the devil's best.\"\n\n\n\n\nJULY The Twenty-fifth\n\n_NO TEMPLE THEREIN_\n\n\"_And I saw no temple therein!_\"\n--REVELATION xxi. 22-27.\n\n\nAnd that because it was all temple! \"Every place was hallowed ground.\"\nThere was no merely localized Presence, because the Presence was\nuniversal. God was realized everywhere, and therefore the little\nmeeting-tent had vanished, and in place of the measurable tabernacle there\nwere the immeasurable and God-filled heavens.\n\nEven here on earth I can measure my spiritual growth by the corresponding\nenlargement of my temple. What is the size of my sanctuary? Am I moving\ntoward the time when nothing shall be particularly hallowed because all\nwill be sanctified? Are the six days of the week becoming increasingly\nlike the seventh, until people can see no difference between my Monday\nmanners and my Sunday mood? And how about places? Do I still speak of\n\"religion being religion,\" and \"business being business,\" or is something\nof the sanctuary getting into my shop, and is the exchange becoming a\nside-chapel of the Temple?\n\n\"_And the Lamb is the light thereof._\" When we have done with the local\ntemple we can dispose of its candles. When we pass out of the twilight\ninto the morning \"the stars retire.\" The fore-gleams will change into the\nwondrous glory of the ineffable day.\n\n\n\n\nJULY The Twenty-sixth\n\n_THE WELLS OF SALVATION_\n\nJOHN iii. 1-21.\n\n\nThe springs of our redemption are found in infinite love. \"God is love!\"\nRedemption was not inspired by anger, but by grace. We do not contemplate\nan angry God, demanding a victim, but a compassionate Father making a\nsacrifice. At one extreme of our golden text is eternal \"love,\" and at the\nother extreme is \"eternal life.\" What if the two are one? Etymologically,\n\"love\" and \"life\" are akin. What if they are only two names for the same\nthing?\n\nTo \"believe\" in the love is to receive the life. For when I believe in a\nperson's love I open my doors to the lover. And to believe in the love of\nGod is to let the heavenly Lover in. And with love comes a wonderful\ntropical air--light, and warmth, and air; and \"all things become new!\" It\nis the letting in of the spring, and things which have been in wintry\nbondage awake, and arise from their graves.\n\nAnd so I \"_enter into the kingdom of God_.\" I become a native of a new and\nmarvellous country. I begin to be acclimatized in the realm of the blest.\nAnd I \"_see_ the kingdom of God.\" Spiritual perceptions become mine, and I\ngaze upon the mystic glories of the home of God.\n\n\n\n\nJULY The Twenty-seventh\n\n_THE WORK OF FAITH_\n\n1 JOHN v. 1-13.\n\n\nAnd so by belief _I find life_. I do not obtain the vitalizing air through\ncontroversy, or clamour, or idle lamentation, but by opening the window!\nFaith opens the door and window of the soul to the Son of God. It can be\ndone without tears, it can be done without sensationalism. \"If any man\nwill open the door, I will come in.\" \"And he that hath the Son hath the\nlife.\"\n\nAnd by belief _I gain my victories_. \"Who is he that overcometh ... but he\nthat believeth?\" It is not by flashing armour that we beat the devil, but\nby an invincible life. On these battlefields a mystic breath does more\ndestruction than all our fine and costly expedients. To believe is to\nobtain the winning spirit, and every battle brings its trophies to our\nfeet.\n\nAnd by belief _I gain assurance_. \"He that believeth ... hath the witness\nin him.\" So many Christians fight in doubt and indecision, and their\nuncertainty impairs their strength and skill. It is the man who can\nquietly say \"I know\" who is terrible in battle and who drives his foes in\nconfusion from the field.\n\n\n\n\nJULY The Twenty-eighth\n\n_ALL THINGS NEW!_\n\n2 CORINTHIANS v. 14-21.\n\n\nHere is a new constraint! \"The love of Christ constraineth me.\" The love\nof Christ _carries me along like a crowd_. I am taken up in its mighty\nmovement and swept along the appointed road! Or it _arrests me_, and makes\nme its willing prisoner. It lays a strong hand upon me, and I have no\noption but to go. A gracious \"necessity is laid upon me.\" _I must!_\n\nAnd here is a new world. \"_Old things are passed away._\" The man who is\nthe prisoner of the Lord's love will find himself in new and wonderful\nscenery. Everything will wear a new face--God, man, self, the garden, the\nsky, the sea! We shall look at all things through love-eyes, and it is\namazing in what new light a great love will set familiar things!\nCommonplaces become beautiful when looked at through the lens of Christian\nlove. When we \"walk in love\" our eyes are anointed with \"the eye-salve\" of\ngrace.\n\nAnd here is a new service. \"We are ambassadors ... for Christ.\" When we\nsee our Lord through love-eyes, and then our brother, we shall yearn to\nserve our brother in Christ. We shall intensely long to tell the\nlove-story of the Lord our Saviour. What we have seen, with confidence we\ntell.\n\n\n\n\nJULY The Twenty-ninth\n\n_NAMES AND NATURES_\n\nROMANS viii. 1-10.\n\n\nMen will recognize my Christianity by the sign of the Spirit of Christ.\nAnd they will accept no other witness. I saw a plant-pot the other day,\nfull of soil, bearing no flower, but flaunting a stick on which was\nprinted the word \"Mignonette.\" \"Thou hast a name to live and art dead.\"\nThe world will take no notice of our labels and our badges: it is only\narrested by the flower and the perfume. \"If any man hath not the Spirit of\nChrist he is none of His.\"\n\nAnd in the Spirit of Christ I shall best deal with \"_the things of the\nflesh_.\" There are some things which are best overcome by neglecting them.\nTo give them attention is to give them nourishment. Withdraw the\nattention, and they sicken and die. And so I must seek the fellowship of\nthe Spirit. That friendship will destroy the other. \"Ye cannot serve God\nand Mammon.\" If I am in communion with the Holy One the other will pine\naway, and cease to trouble me.\n\nLord, make my spirit a kinsman of Thine! Let the intimacy be ever deeper\nand dearer. \"Draw me nearer, blessed Lord,\" until in nearness to Thee I\nfind my peace, my joy, and my crown.\n\n\n\n\nJULY The Thirtieth\n\n_SIN AS POISON_\n\nNUMBERS xxi. 4-9.\n\n\nAnd this is the familiar teaching, that sin is a serpent. It possesses a\ndeadly poison. We may give it pleasant names, but we are only ornamenting\ndeath. A chemist might put a poison into a chaste and elegant flask, but\nhe has in no wise changed its nature. And when we name sin by philosophic\neuphemisms, and by less exacting terminologies--such as \"cleverness,\"\n\"smartness,\" or \"fault,\" or \"misfortune,\" we are only changing the flask,\nand the diabolical essence remains the same.\n\nAnd, then, sin is a serpent because it is so subtle. It creeps into my\npresence almost before I know it. Its approaches are so insidious, its\nexpedients so full of guile. \"Therefore, I say unto all, Watch!\"\n\nBut in Christ the old serpent is dead! Christ \"became sin,\" and in Him sin\nwas crucified. The thing that bit is bitten, and its nefarious power\ndestroyed. But out of Christ the serpent is still busy and malicious,\nclaiming what he presumes to call his own.\n\nLet me, then, dwell in Christ, where sin \"has no more dominion.\"\n\"Whosoever believeth shall not perish but have life.\"\n\n\n\n\nJULY The Thirty-first\n\n_THE CLEAN FLAME OF LOVE_\n\n1 JOHN iv. 4-14.\n\n\nThis aged apostle cannot get away from the counsels of love. All his\nmental movements circle about this \"greatest thing in the world.\" Once he\nwould \"call down fire upon men\"; now the only fire he knows is the pure\nand genial flame of love. Beautiful is it when our fires become cleaner as\nwe get older, when temper changes to compassion, when malice becomes\ngoodwill, when an ill-controlled conflagration becomes a homely fireside.\n\nAnd all the love we acquire we must get from the altars of God. \"We love\nbecause He first loved us.\" We can find it nowhere else. \"Love is of God.\"\nWhy, then, not seek it in the right place? Why seek for palms in arctic\nregions, or for icebergs in the tropics? God is the country of love, and\nin His deep mines there are riches \"unsearchable.\"\n\nAnd the gracious law of life is this, that every acquisition of love\nincreases our powers of discernment. \"He that loveth knoweth...!\" It is as\nthough every jewel we find gives us an extra lens for the discovery of\nfiner jewels still. And thus the love-life is a continual surprise, and\nthe surprise will be eternal, for the object of the wonder is the infinite\nlove of God.\n\n\n\n\nAUGUST The First\n\n_GOD AS OUR ALLY!_\n\nROMANS viii. 31-39.\n\n\n\"If God is for us!\" But we must make sure of that. Is God on the field,\ntaking sides with us? Have we been so busy with our preparations, so\nconcerned with many things, and everybody, that we have forgotten our\ngreatest possible Ally? Is He on the field, and on which side! My soul, go\non thy knees, and settle this in secret. That purpose of thine! That\nchoice of thine! That work of thine! Is it hallowed with thy Lord's\napproval and seal?\n\nAnd \"if God is for us, who can be against us?\" Nothing else counts. It is\never a foolish and futile thing to count the heads in the opposing ranks.\n\"God is always on the side of the big battalions!\" It is a black lie of\nthe devil! We need not fear the big battalions if only we are securely in\nthe right. We are not to count heads, but to weigh and estimate causes.\nWhich of the causes provides a tent for the Lord of Hosts? Where has the\ntruth its waving flag? Stand near that flag, my soul, and thou wilt be\nnear thy Lord! And nothing shall separate thee from His love, and leave\nthee weak and isolated on the field. Thou shalt be \"more than conqueror\"\nin Him who loves thee, and will love thee for evermore.\n\n\n\n\nAUGUST The Second\n\n_BY JACOB'S WELL_\n\nJOHN iv. 1-15.\n\n\nA weary woman and a weary Lord! But the Lord was only weary in body; the\nwoman was dry and exhausted in soul. Her heart was like some charred\nchamber after a destructive fire. All its furniture was injured, and some\nof it was almost burnt away. For sin had been blazing in the secret place,\nand had scorched the delicacies of the spirit, and the inward satisfaction\nwas gone. And now she was very weary, and her daily walk had become a most\ntiresome march.\n\nAnd the Lord, with sympathetic insight, discerned the inward dryness.\nThere was no sound of holy contentment, no melody of joyful, spiritual\ndesire. There was only the cold, clammy silence of death. \"He knew what\nwas in man.\" And there was no \"river of water of life\" making glad the\nstreets of this woman's soul.\n\nAnd so He would bring to her the waters of spiritual satisfaction, the\nholy well of eternal life. \"In the wilderness shall waters break out, and\nsprings in the desert.\" The Lord is about to work a miracle of grace,\nchanging dull pang into healing peace, and suffocated desire into soaring\nfellowship with God. He is about to transform an outlawed woman into one\nof the \"elect saints.\" How will He do it? Let us watch Him.\n\n\n\n\nAUGUST The Third\n\n_CHANGING ASKING INTO THIRSTING_\n\n\"_Go, call thy husband!_\"\n--JOHN iv. 16-30.\n\n\nI never supposed that the transformation would begin here. I thought that\nthere were some words which would remain unspoken. But here our Master\nspeaks a word which only deepens the weariness of the woman, and irritates\nthe sore of her galling yoke. What is He doing?\n\nHe is seeking to change the sense of wretchedness into the sense of sin!\nHe is seeking to change weariness into desire! _He wants to make the woman\nthirst!_ And so He puts His finger upon her sin. He cannot give the\nheavenly water to lips that merely ask for it. \"Sir, give me this water!\"\nNo, it cannot be had for the asking, only for the thirsting! And so the\ngracious Lord turns the woman's eyes upon her own sinful life, in order\nthat in the heat of a fierce shame she might cry out, \"I thirst for God,\nfor the living God!\" And sure I am that, before the Lord had done with\nher, this quiet, lone cry leapt from her lips, and in immediate response\nto the cry she was given a deep draught from the eternal well.\n\nAnd, good Lord, arouse my sense of my sin that I, too, may thirst for Thy\nwater! Now, make me thirst for it, and in the thirst receive it!\n\n\n\n\nAUGUST The Fourth\n\n_HIDDEN MANNA_\n\n\"_I have meat to eat that ye know not of._\"\n--JOHN iv. 31-42.\n\n\nAnd what sort of meat is this? The Lord found secret refreshment in\nfeeding other people. In vitalizing the woman of Samaria He restored His\nown soul. The disciples were amazed when they returned to find that the\nweariness had gone out of His face, and that He looked like one who had\nbeen at a feast!\n\nAnd that is the law of life. \"_My meat is to do the will._\" There is a\nsecret nutriment in the bread we give away. The Lord gives us to eat of\nthe \"hidden manna\" whenever we are seeking the refreshment of our fellows.\nDistributed bread has a sacramental efficacy for our own souls. The man\nwho feeds the hungry shall himself be \"satisfied as with marrow.\"\n\nAnd these ways of service are open on every side. There are millions of\nweary people waiting, like the woman at the well. \"_Lift up your eyes, and\nlook on the fields: for they are white already to harvest!_\" Be it mine to\nbe a minister in the mighty service, and in the ways of obedience let me\nfind delights and delicacies for my own soul.\n\n                          \"Bread of Heaven,\n                    Feed me till I want no more!\"\n\n\n\n\nAUGUST The Fifth\n\n_BROOKS BY THE WAY_\n\nISAIAH xii.\n\n\nThe wells of the Lord are to be found where most I need them. The Lord of\nthe way knows the pilgrim life, and the wells have been unsealed just\nwhere the soul is prone to become dry and faint. At the foot of the hill\nDifficulty was found a spring! Yes, these health-springs are lifting their\ncrystal flood in the cheerless wastes of evil antagonisms and exhausting\ngrief.\n\nSometimes I am foolish, and in my need I assume that the well is far away.\nI knew a farmer who for a generation had carried every pail of water from\na distant well to meet the needs of his homestead. And one day he sunk a\nshaft by his own house door, and to his great joy he found that the water\nwas waiting at his own gate! My soul, thy well is near, even here! Go not\nin search of Him! Thy pilgrimage is ended, the waters are at thy feet!\n\nBut I must \"_draw_ the water out of the wells of salvation.\" The hand of\nfaith must lift the gracious gift to the parched lips, and so refresh the\npanting soul. \"I will _take_ the cup of salvation.\" Stretch out thy \"lame\nhand of faith,\" and take the holy, hallowing energy offered by the Lord.\n\n\n\n\nAUGUST The Sixth\n\n_WATERS OF CONTENTMENT_\n\nISAIAH lv. 1-7.\n\n\nThe refreshing waters are offered to \"everyone\" that is thirsty. The\nevangel is like some clear bugle peal, sounded on some commanding upland,\nand which is heard alike in palace and cottage, in school and at the mill,\nby the child of plenty and by the child of want. \"Ho, everyone!\" The\nappeal is to the common heart, whether the setting be squalor or\nsplendour, whether the soul faints in the glare of the prosperous noon, or\nunder the chill of the burdensome night. \"Ho, everyone that thirsteth!\"\n\nAnd the waters may be ours \"without money and without price.\" We have not\nto earn them by the sweat of body, mind, or soul. We have not to make a\ntoilsome pilgrimage, on bleeding feet, to some distant Lourdes, where the\nsacred healer abides. No, we are asked to pay nothing, and for the simple\nreason that we \"have nothing wherewith to pay.\" The reviving grace is\ngiven to us \"freely,\" and all that we have to present is our thirst.\n\nAnd yet we spend and spend, we labour and labour, but we buy no bread of\ncontentment, and the waters of satisfaction are far away. The satisfying\nbread cannot be bought; it can only be begged. The water of life cannot be\ntaken from a cistern; it must be drunk at the spring.\n\n\n\n\nAUGUST The Seventh\n\n_RIVERS FROM THE SNOW_\n\nREVELATION xxii. 1-7, 17-21.\n\n\nThe water of life flows out of the throne. Grace has its rise in sovereign\nholiness. This river is born amid the virgin snow. All true love springs\nout of spotless purity. \"Love\" from any other source is illegitimately\nwearing a stolen name. \"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord!\" That is the first\nnote in the song of redemption. In that burning whiteness I discern the\npossibility of my own sanctification.\n\nFor the grace which flows out of sovereign holiness is a minister of the\nholy Lord to make me holy. If it were not perfectly pure it would itself\nbe an agent of defilement. But it is \"clear as crystal,\" and therefore it\npurifies and fertilizes wherever it flows. Rare trees grow upon its banks,\nand grace-fruits make every season beautiful. \"Everything shall live\nwhither the river cometh.\"\n\nBut without the river my soul shall be \"as an unwatered garden.\" My life\nshall be a realm of perpetual drought. Things may begin to grow, but they\nshall speedily droop and die. The heavenly Husbandman shall find no fruit\nwhen He walks amid the garden in the cool of the day. And therefore, my\nsoul, look to the river which flows from the throne! \"There is a river,\nthe streams whereof make glad the city of God,\" and that river is for\nthee!\n\n\n\n\nAUGUST The Eighth\n\n_THE SCARLET SIN_\n\nISAIAH i. 10-20.\n\n\nHow can we deal with glaring sin, with sin that is \"scarlet,\" that is \"red\nlike crimson\"? And when the red stain has soaked into the very texture of\nthe character, and every fibre is stupefied, what can we do then? Let me\nlisten.\n\n\"_Wash you._\" But ordinary washings will not suffice. The ministry of\neducation will fail. Art, and literature, and music will leave the\ninternal stain undisturbed. They may impart a polish, but the polish shall\nbe like the gloss on badly-washed linen. And the ministry of work will\nfail. Work never yet made a foul soul clean. There is \"a fountain opened\nfor all uncleanness.\" I must wash \"in the blood of the Lamb.\" That red\nsacrifice can wash out the deep red stain.\n\n\"_Cease to do evil._\" Yes, I must turn my back on the roads of defilement.\nThere must be a sharp decision, and an immediate reversal of my ways.\n\"Halt!\" \"Right about turn!\" \"Quick march!\"\n\n\"_Learn to do well!_\" Yes, let me diligently learn, like a child at\nschool, until the deliberative becomes the instructive, and \"practice\nmakes perfect.\"\n\n\n\n\nAUGUST The Ninth\n\n_GOD'S REQUIREMENTS_\n\n\"_What doth the Lord require of thee?_\"\n--MICAH vi. 1-8.\n\n\n\"To do justly.\" Then I must not be so eager about my rights as to forget\nmy duties. For my duties are just the observance of my neighbour's rights.\nAnd to see my neighbour's rights I must cultivate his \"point of view.\" I\nmust look out of his windows! \"Look not every man on his own things, but\nevery man also on the things of others.\"\n\n\"_And to love mercy._\" And mercy is justice _plus_! And it is the \"plus\"\nwhich makes the Christian. His cup \"runneth over.\" He gives, like his\nLord, \"good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over.\" There\nis always \"a little extra\" for Christ's sake! And \"blessed are the\nmerciful.\"\n\n\"_And to walk humbly with thy God._\" And there I am at the root of the two\ngraces which have been enjoined upon me. The lowly friend of the Lord will\nmost surely be both just and merciful. He cannot help it. The fragrance\nwill cling to him as the fragrance of the orange clings to him who labours\nin the fruitful groves of Spain.\n\n\n\n\nAUGUST The Tenth\n\n_GOOD FRUIT_\n\nLUKE vi. 43-49.\n\n\nMy Lord seeks \"good fruit.\" It must be sound. No disease must lurk within\nit. My virtues are so often touched with defilement. There is a little\nuntruth even in my truth. There is a little jealousy even in my praise.\nThere is a little superciliousness even in my forbearance. There is a\nlittle pride even in my piety. It is not \"whole,\" not holy. God demands\nsound fruit.\n\nAnd \"good fruit\" demands \"a good tree.\" We must not look for truth from an\nuntrue soul. If the bullet-mould is deformed, all the bullets will share\nits deformity. First get the mould right, and every bullet will share its\nrectitude. When the soul is \"true,\" all our words, and deeds, and gestures\nwill be \"of the truth,\" and will be true indeed. \"Make the tree good.\"\n\nAnd that is just what our Lord proclaims His willingness to do. He does\nnot begin with effects, but with causes; not with fruit, but with trees.\nHe does not begin with our speech, but with the speaker; not with conduct,\nbut with character. And, blessed be His name, He can transform \"corrupt\ntrees\" into \"good trees,\" until it shall be said: \"He that hath turned the\nworld upside down has come hither also.\"\n\n\n\n\nAUGUST The Eleventh\n\n_THE CONSECRATION OF THE WILL_\n\nJOHN v. 1-18.\n\n\nMy Lord demands my will in the ministry of healing. \"_Art thou willing_ to\nbe made whole?\" He will not carry me as a log. When my schoolmaster put a\nbelt around me, and held me over the water with a rope, and taught me to\nswim, I had to use my arms. The condition of help was endeavour. And so in\nmy salvation. I have always will-power sufficient to pray and to try. In\nthe effort of faith I open the door to the energies of God. Grace flows in\nthe channels of the determined will. \"O, God, my heart is set!\"\n\nAnd my Lord demands my will in the living of the consecrated life. \"Sin no\nmore!\" I must \"will\" to be whole, and I must will to remain holy. And here\nis the gracious law of the kingdom, that every time I exercise my will I\nadd to its power. Every difficulty overcome adds its strength to my\nresources. Every enemy conquered marches henceforth in my own ranks. I go\n\"from strength to strength.\"\n\n\"God worketh in me to will!\" The gracious Lord ever strengthens the will\nthat is willing. He transforms the frail reed into an iron pillar, and\nmakes trembling timidity bold as a lion.\n\n    \"Mighty Spirit, dwell with me,\n     I myself would mighty be.\"\n\n\n\n\nAUGUST The Twelfth\n\n_MY LIFE AND HOPE_\n\nJOHN v. 19-30.\n\n\nHere is my reservoir. \"_The Son hath life in Himself._\" All vitality has\nits source in Him. He is the enemy of death and the deadly. I can paint\nthe dead to look like life; I can use rouge for blood, and make the white\nlips red, but it all remains clammy and cold. I can galvanize, but I\ncannot vitalize. I can \"break the ball of nard,\" and make perfume, \"but\nstill the sleeper sleeps.\" \"In Him is life.\" \"In Christ shall all be made\nalive!\"\n\nAnd here is my hope. \"_The Son also quickeneth._\" He is not only a\nreservoir, He is a river. He is \"the river of water of life.\" And His\nblessed purpose is to flow into desolate places, converting deserts into\ngardens, and making wildernesses to blossom as the rose.\n\nAnd He will come my way if only I will \"hear\" and \"believe.\" There is a\nflippant hearing which, while it listens, laughs Him to scorn. There is a\ncheap hearing which will venture nothing on His counsel. And there is the\nhearing of faith, which simply \"takes Him at His word,\" and in the\nglorious venture experiences the unsealing of the fountain of eternal\nlife. \"Whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely.\"\n\n\n\n\nAUGUST The Thirteenth\n\n_THE INNER ROOMS_\n\nJOHN v. 31-47.\n\n\nWhat should I think of a man who was contented to remain in the outer\nhalls and passages of Windsor Castle, when he was invited into the royal\nprecincts to have gracious communion with the King? And what shall I think\nof men who are contented to \"search the Scriptures\" and \"will not come\" to\nthe Lord? They spend their life exploring the lobbies, when the Host and\nthe feast are waiting in the upper room!\n\nAnd some men spend their days in criticism and they never advance to\nworship. They are like unto one who should give his strength to the\ndeciphering of some time-worn inscription on the outer wall of some grand\ncathedral, and who never treads the sacred floor in fruitful and enriching\nawe.\n\nAnd some men live in the senses, and not in the conscience, in the awful\npresence of the great white throne. They are for ever seeking sensations,\nand avoid the fellowship of duty. They ride about in the channel, and they\nnever come to the harbour. They have no settled moral home.\n\nMy Lord, help me to regard all good things as merely passages leading to\nThee! Let all good things bring me into intimate fellowship with Thee.\n\n\n\n\nAUGUST The Fourteenth\n\n_THE PARALYSIS OF THE SOUL_\n\nLUKE v. 17-26.\n\n\nThe miracle done in the body is purposed to be a symbol of a grander\nmiracle to be wrought in the soul. \"_That ye may know that the Son of Man\nhath power on earth to forgive sins, then saith He...!_\" He heals the\nparalyzed body that we may know what He can do with a paralyzed soul. He\nliberates the man who is bound by palsy that we may know what He can do\nfor a man who is bound by guilt. We are to reason from the less to the\ngreater, from the material type to the spiritual reality.\n\nAnd so it is with all my Lord's doings in nature. They are a glorious\nsymbolism of what He will do in the spirit. \"That ye may know how\nbeautiful the Son of Man can make the heart of man, then saith He to the\nseeds of the spring-time, Come forth!\" And so nature becomes a literature,\nin which we see our possible inheritance in the Spirit.\n\nBut on our side it is all conditioned by faith. \"There He could do no\nmighty works because of their unbelief.\" Even in the miracles of the\nSpirit our faith must co-operate. Divine grace and human faith can\ntransfigure the race. \"Lord, increase our faith!\" And everywhere, let\npalsied souls be delivered, and attain to glorious freedom!\n\n\n\n\nAUGUST The Fifteenth\n\n_WITHERED LIMBS_\n\nMARK iii. 1-8.\n\n\nThere are withered limbs of the spirit as well as of the body. There are\nfaculties and powers which are wasting away, sacred endowments which have\nlost their vital circulation. In some lives the will is a withered limb.\nIn others it is the conscience. In others, again, it is the affections.\nThese splendid moral and spiritual powers are being dried up, and they\nhang comparatively limp and useless in the life. They have been withered\nby sin and sinful negligence.\n\nAnd the Lord is the healer of withered limbs. He can deal with imprisoned\naffections as the warm spring deals with the river which has been locked\nin ice. He can minister to a stricken will, and make it as a benumbed hand\nwhen the circulation has been restored. He can give it grip and tenacity.\nAnd so with all our powers. He, who is the Life, can vitalize all!\n\nBut here again the remnant of our withered endowment must be used in the\nhealing. We must surrender to the Healer. We must obey. If the Lord says:\n\"Stretch forth thy hand,\" we must attempt the impossible! In this region\nthe impossible becomes possible in sanctified endeavour.\n\n\n\n\nAUGUST The Sixteenth\n\n_THE CHURCH AS AN INFIRMARY_\n\nLUKE xiii. 10-17.\n\n\nWhat infirmities gather together in the synagogue! What moral and\nspiritual ailments are congregated in every place of worship! If the veil\nof the flesh could be removed, and the inward life revealed, how we should\npity one another, and how we should pray! In how many lives should we\nbehold a spirit \"bound together,\" who \"could in no wise lift herself up!\"\nWills like crushed reeds, consciences like broken vocal chords, hopes like\nbirds with injured wings, and hearts like ruined homes!\n\nBut the blessed Lord still goes into the synagogue; nay, He anticipates\nour coming. And He is present \"to heal the broken in heart,\" and to \"bind\nup his wounds.\" His touch \"has still its ancient power.\" Still does the\ngracious Master speak with authority. \"Woman, thou art loosed from thine\ninfirmity!\" And immediately she is \"made straight.\"\n\nThen why do so many spiritual cripples leave the synagogue cripples still?\nBecause they do not give the Healer a chance. No one can remain crooked\nand broken in conscience and will who grips the hand of the Lord of Life.\n\n\n\n\nAUGUST The Seventeenth\n\n_THE PSALM OF PRAISE_\n\nPSALM cvii. 1-15.\n\n\nThe miracle of deliverance must be followed by the psalm of praise. There\nare multitudes who cry, \"God be merciful!\" who never cry, \"God be\npraised!\" \"There were none that returned to give thanks save this\nSamaritan.\" Ten cleansed, and only one grateful! \"Oh, that men would\npraise the Lord for His goodness!\" Many a blessing becomes stale because\nit is not renewed by thanksgiving. Graces that are received ungratefully\ndroop like flowers deprived of rain. Yes, gratitude gives sustenance to\nblessings already received. Therefore \"in everything give thanks.\"\n\nBut emancipated lives are not only to break into praise before God, they\nmust exercise in confession before men. \"Let the redeemed of the Lord say\nso!\" Unconfessed blessings become like the Dead Sea; refused an outlet\nthey lose their freshness and vitality. I am found by the Lord in order\nthat I, too, may be a seeker. I receive His peace in order that I may be a\npeacemaker. I am comforted in order that I \"may comfort others with the\ncomfort wherewith I am comforted of God.\" Have you ever received a\nblessing; \"pass it on!\" Tell the story of thy deliverance to the enslaved,\nthat he, too, may find \"the iron gate\" swing open, and so attain his\nfreedom.\n\n\n\n\nAUGUST The Eighteenth\n\n_THE CHURCH OF THE FIRSTBORN_\n\n\"_Pray for the peace of Jerusalem._\"\n--PSALM cxxii.\n\n\nAnd my Jerusalem is \"the church of the living God.\" Do I carry her on my\nheart? Do I praise God for her heritage, and for her endowment of\nspiritual glory? And do I remember her perils, especially those parts of\nher walls where the defences are very thin, and can be easily broken\nthrough? Yes, has my Church any place in my prayer, or am I robbing her of\npart of her intended possessions?\n\nAnd is the _entire_ Jerusalem the subject of my supplication? Or do I only\nthink of a corner of it, just that part where my own little synagogue is\nplaced? I am a Congregationalist; do I remember the Anglican? I am an\nAnglican; do I remember the Quaker? Am I thus concerned only with a small\nsection of Jerusalem, or does my intercession sweep the entire city?\n\n\"_They shall prosper that love thee._\" I cannot be healthy if I am bereft\nof fellowship. If I ignore the house of prayer I impoverish my home. The\npeaceful glow of the fireside is not unrelated to the coals upon the\ncommon altar. The sacrament is connected with my ordinary meal. To love\nthe Church of Christ is to become enriched with \"the fulness of Christ.\"\n\n\n\n\nAUGUST The Nineteenth\n\n_IN GREEN PASTURES_\n\nPSALM xxiii.\n\n\nThis little psalm has been called the nightingale of the psalms. It sings\n\"in the shade when all things rest.\" It makes music in the darkness; it\ngives me \"songs in the night.\" And what does it sing about?\n\nIt sings of God's bounty in food and rest. \"_Green pastures_\"; \"_still\nwaters_.\" My Lord knows when my heart is faint, when it needs His reviving\nfood. He knows when my heart is tired and needs His sweet rest. \"_He\nrestoreth my soul._\"\n\nAnd it sings of the God-appointed way across the hill. \"_He leadeth me in\npaths of righteousness._\" He makes the right way clear. He walks the path\nof duty with me. \"_Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow I\nwill fear no evil, for Thou art with me._\"\n\nAnd it sings of the feast which the Lord serves in the very midst of my\nfoes. \"_He spreadeth a table before me in the midst of mine enemies._\" He\ngives me the fat things of grace in the very presence of frowning\ncircumstances.\n\nAnd it sings of the providence _which guards the rear_. \"Goodness and\nmercy shall follow me!\" God's grace comes between me and my yesterdays. It\ncuts off the heredity from the old Adam, and no far-off plague comes nigh\nmy dwelling.\n\n\n\n\nAUGUST The Twentieth\n\n_FEEDING THE FLOCK_\n\nISAIAH xl. 1-11.\n\n\nHere is the gracious promise of provision. \"_He shall feed His flock like\na Shepherd._\" He knows the fields where my soul will be best nourished in\nholiness. I am sometimes amazed at His choice. He takes me into an\napparent wilderness, but I find rich herbage on the unpromising plain. And\nso I would rest in His choice even when it seems adverse to my good.\n\nAnd here is the gracious promise of gentle discrimination. \"_He shall\ngather the lambs in His arm, and carry them in His bosom._\" Says old\nTrapp, \"He hath a great care of His little ones, like as He had of the\nweaker tribes. In their march through the Wilderness He put a strong tribe\nto two weak tribes, lest they should faint or fail.\" Yes, \"He knoweth our\nframe.\" He will not lay upon us more than we can bear. At the back of\nevery commandment there is a promise of adequate resource. His askings are\nalso His enablings. The big duty means that we shall have a big lift. And\nwhen we are tired He will lead on gently. Such is the grace and tenderness\nof the Lord.\n\n\n\n\nAUGUST The Twenty-first\n\n_SATISFACTION_\n\n\"_My people shall be satisfied with My goodness._\"\n--JEREMIAH xxxi. 10-14.\n\n\nAnd how unlike is all this to the feasts of the world! There is a great\nshow, but no satisfaction. There is much decorative china, but no\nnutritious food or drink. \"Every one that drinketh of this water shall\nthirst again.\" We rise from the table, and our deepest cravings are\nunappeased. \"Why art thou cast down, O my soul?\" We know. We have had a\ncondiment, but no meat; a showy menu-card, but no reviving feast.\n\nNothing but the goodness of the Lord can satisfy the soul. Whatever else\nmay be on the table of life, if this be absent we shall go away unfed. We\nmay have money, and pleasure, and success, and fame, but they are all\ndelusive husks if the grace of the Lord be absent.\n\nThis is the real furnishing of the feast. There are vast multitudes of\nthings I can do without if only I have the holy bread of life in the\ngracious Presence of my Lord. In this sphere it is the Guest who makes the\ntable! \"Thou, O Christ, art all I want!\" \"Having Him we have all things.\"\nA glorious satisfaction possesses the soul, and though we may not increase\nour worldly possessions, we do something better, we \"grow in grace and in\nthe knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.\"\n\n\n\n\nAUGUST The Twenty-second\n\n_THE SICK AND THE LOST_\n\nEZEKIEL xxxiv. 11-16.\n\n\nSurely everybody is included in this redemptive purpose of the Lord! He is\nlooking for everybody, for everybody finds a place in His holy quest.\n\nHe is seeking the \"_lost_\" sheep. The one that has wandered far away, and\nnow no longer hears the sound of the Shepherd's voice! The one that is\ncarelessly nibbling the herbage on the very edge of perdition! He is\nlooking for this one. Is He therefore looking for thee and me?\n\nHe is seeking \"_that which was driven away_.\" Some hireling, some enemy of\nthe shepherd, drove it far away from the fold. \"A thief and a robber,\" for\nhis own purposes, hath done this. And the Lord's sheep are driven away by\n\"principalities and powers,\" and by the violence of wicked men. Some\nimpure and unworthy professor of religion can drive a whole household from\nthe fellowship of the Church. And the Good Shepherd is seeking these. Is\nHe therefore looking for thee or me?\n\nAnd He is seeking \"_that which was sick_.\" And some of the Lord's sheep\nare sickly. The chill of disappointment, or failure, or bereavement has\nblown upon them, and they are \"down.\" Or they have been feeding on illicit\npleasure. And the Lord is seeking such. Is He therefore seeking thee or\nme?\n\n\n\n\nAUGUST The Twenty-third\n\n_NOT LOST IN THE FLOCK_\n\n\"_I know My sheep, and am known of mine._\"\n--JOHN x. 7-16.\n\n\nThere is mutual recognition, and in that recognition there is confidence\nand peace.\n\n\"_I know my sheep._\" He knows us one by one. My knowledge of the\nindividual wanes in proportion as the multitude is increased. The teacher\nwith the smaller class has the deepest intimacy with her scholars. The\nindividual is lost in the crowd. But not so with our Lord. There are no\n\"masses\" in His sight. However big the crowd, even though it be \"a\nmultitude which no man can number,\" we still remain individuals, known to\nthe Lord by name, and face, and personal need. If thou art away from the\nfold, thy face is missed, and the Shepherd is away in search of thee!\n\n\"_And I am known of mine._\" And the knowledge deepens with every day's\nexperience. There are false shepherds who can subtly mimic the Good\nShepherd, and in my early discipleship I am liable to be deceived. The\ndevil himself can array himself like a shepherd, and imitate the very\ntones of the Lord. Therefore must I watch, and ever watch. But here is my\nhope and inspiration. Every day I spend with my Good Shepherd sharpens my\ndiscernments, enables me to see through the outer show of things, and to\ndiscriminate between the false and the true.\n\n\n\n\nAUGUST The Twenty-fourth\n\n_THE LORD'S BODY_\n\n\"_I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do._\"\n--JOHN xvii. 1-11.\n\n\nThis quiet confession is in itself a token of our Lord's divinity. The\nserenity in which He makes His claims is as stupendous as the claims\nthemselves. \"Finished,\" perfected in the utmost refinement, to the last,\nremotest detail! Nothing scamped, nothing overlooked, nothing forgotten!\nEverything which concerns thy redemption and my redemption has been\naccomplished. \"It is finished!\"\n\n\"_And now ... I come to Thee._\" The visible Presence is withdrawn. There\nis no longer in our midst a Jesus whose body we can bruise and crucify.\n\"_But these are in the world._\" Yes, and His disciples are now His body.\nHe becomes reincarnated in them. If they refuse Him a body, He has none!\nHe looks through their eyes, listens through their ears, speaks through\ntheir lips, ministers through their hands, goes on sacred pilgrimages with\ntheir feet! \"Know ye not that ye are the body?\"\n\nDoes my discipleship offer my Lord a limb? Can He communicate with the\nworld through me? Does my discipleship multiply His powers of expression?\nHas He more eyes, more ears, more hands because I am a member of His\nChurch? Or----?\n\n\n\n\nAUGUST The Twenty-fifth\n\n_IMPOTENT ENEMIES_\n\n\"_Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?_\"\n--ROMANS viii. 31-39.\n\n\nWho can get between the love of Christ and me? What sharp dividing\nminister can cleave the two in twain, and leave me like a dismembered and\ndying branch?\n\nTerrible experiences cannot do it. \"_Tribulation, distress, persecution,\nfamine, nakedness, peril, or sword!_\" All these may come about my house,\nbut they cannot reach the inner sanctuary where my Lord and I are closeted\nin loving communion and peace. They may bruise my skin, nay, they may give\nmy body to be burned, but no flame can destroy the love of Jesus which\nenswathes my soul with invisible defence.\n\nAnd terrible ministers cannot do it. \"_Angels, nor principalities, nor\npowers._\" These mysterious agents of darkness, for they must be the\nlegions of the evil one, are unable to quench the light and fire of my\nSaviour's love. The devil can never blow out the lamp of grace.\n\nAnd terrible death itself cannot do it. Death does not separate me from\nJesus; death is the Lord's minister to lead me into deeper privilege and\nripe experiences of grace and love. Therefore, \"I will lay me down in\npeace, and take my rest.\"\n\n\n\n\nAUGUST The Twenty-sixth\n\n_MISSING THE LORD_\n\n\"_Thou knowest not the time of thy visitation._\"\n--LUKE xix. 37-44.\n\n\nYes, that has been my sad experience. I have wasted some of my wealthiest\nseasons. I have treated the hour as common and worthless, and the\npriceless opportunity has passed.\n\nThere have been times when my Lord has come to me, and I have turned Him\naway from my door. He so often journeys \"incognito,\" and if I am\nthoughtless I dismiss Him, and so lose the privilege of heavenly communion\nand benediction. He knocks at my door as a Carpenter, and the humble\nattire deceives me, and I treat Him with scant courtesy, and sometimes\nwith contempt. I know not the time of my visitation.\n\nHe comes to me in the guise of needy people--as sick, or hungry, or a\nstranger, and I cannot be troubled with His presence. I dismissed Him as a\npauper, little knowing that I was turning away a millionaire! I knew not\nthe time of my visitation! \"I was an hungered, and ye gave Me no meat,\"\nand so we missed the bread of life.\n\nAnd so there is nothing for it, but to be always \"on the watch.\" I must\ntreat everybody as though everybody was the Christ. And I must treat every\ncommonplace moment as though it were the home of the eternal.\n\n\n\n\nAUGUST The Twenty-seventh\n\n_WHAT ABOUT TO-MORROW?_\n\nJOSHUA xxiv. 1-15.\n\n\nIt is not mine to worry about the coming day, but to fill the immediate\nmoment with radiant duty. My Lord is the Pioneer, the great Maker of\nroads, and He will see to the appointments and provisions of the way. He\nhas His scouts, His advance guard, His miners and sappers opening the\nhighway across the waste! \"I will send mine angel before thee!\" \"I will\nsend hornets before you!\" Yes, the Lord will look after the road. What,\nthen, am I called to do? Let me find the answer in the 14th verse.\n\n\"_Fear the Lord!_\" The Lord must be the sovereign thought in my life. All\ntrue and well-proportioned living must begin in well-proportioned thought.\nGod must be my biggest thought, and from that thought all others must take\ntheir colour and their range.\n\n\"_Put away the gods._\" My supreme homage must not be shared among many, it\nmust be given to One. When the Lord is enthroned as King all usurpers must\nbe banished. When He comes to His own the others go into exile.\n\n\"_Serve ye the Lord._\" My strength must be enlisted with my loyalty. I\nmust not merely shout; I must work. I must not merely clap my hands when\nthe King goes by, I must consecrate those hands in sacrificial service.\n\n\n\n\nAUGUST The Twenty-eighth\n\n_WISDOM AND UNDERSTANDING_\n\n\"_The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom._\"\n--JOB xxviii. 12-28.\n\n\nMere learning will not make me wise. The path to wisdom is not necessarily\nthrough the schools. The brilliant scholar may be an arrant fool. True\nwisdom is found, not in mental acquisitions, but in a certain spiritual\nrelation. The wise man is known by the pose of his soul. He is \"_inclined\ntoward the Lord_!\" He has returned unto his rest, and he finds light and\nvision in the fellowship of his Lord.\n\n\"_To depart from evil is understanding._\" Yes, I need the lens of purity\nif I am to see the secrets of things. A dirty lens is the explanation of\nmuch ignorance and obscurity. I do not think I can ever see a flower if my\nlens is defiled. Much less can I see \"the things of others.\" And still\nless again can I enjoy \"the secret of the Lord.\" What we want is not so\nmuch a theological training as a right spirit, not so much to go to school\nas to \"_depart from evil_.\" When I leave an evil habit worlds unseen begin\nto show their glory. \"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see\nGod.\"\n\n\n\n\nAUGUST The Twenty-ninth\n\n_THE RICHES OF SPIRITUALITY_\n\nPROVERBS iv. 1-13.\n\n\nLet me review some of these riches which are conferred upon the man who\nhas made his soul the guest-room of spiritual religion.\n\n\"_Love her, and she shall keep thee._\" Spirituality is to be my true\ndefence. All other ramparts are vulnerable. They are the happy\nhunting-ground of the ravages of time; they fail in the crisis; they are\nthe sure victims of moth and rust. But spirituality keeps me from\nchildhood to age, and its shields are invincible, even in the hour of\ndeath. \"There shall no evil befall thee.\"\n\n\"_Exalt her, and she shall promote thee._\" She will lead me in the paths\nof progress. Every day she will lead me to new conquests, and in\nconstantly enriching character I shall move towards life's appointed goal.\nHoliness is the only success worth having. Other successes are like lamps\nwhose trembling flames are blown out in the first gusty, stormy night.\n\"But the path of the just is as a shining light that shineth more and more\neven unto perfect day.\"\n\n\"_She shall give to thine head an ornament of grace._\" Yes, and her\nadornments are always beautiful. No beauty ever steals into the human face\ncomparable with the delicate presence of spirituality. It makes plain\nfeatures lovely, and transfigures them with \"the glory of the Lord.\"\n\n\n\n\nAUGUST The Thirtieth\n\n_HOW TO DELIGHT IN THE WORD_\n\nPSALM cxix. 97-104.\n\n\nA man may measure his growth in grace by his growing delight in the speech\nof the Lord. When His words are unwelcome in my ears, when they are an\nintrusion which mars my pleasures, it is clear I am still in the far\ncountry of revolt. But if His words make \"music in my ears,\" if the Lord's\nconversation is the very marrow of the feast, then I have entered into the\ncircle of His intimate friends. When His words taste sweet, even with a\nbare board, I am \"in heavenly places with Christ.\"\n\nAnd how can I attain unto this spiritual delight? Well, first of all I\nmust make \"_His testimonies my meditations._\" Our doctors tell us that the\nonly way to taste the real savour of food is to masticate it well. Bolted\nfood never unlocks its essences. And meditation is just mental\nmastication. To \"turn the word over\" in my mind will help to disburden its\ntreasure.\n\nAnd then I must diligently put the word into practice. \"_I have not\ndeparted from Thy judgments._\" There is nothing like obedience for setting\nfree a spiritual essence. \"The secret of the Lord is with them that fear\nHim.\"\n\n\n\n\nAUGUST The Thirty-first\n\n_THE REAL GAINS AND LOSSES_\n\n\"_Godliness with contentment is great gain._\"\n--1 TIMOTHY vi. 6-16.\n\n\nAnd so I must go into my heart if I would make a true estimate of my gains\nand losses. The calculation is not to be made in my bank-books, or as I\nstride over my broad acres, or inspect my well-filled barns. These are the\nmere outsides of things, and do not enter into the real balance-sheet of\nmy life. We can no more estimate the success of a life by methods like\nthese than we can adjudge an oil-painting by the sense of smell.\n\nWhat is my stock of godliness? That is one of the test questions. What are\nmy treasures of contentment? What about peace and joy, and hallowed and\nblessed carelessness? How much pure laughter rings in my life? How much\nbird-music is heard in the chambers of my heart? Is the note of praise to\nbe found in the streets of my soul? Am I rich in these things or\npathetically poor? \"By these things men live,\" and therefore of these\nthings will I make my balance-sheet and reckon up my gains.\n\n\n\n\nSEPTEMBER The First\n\n_THE VIRTUE OF PROPORTION_\n\nMATTHEW vi. 25-34.\n\n\nI must put first things first. The radical fault in much of my living is\nwant of proportion. I think more of pretty window curtains than of fresh\nair, more of \"nice\" wallpaper than of the moving pageant of the skies. I\nmagnify the immediate desire and minimize the ultimate goal. And so\n\"things do not come right!\" How can they when the apportionment is so\nperverse, when everything is topsy-turvy? If I want things to be firm and\ndurable I must revere the Divine order, and must put first things first.\n\"_Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness._\"\n\nAnd, therefore, I must seek holiness before success. I am to esteem\nholiness with apparent failure as infinitely better than success with\nstain and shame.\n\nI must seek character before reputation. The applause of the world must be\nas nothing compared with the approbation of God. The favouring \"voice from\nheaven\" must be sweeter to my ears than the noisy cheers of the crowd.\n\nAnd I must seek righteousness before quietness. The way of disturbance is\nsometimes the way to peace. I must not be so concerned for a quiet life as\nfor a life that is \"right with God.\"\n\n\n\n\nSEPTEMBER The Second\n\n_PRAYER AND REVOLUTION_\n\nJOHN iv. 43-54.\n\n\nThis miracle began in a prayer. The nobleman went unto Jesus \"_and\nbesought Him_.\" In such apparently fragile things can mighty revolutions\nbe born! \"Prayer,\" said Tennyson, \"opens the sluice-gates between us and\nthe Infinite.\" It brings the frail wire into contact with the battery. It\nlinks together man and God.\n\nPrayer was corroborated by belief. \"_The man believed the word that Jesus\nspake unto him._\" By our faith we cut the channels along which the healing\nenergy will flow. Faith \"prepares the way of the Lord.\" Our faith is\npurposed to be a fellow-laborer with grace, and, if faith be absent, grace\n\"can do no mighty works.\"\n\nThe healing begins with the faith. \"_It was at the same hour in which ...\nhe himself believed._\" These \"coincidences\" are inevitable happenings in\nthe realm of the Spirit. When we offer the believing prayer, God's mighty\nenergies begin to besiege the life for which the prayer is made. Mr.\nCornaby, the Methodist missionary, declares how conscious he is in\nfar-away China when someone is interceding for him in the home-land! The\npower possesses him in vitalizing flood! Hudson Taylor's mother shuts\nherself in a little room to pray, and eighty miles away her son is\nconverted.\n\n\n\n\nSEPTEMBER The Third\n\n_MY SHARE IN THE MIRACLE_\n\nJOHN ii. 1-11.\n\n\nOur Lord always demands our best. He will not work with our second-best.\nHis gracious \"extra\" is given when our own resources are exhausted. We\nmust do our best before our Master will do His miracle. We must \"fill the\nwater-pots with water\"! We must bring \"the five loaves and two fishes\"! We\nmust \"let down the net\"! We must be willing \"to be made whole,\" and we\nmust make the effort to rise! Yes, the Lord will have my best.\n\nOur Lord transforms our best into His better. He changes water into wine.\nHe turns the handful of seed into a harvest. Our aspirations become\ninspirations. Our willings become magnetic with the mystic power of grace.\nOur bread becomes sacramental, and He Himself is revealed to us at the\nfeast. Our ordinary converse becomes a Divine fellowship, and \"our hearts\nburn within us\" as He talks to us by the way.\n\nAnd our Lord ever keeps His best wine until the last. \"Greater things than\nthese shall ye do!\" \"I will see you again,\" and there shall be grander\ntransformations still! \"The best is yet to be.\" \"Dreams cannot picture a\nworld so fair.\" \"Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered\ninto the heart of man to conceive the things which God hath prepared for\nthem that love Him.\"\n\n\n\n\nSEPTEMBER The Fourth\n\n_A PORTRAIT OF A GREAT SUPPLIANT_\n\nMATTHEW viii. 5-13.\n\n\nHere we have _the grace of sympathy_; one man troubled about the sickness\nof another. We are drawing very near to the Lord when our soul vibrates\nresponsively to another man's need. We can measure our likeness to the\nLord by the range of our sensitiveness to the world's sorrow and pain. Our\nGod is the \"Father of _pities_\"; He is sensitive in every direction, no\nside is numb, and we are putting on His likeness in proportion as we\nattain an all-round responsiveness to the cries of human need.\n\nAnd here we have _the grace of humility_. \"I am not worthy!\" Our pride\nalways blocks \"the way of the Lord.\" Our humility makes us porous to the\nDivine. The \"poor in spirit\" are already in the kingdom, and the gracious\npowers of the kingdom are commanded to attend their bidding.\n\nAnd here we have _the grace of faith_. \"Only say the word!\" The centurion\nconceives the Lord's words as soldiers attending on the Lord's will. Let\none be spoken, and at once the mission is executed. And so it is. \"The\nwords that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life.\" His words\nare vehicles of power, and when they are spoken, miracles are always\nwrought. \"The entrance of Thy word giveth light.\"\n\n\n\n\nSEPTEMBER The Fifth\n\n_FAITH AND RIDICULE_\n\nMATTHEW ix. 18-26.\n\n\nAnd, so one man's faith is more than a match for many people's scorn. The\nsteady trust of the ruler was not shaken by the rude flippancy of the\nartificial mourners, and his daughter was brought from the dead. \"This is\nthe victory that overcometh, even our faith.\" Everything bows, like\nfragile reeds, before the march of a victorious faith. Scorn, and hatred,\nand all manner of devilry, and death itself, all lose their power in the\npresence of a belief which remains steady and steadfast. \"Said I not unto\nthee that, if thou wouldst believe, thou shouldst see the glory of God?\"\n\nAnd what an infinite reservoir of power is waiting to be tapped by the\nhand of faith! A ruler believes and his daughter is vitalized. A poor\nwoman, bent and broken, reaches out her thin, frail hand, and lo! she is\nerect and graceful as the pine! And \"my sufficiency is of God!\" All that I\nmay need is in the same wonderful reservoir of grace. That healing flood\nis like the ocean fulness, and it will fill every bay, and cove, and creek\nin the wide-stretching shore of human need.\n\n    \"The healing of His seamless dress\n      Is by our beds of pain,\n     We touch Him in life's throng and press,\n      And we are whole again.\"\n\n\n\n\nSEPTEMBER The Sixth\n\n_CONTEMPTUOUS WORDS_\n\nMATTHEW xv. 21-28.\n\n\nI wonder if this word \"dogs\" was my Saviour's word, or had He picked it up\nfrom the disciples that He might cast it away again for ever? Did He use\nit that He might reveal its ugliness, and so banish it from human speech?\nAs Jesus and His disciples came along the road the Master walked before\nthem. \"And behold, a Canaanitish woman came out from those borders!\" And\nthe disciples whispered to one another, \"Here comes one of the dogs!\" And\nthe Master overheard it, and His tender spirit grieved. And there and then\nHe resolved to help the woman and at the same time cleanse the men.\n\nIs there not therefore something half-ironical in our Saviour's use of the\nword? When He spake of the woman as a \"dog,\" and of the disciples as \"the\nchildren,\" would there not be something significant in His very looks and\ntones? These cold, unfeeling men \"the children,\" and this tender yearning\nwoman the \"dog\"!\n\nWhen the Lord used the disciples' word they began to be ashamed, and in\nthe fire of their shame their self-conceit was consumed. He turned with\nimpatient longing to the woman, \"O, woman, great is thy faith; be it unto\nthee even as thou wilt.\"\n\n\n\n\nSEPTEMBER The Seventh\n\n_EXPERIMENT AND EXPERIENCE_\n\nHEBREWS xi. 1-6.\n\n\nI like the marginal rendering of the introductory sentence of this great\nchapter. \"_Faith is the giving substance to things hoped for._\" Faith\nconverts cloudy castles into substantial homes. Faith substantiates the\nunseen. Faith sucks the energy out of splendid ideals, and incorporates it\nin present and immediate life. Faith unfolds the eternal in the moment,\nthe infinite in the trifle, the divine in the commonplace. Faith\nincorporates God and man. Yes, faith gives substance to \"things hoped\nfor,\" it brings them out of the air, and gives them reality and movement\nin the hard and common ways of earth and time.\n\nAnd faith is also \"_the test of things not seen_.\" By a test faith gains a\nconquest. By an experiment faith acquires an experience. By a great\nspeculation faith makes a great discovery. \"Try me now herewith, and prove\nMe!\" It is an invitation to humble and sincere assumption. Try if it\nworks! Make a hallowed experiment with the powers of grace.\n\nLord, incline me to make the gracious test! Let me stake my all upon the\nventure! Let me dare all in order that I may gain all! Let me sow\nbountifully, and so reap a bountiful harvest.\n\n\n\n\nSEPTEMBER The Eighth\n\n_THE BRACING AIR OF PUBLICITY_\n\nROMANS x. 1-13.\n\n\nThere is a belief which never registers itself in confession. It never\nexercises itself in the strong, bracing air of publicity. It is a\ncloistered belief, and suffers from want of ventilation. Such Christians\nare always an\u00e6mic; indeed, they are always puny, and never get beyond the\nstage of spiritual babyhood. \"Ye are yet babes!\" Belief which is never\noxygenated by open confession can never nourish the soul into vigorous and\nexhilarant health.\n\nBut there is a belief which expresses and confirms itself in confession.\n\"_With the mouth confession is made unto salvation._\" Such confession is a\nmeans of moral and spiritual health. And confession in the early days\nmeant risk, venture which exposed the life to the shedding of blood. It\nmeant a frank defiance of the world, and an eager challenge of the devil.\nAnd it is on such fields of open encounter for the Lord that muscle is\nmade, and the soul goes \"from strength to strength,\" and \"from glory to\nglory.\"\n\nMy soul, art thou secretly ashamed of thy Lord? Art thou afraid to \"lift\nhigh His royal banner\"? Then thou wilt always be as a feather-bed soldier,\nand the trophies of the honourable war are not for thee. Stand out in the\nopen, and boldly testify, \"As for me and my house, we will serve the\nLord!\"\n\n\n\n\nSEPTEMBER The Ninth\n\n_DEALING WITH SIN_\n\nPSALM xxxii.\n\n\nHere is the burden of unconfessed sin. \"_When I kept silence my bones\nwaxed old._\" There is nothing brings on premature age like secret sin. It\nkeeps the mind in perpetual unrest, and a troubled mind soon makes the\nbody old. The real nourisher of the body is a quiet and radiant soul. But\nlet the soul be in chaos, and the body will soon be a ruin.\n\nAnd here, too, is the healthy act of confession. \"_I acknowledged my sin\nunto Thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid._\" He retained no single germ\nof the whole unclean brood. He brought them out into the light one by one,\nas though he were emptying a noisome kennel. He brought them out, and\nnamed them, in the awful Presence of the Lord.\n\nAnd here is the ministry of forgiveness, and therefore the miracle of\nrestored health. Let me mark the rich variety of the descriptive words.\n\"_Forgiven!_\" \"_Covered!_\" \"_Imputed not!_\" It is all removed and\nobliterated, and the place of defilement and profanity becomes the holy\ntemple of the Lord.\n\n\n\n\nSEPTEMBER The Tenth\n\n_CRITICISM AND PIETY_\n\n\"_Thinkest thou, that judgest them that do such things,\nthat thou shalt escape?_\"\n--ROMANS ii. 1-11.\n\n\nThat is always my peril, to assume that by being severe with others I\nexculpate myself. I go on to the bench, and deliver sentence upon my\nbrother, when my proper place is in the dock. And this is the subtlety of\nthe snare, that I regard my criticisms and condemnations of other people\nas signs of my own innocence. This is the last refinement in temptation,\nand multitudes fall before its power.\n\nThe way to moral and spiritual health is to direct my criticisms upon\nmyself. I must stand in the dock, and hear the grave indictment of my own\nsoul. Unless I pass through the second chapter of Romans I can never enter\nthe fifth and sixth, and still less the glorious forgiveness of the\neighth. \"There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ\nJesus.\" I pass into that warm, cheery light through the cold road of\nacknowledged guilt and sin.\n\n\"If we confess our sins He is just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse\nus from all unrighteousness.\"\n\n\n\n\nSEPTEMBER The Eleventh\n\n_A FATAL DIVORCE_\n\n\"_They feared the Lord, and served their own gods._\"\n--2 KINGS xvii. 24-34.\n\n\nAnd that is an old-world record, but it is quite a modern experience. The\nkinsmen of these ancient people are found in our own time. Men still fear\none God and serve another.\n\nBut something is vitally wrong when men can divorce their fear from their\nobedience. And the beginning of the wrong is in the fear itself. \"Fear,\"\nas used in this passage, is a counterfeit coin, which does not ring true\nto the truth. It means only the payment of outward respect, a formal\nrecognition, a passing nod which we give on the way to something better.\nIt is a mere skin courtesy behind which there is no beating heart; a\nhollow convention in which there is no deep and sacred awe.\n\nBut the real \"fear of God\" is a spiritual mood in which virtue thrives, an\natmosphere in which holy living is quite inevitable. \"The fear of the Lord\nis _clean_.\" It is not lip-worship, but heart-homage, a reverence in which\nthe soul is always found upon its knees. And so \"the fear of the Lord is\nto hate evil\"; it is an indignant repulsion from all that is hateful to\nGod. It is the sharing of the Spirit of the Lord. There cannot be any true\nfear where the soul does not worship \"in spirit and in truth.\"\n\n\n\n\nSEPTEMBER The Twelfth\n\n_THE GARMENTS OF THE SOUL_\n\nJOEL ii. 12-19.\n\n\nI am so apt to think that the rending of an outer garment is a token of\ntrue penitence and amendment of life. But it is the inner garments I must\ndeal with, the raiments and habits of the soul. Some of these robes--such\nas vanity and pride--are as gay and showy as a peacock; others are dirty\nand leprous, and we should not dare to bring them to the door, and display\nthem in the light. But all need severe treatment; they must be torn, fibre\nfrom fibre, and reduced to rags.\n\nBut \"rending\" must be accompanied by \"turning.\" \"_Turn unto the Lord your\nGod._\" For the Lord our God is gracious, and His love will not only\nprovide a new wardrobe, but a swift furnace in which to burn the remnants\nof the old. Yes, His \"great kindness\" will burn away the filth of my\nalienation, and will \"bring forth the best robe\" and put it on me. The\ngood Lord will give me new habits. He will \"cover me with the robe of\nrighteousness, and the garment of salvation.\"\n\n\n\n\nSEPTEMBER The Thirteenth\n\n_THE CLEAN HEART_\n\nPSALM li.\n\n\nWhat will the Lord do with my sin, if in true humility I come into His\nPresence? Let me hear the music of the evangel.\n\nHe will \"_blot out my transgression_.\" He will so erase it that even His\nown holy eyes can see no stain or shame. He will blot it out, as I have\nseen a gloomy cloudlet blotted out, and there has been nothing left but\nradiant sky.\n\nAnd He will \"_wash me throughly from mine iniquity_.\" Yes, and that not\nlike the washing of the hands, but like the washing of clothes, not like\nthe washing of a surface, but the removal of uncleanness from a fabric,\nthe ousting of every germ lurking in the innermost cells of the stuff.\nWhen the Lord washes a soul it is \"throughly\" done, and every strand is\nwhite in holiness.\n\nSo will He give me \"_a clean heart_\"; so will He \"_renew a right spirit\nwithin me_.\" The very atmosphere of my life shall be as the air after\ndeluges of cleansing rain. It shall be sweet, and clean, and clear! I\nshall walk in a new inspiration, and I shall \"behold the land that is very\nfar off.\"\n\n\n\n\nSEPTEMBER The Fourteenth\n\n_THE SENSE OF WANT_\n\n\"_This man went down to his house justified rather than the other._\"\n--LUKE xviii. 9-14.\n\n\nThe Master sets the Pharisee and publican in contrast, and His judgment\ngoes against the man who has made some progress in moral attainments, and\nfavours the man who has no victories to show, but only a hunger for\nvictory. The dissatisfied sinner is preferred to the self-satisfied saint.\nThe Pharisee had gained an inch, but had lost his sense of the continent.\nThe publican had not pegged out an inch of moral claim, but he had an\noverwhelming sense of the untrodden universe.\n\nSo this, I think, is the teaching for me. We are justified by the penitent\nsense of want and not by the boastful sense of possession. Our sense of\nlack is the measure of our hope, and our measure of hope determines the\npoverty or fulness of our communion with the Lord. The Pharisee had no\n\"beyond,\" no realm of admiration, no hope! Aspiration was dead, and\ntherefore inspiration had ceased. Our possibilities nestle in our\ncravings.\n\n\n\n\nSEPTEMBER The Fifteenth\n\n_RESTORING A RUINED LIFE_\n\nPSALM ciii. 1-18.\n\n\nCould there be a sweeter chime than the opening music of this psalm?\n\n\"_Who forgiveth all thine iniquities._\" He receives me back home again,\ninterrupts the broken story of my sin, and drowns my sobbings in His\nrejoicings.\n\n\"_Who healeth all thy diseases._\" He takes in hand the foul complaints\nwhich I acquired in \"the far country,\" and with His powerful medicines,\nand His wonderful \"bread of life,\" He drives the foul things from my soul.\n\n\"_Who redeemeth thy life from destruction._\" Yes, with His own blood He\nbuys me back from a midnight servitude, strikes every chain and shackle\nfrom my limbs, and makes me dance in \"the glorious liberty of the children\nof God.\"\n\n\"_Who crowneth thee with loving-kindness and tender mercy._\" He encircles\nme with the invulnerable army of His own love. Henceforth if the devil\nwould get at me he must deal with God. \"As the mountains are round about\nJerusalem, so the Lord is round about His people.\"\n\n\"_Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things._\" He sets before me a\nglorious table, and enlivens my spirits with glorious fellowship. That so\nI can be no other than \"satisfied,\" and my heart is at rest in the Lord.\n\"Thou, O Christ, art all I want!\"\n\n\n\n\nSEPTEMBER The Sixteenth\n\n_THE STEADFASTNESS OF THE LORD_\n\n\"_My covenant shall stand fast._\"\n--PSALM lxxxix. 19-29.\n\n\nSuch a divine assurance ought to make me perfectly quiet in spirit.\nRestlessness in a Christian always spells disloyalty. The uncertainty is\nborn of suspicion. There is a rift in the faith, and the disturbing breath\nof the devil blows through, and destroys my peace. If I am sure of my\ngreat Ally, my heart will not be troubled, neither will it be afraid.\n\nAnd such a divine assurance ought to make me bold in will and majestic in\nlabour. I ought to be inventive in chivalrous enterprise, and I ought to\ncovet the hardest parts of the field. If the mighty Ally will never fail,\nI should never be afraid of the marshalled hosts of wickedness. \"One with\nGod is in a majority.\" \"He always wins who sides with God.\" \"The Lord is\non my side, whom shall I fear?\"\n\nAnd such a divine assurance ought to give me a kingly demeanour. The\nmembers of the Court acquire a certain stateliness by their lofty\nfellowship. And, surely, one who walks with God should be characterized by\nsomething of the Divine glory, and men should know that his acquaintances\nare found in the courts of heaven.\n\n\n\n\nSEPTEMBER The Seventeenth\n\n_THE NEVER-WITHERING LEAF_\n\nJEREMIAH xvii. 5-11.\n\n\nLet me look at \"the blessed man\" in the interpreting symbol of this\nhealthy and graceful tree.\n\nThe blessed life is a life of vast resource. \"_As a tree planted by the\nwaters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river._\" It is not watered\nby an occasional shower, it is unceasingly bathed by the vitalizing flood.\nIts rootlets are always drinking the nutritious waters of grace. The\nblessed life is planted on the banks of that wonderful river which takes\nits rise in the great white throne.\n\nAnd just because of these boundless supplies, the blessed life is\nundisturbed in times of grave crisis and emergency. \"_He shall not see\nwhen heat cometh._\" He shall be cool when the unblessed are hot and\nfever-stricken. He shall \"keep his head\" in times of general panic. His\npowers of endurance shall make the world wonder! He shall \"hold out\" when\neverybody else is faint.\n\nSo shall there be nothing \"sere and yellow\" about him. \"_His leaf shall be\ngreen._\" His faith, and hope, and love shall remain fresh and beautiful\neven in \"the dark and cloudy day.\"\n\n\n\n\nSEPTEMBER The Eighteenth\n\n_THE ALL-ROUND DEFENCE_\n\n\"_Thou hast beset me behind._\"\n--PSALM cxxxix. 1-12.\n\n\nAnd that is a defence against the enemies which would attack me in the\nrear. There is yesterday's sin, and the guilt which is the companion of\nyesterday's sin. They pursue my soul like fierce hounds, but my gracious\nLord will come between my pursuers and me. His mighty grace intervenes,\nand my security is complete.\n\n\"Thou hast beset me ... _before_.\" And that is a defence against the\nenemies which would impede my advance and frighten me out of the heavenly\nway. There is fear--fear of the morrow, fear of consequences, fear of\ndeath! And my Lord will come between me and them, and their menace shall\nbe destroyed. The fiery darts shall be quenched before they reach my soul.\n\n\"_And laid Thine hand upon me._\" And that is a defence against the enemies\nwhich may lie in ambush in present and immediate circumstances: the sudden\ntemptation to passion, or the temptation to panic, or the temptation which\nwould snare me to criminal ease. But my Lord's hand is all-sufficient! And\nso on every side my defence standeth; \"the angel of the Lord encampeth\nround about them that fear Him.\"\n\n\n\n\nSEPTEMBER The Nineteenth\n\n_THE NEEDS OF THE BODY_\n\nJOHN vi. 1-21.\n\n\nThe Lord who came to save His people was sensitive to His people's hunger.\nIn the presence of the supreme need the smaller need was not forgotten. He\nhonoured the body as well as the soul. He ministered to the transient as\nwell as the eternal. And that is ever the characteristic of true\nkingliness; it has a kingly way of doing the smaller things. I can measure\nmy own progress toward the throne by my sovereign attention to scruples.\n\"He that is faithful in that which is least, the same also is great.\"\n\nThe Lord is not oppressed by the multitude of His guests. \"He Himself knew\nwhat He would do.\" We need not jostle one another for His bounty. We shall\nnot crowd one another out. \"There is bread enough and to spare.\" Even in\nthe material realm this is true, and everybody would have his daily bread\nif the will of the Lord were done. There is no straitness in the gracious\nHost! It is the greed of the guests which mars the satisfaction of the\nfeast.\n\nAnd how careful the Lord of Glory was to \"gather up the fragments\"! Our\ninfinitely wealthy Lord is not wealthy enough to \"throw things away.\" He\ncannot afford to waste bread. Can He afford to lose a soul? \"He goeth out\nafter that which is lost until He find it\"!\n\n\n\n\nSEPTEMBER The Twentieth\n\n_THE PATHETIC MULTITUDE_\n\nMARK viii. 1-9.\n\n\nMy Lord has \"_compassion upon the multitude_.\" And (shall I reverently say\nit?) His compassion was part of His passion. His pity was always costly.\nIt culminated upon Calvary, but it was bleeding all along the road! It was\na fellow-feeling with all the pangs and sorrows of the race. And a pity\nthat bleeds is a pity that heals. \"In His love and in His pity He redeemed\nus.\"\n\nAnd the multitude is round about us still, and the people are in peril of\nfainting by the way. There is the multitude of misfortune, the children of\ndisadvantage, who never seem to have come to their own. And there is the\nmultitude of outcasts, the vast army of publicans and sinners. And there\nare the bewildering multitudes of Africa, and India, and China, and they\nhave \"nothing to eat\"!\n\nHow do I regard them? Do I share the compassion of the Lord? Do I exercise\na sensitive and sanctified imagination, and enter somewhat into the pangs\nof their cravings? My Lord calls for my help. \"How many loaves have ye?\"\n\"Bring out all you have! Consecrate your entire resources! Put your all\nupon the altar of sacrifice!\" And in reply to the call can I humbly and\ntrustfully say, \"O, Lamb of God, I come!\"\n\n\n\n\nSEPTEMBER The Twenty-first\n\n_LIFE AS BREAD_\n\nMARK viii. 10-21.\n\n\nIt is gracious to know that my Lord is \"the Bread of Life,\" and that I can\nfeed on Him. It is fearful to know that I, too, am bread, and that others\nare feeding on me. Am I the nutriment of vice or the sustenance of virtue?\nAm I an evil leaven, like the Pharisees, or a holy leaven like the Lord?\nWhen little children feed on my presence do they grow in strength and\nbeauty? Or do they become relaxed and demoralized? Who will feed upon me\nto-day, and what will be the end of it?\n\nIf I would have my life to be as hallowed and hallowing leaven I must\nregularly feed upon the Bread of Life. If I am sustained by the Lord, I\ntoo shall be a sustainer of all who aspire after a true and holy life. My\nvery character will itself become heavenly bread, and men will be\nnourished by it even when I am unconscious of the ministry. When they have\nspent a brief hour in my company they will go away refreshed.\n\n\"Lord, evermore give us this bread!\" So feed us with Thyself that we may\nshare Thy nature. Let \"virtue\" go forth from us, and let it be as holy\nbread to all who are heavy-laden, and ready to faint.\n\n\n\n\nSEPTEMBER The Twenty-second\n\n_THE HANDFUL OF MEAL_\n\n1 KINGS xvii. 8-16.\n\n\nWhat marvellous \"coincidences\" are prepared by Providential grace! The\npoor widow is unconsciously ordained to entertain the prophet! The ravens\nwill be guided to the brook Cherith! \"I have commanded them to feed thee\nthere.\" Our road is full of surprises. We see the frowning, precipitous\nhill, and we fear it, but when we arrive at its base we find a refreshing\nspring! The Lord of the way had gone before the pilgrim. \"I go to\nprepare ... for you.\"\n\nBut how strange that a widow with only \"a handful of meal\" should be\n\"commanded\" to offer hospitality! It is once again \"the impossible\" which\nis set before us. It would have been a dull commonplace to have fed the\nprophet from the overflowing larder of the rich man's palace. But to work\nfrom an almost empty cupboard! That is the surprising way of the Lord. He\ndelights to hang great weights on apparently slender wires, to have great\nevents turn on seeming trifles, and to make poverty the minister of \"the\nindescribable riches of Christ.\"\n\nThe poor widow sacrificed her \"handful of meal,\" and received an unfailing\nsupply. And this, too, is the way of the Lord.\n\n    \"Whatever, Lord, we lend to Thee,\n     Repaid a thousand fold will be.\"\n\n\n\n\nSEPTEMBER The Twenty-third\n\n_THE DEDICATION OF SUBSTANCE_\n\n2 KINGS iv. 38-44.\n\n\nHere is a man recognizing the sacredness of his substance. He saw the seal\nof the Lord upon his harvest, and he offered the first-fruits in token of\nits rightful Owner. Men go wrong when the only name upon their field is\ntheir own. \"_My_ power, and the strength of _my_ hand hath gotten me this\nwealth.\" It matters nothing what the wealth may be--material substance,\nmental skill, or business sagacity. It becomes unhallowed power when we\nattach our own label to it, and erase the name of God.\n\nThis man dedicated his substance, and the hunger of his fellows was\nappeased. That is a great principle in human life. One man's satisfaction\nis dependent on another man's fidelity. His want is to be filled with my\nfulness. If I am selfish he remains hungry. If I acknowledge \"the rights\nof God,\" and therefore \"the rights of man,\" he has \"enough and to spare.\"\nIf I hoard my treasure I rob both God and man.\n\nMy gracious Lord, remove the scales from my eyes. Help me to be sensitive\nto the obligations of all wealth. Let my plenty call me to the children of\nneed. Let me acknowledge my stewardship, and be Thy fellow minister in the\nservice of man.\n\n\n\n\nSEPTEMBER The Twenty-fourth\n\n_AFTER THE TRIUMPH!_\n\nMATTHEW xiv. 23-33.\n\n\nAfter the great miracle of feeding the multitude our Lord \"_went up into a\nmountain to pray_.\" May we reverently wonder if it was a season of\ntemptation? Did they want to make Him a King? Was our human Lord assailed\nby \"the destruction that wasteth at noonday\"? And did He shut Himself up\nwith the Father?\n\nI am so disposed to pray _up_ to my successes, and to cease to pray _in_\nthem! I remember God in my struggles, I forget Him in my attainments. I\nhold fellowship with Him on the road, I part company with Him when I\narrive. I become a practical atheist in the midst of my successes. My only\nsecurity is to go up into a mountain apart and pray. Unless I become\ncloseted with God, and see all things in their true colours and\nproportion, I shall be lifted up in most unholy and destructive pride.\n\nAnd let me notice that our Lord returned from His privacy with the Father\nto do even greater miracles still. He had appeased the pangs of hunger;\nnow He appeases the passion of the sea. And so in my degree shall it be\nwith me. If in all my triumphs I remain the humble companion of the Lord,\nmy triumphs shall be repeated and enriched. \"Greater works than these\nshall ye do.\"\n\n\n\n\nSEPTEMBER The Twenty-fifth\n\n_THE SENSE OF GRACE_\n\nPSALM cvii. 21-32.\n\n\nA vital part of all devotion is the remembrance of the goodness of God.\nSuch a remembrance keeps my soul in the realm of grace. I am so inclined\nto proclaim my personal rights rather than glorify the favour of God, so\ninclined to exhibit my own prowess rather than God's most gracious bounty.\nAnd whenever I lose the sense of grace I become a usurper and take the\nthrone. Our salvation is \"not of works, lest any man should boast.\"\n\nAnd such a remembrance would keep my soul in the mood of humility.\n\"Nothing in my hands I bring.\" I can no more claim the glory of salvation\nthan a child, who has cut a shallow trench on the sands, can claim the\nglory of initiating the roll of the ocean-tide. I owe all my desires and\nall my hopes and all my present attainments to the boundless goodness of\nGod.\n\nAnd such a remembrance would keep my soul in the dispensation of love. I\ncannot quietly and steadily contemplate the goodness of the Lord without\nmy soul being kindled into loving response. Without high contemplations\nlove smoulders, and will eventually die out. But God's goodness inflames\nthe soul, and communicates its own most gracious heat. \"We love because He\nfirst loved us!\"\n\n\n\n\nSEPTEMBER The Twenty-sixth\n\n_MY LORD AS MY BREAD_\n\nJOHN vi. 26-35.\n\n\nOur life's bread is a Person. We may have much to do with Christianity and\nnothing to do with Christ. The other day I was in a great and wonderful\nbakery, but I never ate nor touched a morsel of bread. I touched the\nmachinery. I was absorbingly interested in the processes, but I ate no\nbread! And I may be deeply interested in the means of grace, I may be\nfamiliar with all \"the ins and outs\" of ecclesiastical machinery, and I\nmay never handle nor taste \"the bread of God.\" Our religion is dead and\nburdensome until it becomes a personal relation, and we have vital\ncommunion with Christ.\n\n\"Thou, O Christ, art all I want.\" We find everything in Him. Everything\nelse is preliminary, preparatory, subordinate, and to be in the long run\ndropped and forgotten. A ritual is only a way to \"the bread,\" and by no\nmeans essential, and very often undesirable. The heart can find the Lord\nwith a look, with a cry, and needs no obtrusion of ritual or priest. But\nhow pathetic! To be contented to potter about among the ritual and never\nto find the Bread! To be in the house and never to see the Host! \"Ye\nsearch the Scriptures ... and ye will not come to Me.\"\n\n\n\n\nSEPTEMBER The Twenty-seventh\n\n_TAKE AND EAT_\n\nJOHN vi. 52-63.\n\n\nThere is, first of all, _appropriation_. I must \"stretch out\" \"lame hands\nof faith\"; and \"take\" before I \"eat.\" In the lives of many Christians\nthere is too much asking and too little taking. If it were only rightly\nregarded, prayer is companionship as well as petition, and companionship\nis literally significant of the sharing of bread. In every season of\ncommunion a part must be assigned to the taking of the things for which we\nhave prayed. \"_Receive ye_ the Holy Ghost.\"\n\nAnd there is _assimilation_. We must \"eat\" as well as \"take.\" It is in the\nexercises of obedience that we digest and incorporate the bread of life.\nWithout our obedience the living Lord never becomes \"part of ourselves.\"\nWe never \"become one in the bundle of life\" with the Lord our God. And\ntruth which is not assimilated becomes a drug. Instead of being a \"savour\nof life unto life,\" it becomes a \"savour of death unto death.\"\n\nAnd there is _vitalization_. The assimilated bread of life makes\neverything alive. Every faculty in my being feels the touch of divine\ninspiration. It is native bread for native power, and everything is\nrenewed.\n\n\n\n\nSEPTEMBER The Twenty-eighth\n\n_THE DAILY MANNA_\n\n\"_I will rain bread from heaven for you._\"\n--EXODUS xvi. 11-18.\n\n\nAnd this gracious provision is made for people who are complaining, and\nwho are sighing for the flesh-pots of Egypt! Our Lord can be patient with\nthe impatient: He can be \"kind to the unthankful.\" If it were easy to\ndrive the Lord away I should have succeeded long ago. I have murmured, I\nhave sulked, I have turned Him out of my thoughts, and \"He stands at the\ndoor and knocks!\" I yearn for \"the flesh-pots,\" \"He sends me manna,\" \"Was\nthere ever kindest shepherd half so gentle, half so sweet?\"\n\n\"_And they gathered it every morning._\" And that I think is the best time\nto gather the heavenly food. At night I am weary, my body is craving\nsleep, and I am not vitalized in the fields of grace. But in the morning I\nam refreshed, and I can go to the heavenly fields and gather \"the things\nwhich God hath prepared for them that love Him.\" I can be fed as the day\nbegins, and I can set out to my daily work with the taste of God in my\nmouth, and His mighty grace in my heart, and I shall delight to \"walk in\nthe paths of His commandments.\"\n\n\n\n\nSEPTEMBER The Twenty-ninth\n\n_THE FOUNTAIN_\n\n1 JOHN v. 9-21.\n\n\nMy Lord is \"the fountain of life.\" \"This life is in His Son.\" The springs\nare nowhere else--not in elaborate theologies, or in ethical ideals, or in\nliterary masterpieces, or in music or art. \"In Him was life.\" It is so\neasy to forget the medicinal spring amid the distractions of the\nfashionable spa. There are some healing waters at Scarborough, but they\nhave been almost \"crowded out\" by bands and entertainments. It is possible\nthat the secondary ministries of the Church may crowd out the Church's\nLord. I do not object to the entertainment if only it opens out on to the\nSpring!\n\nTo have the Son is to have life. Nothing else is needed. \"Thou, O Christ,\nart all I want.\" Ritualisms, and ecclesiasticisms, and formal theologies\nare not requisite. We can be saved without an academic knowledge of \"the\nplan of salvation.\" Many a gamekeeper's little child knows all the roads\non the estate, although she would be quite \"at sea\" in explaining \"the\nplan of the estate\" which hangs in the house of the steward. \"This is life\neternal, to know Thee and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent.\"\n\n\n\n\nSEPTEMBER The Thirtieth\n\n_WHITE ROBES IN THE STREETS_\n\nJOHN xvii. 11-28.\n\n\nThe man who has been fed with the \"bread of life\" must remain \"in the\nworld.\" The Lord gives no countenance to the life of the ascetic. Our\nsanctification is not to be gained by withdrawal and retreat. At the best,\nthat would be a holiness sickly and an\u00e6mic, a coddled virtue devoid of\nfirm muscle and iron nerve. Our Lord purposes a holiness which shall wear\nwhite robes in the streets, and shine like virgin snow in the market, and\nkeep itself chivalrous and stately in the common fellowships of men.\n\n\"In the world,\" but \"_not of the world_.\" The man who is fed on \"the bread\nof life\" is endowed with powers of resistance against \"the noisome\npestilence.\" The germs of worldly epidemics find no nutriment in him. \"The\nprince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in Me.\" When an evil microbe\nfinds no foothold it withers away. If I am not \"of the world\" I shall\nquite naturally and instinctively be able to resist \"all the wiles of the\ndevil.\"\n\nAnd my Lord purposes me to have this positive, masculine holiness in order\n\"_that the world may believe_.\" He wants disciples who will arrest the\nworld by their glorious health, and by their invincible moral defences. He\nwants my purity to advertise His grace; He wants my faith to increase \"the\nhousehold of the faith.\"\n\n\n\n\nOCTOBER The First\n\n_A WONDERFUL UNBELIEF_\n\nPSALM lxxviii. 15-25.\n\n\n\"They believed not in God ... though He had----\" Let everyone finish that\nsentence out of his own experience. How much grace can our unbelief\nwithstand? The Lord had made the rock like unto a spring of water, and yet\nthese people believed not! What has He done for thee and me? Let us\nretrace the pilgrimage of our own years. Let us recall the blessings by\nthe way--the streams in the desert, the pillar of fire that led us in the\nnight. And yet what is the quality of our faith? It is often weak and\nreluctant, riddled with timidities, or moth-eaten with worldly ease. It is\nnot mighty and daring, riding forth every morning like a chivalrous knight\nto inevitable conquest. It creeps along, like Mr. Halting, and Miss\nMuch-Afraid, and Mr. Little-Faith.\n\n\"He marvelled at their unbelief.\" The Lord Jesus wondered that men and\nwomen, seeing what they had seen, did not immediately spring to the life\nand service of faith. Perhaps we do not give time for faith to be born!\nPerhaps we do not see because we do not look. Perhaps we are blind to His\nmercies and are therefore dead to the faith. And therefore, perhaps, our\nfirst prayer should be, \"Lord, that I might receive my sight,\" and then\nthe prayer, \"Lord, increase my faith.\"\n\n\n\n\nOCTOBER The Second\n\n_HUMBLING OUR PRIDE_\n\nJOB xxxviii. 1-15.\n\n\n\"I will demand of thee, and answer thou Me.\" When our God begins to ask\nquestions our pride is soon humbled, for the limits of our knowledge and\npower are speedily reached. The mist is very close to our doors, and in a\nvery few steps we are lost on a trackless moor. Who can trace the real\nsprings of a tear and lay his hand on the emotion that gave it birth? Who\ncan lead us into the bright realm where smiles are born? Who knoweth the\nway of a frown, or who can uncover the secrets of fear? No living man can\nexplain his own breathing, or can unravel the mysterious decree which\nmoves his own finger!\n\nAnd as there is so much mystery, it must be surely true that mystery is a\nvery gracious thing. Uncertainty is the divine ministry of blessedness. If\nit were not so, He would have told us! \"I have many things to say unto\nyou, but ye cannot bear them now.\" If it were best for us that the mist\nshould be removed, He would roll it up like a garment and give us the\nlight of unclouded day. But the mist remains, the home of blessing. \"He\ncometh in a thick cloud.\" \"The clouds drop fatness.\"\n\n\n\n\nOCTOBER The Third\n\n_WATCHING THE CREATOR_\n\nJEREMIAH x. 10-16.\n\n\n\"He hath made the earth by His power.\" And He is making it still. Even in\nthe material world \"His mercies are new every morning.\" James Smetham used\nto speak of going into his garden \"to see what the Lord is doing.\" He\nwould stand on the top of Highgate Hill on a blustering night \"to watch\nthe goings of the Lord in the storm.\" And all this means that to James\nSmetham creation was not merely a single event, but a _process_ whose\ncountless events are still going on. He watched his Lord at work! Every\nsunset was a new creation from the Almighty Maker's hands.\n\nTo many of us the Creator is remote from His works. He is not immediately\nnear. And so He no longer \"walks in the garden in the cool of the day.\"\nThe garden is no longer a holy place. Let us recover the sacredness of\nthings. Let us \"practise the presence of God.\" Let us link His love and\npower to every flower that blows. And so shall we be able to say, as we\nmove amid the glories of the natural world, \"The Lord is in His holy\ntemple.\"\n\n\n\n\nOCTOBER The Fourth\n\n_CREATOR AND CREATURE_\n\nISAIAH xl. 9-28.\n\n\nLet me mark the range of this teaching. \"Who hath measured the waters in\nthe hollow of His hand.... He shall feed His flock like a shepherd.\" And\nlet me mark it again. \"The Creator of the ends of the earth ... giveth\npower unto the faint.\" Almightiness offers itself to carry my burden! The\nCreator offers Himself to re-create me! I can engage the forces of the\nuniverse to help me on my journey. Emerson counselled us to hitch our\nwagon to a star. We can do better than that. We can hitch it to the Maker\nof the star! We have something better than an ideal; we have the Light of\nthe world. We are not left to a radiant abstraction; we have a gracious\nGod.\n\nThe water flows from the Welsh hills to every house in Birmingham. Rich\nand poor alike share the bounty of the mountains. The wealth of the\nmountains comes to the common thirst. And everybody, too, may have the\nwater from the everlasting hills. \"The water that I shall give him shall\nbe in him.\" The river of life will flow to every soul of man.\n\n\n\n\nOCTOBER The Fifth\n\n_THE SOUL AND NATURE_\n\nPSALM cxlviii.\n\n\n\"Praise ye the Lord.\" And the Psalmist calls upon the creation to join in\nthe anthem. And that is the gracious purpose of our God, that the world\nshould be filled with harmonious praise. It is His will that the character\nof man should harmonize with the flowers of the field, that the beauty of\nhis habits should blend with the glories of the sunrise, and that his\nspeech and laughter should mingle with the songs of birds and with the\nmelody of flowing streams. But man is too often a discord in creation. The\nflowers put him to shame. The birds make him sound harsh and jarring. He\nis \"out of tune.\"\n\nWhat then? \"Tune my heart to sing Thy praise.\" We must bring the broken\nstrings, the rusted strings, the jarring strings to the Repairer and Tuner\nof the soul. It is the glad ministry of His grace to re-awaken silent\nchords, to restore broken harps, to \"put new songs\" in our mouths. He will\nmake us the kinsfolk of all things bright and beautiful. We shall \"go\nforth with joy,\" and \"all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.\"\n\n\n\n\nOCTOBER The Sixth\n\n_HE KNOWETH OUR FRAME_\n\nPSALM ciii. 13-22.\n\n\n\"He knoweth our frame.\" The Bible abounds in such gracious and tender\nwords. \"He remembereth us in our low estate.\" \"I have many things to say\nunto you, but ye cannot bear them now.\" \"He will not permit you to be\ntempted above that ye are able.\" The burden is suited to our strength. The\nrevelation is determined by our experience. The pace is regulated by our\nyears. \"He carrieth the lambs in His arms.\" He \"leads on softly.\" Nothing\nis done in ignorance. \"The Lord is mindful of His own. He remembereth His\nchildren.\"\n\nAnd so I must practise the belief in God's compassionate nearness. In my\nchildhood I used to sing \"There's a Friend for little children, Above the\nbright blue sky.\" I know better now. He is nearer to me than I can dream.\nI used to sing \"There is a happy land, Far, far away.\" Now I sing, \"There\nis a happy land, _Not_ far away.\" The good Father and His home are not in\nsome remote realm. They are very, very near to me, and He knows all about\nme. \"He knoweth our frame.\"\n\n\n\n\nOCTOBER The Seventh\n\n_NEEDING AND WANTING_\n\nACTS xvii. 22-31.\n\n\n\"As though He needed anything.\" \"He may not need us; but does He want us?\"\nSuch is the question I heard Dr. Parker ask as he preached upon these\nwords. And he took up a handful of flowers which he had upon the pulpit,\nand said: \"These flowers were gathered for me by little hands in a\nDevonshire lane. Did I need them? No. Did I want them?... Your little girl\nkissed you before you left for business this morning. Did you need it?...\nDid you want it?\"\n\nAnd so Almightiness may not need our weakness, but the loving Father wants\nHis children. \"We are His offspring.\" Our Father delights in the love of\nHis children. The Saviour said to a Samaritan woman, \"Give Me to drink.\"\nAnd perhaps it is within the scope of our holy privilege to refresh the\nheart of our Lord. Perhaps we can give Him to drink of the well of our\naffections, and He will see of \"the travail of His soul and be\nsatisfied.\"\n\n\n\n\nOCTOBER The Eighth\n\n_GOD'S GLORIOUS PURPOSE_\n\n\"_I have created him for My glory, I have formed him;\nyea, I have made him._\"\n--ISAIAH xliii. 1-7.\n\n\nThat is surely a superlative honour! \"I have created him for My glory.\" I\nstood before one of Turner's paintings, and a man of fine judgment said to\nme, \"That is Turner's glory!\" He meant that in that picture the genius and\nthe power and the grace of Turner were most abundantly expressed. And it\nis the will of God that man should express His glory, and by his\nrighteousness and goodness witness to the great Creator's power and love.\nAmid all the wonders and sublimities of earth, and sky, and sea, man is to\nbe the Almighty's \"glory.\"\n\nThe contrast is pathetic when we turn from the Creator's purpose to our\nimmediate life. There is so much that is shameful, crooked, and perverse.\nThere is little or nothing of \"glory.\" But, blessed be God! the purpose\nabides, and the Creator's work goes on. In His redemptive grace He has\nmade provision for marred work, for spoilt and perverted life. \"The\ncrooked shall be made straight.\" \"I will bring again that which is out of\nthe way.\" \"Where sin abounds grace doth much more abound.\"\n\n\n\n\nOCTOBER The Ninth\n\n_THE LARGER WATERS_\n\n1 THESSALONIANS iv. 13-18.\n\n\nDeath is not an end; it is only a new beginning. Death is not the master\nof the house; he is only the porter at the King's lodge, appointed to open\nthe gate, and let in the King's guests into the realms of eternal day.\n\"And so shall we be ever with the Lord.\"\n\nAnd so the range of three score years and ten is not the limit of our\nlife. Our life is not a land-locked lake enclosed within the shore-lines\nof seventy years. It is an arm of the sea, and where the shore-lines seem\nto meet in old age they open out into the infinite. And so we must build\nfor those larger waters. We must lay our life plans on the scale of the\ninfinite, not as though we were only pilgrims of time, but as children of\neternity! We are immortal! How, then, shall we live to-day in prospect of\nthe eternal morrow?\n\n\n\n\nOCTOBER The Tenth\n\n_OUR REFUGE AND STRENGTH_\n\nPSALM xlvi.\n\n\n\"God is our refuge and strength.\" And in the varied conflicts and perils\nof life we need both these resources. We need the \"refuge.\" There are\ntimes when our mightiest warfare is to lie passive, to shelter quietly in\nthe strong defences of our God. Our finest strategy is sometimes to \"rest\nin the Lord and wait.\" We can slay some of our enemies by leaving them\nalone. We can \"starve them out.\" They can be weakened and beaten by sheer\nneglect. We feed their strength, and give them favoured chances, if we go\nout and face them actively, \"marching as to war.\" The best way is to hide,\nand keep quiet; and \"God is our refuge.\"\n\nBut we also need the \"strength.\" This is positive equipment for active\nservice. The defensive is changed to the offensive, and in the \"strength\"\nof the Lord we advance against the foe. We \"ride abroad, redressing human\nwrongs.\" We \"tread upon the lion and the adder, the young lion and the\ndragon we trample under foot.\" We meet our enemy on the open field, and we\nslay him in his pride!\n\nAnd so our God is our resource in the double warfare of active and passive\ncrusade. In Him we can take refuge, and the enemy withers. In Him we can\nfind fighting strength, and the enemy is overthrown.\n\n\n\n\nOCTOBER The Eleventh\n\n_THE OLD COMPANION ON THE NEW ROAD_\n\n\"_Get thee out ... and I will show thee.\"\n\"So Abram departed ... and the Lord appeared._\"\n--GENESIS xii. 1-9.\n\n\nWe must bring these separated passages together if we would appreciate the\ngraciousness of the Lord's call. They are like the two sides of the same\nshield. They answer each other as voice and echo. When I move in obedience\nthe Lord moves in inspiration. He never lets me go on my own charges. \"All\nthings are now ready.\" Before He makes me hunger the bread is prepared.\nBefore I thirst the water is at hand. Before He calls me He has opened\nsprings in difficult places and arbours of rest along the road. When Abram\nset out from his own country the Lord went before him.\n\nAnd so I need not fear the arduous call. The very measure of its\ndifficulty is also the measure of the riches of the divine provisions. \"As\nthy day so shall thy strength be.\" At every turning of the winding way the\nLord will appear unto us. At every new demand we shall discover new\nbounty, and everywhere in the unfamiliar road we shall gaze upon the\nfamiliar and friendly face of the Lord.\n\n\n\n\nOCTOBER The Twelfth\n\n_ROUND-ABOUT WAYS_\n\nACTS vii. 1-7.\n\n\n\"Unto a land that I will show thee.\" But what mysterious windings there\noften are before that land is reached! But God's windings are never\nwasteful and purposeless. The apparent deviations are always gracious\npreparations. We are taken out of the way in order that we may the more\nrichly reach our end. George Pilkington yearned to go to the foreign\nfield, and God sent him to a dairy farm in Ireland. But the Irish dairy\nfarm proved to be on the way to Uganda; and all the experience and\nknowledge which Pilkington picked up in this strange business proved\ninvaluable when he reached his appointed field. \"He bringeth the blind by\na way that they know not.\"\n\nSo I will remember that the \"short cut\" is not always the finest road.\nGod's round-about ways are filled with heavenly treasure. Every winding is\npurposed for the discovery of new wealth. What riches we gather on the way\nto God's goal!\n\n    \"The hill of Zion yields\n       A thousand sacred sweets\n     Before we reach the heavenly fields\n       Or walk the golden streets.\"\n\n\n\n\nOCTOBER The Thirteenth\n\n_THE ROYAL AIR_\n\nGALATIANS iii. 6-14.\n\n\nEmerson says somewhere that he has noticed that men whose duties are\nperformed beneath great domes acquire a stately and appropriate manner.\nThe vergers in our great cathedrals have a dignified stride. It is not\notherwise with men who consciously live under the power of vast\nrelationships. Princes of royal blood have a certain great \"air\" about\nthem. The consciousness of noble kinships has an expansive influence upon\nthe soul. The Jews felt its influence when they called to mind \"our Father\nAbraham.\"\n\nSo is it with men and women of glorious kinships in the realm of faith.\nTheir souls expand in the vast and exalted relations. \"The children of\nfaith\" have vital communion with all the spiritual princes and princesses\nof countless years. They have blood-relationship with the patriarchs, and\npsalmists, and prophets, and they dwell \"in heavenly places\" with Paul,\nand Augustine, and Luther, and Wesley.\n\nSurely, such exalted kinship should influence our very stride, and set its\nmark upon our \"daily walk and conversation.\" It ought to make us so big\nthat we can never speak a mean word, or do a petty and peevish thing.\n\n\n\n\nOCTOBER The Fourteenth\n\n_COMMONPLACE PEOPLE_\n\nJOHN i. 35-47.\n\n\nOur Lord delights to glorify the commonplace. He loves to fill the common\nwater-pots with His mysterious wine. He chooses the earthen vessels into\nwhich to put His treasure. He calls obscure fishermen to be the\nambassadors of His grace. He proclaims His great Gospel through provincial\ndialects, and He fills uncultured mouths with mighty arguments. He turns\ncommon meals into sacraments, and while He breaks ordinary bread He\nrelates it to the blessing of heaven.\n\nAnd \"this same Jesus\" is among us to-day, with the same choices and\ndelights. He will make a humdrum duty shine like the wayside bush that\nburned with fire and was not consumed. He will make our daily business the\nchannel of His grace. He will take our disappointments, and, just as we\nsometimes put banknotes into black-edged envelopes, He will fill them with\ntreasures of unspeakable consolation. He will use our poor, broken,\nstammering speech to convey the wonders of His grace to the weary sinful\nsouls of men.\n\n\n\n\nOCTOBER The Fifteenth\n\n_THE CALL AND THE EQUIPMENT_\n\nLUKE v. 27-32.\n\n\nMatthew was very weary, and the all-seeing Lord read the signs of his\nspiritual dissatisfaction and unrest. As Jesus \"passed by\" nothing escaped\nHis watchful eye. He saw a look in Matthew's eye as of some caged creature\nlonging for freedom. Matthew's office, the contempt of his fellows, and\nperhaps his own self-contempt held him in imprisoning disquietude. The\nLord knew it all, and one word from Him and the iron gate was open, and\nthe prisoner was free! \"Follow Me! And he left all, rose up, and followed\nHim.\" With the Lord's command was conveyed the ability to obey, and\nMatthew stepped into \"the glorious liberty of the children of God.\"\n\nAnd this is the Master's way. His calls are always equipments. Every\nreceived commandment is also the vehicle of requisite grace. God's decrees\nare also promises, nay, they are immediate endowments. If we reverently\nopen one of His callings we shall find it a store-house of needed\nstrength.\n\nAnd therefore we need not fear the calls of the Lord. They are not the\nharsh commandments of a tyrant, they are the loving invitations of a\nfriend. If we obey them we shall taste the grace of them, and \"His\nstatutes will become our songs.\"\n\n\n\n\nOCTOBER The Sixteenth\n\n_THE INSPIRATIONS OF THE PAST_\n\nISAIAH li. 1-6.\n\n\nHere is a sentence from Lord Morley: \"If a man is despondent about his\nwork the best remedy I can prescribe for him is to turn to a good\nbiography.\" He counsels him to go into the yesterdays to find inspiration\nfor the life of to-day. Other men's attainments are bugle-calls to me.\n\"Look unto Abraham, your father.\" Look unto the blessings which waited\nupon his obedience! See how springs of refreshment broke out in the\ntroubled way! God \"called him and blessed him.\" Rekindle your hope at his\nradiant triumph. Strengthen your will in his glorious persistence.\n\nHere do I see God's mercy in the gift of memory and in the witness of\nhistory. I can turn to the yesterdays for light and quickening. \"Do ye not\nremember the miracle of the loaves?\" Yes, I can recall the grace that met\nme in my need, the power that made the crooked straight and the rough\nplaces plain. And I am privileged to turn the pages of other men's\ntestimonies and read the record of the Lord's dealings with them. And so\ndo memory and history come as helpful angel-presences to my soul.\n\n    \"His love in time past\n       Forbids me to think\n     He'll leave me at last\n       In trouble to sink.\"\n\n\n\n\nOCTOBER The Seventeenth\n\n_NO QUEST OF GOD_\n\n\"_He inquired not of the Lord._\"\n--1 CHRONICLES x. 6-14.\n\n\nThat was where Saul began to go wrong. When quest ceases, conquests cease.\n\"He inquired not\"; and this meant loss of light. God will be inquired\nafter. He insists that we draw up the blinds if we would receive the\nlight. If we board up our windows He will not drive the gentle rays\nthrough our hindrance. We must ask if we would have. The discipline of\ninquiry fits us for the counsel of the Lord.\n\n\"He inquired not\"; and this meant loss of sight. When light fails, sight\nfails. The ponies in our pits become blind. When a spiritual power is not\nexercised in the heavenly, it is deprived of its appointed functions. And\nthe tragedy is this, that the blind are deceived into thinking that they\nstill retain their sight. \"Ye say, we see!\"\n\n\"He inquired not\"; and this meant loss of might. For \"the light of life\"\nis not only illumination; it is inspiration too. It is both light and\nheat; it confers guidance and dynamic. When a man, therefore, refuses the\nlight he becomes a weakling, and he will meet with disaster in the first\ntempestuous day.\n\n\n\n\nOCTOBER The Eighteenth\n\n_UNANIMITY IN THE SOUL_\n\n\"_A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways._\"\n--JAMES i. 1-8.\n\n\nIf two men are at the wheel with opposing notions of direction and\ndestiny, how will it fare with the boat? If an orchestra have two\nconductors both wielding their batons at the same time and with\nconflicting conceptions of the score, what will become of the band? And a\nman whose mind is like that of two men flirting with contrary ideals at\nthe same time will live a life \"all sixes and sevens,\" and nothing will\nmove to purposeful and definite issues. If the mind flirt with Satan and\nChrist, life will be filled with disastrous instability and confusion.\n\nThe first thing we need, therefore, for influential and impressive living\nis unanimity. Unanimity in the mind is the primary factor in a forceful\nlife. To bring \"all that is within me\" into concord, to make every\ninstrument of the soul bow to one conductor, to lead all the powers into\nhomage to the Lord--this is the unanimity which assures the perfection of\nholiness. \"Unite my heart to fear Thy name.\" That is the mood which wins\nlife's prize, \"the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.\"\n\n\n\n\nOCTOBER The Nineteenth\n\n_READY!_\n\n\"_Let your loins be girded about._\"\n--LUKE xii. 35-40.\n\n\nLoose garments can be very troublesome. An Oriental robe, if left\nungirdled, entangles the feet, or is caught by the wind and hinders one's\ngoings. And therefore the wearer binds the loose attire together with a\ngirdle, and makes it firm and compact about his body. And loose principles\ncan be more dangerous than loose garments. Indefinite opinions, caught by\nthe passing wind of popular caprice, are both a peril and a burden. Many\npeople go through life with loose beliefs and purposes, and they never\narrive at any glorious goal. \"Let your loins be girded about.\" Bind your\nloose thinkings together with the girdle of truth into firm and saving\nconviction.\n\n\"_And your lights burning._\"\n\nBe ready for the emergency. When the darkness falls, don't have to hasten\naway to buy oil. Look after your resources, and be competent to meet the\ncrisis when it comes. Let the light of conscience be burning with clear\nflame, like a brilliant lighthouse on a dangerous shore. Let the light of\nlove be burning, like a lamp which sends its friendly, cheery beams to the\npilgrims of the night. \"Our sufficiency is of God,\" and the oil of grace\nwill keep the lights burning through the longest night.\n\n\n\n\nOCTOBER The Twentieth\n\n_THE LORD AS THE SERVANT_\n\n\"_Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His\nhands, and that He came forth from God, and goeth to God_....\"\n--JOHN xiii. 1-20.\n\n\nAnd how shall we expect the sentence to finish? What shall be the issue of\nso vast a consciousness? \"_He took a towel, and girded Himself ... and\nbegan to wash the disciples' feet._\"\n\nSo a mighty consciousness expresses itself in lowly service. In our\nignorance we should have assumed that divinity would have moved only in\nplanetary orbits, and would have overlooked the petty streets and ways of\nmen. But here the Lord of Glory girds Himself with the apron of the slave,\nand almightiness addresses itself to menial service.\n\nAnd that is the test of an expanding consciousness. We may be sure that we\nare growing smaller when we begin to disparage humble services. We may be\nsure we are growing larger when we love the ministries that never cry or\nlift their voices in the streets. When a man begins to despise the\n\"towel,\" he is losing his kingly dignity, and is resigning his place on\nthe throne. \"I have given you an example that ye also should do as I have\ndone to you.\"\n\n\n\n\nOCTOBER The Twenty-first\n\n_THE CONTRITE HEART_\n\nISAIAH lvii. 13-21.\n\n\nLet us look at this description of the dwelling-place of the Eternal God.\n\"_I dwell with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit._\"\n\nAnd who are the contrite? In the original word there is the significance\nof pieces of rock or lumps of soil having been crumbled into the finest\npowder. Have I not sometimes heard the phrase--\"He's just a lump of\npride\"? Well, that pride has to be broken down into the finest powder,\nuntil not a bit of stubborn self-conceit remains. And then the contrite\nbecome the humble! Our gracious Lord has sometimes to use heavy hammers in\nthe destruction of this hard and stony pride: the shock of calamity, the\nbattering of disappointment and defeat! Our pride _must_ be ground to\npowder. Then He will come in and dwell with us!\n\nAnd what then? He will \"_revive the spirit of the humble, and revive the\nheart of the contrite ones_.\" Our broken pride shall be as broken soil in\nwhich our Lord will grow the flowers and fruits of the Spirit. The death\nof pride shall be followed by a revival of all things sweet and beautiful.\nWhen pride is laid low, it is a \"day of resurrection.\" The wilderness\nshall \"blossom as the rose.\"\n\n\n\n\nOctober The Twenty-second\n\n_THE TRUE STANDARD OF GREATNESS_\n\nMATTHEW xviii. 1-7.\n\n\nHere is our Lord's estimate of true greatness. How infinite is the\ncontrast between His standard and the standards of the world! The world\nmeasures greatness by money, or eloquence, or intellectual skill, or even\nby prowess on the field of battle. But here is the Lord's\nstandard--\"_Whosoever, therefore, shall humble himself as this little\nchild, the same is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven._\"\n\nThose people are greatest who are most like God. We become partakers of\nthe Divine nature through a child-like relationship to God. The grace and\npower of God pour into our souls when we wait upon Him like a little\nchild.\n\nChild-likeness opens the doors and windows to the incoming of the\nAlmighty. The child-like is the trustful, and no barriers of cynical\nsuspicion block the channels of spiritual communion. And the child-like is\nthe docile, and no boulders of arrogance or self-conceit block the channel\nof the invigorating waters of life. And so the child-like become the\nGod-like, and, of course, they are the greatest among the sons of men. The\nlittle child enshrines the secret of the God-man, and we should be\ninfinitely wise if we had the little child always in our midst.\n\n\n\n\nOCTOBER The Twenty-third\n\n_MASTERS AND SERVANTS_\n\nMATTHEW xx. 20-28.\n\n\nIt is always our peril that we hunger for place more than for character,\nfor position more than for disposition, for a temporal sceptre more than\nfor a majestic self-control.\n\nThese disciples coveted places on the right and left of the Lord, and they\nhad little or no concern about their worthiness for the posts.\nTemporalities eclipsed spiritualities, fleeting fireworks hid the quiet\nstars. They wanted to be great and prominent, the Lord wanted them to be\npure and good. They longed to be Prime Ministers, the Lord purposed that\nthey should be glad to be ministers, working contentedly in an obscure\nplace.\n\nNow mark our Lord's response. \"_Are ye able to drink of the cup that I\ndrink of?_\" They wanted to be the King's cup-bearers; He offers them to\ndrink of His cup. They call for sovereignty: He asks for sacrifice. They\ncrave sweetness: He offers them bitterness. They seek a life of \"getting\":\nHe demands a life of \"giving.\" Who has a cup of bitterness to drink? Go\nand share it with him! Where are the morally and spiritually an\u00e6mic? Go\nand give them thy blood! \"Whoever shall lose his life shall find it.\"\nThrough self-sacrifice we pass to our throne.\n\n\n\n\nOCTOBER The Twenty-fourth\n\n\"_PUSH_\" _AND_ \"_PULL_\"\n\nLUKE xiv. 1-11.\n\n\nThe world canonizes \"push.\" It eulogizes the \"man of push.\" It loves to\nsee a man elbowing his way through the jostling crowd, and gaining for\nhimself a \"chief seat\" at life's feast. He is proclaimed a \"successful\"\nman, and he rises in \"the chief seat,\" and amid loud hurrahs he responds\nto the toast of his health.\n\nYes, \"push\" is the word of the world, but \"pull\" is the word of the Lord,\nand between the two there is the difference of darkness and light. \"Push\"\nis selfish and exclusive: \"pull\" is inclusive and neighbourly. \"Push\"\ntakes as its motto, \"The weakest to the wall!\" \"Pull\" takes as its motto,\n\"Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.\"\n\nThe final verdict upon life will be founded, not upon our own success in\ngaining a chief seat, but upon our success in encouraging the faint and\nthe weakling, and in \"helping lame dogs over stiles.\"\n\nMy gracious Lord, help me to put on \"a heart of compassion\" that by\nneighbourly feeling and ministry I may lead my fellows to the choice\nplaces of life's feast.\n\n\n\n\nOCTOBER The Twenty-fifth\n\n_THE ROBE OF HUMILITY_\n\n1 PETER v. 1-11.\n\n\nLet me, therefore, learn this lesson, that if my Lord should give me\nprominence in His church it is not to feed my lust of dominion, but in\norder to strengthen and extend the influence of the church's life.\n\"_Neither as lording it over the charge allotted to you, but making\nyourselves ensamples to the flock._\"\n\nThe only truly imperial purple is the robe of humility. Any other sort of\nattire may appear to be kingly, but it has none of the glorious\nsignificance which belongs to our sovereign Lord. When a man puts on the\nrobe of pride, he immediately belittles his manhood. When a man puts on\nthe robe of humility, he becomes a greater man.\n\nBut humility is more than an imperial robe, it is a complete armour. It is\nfine for defence! The devil cannot get at the man who is \"clothed in\nhumility.\" There is no chink or crevice through which his deadly rapier\ncan pierce. And it is equally fine for offence! Wearing this armour we can\ngo out \"redressing human wrongs.\" The stroke of pride is ever futile. When\nthe humble man deals a blow, the power of the Almighty is in his right\nhand. \"Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God.\"\n\n\n\n\nOCTOBER The Twenty-sixth\n\n_THE LUST OF THE EXTERNAL_\n\nMATTHEW xxiii. 1-12.\n\n\nPharisaism is the lust of externalities, and the utter negligence of the\ninward sanctities of the spirit. It thinks more of decorum than of\nholiness, more of etiquette than of equity, more of ritualism than of \"the\nrobe of righteousness and the garment of salvation.\" Pharisaism lives in\nthe streets: it does not dwell in the inner chambers of our mystic life.\n\nPharisaism thirsts for the homage of men and not for the approbation of\nGod. It is far more alert to the \"Rabbi! Rabbi!\" of the crowd than it is\nto the secret callings of the Lord. The path between itself and the\nhighest is unfrequented and grass-grown; the path between itself and the\nmultitude is a well-trodden and barren road.\n\nMy Lord, let me be warned! Let me not pervert the ministries of religion\nto the aggrandizement of self. Let me not, in appearing to worship Thee,\nbe seeking the worship of men. Give me singleness of mind. Give me purity\nof heart. And may I discover true greatness in seeking greatness for\nothers.\n\n\n\n\nOCTOBER The Twenty-seventh\n\n_PAYING HOMAGE TO THE KING_\n\nPROVERBS iii. 1-12.\n\n\n\"Acknowledge Him.\" But not with a passing nod of recognition. I must not\nmerely glance at Him now and again, admitting His existence on the field.\nTo acknowledge Him is to acknowledge Him as King, with the right to\ncontrol, and as predominant partner in all the affairs of my life, even\nthe right to give the determining voice in all my decisions. No, it is not\nthe recognition paid to an acquaintance, it is the homage paid to a King.\n\nAnd if I thus acknowledge Him, He will direct my paths. Life shall always\nbe moving on to its purposed end and glory. The path chosen will not\nalways be the most alluring one, but it will be the right one, and\ntherefore the safe one, and there will be wonderful discoveries on the\nuninviting track.\n\nHow will He let me know which path to take? I cannot say. We can never\nanticipate God's ways of dealing with us. But if my life is bent to the\nloving acknowledgment of His will, He will assuredly find a way to make\nHis will known. The light will always reach the willing mind.\n\n\n\n\nOCTOBER The Twenty-eighth\n\n_PLEASANTNESS AND PEACE_\n\n\"_Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace._\"\n--PROVERBS iii. 13-26.\n\n\nIn the ways of the Lord I shall have feasts of \"pleasantness.\" But not\nalways at the beginning of the ways. Sometimes my faith is called upon to\ntake a very unattractive road, and nothing welcomes me of fascination and\ndelight. But here is a law of the spiritual life. The exercised faith\nintensifies my spiritual senses, and hidden things become manifest to my\nsoul--hidden beauties, hidden sounds, hidden scents! Faith adds a\nmysterious \"plus\" to my powers, and \"all things become new.\"\n\nAnd in the ways of the Lord I shall also find the gracious gift of peace.\nNot that the road will be always smooth, but that I may be always calm. I\ncan be unperturbed when \"all around tumultuous seems.\" I can journey in\nholy serenity, because the Lord of the road is with me. For peace\nconsists, not in friendliness of circumstances, but in friendship with the\nLord.\n\n\n\n\nOCTOBER The Twenty-ninth\n\n_THE STORY OF THE PAST_\n\nDEUTERONOMY xxxi. 7-13.\n\n\nAnd no ears are more receptive to spiritual story than the ears of a\nlittle child. It is not needful to open the gate of interest; it is wide\najar already. And imagination also is there, ready to busy itself about\nthe story. And so, too, is the spirit of homage and adoration. The\nchildren are ready for the King! \"Suffer little children to come unto Me,\nfor of such is the Kingdom of Heaven.\"\n\nAnd, therefore, we have need of wise tellers of the story, who know the\nstory themselves. And in these delicate regions I must ever remember how\nmuch my spirit shares in the story I tell. My spirit is a friend or a foe\nto my power. My words may be well chosen, but they may all be light as\nempty shells, devoid of all vitality. My words have just the power of\ntheir spiritual contents. \"You cannot fight the French with 200,000 red\nuniforms,\" said Carlyle; \"there must be men inside them.\" And we cannot\nengage in the evangelization with mere uniforms of words. There must be\nspirit inside them, even the spirit of pure and consecrated lives.\n\n\n\n\nOCTOBER The Thirtieth\n\n_A TESTIMONY MEETING_\n\nPSALM xxxiv. 1-11.\n\n\nThis is a little testimony meeting, in which each of the witnesses tells\nthe story of the Lord's gracious dealings with him. Let me listen to them.\n\n\"_He delivered me from all my fears._\" His fears held him in dungeons.\nEven the noontide was as darkness round about him, and there was no song\nin his soul. And the Lord broke open the prison-gate and let him out to\nlight, and joy, and belief.\n\n\"_They looked to Him and were lightened._\" They looked upon the grace of\nthe Lord, and were lit up, just as I have seen humble cottage windows\nablaze with the glory of the rising sun. I must \"set my face\" towards the\nLord, and I, too, shall catch the radiance of His glory.\n\n\"This poor man cried ... _and the Lord saved him out of all his\ntroubles_.\" And these troubles were what I should call \"tight corners,\"\nwhen the life is hemmed in by unfortunate circumstances, and there seems\nno way of escape. Disappointment shuts us in. Sorrow shuts us in. Lack of\nmoney shuts us in. Let me cry unto the Lord. He is a wonderful Friend in\nthe tight corner, and He will bring my feet into \"a large place.\"\n\n\n\n\nOCTOBER The Thirty-first\n\n_TWO GREAT MYSTERIES_\n\nPSALM lxxxi.\n\n\nThis is an unutterable mystery, that a man can close his life against God.\n\"_Israel would have none of Me._\" We can shut out God as we can shut out\nthe pure air. We can bar His entrance just as we can exclude the light\nfrom the chamber. And then the pity is, we can deceive ourselves into\nbelieving that the air is perfectly fresh and that the room is flooded\nwith light. We lose our fine discernment, and we call evil good, and the\ndarkness we call day. If we \"refuse to have God\" in our thoughts God gives\nus over to a \"reprobate mind.\"\n\nAnd it is an equally unutterable mystery that a man can open his life to\nthe entertainment of Almighty God. \"I will dwell with them!\" That is my\nsupreme honour, that the Lord will be my guest. I can \"hearken\" to Him,\nand \"talk\" to Him, and \"walk\" with Him. And He offers me protection. He\nwill \"subdue my enemies.\" And He offers me unfailing provision. The Guest\nbecomes the Host! I put my little upon the table, and lo! I find that \"the\ncruse of oil fails not, and the meal in the barrel is not consumed!\"\n\n\n\n\nNOVEMBER The First\n\n_IN THE DAYS OF YOUTH_\n\nECCLESIASTES xii. 1-7.\n\n\nIn my university days at Edinburgh there was a young medical student named\nMacfarlane. He was one of our finest athletes, and everybody liked him.\nOne day he was stricken with typhoid, which proved fatal. Macfarlane in\nhis days of boisterous health had neglected his Lord, and when one of his\nfriends, visiting him in his sickness, led his thoughts to the Saviour, he\nturned and said, \"But wouldn't it be a shabby thing to turn to Christ\nnow?\" \"Yes,\" replied his friend, \"it will be a shabby thing, but it will\nbe shabbier not to turn to Him at all!\" And I believe that poor Macfarlane\nturned his shame-filled soul to the Lord.\n\nBut it is shabby to offer our Lord the mere dregs in life's cup. It is\nshabby to offer Him the mere hull of the boat when the storms of passion\nhave carried its serviceableness away. Let me offer Him my best, my finest\nequipment, my youth! Let me offer Him the best, and give Him the helm when\nI am just setting sail and life abounds in golden promise! \"Remember now\nthy Creator in the days of thy youth.\"\n\n\n\n\nNOVEMBER The Second\n\n_LEADING TO CHRIST_\n\n\"_Suffer little children to come unto Me._\"\n--MARK x. 13-22.\n\n\n\"Unto _Me_!\" We must not keep them at any half-way house. We are so prone\nto be satisfied if only we bring them a little way along the road. If we\nget them to pray! If we get them to attend the Lord's house! If we get\nthem to be truthful and gentle! All of which is unspeakably good. It is a\nblessed thing to be in \"the ways of Zion\"; it is a far more blessed thing\nto be in the palace with Zion's King and Lord. When we are dealing with\nlittle children, every road must lead to Jesus, and not until the road is\ntrodden and we arrive at Him must we think our ministry accomplished.\n\nAnd, therefore, if I am talking to the little ones about Samuel, or David,\nor Paul, I must always see the short lane which leads to the Lord. \"Suffer\nthe little children to come unto _Me_!\" And once they really own Him, we\nmay trust their instincts for the rest. The heart in the child will leap\nto the love of the Lord, \"for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven.\" When a\nlittle one sees the Saviour, it is \"love at first sight\"!\n\n\n\n\nNOVEMBER The Third\n\n_THE LORD'S OWN_\n\nJOHN xv. 11-25.\n\n\nThe \"Lord's own\" possess the Lord's love. \"_I have loved you._\" And love\nis not a beautiful sentiment, a passive rainbow stretched over the realm\nof human life. It is a glorious, active energy, infinitely more powerful\nthan electricity, and always besieging the gates of the soul, or\nministering to its manifold needs. Love is the greatest force in the\nworld.\n\nAnd the \"Lord's own\" are taken into the inner circle of intimacy, where\nthe deepest secrets dwell. We are not kept on the door-step, or left\nstanding in the hall, or limited to one or two \"public rooms\"; we are\nprivileged to enter the King's privacy, and be nourished at the King's\ntable, and listen to the King's table-talk concerning \"all things\" which\nHe has heard of the Father. We have \"the glorious liberty of _the\nchildren_ of God.\"\n\nAnd the \"Lord's own\" will experience the world's hatred. \"_Therefore the\nworld hateth you._\" Our very friendship with the Lord pronounces judgment\non the world, and its hostility is aroused. If we are \"partakers of the\nglory\" we shall most assuredly be \"partakers of the sufferings of\nChrist.\"\n\n\n\n\nNOVEMBER The Fourth\n\n_THE HOLY SPIRIT AS WITNESS_\n\nJOHN xv. 26--xvi. 11.\n\n\nThe Holy Spirit is to be a witness of Jesus. \"_He shall testify of Me._\"\nHe shall be \"the Friend of the Bridegroom,\" and He shall sing the\nBridegroom's grace, and goodness, and prowess, in the eager ear of the\nbride. And the early love of the bride shall become deeper and richer as\nmore and more she enters into \"the unsearchable riches of Christ.\"\n\nAnd the Holy Spirit is thus to be a strengthener of the friends of the\nLord. He will be my \"_Comforter_.\" By His gracious advocacy He will make\nmy faith and hope invincible. The best service which can be rendered me is\nnot to change my circumstances, but to make me superior to them; not to\nmake a smooth road, but to enable me to \"leap like an hart\" over any road;\nnot to remove the darkness, but to make me \"sing songs in the night.\" And\nso I will not pray for less burdens, but for more strength! And this is\nthe gracious ministry of \"The Comforter.\"\n\nHoly Spirit, strengthen me! Transform my frail opinions into firm\nconvictions, and change my fleeting, dissolving views into abiding\nvisions!\n\n\n\n\nNOVEMBER The Fifth\n\n_THE TEMPLE OF THE BODY_\n\nROMANS xii. 1-9.\n\n\nThe Lord wants my body. He needs its members as ministers of\nrighteousness. He would work in the world through my brain, and eyes, and\nears, and lips, and hands, and feet.\n\nAnd the Lord wants my body as \"_a living_ sacrifice.\" He asks for it when\nit is thoroughly alive! We so often deny the Lord our bodies until they\nare infirm and sickly, and sometimes we do not offer them to Him until\nthey are quite \"worn out.\" It is infinitely better to offer them even then\nthan never to offer them at all. But it is best of all to offer our bodies\nto our Lord when they are strong, and vigorous, and serviceable, and when\nthey can be used in the strenuous places of the field.\n\nAnd so let me appoint a daily consecration service, and let me every\nmorning present my body \"a living sacrifice\" unto God. Let me regard it as\na most holy possession, and let me keep it clean. Let me recoil from all\nabuse of it--from all gluttony, and intemperance, and \"riotous living.\"\nLet me look upon my body as a church, and let the service of consecration\ncontinue all day long. \"Know ye not that your bodies are the temples of\nthe Holy Spirit?\"\n\n\n\n\nNOVEMBER The Sixth\n\n_PEACE IN TRIBULATION_\n\nJOHN xvi. 25-33.\n\n\nHere is a strange medley of experiences! I am to enjoy the gift of peace,\nand yet I am to be smarting under tribulation!\n\nWhen the Holy Spirit is my guest I am to enjoy the gift of peace. \"_These\nthings I said unto you that ye might have peace._\" The life of the soul is\nto move without jar or discord. It shall be like a quiet engine-house, in\nwhich every wheel co-operates with every other wheel, and there is no\nwaste or friction in the holy place. \"All that is within me\" blesses God's\nholy name.\n\nAnd yet, while peace reigns within, there may be tribulation without! \"_In\nthe world ye shall have tribulation._\" Here is a peace which is not broken\nby the noise and assault of brutal circumstance. The most tempestuous wind\ncannot disturb the quiet serenity of the stars. When the world stones me,\nnot one grain of its gritty dust need enter the delicate workings of my\nsoul. That was the peace of my Lord, and it is my Lord who says to me: \"My\npeace I give unto you!\" So \"_be of good cheer_,\" my soul! Thy Lord has\n\"_overcome the world_,\" and thou shalt share His victory.\n\n\n\n\nNOVEMBER The Seventh\n\n_REJECTED LOVE_\n\nISAIAH lxiii. 7-14.\n\n\nIf I refuse the friendship of the Holy One I inevitably invite His\nhostility. \"_But they rebelled, and vexed His holy Spirit: therefore He\nwas turned to be their enemy, and He fought against them._\"\n\nAnd so, if I reject the forces of grace I do not turn them from my gate, I\nconvert them into foes. Malachi teaches me that rejected sunshine becomes\nlike a burning oven. The Epistle to the Hebrews teaches me that rejected\nlove becomes \"a consuming fire.\" Holiness nourishes virtue, it withers\nvice. If I offer my Lord a tender aspiration, His breath wooes it like the\nbalmy air of the spring; if I come before Him with the weeds of ignoble\ndispositions, He blights them as with the nipping of the frost.\n\nAnd is it not well, for thee and me, that our Lord is thus fiercely\nhostile to our sins? Is not this \"consuming fire\" the friend of my soul?\nMay I not pray: Burn on, burn on, pure flame, until all the refuse and\nrubbish of my life are utterly consumed; burn on, burn on, until fierce\nflame becomes mild light, flinging its genial radiance over a transfigured\ndesert?\n\n\n\n\nNOVEMBER The Eighth\n\n_THE ORGAN OF SPIRITUAL VISION_\n\n1 CORINTHIANS ii. 9-16.\n\n\nOur finest human instruments fail to obtain for us \"_the things which God\nhath prepared for them that love Him_.\"\n\nArt fails! \"_Eye hath not seen._\" The merely artistic vision is blind to\nthe hidden glories of grace. Philosophy fails! \"_Neither hath ear heard._\"\nWe may listen to the philosopher as he spins his subtle theories and\nweaves his systematic webs, but the meshes he has woven are not fine\nenough to catch \"the deep things of God.\" Poetry fails! \"_Neither hath it\nentered into the heart of man to conceive._\" Poetic imagination may\nstretch her wings, and soar, but she fails to enter the guest-chamber of\nthe Lord, and take an inventory of \"the things prepared.\" All these\ngracious ministries fail to reach life's glorious and purposed end.\n\n\"_But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit._\" When art, and\npoetry, and philosophy all pitiably fail, the Spirit unveils to us the\nbewildering feast. And so the unlearned has the same ultimate advantage as\nthe learned, and the cottager has equal privilege with the monarch. The\ngreatest things are not the perquisites of culture, but the endowments of\nhumility and holy faith. The poor man has access to the \"many mansions,\"\nand finds a place at the King's feast.\n\n\n\n\nNOVEMBER The Ninth\n\n_THE HOLY SPIRIT AS EMANCIPATOR_\n\n2 CORINTHIANS iii. 4-18.\n\n\nIn the Holy Spirit I experience a large emancipation. \"_Where the Spirit\nof the Lord is, there is liberty._\" I am delivered from all enslaving\nbondage--from the bondage of literalism, and legalism, and ritualism. I am\nnot hampered by excessive harness, by multitudinous rules. The harness is\nfitting and congenial, and I have freedom of movement, and \"my yoke is\neasy and my burden is light.\"\n\nAnd I am to use my emancipation of spirit in the ministry of\ncontemplation. I am to \"_behold, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord_.\"\nMy thought has been set free from the cramping distractions devised by\nmen, and I am now to feast my gaze upon the holy splendours of my Lord. It\nis like coming out of a little and belittling tent, to feast upon the\nsunny amplitude of the open sky! I can \"cease from man,\" and commune with\nGod.\n\nAnd the contemplation will effect a transformation. \"_We are changed into\nthe same image from glory to glory._\" The serene brightness of the sky\ngets into our faces. The Lord becomes \"_the health of our countenance_,\"\nand we shine with borrowed glory.\n\n\n\n\nNOVEMBER The Tenth\n\n_NEVERTHELESS!_\n\nLUKE v. 1-11.\n\n\nHere is obedience in spite of the night of failure. \"_Nevertheless, at Thy\nword I will let down the net._\" That word \"nevertheless\" has always made\nhistory. It has been spoken after scourgings, after \"bonds and\nimprisonments.\" Ten thousand times has it been heard in the chamber of\nbereavement, the first sound to break the awful silence. \"At evening my\nwife died.... In the morning I did as God commanded me.\" And may it be\ntrue of me! May my \"nevertheless\" of willing obedience rise like a lark\nabove the storm.\n\nAnd because there was obedience there came vision. In the wonderful answer\nto his faith Peter beheld the glory of his Lord. And so I never know where\nthe unenticing road of obedience will lead me. At the end of the dull road\nthere will be some gracious surprise! It is the rugged path which leads to\nthe summit! The panorama comes as the reward of the toilsome climb!\nAlways, in the realm of the Spirit, the dogged \"nevertheless\" will lead to\nthe \"shining tableland to which our God Himself is moon and sun.\"\n\n\n\n\nNOVEMBER The Eleventh\n\n_FOILING THE ENEMY'S PLOTS_\n\nLUKE xxii. 24-34.\n\n\nI do not meet my tempter alone. The engagement has been foreseen by my\nLord. \"_Simon, Simon, Satan hath desired to have you!_\" The tempter's\nplots, and wiles, and ambuscades are all clearly perceived. My Lord has\ngot the enemy's maps, and his plan of campaign, for all things are open to\nthe eyes of Him with whom we have to do. I do not fight a lonely warfare\non a dark and unknown field. My Lord Himself both scouts and fights for\nthose who are His own.\n\nAnd one great means of His co-operation is the mighty ministry of\nintercession. \"_But I have prayed for thee._\" That \"but\" is the massing of\nthe forces of heaven against the black and subtle hordes of hell. Let me\never remember that the Lord's prayers are always the conveyers of holy\npower to those for whom He prays. It is as when Christian met Apollyon in\nthe Valley of Humiliation: there comes a sudden accession of strength to\nthe bleeding warrior, and Apollyon retires wounded and beaten from the\nfield.\n\nAnd the only way to preserve the fruits of a triumph is by helping other\nwarriors to gain a similar conquest. \"_When thou art converted strengthen\nthy brethren._\" I shall retain the hard, muscular limbs of a soldier if I\nam willing to share my blood with the entire army.\n\n\n\n\nNOVEMBER The Twelfth\n\n_THE FASHIONING OF A DENIAL_\n\nLUKE xxii. 54-62.\n\n\nFrom Peter's denial I would learn the peril of the first cowardly\nsurrender to sin. Surely Peter must have \"trimmed\" many times in the days\nwhich preceded his actual discipleship. Great crises do not make men, they\nreveal them. The men have been made in the smaller issues which go before.\nWe march to our crises by a gradient, every step of which is a moral\ndecision. The interior of the tree is secretly eaten away by white ants;\nthe tempest reveals and completes the destruction.\n\nAnd I would learn from Peter's denial the cumulative power of sins. One\nsin widens the road for a bigger one to follow. The second denial will be\nmore vehement than the first. The third will add the element of blasphemy.\nYes, every sin is a miner and sapper for a larger army in the rear. It not\nonly does its own work, it prepares the way for its successor.\n\nBut I will connect this \"dark betrayal night\" with that sweet\nafter-morning when the Lord and His denier met face to face by the lake.\nAnd that sweet morning of reconciliation is a possible experience for all\nthe deniers of the Lord, and it is therefore possible for thee and me.\n\n\n\n\nNOVEMBER The Thirteenth\n\n_A TRANSFORMED FISHERMAN_\n\n\"_Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a fishing._\"\n--JOHN xxi. 1-14.\n\n\nSimon Peter had often gone a fishing, but never had he gone as he went in\nthe twilight of that most wonderful evening. He handled the ropes in a new\nstyle, with a new dignity born of the bigger capacity of his own soul. He\nturned to the familiar task, but with a quite unfamiliar spirit. He went a\nfishing, but the power of the resurrection went with him.\n\nThis action of Simon Peter's is the only true test of the reality of any\nspiritual experience. How does it fit me for ordinary affairs? A spiritual\nfestival should do for the soul what a day on the hills does for the\nbody--equip it for the better doing of the duties in the vale.\n\nThis action is also a preparative to a renewal of the gracious experience.\nThe road of common duty was just the way appointed for another meeting\nwith his Lord, for in the morning-light there came a voice across the\nwaters: \"Children, have ye any meat?\" \"And that disciple whom Jesus loved\nsaith unto Peter: 'It is the Lord.'\"\n\n\n\n\nNOVEMBER The Fourteenth\n\n_THE PURIFICATION OF LOVE_\n\nJOHN xxi. 15-25.\n\n\n\"Lovest thou Me?\" There was a day, only a little while back, when Simon\nPeter's love was not yet purified, and it indulged itself in loud and\nempty boasts. True love never blusters and brawls. It is like a stream of\nwater flowing silently underground, and secretly bathing the roots of\nthings, and keeping their heads fresh, and cool, and sweet. The boast has\nnow dropped out of the love! It is now ashamed of words! \"Lord, Thou\nknowest that I love Thee!\"\n\nYes, true love expresses itself, not in clamorous boastfulness, but in\nquiet services. It ministers to the Lord's sheep and the Lord's lambs. It\nspends its strength on the mountains, \"seeking that which is lost,\" and it\ndoes this in the darkness, where there is no applauding crowd. The true\nlover does not ask for some dramatic scene where he can die for the\nbeloved; he delights in obscure services, the feeding and tending of the\nsheep of the flock.\n\nBut the love that does the humbler thing will be ready for the greater\nsacrifice whenever the day shall demand it. Some day the once boastful\ndenier shall lay down his life for his Saviour, and through martyrdom he\nshall pass to his crown.\n\n\n\n\nNOVEMBER The Fifteenth\n\n_THE MUSIC OF RECONCILIATION_\n\nPSALM lxxxv.\n\n\nLet me listen to this psalm of reconciliation, as it makes music for my\nsoul to-day.\n\nIt tells me of the Divine favour. \"_Lord, Thou hast been favourable to Thy\nland._\" As I write these words, the sun has just slipped out from behind\nthe cloud. It has been there all the time, but the ministry of the cloud\nwas needed, and so it appeared as though there would be sun and spring no\nmore. \"Behind a frowning Providence He hides a smiling face.\"\n\nAnd it tells me of the Divine forgiveness. \"_Thou hast forgiven the\niniquity of Thy people._\" Yes, when the sun appears, He loosens the frozen\nearth and streams, and turns the bondage into liberty. The soul that was\nimprisoned in freezing guilt attains a joyous freedom.\n\nAnd it tells me of revival. \"_Wilt Thou not revive us again?_\" It is the\nnext step in the returning spring. The sleeping, benumbed things will all\nawake! \"The flowers appear on the earth.\" Where grace reigns, graces\nspring! Forgiveness is attended by renewal, and the wilderness begins to\n\"blossom like the rose.\"\n\n\n\n\nNOVEMBER The Sixteenth\n\n_THE MAKING OF A BRAVE MAN_\n\nACTS iv. 13-22.\n\n\nHere is a marvellous transformation! I have been wondering at the\nlittleness of the denier, and now this same denier is making the world\nwonder by his majestic boldness! His one resource is now the risen Christ,\nand his one moral standard is \"whether it be right!\" Once he quailed\nbefore an accusing maid; now he stands undaunted before the rulers of the\nearth. How has it all come about?\n\nHe has been to the empty tomb. The awe of the resurrection is upon his\nspirit. Through the once blind cul-de-sac of the grave he has seen the\nKing and the great white throne.\n\nAnd he has been by the lake on the morning of reconciliation. The live\ncoal from the altar of his Lord's love has touched him and has purged away\nthe uncleanness of his denial.\n\nAnd he has been in the upper room at Pentecost, and the mighty Spirit has\ncome upon him like wind and flame, endowing him with forceful and\nenthusiastic character. Now he can dare for God, now he can work for God,\nnow he can burn for God! And this is how he has been transformed.\n\n\n\n\nNOVEMBER The Seventeenth\n\n_IF GOD BE FOR US----!_\n\nROMANS viii. 31-39.\n\n\nWho else is worth naming? How much does anybody count? If the sun be on my\nside, why should I be dismayed at any icy obstacle that may rear itself in\nmy way? Sun _versus_ ice! God _versus_ my impediments! Why should I fear?\nIf the atmosphere is on my side, then even the opposing strength of iron\nwill rust away into powder. \"The breath of the Lord bloweth upon it,\" and\nif the holy breath, God's Holy Spirit, is for us, then the apparently\ninvincible obstacle will crumble away into dust.\n\nBut we are deceived by mass, and we are forgetful of spirit. Mere size\naffrights us. We are dismayed by numbers. We forget the quiet, pervasive,\nall-powerful ministry of the Spirit of God. We are overwhelmed by the\nphenomena of tempest and earthquake and fire, and we forget that\nalmightiness hides in the \"still, small voice,\" in \"the sound of a gentle\nstillness.\" God's breath is more than the fierce threatenings of embattled\nhosts. \"If God be for us, who can be against us?\" I will hide myself in\nHis holy fellowship, and \"none shall make me afraid.\"\n\n\n\n\nNOVEMBER The Eighteenth\n\n_EXHILARANT SPIRITS_\n\n\"_He maketh my feet like hinds' feet._\"\n--PSALM xviii. 31-39.\n\n\nI think of Wordsworth's lines, in which he describes a natural lady, made\nby Nature herself:\n\n    \"She shall be sportive as the fawn\n     That wild with glee across the lawn\n        Or up the mountain springs.\"\n\nAnd it is this buoyancy, this elasticity, this springiness that the Lord\nis waiting to impart to the souls of His children, so that they may move\nalong the ways of life with the light steps of the fawn.\n\nSome of us move with very heavy feet. There is little of the fawn about us\nas we go along the road. There is reluctance in our obedience. There is a\nfrown in our homage. Our benevolence is graceless, and there is no charm\nin our piety, and no rapture in our praise. We are the victims of \"the\nspirit of heaviness.\" And yet here is the word which tells us that God\nwill make our feet \"like hinds' feet.\" He will give us exhilaration and\nspring, enabling us to leap over difficulties, and to have strength and\nbuoyancy for the steepest hills. Let us seek the inspiration of the Lord.\n\"It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect.\"\n\n\n\n\nNOVEMBER The Nineteenth\n\n_THE ARMOUR OF GOD_\n\nEPHESIANS vi. 10-18.\n\n\nThe Word describes the armour, and it directs us to the armoury. The\ndescription would oppress me if the directions were absent. If I have to\nforge the armour for myself I should be in despair. But I can go to the\narmoury of grace, where there is an ever-open door and abundant welcome\nfor every person who fain would be a knight-errant of the Lord. The Lord\nwill provide me with perfect equipment suitable for every kind of contest\nwhich may meet me along the road. There are no favourites among the\npilgrims except, perhaps, the neediest, and to them is given \"more\nabundant honour.\"\n\nSometimes one of the Lord's knights loses one piece of armour, and he must\nat once repair to the armoury. Perhaps he has lost his helmet, or his\nshield, or even his breastplate, and the enemy has discovered his\nvulnerable place. We must never continue our journey imperfectly armed.\nThe evil one will ignore the pieces we have, and he will direct all his\nattack where there is no defence. Back to the armoury! Back to the\narmoury, that we may \"put on the _whole_ armour of God.\" The Lord is\nwaiting; let us humbly and penitently ask for the missing piece.\n\n\n\n\nNOVEMBER The Twentieth\n\n_THE REAL ARISTOCRACY_\n\n\"_Abraham, my friend._\"\n--ISAIAH xli. 8-16.\n\n\nI think that is the noblest title ever given to mortal man. It is the\nspeech of the Lord God concerning one of His children. It is something to\nbe coveted even to enjoy the friendship of a noble man; but to have the\nfriendship of God, and to have the holy God name us as His friends, is\nsurely the brightest jewel that can ever shine in a mortal's crown. And\nsuch recognition and such glory may be the wonderful lot of thee and me.\n\n\"Abraham, my friend.\" The Lord of hosts found delight in human\nfriendships. He comes in to sup with us. He drinks of the cup of our\ndelights. For, surely, it is one of the supreme characteristics of true\nfriendship that it rejoices at the other's joy. And my heavenly Friend is\nglad in my gladness as well as sympathetic in the day of sadness and\ntears. Yes, He comes in to sup with me, and I may sup with Him.\n\n\"Abraham, my friend.\" And He shares His sweets with His friend, in inward\ncounsels, and in tender revelations of His purposes and in the gifts of\njoy and peace. There is perfect openness between these friends; nothing is\nhid. They have the run of each other's hearts.\n\n    \"I tell Him all my joys and fears,\n     And He reveals His love to me.\"\n\n\n\n\nNOVEMBER The Twenty-first\n\n_THE EARLY BUILDERS_\n\n1 KINGS viii. 1-21.\n\n\nIt is always a healthy means of grace to link my own accomplishments with\nthe fidelity and achievements of the past. Solomon traced his finished\nTemple to the holy purpose in the heart of David his father. I lay the\ncoping-stone, but who turned the first sod? I lead the water into new\nministries, but who first dug the well?\n\nThere is the temple of liberty. In our own day we are enriching it with\nmost benignant legislation, but we must not forget our dauntless fathers,\nin whose blood the foundations were laid. When I am walking about in the\nfinished structure, let me remember the daring architects who \"did well\"\nto have it in their hearts.\n\nSuch retrospect will make me humble. It will save me from the isolation\nand impotence of foolish pride. It will confirm me in human fellowship by\nshowing me how many springs I have in my fellow-men.\n\nAnd such retrospect will make me grateful to my God. Noble outlooks always\nengender the spirit of praise. The fine air of wide spaces quickens the\nsoul to a song.\n\n\n\n\nNOVEMBER The Twenty-second\n\n_RECOVERING LOST STRENGTH_\n\n1 KINGS viii. 22-36.\n\n\nIn this portion of this great prayer I discern the unalterable mode in\nwhich nations and individuals recover their moral health and strength.\n\nHow do they lose it? Two words tell the story. They \"_sin_\" and are\n\"_smitten_.\" It is an inevitable sequence. Every sin is the minister of\ndisease. Sometimes we can see it, when the disease flaunts its flags in\nthe flesh; lust and drunkenness have glaring placards, and we know what is\ngoing on within. But even when sin makes no visible mark the wasting\nprocess is at work. It is as true of falsehood as of drunkenness, of\ntreachery as of lust. \"Evil shall slay the wicked.\"\n\nAnd how do we recover our lost estate? There are three words which tell\nthe story. \"_Turn!_\" \"_Confess!_\" \"_Make supplication!_\" The words need no\nexposition. I must turn my face to my despised and neglected Lord; I must\ntell them all about my miserable revolt, and I must humbly crave for His\nrestoring grace.\n\nAnd the answer is sure. Such humble exercise sets the joy-bells ringing,\nand the rich forgiveness of the Lord fills the soul with peace. \"O taste\nand see how gracious the Lord is.\"\n\n\n\n\nNOVEMBER The Twenty-third\n\n_THE STRANGER_\n\n1 KINGS viii. 37-53.\n\n\nYes, indeed, what space has \"the stranger\" in my supplications? Has he any\nplace at all? Are my intercessions private enclosures, intended only for\nthe select among my friends? Do I ever open the door to anyone outside my\nfamily circle? Are my ecclesiastical sympathies large enough to include\n\"outsiders\" from afar? What do I do with \"the stranger\"?\n\nThere is nothing which keeps prayer sweet and fresh and wholesome like the\nletting in of \"the stranger\"! To let a new guest sit down at the feast of\nmy intercession is to give my own soul a most nutritious surprise. It is a\nmost healthy spiritual habit to see to it that we bring in a new\n\"stranger\" every time we pray. Let me be continually enlarging the circle\nof hospitality! Let some new and weary bird find a resting-place in the\nbranches of my supplications every time I hold communication with God.\n\nA prayer which has no room for \"the stranger\" can have little or no room\nfor God.\n\n\n\n\nNOVEMBER The Twenty-fourth\n\n_THE PRAYER WHICH ENDS IN SACRIFICE_\n\n1 KINGS viii. 54-66.\n\n\nAnd that is the healthy order of all true worship. It begins in spacious\nsupplication in which \"the stranger\" finds a place. Then there is a lavish\nconsecration of self and substance. And then the wedding-bells begin to\nring, and \"the joy of the Lord is our strength!\" \"_They went unto their\ntents joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness that the Lord had\ndone._\"\n\nBut so many suppliants miss the middle term, and therefore the gladness is\nwanting. Supplication is not followed by consecration, and therefore there\nis no exultation. It is a fatal omission. When we are asking for \"the gift\nof God\" our request must be accompanied by the gift of ourselves to God.\nIf we want the water we must offer the vessel. No gift of self, no bounty\nof God! No losing, no finding! \"When the burnt offering began, the song of\nthe Lord began.\"\n\n    \"Take my life, and let it be\n     Consecrated, Lord, to Thee.\"\n\n\n\n\nNOVEMBER The Twenty-fifth\n\n_AFTER THE PRAYER THE FIRE!_\n\n\"_When Solomon had made an end of praying the fire\ncame down from heaven._\"\n--2 CHRONICLES vii. 1-11.\n\n\nAnd the fire is the symbol of the Holy God. Pure flame is our imperfect\nmode of expressing the Incorruptible. This burning flame is heat and light\nin one. And when Solomon had prayed, the holy Flame was in their midst.\n\nBut not only is the flame the symbol of the Holy; it also typifies the\npower which can make me holy. We have no cleansing minister to compare\nwith fire. Where water fails fire succeeds. After an epidemic water is\ncomparatively impotent. We commit the infested garments to the flames. It\nwas the great fire of London which delivered London from the tyranny of\nthe plague. And so it is with my soul. God, who is holy flame, will burn\nout the germs of my sin. He will \"purify Jerusalem with the spirit of\nburning.\" \"Our God is a consuming fire.\"\n\nCome to my soul, O holy Flame! Place Thy \"burning bliss\" against my\nwickedness, and consume it utterly away!\n\n\n\n\nNOVEMBER The Twenty-sixth\n\n_UNCONSECRATED SOULS_\n\n\"_This house which I have sanctified will I cast out of my sight,\nand will make it a proverb and a by-word among all nations._\"\n--2 CHRONICLES vii. 12-22.\n\n\nAnd thus am I taught that consecrated houses are nothing without\nconsecrated souls. It is not the mode of worship, but the spirit of the\nworshipper which forms the test of a consecrated people. If the worshipper\nis defiled his temple becomes an offence. When the kernel is rotten, and I\noffer the husk to God, the offering is a double insult to His most holy\nname.\n\nAnd yet, how tempted I am to assume that God will be pleased with the mere\noutsides of things, with words instead of aspiration, with postures\ninstead of dispositions, with the letter instead of the spirit, with an\nornate and costly temple instead of a sweet and lowly life! Day by day I\nam tempted to treat the Almighty as though He were a child! Nay, the Bible\nuses a more awful word; it says men treat the Lord as though He were a\nfool!\n\nFrom all such irreverence and frivolity, good Lord, deliver me! Let me\never remember that Thou \"desirest truth in the _inward_ man.\" \"In the\nhidden parts\" help me \"to know wisdom.\"\n\n\n\n\nNOVEMBER The Twenty-seventh\n\n_THE VALUE OF REVERENCE_\n\nROMANS xiii. 1-7.\n\n\nWhen I pay honour to honourable ministers I not only honour my God, but I\nenrich and refine my own soul. One of the great secrets of spiritual\nculture is to know how to revere. There is an uncouth spirit of\nself-aggression which, while it wounds and impoverishes others, destroys\nits finest spiritual furniture in its own ungodly heat. The man who never\nbows will never soar. To pay homage where homage is due is one of the\nexercises which will help to keep us near \"the great white throne.\"\n\nI know my peril, for I recognize one of the prevalent perils of our time.\nSome of the old courtesies are being discarded as though they belonged to\na younger day. Some of the old tokens of respect have been banished to the\nlimbo of rejected ritual. Dignitaries are jostled in the common crowd.\n\"One man is as good as another!\" And so there is a tendency to strip life\nof all its reverences, and venerable fanes become stables for unclean\nthings.\n\nMy soul, come thou not into this shame! Move in the ways of life with\nsoftened tread, and pay thy respect at every shrine where dwells the grace\nand power of God.\n\n\n\n\nNOVEMBER The Twenty-eighth\n\n_HOW TO FIGHT EVIL_\n\n\"_Overcome evil with good._\"\n--ROMANS xii. 9-21.\n\n\nFor how else can we cast out evil? Satan cannot cast out Satan. No one can\nclean a room with a filthy duster. The surgeon cannot cut out the disease\nif his instruments are defiled. While he removed one ill-growth he would\nsow the seed of another. It must be health which fights disease. It will\ndemand a good temper to overcome the bad temper in my brother.\n\nAnd therefore I must cultivate a virtue if I would eradicate a vice. That\napplies to the state of my own soul. If there be some immoral habit in my\nlife, the best way to destroy it is by cultivating a good one. Take the\nmind away from the evil one. Deprive it of thought-food. Give the thought\nto the nobler mood, and the ignoble mood will die. And this also applies\nto the faults and vices of my brother. I must fight them with their\nopposites. If he is harsh and cruel, I must be considerate and gentle. If\nhe is grasping, I must be generous. If he is loud and presumptuous, I must\nbe soft-mannered and self-restrained. If he is devilish, I must be a\nChristian. This is the warfare which tells upon the empire of sin. I can\novercome evil with good.\n\n\n\n\nNOVEMBER The Twenty-ninth\n\n_TRANSFORMING OUR FOES_\n\nMATTHEW v. 38-48.\n\n\n\"Love your enemies.\"\n\nIt must be the aim of a Christian to make his enemy lovely. It is not my\nsupreme business to secure my safety, but to remove his ugliness. He may\nonly annoy me, but he is destroying himself. He may injure my reputation;\nbut far worse, he is blighting his own character. Therefore must I seek to\nremove the greater thing, the corrosive malady in his own soul. I must\nmake it my purpose to recover his loveliness, and restore the lost\nlikeness of the Lord.\n\nAnd only love can make things lovely. Revenge can never do it. Even duty\nwill fail in the gracious work. There is a final touch, a consummate\nbloom, to which duty can never attain, and which is only attainable by\nlove. All love's ministries are creative of loveliness. Wherever her\nfinger rests, something exquisite is born. Love is a great magician: she\ntransforms the desert into a garden, and she makes the wilderness blossom\nlike the rose.\n\nBut where shall we get the love wherewith to make our enemy lovely? From\nthe great Lover Himself. \"We love, because He first loved us.\" The great\nLover will love love into us! And we, too, shall become fountains of love,\nfor our Lord will open \"rivers in the high places, and fountains in the\nmidst of the valleys.\"\n\n\n\n\nNOVEMBER The Thirtieth\n\n_THE SPRING AND THE RIVER_\n\n\"_With the Lord there is mercy._\"\n--PSALM cxxx.\n\n\nThat is the ultimate spring. All the pilgrims of the night may meet at\nthat fountain. We have no other common meeting-place. If we make any other\nappointment we shall lose one another on the way. But we can meet one\nanother at the fountain, men of all colours, and of all denominations, and\nof all creeds. \"By Thy mercy, O deliver us, good Lord!\"\n\n\"_There is forgiveness with Thee._\" That is the quickening river. Sin and\nguilt scorch the fair garden of the soul as the lightning withers and\ndestroys the strong and beautiful things in woodland and field. The graces\nare stricken, holy qualities are smitten, and the soul languishes like a\nblasted heath. But from the fountain of God's mercy there flows the\nvitalizing stream of His forgiveness. \"There is a river the streams\nwhereof shall make glad the city of God.\" It is the mystic \"river of life,\nclear as crystal.\" \"Everything shall live whither the river cometh.\"\n\n\"_With Him is plenteous redemption._\" Salvation is not merely a recovered\nflower, it is a recovered garden. It is not the restoring merely of a\nwithered hand; \"He restoreth my soul.\" God does not make an oasis in a\nsurrounding desert; He makes the entire wilderness to \"rejoice and blossom\nas the rose.\"\n\n\n\n\nDECEMBER The First\n\n_A FAITHFUL FRIEND_\n\nPROVERBS xxvii. 1-10.\n\n\n\"_A faithful friend is a strong defence._\"\n\nHe is a gift of God, and therefore a \"means of grace.\" The Lord's seal is\nupon his ministry. How we impoverish ourselves by separating these\nprecious gifts from their Giver? We desecrate many a fair shrine by\nemptying it of God. We turn many a temple into just a common house. When\nwe think of our friend let us link him to our Father, and fall upon our\nknees in grateful praise.\n\nHe is God's minister in his encouragements. When he cheers me, it is \"the\nSun of righteousness who rises with healing in His wings.\" All radiant\nwords are just lamps for \"the light of life.\" All genial speech carries\nflame from the altar fire of heaven.\n\nAnd he is God's minister in his reproofs. He uses a clean knife: there is\nno poison on the blade. And when he does surgeon's work upon me, it is\nclean work, healthy work, the relentless enemy of disease. Some men cut\nme, and the wound festers. There is malice in the deed. My friend wounds\nme in order that he may give me a larger, sweeter life.\n\n\n\n\nDECEMBER The Second\n\n_THE LORD AS A FRIEND_\n\nJOHN xv. 8-17.\n\n\n\"Ye are my friends!\"\n\nIn my Lord's friendship there is _the ministry of sacrifice_. \"Greater\nlove hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.\"\nThis great Friend is always giving His blood. It is a lasting shame when\nprofessed Christians are afflicted with spiritual an\u00e6mia. And yet we are\noften so fearful, so white-faced, so chicken-hearted, so averse from\nbattle, that no one would think us to be \"the soldiers of the Lord.\" We\nneed blood. \"Except ye drink my blood ye have no life.\"\n\nAnd in my Lord's friendship there is the _privilege of most intimate\ncommunion_.\n\n\"All things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.\" He\ntakes us into His confidence, and tells us His secrets. It is His delight\nto lift the veil, and give us constant surprises of love and grace. He\ndiscovers flowers in desert places, and in the gloom He unbosoms \"the\ntreasures of darkness.\" He is a Friend of inexhaustible resource, and His\ncompanionship makes the pilgrim's way teem with interest, and abound in\nthe wonders of redeeming grace.\n\n\n\n\nDECEMBER The Third\n\n_ARMS AND THE MAN!_\n\n1 THESSALONIANS v. 4-10.\n\n\nWhat wonderful armour is offered to me in which to meet the insidious\nassaults of the devil!\n\nThere is \"_the armour of light_.\" Sunlight is the most sanative energy we\nknow. It is the foe of many a deadly microbe which seeks a lodging in our\nbodies. Light is a splendid armour, even in the realm of the flesh. And so\nit is in the soul. If the soul is a home of light, the eternal light, evil\ngerms will die as soon as they approach us. They will find nothing to\nbreed on. \"The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.\"\n\nAnd there is the armour of \"_faith and love_.\" The opposite to faith is\nuncertainty, and the opposite to love is cynicism, and who does not know\nthat uncertainty and cynicism are the very hotbeds for the machinations of\nthe evil one? When faith is enthroned the soul is open to the reception of\ngrace, and when love shares the throne the sovereignty is invincible.\n\nAnd there is the armour of \"_hope_.\" Even in a physical ailment a man has\na mighty ally who wrestles in hope. And when a man's hope is in the Lord\nhis God all the powers in the heavenly places are his allies, and by his\nhope he shall be saved.\n\n\n\n\nDECEMBER The Fourth\n\n_CHILDREN OF LIGHT_\n\n1 THESSALONIANS v. 5-11.\n\n\nCan we think of a more beautiful figure than this--\"_children of light_\"?\nAs I write these words I look out upon a building every window of which is\nablaze with light, every room the home of attractive brightness. And my\nlife is to be like that! And I look again and I see a lighthouse sending\nout its strong, pure, friendly beams to guide the mariner as he seeks his\n\"desired haven.\" And my life is to be like that! And I look once more, and\nI see a common road lamp, sending its useful light upon the busy street,\nhelping the wayfarer as he goes from place to place. And my life is to be\nlike that!\n\nAnd if my soul is all lit up in friendly radiance for others, the light\nwill be my own defence. Light always scares away the vermin. Lift up a\nstone in the meadow, let in the light, and see how a hundred secret things\nwill scurry away. And light in the soul scares away \"the unfruitful works\nof darkness\"; they cannot dwell with the light. Light repels the evil one;\nit acts upon him like burning flame. Yes, we are well protected when we\nare clothed in \"the armour of light.\"\n\nBut how can we become \"children of light,\" holy homes of protective and\nsaving radiance? Happily, it is not our lot to provide the light, it is\nours to provide the lamp. If we offer the lamp the Lord will give the\nflame.\n\n\n\n\nDECEMBER The Fifth\n\n_THE SECOND-BEST FOR GOD_\n\n1 CHRONICLES xvii. 1-15.\n\n\nSo the best was for man, and the second-best for God! The cedar for\nself-indulgence, and the curtains for the home of worship! It is a marked\nsign of spiritual awakening when a man begins to contrast his own\nindulgences with the rights of God. There are so many of us who are lavish\nin our home and miserly in the sanctuary. We multiply treasures which\nbring us little profit, and we are niggardly where treasure would be of\nmost gracious service.\n\n\"I dwell in a house of cedar,\" and yet I am thoughtless about God's poor!\nFor I must remember that the poor are the arks of the Lord. \"I was naked,\nand ye clothed Me not.\"\n\n\"I dwell in a house of cedar\"; my liberties are many and spacious; and yet\nthere are tribes of God's people held in the tyranny of dark and hopeless\nservitude. I dwell in England, but what about the folk on the Congo? I\ndwell in a land of ample religious freedom, but what about Armenia? Do my\nsympathies remain confined within my cedar walls, or do they go out to\nGod's neglected ones in every land and clime?\n\n\n\n\nDECEMBER The Sixth\n\n_THE GRACE OF LOWLINESS_\n\n1 CHRONICLES xvii. 16-27.\n\n\nIt is by such lowliness that we arrive at our true sovereignty. All\nspiritual treasures are hidden along the ways of humility, and it is\nmeekness which discovers them. The uplifted head of pride overlooks them,\nand its \"finds\" are only pleasure of the passing day.\n\nLowliness is the secret of spiritual perceptiveness. I find my sight in\nlowly places. The Sacred Word speaks of \"the _valley_ of vision.\" I\nusually associate vision and outlook with mountain summits, but in\nspiritual realms the very capacity to use the heights is acquired in the\nvale.\n\nLowliness is the secret of spiritual roominess. It is only the humble man\nwho has any room for the Lord. All the chambers in the proud man's soul\nare thronged with self-conceits, and God is crowded out. Our Lord always\nfinds ample room for Himself wherever the heart bows in humility and says:\n\"I am not worthy that Thou shouldst come under my roof.\"\n\n\n\n\nDECEMBER The Seventh\n\n_CHOSEN AS BUILDERS_\n\n\"_Take heed now, for the Lord hath chosen thee to build._\"\n--1 CHRONICLES xxviii. 1-10.\n\n\nAnd how must he take heed? For it may be that the Lord hath also chosen me\nto build, and the counsel given to Solomon may serve me in this later day.\nLet me listen.\n\n\"_Serve Him with a perfect heart._\" God's chosen builders must be\ncharacterized by singleness and simplicity. He can do nothing with\n\"double\" men, who do things only \"by half,\" giving one part to Him and the\nother part to Mammon. It is like offering the stock of a gun to one man\nand the barrel to another; and the effect is nil. No, the entire gun! The\n\"perfect heart\"!\n\n\"_And with a willing mind._\" For the willing mind is the ready mind, and\nGod can do nothing with the unready. I never know just when He will call\nme to add another stone to the rising walls of the New Jerusalem, and if I\nam \"otherwise engaged\" I am a grievous hindrance to His gracious plans. He\nmust be willing and ready who would be a builder of the walls of Zion. And\nto that man the Lord will entrust the privilege of responsibility.\n\n\n\n\nDECEMBER The Eighth\n\n_JUDGED BY OUR ASPIRATIONS_\n\n\"_Thou didst well, it was in thine heart._\"\n--2 CHRONICLES vi. 1-15.\n\n\nAnd this was a purpose which the man was not permitted to realize. It was\na temple built in the substance of dreams, but never established in wood\nand stone. And God took the shadowy structure and esteemed it as a\nperfected pile. The sacred intention was regarded as a finished work. The\nwill to build a temple was regarded as a temple built. And hence I discern\nthe preciousness of all hallowed purpose and desire, even though it never\nreceive actual accomplishment. \"Thou didst well, it was in thine heart.\"\n\nAnd so the will to be, and the will to do, is acceptable sacrifice unto\nthe Lord! \"I wish I could be a missionary to the foreign field,\" but the\nduties of home forbid. But as a missionary she is accepted of our God,\neven though she never land on distant shore. Our purposes work, as well as\nthe work itself. Desire is full of holy energy as well as fruition. The\nwish to do good is good itself; the very longing is a minister in the\nkingdom of our God. If, therefore, we are to be judged by our aspirations,\nthere are multitudes of apparent failures who will one day be revealed as\nclothed in the radiance of spiritual victory.\n\n\n\n\nDECEMBER The Ninth\n\n_NATIONAL BLESSEDNESS_\n\n\"_Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound._\"\n--PSALM lxxxix. 1-18.\n\n\nBlessed is the people who love the sound of the silver trumpet which calls\nto holy convocation! Blessed is the people who are sacredly impatient for\nthe hour of holy communion! Blessed is the people \"in whose heart are the\nhighways to Zion.\" And in what shall their blessedness consist?\n\nIn illumination. \"_They shall walk, O Lord, in the light of Thy\ncountenance._\" The favour of the Lord shall shine upon them when they walk\nthrough rough and troublous places. There shall always be a sunny patch\nwhere the soul is in communion with its Lord.\n\nIn exultation. \"_In Thy name shall they rejoice all the day._\" There is\nnothing like sunshine for making the spirits dance! Light is a great\nemancipator, a great breaker-up of frozen bondages. It thaws \"the genial\ncurrents of the soul,\" and the stream of life sings in its progress.\n\nIn exaltation. \"_In Thy righteousness shall they be exalted._\" They will\nbe lifted up above their enemies. In elevation they will find their\nsafety. God lifts us above our passions, above our cares, above our little\nfears and tempers, and we find our peace upon the heights.\n\n\n\n\nDECEMBER The Tenth\n\n_THE ONLY WISE BEGINNING_\n\n\"_The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom._\"\n--PSALM cxi.\n\n\nIf I want to do anything wisely I must begin with God. That is the very\nalphabet of the matter. Every other beginning is a perverse beginning, and\nit will end in sure disaster. \"I am Alpha.\" Everything must take its rise\nin Him, or it will plunge from folly into folly, and culminate in\nconfusion.\n\nIf I would be wise in my daily business I must begin all my affairs in\nGod. My career itself must be chosen in His presence, and in the\nillumination of His most holy Spirit. And in the subsequent days nothing\nmust be done that is not rooted and grounded in Him.\n\nIf I would be wise as a teacher I must begin with God. I must not merely\ncall Him in to bless my lesson when my labour is done. The very beginnings\nof my thinkings must be in Him. Our Lord will not write an appendix to a\nvolume about which He has never been consulted. \"They who seek Me _early_\nshall find Me.\" And so it is with the varied activities of our\nmultitudinous life. If we would have them shine with quiet wisdom we must\nlight them at the Sun of glory.\n\n\n\n\nDECEMBER The Eleventh\n\n_THE SPEECH OF THE INCARNATION_\n\n\"_He hath spoken to us in His Son._\"\n--HEBREWS i.\n\n\nAnd that blessed Son spake my language. He came into my troubled\nconditions and expressed Himself out of my humble lot. My surroundings\nafforded Him a language in which He made known His good news. The\ncarpenter's shop, the shepherd on the hill, the ladened vine, a wayside\nwell, common bread, a friend's sickness, the desolation of a garden, the\ndarkness of \"the last things\"--these all offered Him a mode of speech in\nwhich He unveiled to me the heart of God.\n\nHe came as the Son to make me a son. For I had made myself a slave, and\ncalled my bondage freedom. I wore my badge of servitude with unholy pride.\nBut when He came and spake to me, my lost inheritance dawned upon my\nwondering eyes, and I knew myself to be enslaved. But His was the glorious\nmission not only to awake but to emancipate, not only to unveil lost\nsplendour but to recover it. He came to set us free, \"and if the Son shall\nmake you free ye shall be free indeed.\"\n\n\"This my son was lost and is found.\" Has that great word been spoken\nconcerning me in the Father's home of light? \"Lord, I would serve, and be\na son. Dismiss me not, I pray.\"\n\n\n\n\nDECEMBER The Twelfth\n\n_RELATING EVERYTHING TO GOD_\n\n\"_Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatever ye do,\ndo all to the glory of God._\"\n--1 CORINTHIANS x. 23-33.\n\n\nAnd so all my days would constitute a vast temple, and life would be a\nconstant worship. This is surely the science and art of holy living--to\nrelate everything to the Infinite. When I take my common meal and relate\nit to \"the glory of God,\" the common meal becomes a sacramental feast.\nWhen my labour is joined \"unto the Lord,\" the sacred wedding turns my\nworkshop into a church. When I link the country lane to the Saviour, I am\nwalking in the Garden of Eden, and paradise is restored.\n\nThe fact of the matter is, we never see anything truly until we see it in\nthe light of the glory of God. Set a dull duty in that light and it shines\nlike a diamond. Set a bit of drudgery in that light and it becomes\ntransfigured like the wing of a starling when the sunshine falls upon it.\nEverything is seen amiss until we see it in the glory! And, therefore, it\nis my wisdom to set everything in that light, and to do all to the glory\nof God.\n\n\n\n\nDECEMBER The Thirteenth\n\n_THE HOLY AND THE PROFANE_\n\n\"_Put difference between the holy and the unholy._\"\n--LEVITICUS x. 1-10.\n\n\nThe peril of our day is that so many of these differences are growing\nfaint. The holy merges into the unholy, and we can scarcely see the\ndividing line. Black merges into white through manifold shades of grey.\nFalsehood slopes into truth through cunning expediences and white lies.\nLust merges into purity through conviviality and geniality and\ngood-fellowship. So is one thing losing itself in another, and vivid moral\ndistinctions are being obscured and effaced.\n\nThere is only one way to keep these native contrasts in vivid relief, and\nthat is by living in the unsullied light of God's holy presence. \"In Thy\nlight shall we see light.\" Things are seen in their true colours only when\nwe bring them before the great white throne. Fabrics seen in the gas-light\nreveal quite other shades when we bring them into the light of day. We\nmust not make our distinctions in the gas-light of worldly standard and\nexpediency; we must take them into His presence before whose radiance even\nthe angels veil their faces, and we shall see things as they are, and we\nshall know \"the difference between the holy and the profane.\"\n\n\n\n\nDECEMBER The Fourteenth\n\n_THE SACRED USE OF LIBERTY_\n\n\"_Take heed lest this liberty of yours becomes a stumbling-block._\"\n--1 CORINTHIANS viii. 8-13.\n\n\nThat is a very solemn warning. My liberty may trip someone into bondage.\nIf life were an affair of one my liberty might be wholesome; but it is an\naffair of many, and my liberty may be destructive to my fellows. I am not\nonly responsible for my life, but for its influence. When a thing has been\nlived there is still the example to deal with. If orange peel be thrown\nupon the pavement, that is not the end of the feast. The man who slips\nover the peel is a factor in the incident, and my responsibility covers\nhim.\n\nI am, therefore, to consider both my deeds and their influence. How does\nmy life trend when it touches my brother? In what way does he move because\nof the impact of my example? Towards liberty or towards license? To the\nswamps of transgression or to the fields of holiness? These are\ndetermining questions, and I must not seek to escape or ignore them. My\nbrother is a vital part of my life. I must never shut him out of my sight.\nHow is he influenced by my example? \"If meat make my brother to stumble, I\nwill eat no flesh while the world standeth.\"\n\n\n\n\nDECEMBER The Fifteenth\n\n_WHAT IS MY TENDENCY?_\n\n\"_Whether we live, we live unto_....\"\n--ROMANS xiv. 7-21.\n\n\nUnto what? In what direction are we living? Whither are we going? How do\nwe complete the sentence? \"We live unto _money_!\" That is how many would\nbe compelled to finish the record. Money is their goal, and their goal\ndetermines their tendency. \"We live unto _pleasure_!\" Such would be\nanother popular company. \"We live unto _fame_!\" That would be the banner\nof another regiment. \"We live unto _ease_!\" Thus would men and women\ndescribe their quests. \"Unto\" what? That is the searching question which\nprobes life to its innermost desire.\n\n\"For whether we live, we live _unto the Lord_.\" That was the apostle's\nunfailing tendency, increasing in its momentum every day. He crashed\nthrough obstacles in his glorious quest. He sought the Lord through\neverything and in everything. When new circumstances confronted him, his\nfirst question was this--\"Where is Christ in all this?\" He found the right\nway across every trackless moor by simply seeking Christ.\n\n\n\n\nDECEMBER The Sixteenth\n\n_THE GREATEST WONDERS_\n\nHEBREWS xi. 30-40.\n\n\nThe greatest wonders are not in Nature but in grace. A regenerated soul is\na greater marvel than the marvel of the spring-time. A transfigured face\nis a deeper mystery than a sun-lit garden. To rear graces in a life once\nscorched and blasted by sin is more wonderful than to grow flowers on a\ncinder-heap. If we want to see the realm of surpassing wonders we must\nlook into a soul that has been born again and is now in vital union with\nthe living Christ. Even the angels watch the sight with ever-deepening awe\nand praise.\n\nAs the spiritual is the home of wonders, so also is it the field of\nbrightest exploits. It is not what men have done by the sword that counts\nin the esteem of heaven--such deeds mean little or nothing; it is what\nthey have done \"by faith.\" Weak, frail men and women have put their faith\nin God, and have done the impossible! Faith unites the weakling with\nalmightiness! Faith makes a lonely soul one with \"the spirits of just men\nmade perfect,\" and with them he shares \"the power and the glory\" of the\neternal God.\n\n\n\n\nDECEMBER The Seventeenth\n\n_GOD'S PRESENCE OUR DEFENCE_\n\nEXODUS xv. 11-18.\n\n\nWhen we invent little devices to protect us against the evil one, he\nlaughs at our petty presumption. It is like unto a child erecting sand\nramparts against an incoming sea. The only thing that makes the devil fear\nis the presence of God. Our money can do nothing. Our culture can do\nnothing. Our social status can do nothing. Only God can deal with devils.\n\"By the greatness of Thine arm they shall be still as a stone.\" When Thou\nart with me \"I will fear no evil\"; the fear shall be with my foes.\n\nIt is, therefore, the divine in anything which endows it with a strong\ndefence. If the holy God dwells in our culture, then our culture becomes\nlike an invulnerable fort. If God abides in our recreations, then our very\nsports are armed against our foes. If \"the joy of the Lord\" is in our\nfestivity, then our very merriment is proof against the invasion of the\nworld. When the Lord is in us, fear dwells in the opposite camp.\n\"Therefore will not we fear though the earth be removed, and though the\nmountains be shaken in the heart of the seas.\"\n\n\n\n\nDECEMBER The Eighteenth\n\n_THE SINNER'S GUEST_\n\n\"_He is gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner._\"\n--LUKE xix. 1-10.\n\n\nIt was hurled as an accusation; it has been treasured as a garland. It was\nfirst said in contempt; it is repeated in adoration. It was thought to\nreveal His earthliness; it is now seen to unveil His glory. Our Saviour\nseeks the home of the sinner. The Best desires to be the guest of the\nworst. He spreads His kindnesses for the outcasts, and He offers His\nfriendship to the exile on the loneliest road. He waits to befriend the\ndefeated, the poor folk with aching consciences and broken wills. He loves\nto go to souls that have lost their power of flight, like birds with\nbroken wings, which can only flutter in the unclean road. He went to\nZacch\u00e6us.\n\nYes, the Lord went to be \"guest with a man that is a sinner,\" and He\nchanged the sinner into a saint. The worldling found wings. The stone\nbecame flesh. Gentle emotions began to stir in a heart hardened by\nheedlessness and sin. Restitution took the place of greed. The home of the\nsinner became the temple of the Lord. \"To-day is salvation come to this\nhouse forasmuch as he also is a son of Abraham.\"\n\n\n\n\nDECEMBER The Nineteenth\n\n_THE SUN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS_\n\n\"_A light to lighten the Gentiles._\"\n--LUKE ii. 25-40.\n\n\nThat was the wonder of wonders. Hitherto the light had been supposed to be\nfor Israel alone; and now a heavenly splendour was to fall upon the\nGentiles. Hitherto the light had been thought of as a lamp, illuming a\nsingle place; now it was to be a sun, shedding its glory upon a world. The\n\"people that sat in darkness\" are now to see \"a great light.\" New regions\nare to be occupied; there is to be daybreak everywhere! \"The Sun of\nRighteousness is arisen, with healing in His wings.\"\n\n\"To lighten the Gentiles!\" And thus the heavenly beams have come to thee\nand me, to Europe and America, and to all the nations of the earth. The\namazing privilege is our personal inheritance. We are born to glorious\nrights in Christ Jesus. But a wealthy heir may neglect this inheritance.\nWe may have the light and neglect our garden. We may have all the favours\nof a blessed clime, and yet our life may be like a wilderness. The\nGentiles may have the light, and may yet be children of the darkness. It\nis ours to believe in the light that our lives may become \"light in the\nLord.\"\n\n\n\n\nDECEMBER The Twentieth\n\n_THE COMING OF THE LORD_\n\nJOHN i. 1-14.\n\n\nMy Lord came as \"_the word_.\" He came as the expression of the mind of the\neternal God. Ordinary words could not have carried the \"good news.\"\nOrdinary language was an altogether inadequate vessel for this new wine.\nAnd so the mighty news was spoken in the incarnation of the Lord.\n\nMy Lord came as \"life.\" \"_In Him was life._\" But not a mere cupful of\nlife, or even a cup running over. He came as \"the fountain of life.\" Nay,\nif I had the requisite word I must get even behind and beyond this. For He\nwas the Creator of fountains. \"The water that I shall give him shall be\n_in him a well_.\" Yes, He was the fountain of fountains!\n\nThe Lord came as \"light.\" \"_The life was the light._\" True light is always\nthe child of life. Our clearest light comes not from speech or doctrine,\nstill less does it emerge from controversy. It is the fine, subtle issue\nof fine living. And my light is to \"shine before men\" by reason of the\nindwelling life of the Christ.\n\nAnd my Lord came as \"power.\" \"_To them gave He power._\" All the power I\nneed for a full, holy, healthy life I can find in Him. Every obligation\nhas its corresponding inspiration, and I am competent to do His will.\n\n\n\n\nDECEMBER The Twenty-first\n\n_THE LORD OF WORKING MEN_\n\nLUKE ii. 8-20.\n\n\nAnd so the good news was told to shepherds, to working men who were\ntoiling in the fields. The coming King would hallow the common work of\nman, and in His love and grace all the problems of labour would find a\nsolution.\n\nThe Lord of the Christmas-tide throws a halo over common toil. Even\nChristian people have not all learnt the significance of the angels' visit\nto the lonely shepherds. Some of us can see the light resting upon a\nbishop's crosier, but we cannot see the radiance on the ordinary\nshepherd's staff. We can discern the hallowedness of a priest's vocation,\nbut we see no sanctity in the calling of the grocer, or of the scavenger\nin the street. We can see the nimbus on the few, but not on the crowd; on\nthe unusual, but not upon the commonplace. But the very birth-hour of\nChristianity irradiated the humble doings of humble people. When the\nangels went to the shepherds, common work was encircled with an immortal\ncrown.\n\nAnd it is in the Lord Jesus that all labour troubles are to be put to\nrest. If we work from any other centre we shall arrive at confusion\nconfounded. \"I have the keys.\"\n\n\n\n\nDECEMBER The Twenty-second\n\n_THE LORD OF THE WORSHIPPER_\n\nLUKE ii. 25-35.\n\n\nAnd so the good news was taken to the worshipper bowing within the gates\nof the Temple. The soul of old Simeon was filled with holy satisfaction\nand peace. The cravings of the heart were quieted, and its desires found\nthe coveted feast in the holy Child of God.\n\nAnd thus the Lord Jesus was not only to dignify the body but to gratify\nthe soul. He was to be most efficient where He was most needed. And this\nhas been the unfailing experience of the years. There is a hunger in my\nsoul for which I can find no satisfying bread. I have tried many breads; I\nhave tried nature, and art, and music, and literature, and I have tried\nhuman fellowship and social service. But my soul is hungry still! And the\nLord Jesus comes to me, as I reverently grope in the vast temple, and He\n\"satisfies the hungry soul\" with good things. His \"bread of life\" is very\nwonderful; it lifts the soul into the restfulness of strength, and gives\nme a strange buoyancy, and \"the glorious liberty of the children of God.\"\n\n\"My soul, wait thou only on Him!\" He is thy hope, thy strength, and thy\nsalvation! He is \"the desire of all the nations.\"\n\n\n\n\nDECEMBER The Twenty-third\n\n_THE LORD OF THE STUDENTS_\n\nMATTHEW ii. 1-12.\n\n\nAnd so the good news came to \"wise men,\" shall we say to students, busying\nthemselves with the vast and intricate problems of the mind. And the\nevangel offered the students mental satisfaction, bringing the\ninterpreting clue, beaming upon them with the guiding ray which would lead\nthem into perfect noon.\n\nYes, our wise men must find the key of wisdom in the Lord. In a wider\nsense than the meaning of the original word it is true that \"the fear of\nthe Lord is the beginning of wisdom.\" To seek mental satisfactions and\nleave out Jesus is like trying to make a garden and leave out the sun.\n\"Without Me ye can do nothing,\" not even in the unravelling of the\nproblems which beset and besiege the mind.\n\nIf my mental pilgrimage is to be as \"a shining light shining more and more\neven unto perfect day,\" I must begin with Jesus, and pay homage to His\nKingly and incomparable glory. I must lay my treasures at His feet, \"gold,\nand frankincense, and myrrh.\" Then will He lead me \"into all truth,\" and\n\"the truth shall make me free.\"\n\n\n\n\nDECEMBER The Twenty-fourth\n\n_ENTERING IN AT LOWLY DOORS_\n\n\"_Unto us a Child is born._\"\n--ISAIAH ix. 1-7.\n\n\nHow gentle the coming! Who would have had sufficient daring of imagination\nto conceive that God Almighty would have appeared among men as a little\nchild? We should have conceived something sensational, phenomenal,\ncatastrophic, appalling! The most awful of the natural elements would have\nformed His retinue, and men would be chilled and frozen with fear. But He\ncame as a little child. The great God \"emptied Himself\"; He let in the\nlight as our eyes were able to bear it.\n\n\"_Unto us a Son is given._\" And that is the superlative gift! The love\nthat bestows such gift is all-complete and gracious. And the Son is given\nin order that we may all be born into sonship. It is the Son's ministry to\nmake sons. \"Now are we the sons of God,\" and we are of His creation.\n\n    \"Lord, I would serve, and be a son;\n       Dismiss me not, I pray.\"\n\n\n\n\nDECEMBER The Twenty-fifth\n\n_CHRISTMAS CHEER_\n\n\"_Good will toward men!_\"\n--LUKE ii. 8-20.\n\n\nThe heavens are not filled with hostility. The sky does not express a\nfrown. When I look up I do not contemplate a face of brass, but the face\nof infinite good will. Yet when I was a child, many a picture has made me\nthink of God as suspicious, inhumanly watchful, always looking round the\ncorner to catch me at the fall. That \"eye,\" placed in the sky of many a\npicture, and placed there to represent God, filled my heart with a\nchilling fear. That God was to me a magnified policeman, watching for\nwrong-doers, and ever ready for the infliction of punishment. It was all a\nfrightful perversion of the gracious teaching of Jesus.\n\nHeaven overflows with good will toward men! Our God not only wishes good,\nHe wills it! \"He gave His only begotten Son,\" as the sacred expression of\nHis infinite good will. He has good will toward thee and me, and mine and\nthine. Let that holy thought make our Christmas cheer.\n\n\n\n\nDECEMBER The Twenty-sixth\n\n_DAYBREAK IN THE SOUL_\n\nISAIAH ix. 1-7.\n\n\nIt is a lonely and a chilling experience to sit in the darkness. And the\ngloom and the cold are all the more intense when there is death in the\nhouse. In such conditions we are in great need of light and fire.\n\nAnd that is how the children of men were feeling before the Saviour came.\nThey \"_sat in darkness_\" and in \"_the shadow of death_.\" The world was\ncold, and sin and death were in it, and they longed for light and cheer.\nAnd \"the great Light came,\" and His wonderful Presence not only illumines\nthe house but banishes the fear of sin and death. \"_They that dwelt in the\nland of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined._\"\n\nWhere can we get this living light except in the Lord Jesus Christ?\nEverything else is candle-light! It fails us in the midnight. It flickers\namid conflicting currents. It goes out in the rough blast. The light of\nart and of literature fails me when I need them most. When I sit in the\ndarkness, with death in the house, these kindly ministers have no\neffective beams. I turn to the Master, and He shines upon me, and it is\ndaybreak in the soul!\n\n\n\n\nDECEMBER The Twenty-seventh\n\n_THE SUNNY SIDE OF THINGS_\n\n1 JOHN i. 1-7.\n\n\nI have just come out of a gloomy room into a sunny room to write these\nwords. I had my choice. I could have stayed in the sombre room, but I\nchoose to come into the sun-lit room and the warm, cheering beams are even\nnow falling upon my page. \"Walk in the light!\" And I make my choice, and\nhow often I choose to walk without Christ in the unfertilizing and\nunfruitful gloom of self-will! In the light of the Lord I could have a\ngarden of Eden; how often I choose the dingy wilderness where I can grow\nneither flowers nor fruits.\n\n\"Walk in the light.\" The Lord's companionship always makes the sunny side\nof the street. It may be that the way is rough and stony and difficult,\nbut in His company there is light that never fails, compared with which\nthe world's noontide is only as the gloomiest night. And the souls that\n\"walk in the light\" gather \"sacred sweets\" all along the way. Heavenly\nfruits grow for the children of light, fruits of love and joy and peace,\nand the favoured pilgrim plucks them as he goes along. \"All I find in\nJesus.\" The way of light is the way of delight, and \"the joy of the Lord\nis our strength.\"\n\n\n\n\nDECEMBER The Twenty-eighth\n\n_IN HIM WAS LIFE_\n\nJOHN i. 1-18.\n\n\nI have heard men speak of \"wanting to see a bit of life,\" and I found that\nwhat they meant was to see a bit of death. It is as if a man should go to\nthe hospital to see a bit of health, or as if he should go to a gory\nbattlefield to see the human frame. It is like going to a refuse-heap to\nsee a bit of garden. Life is not found in fields of license; it is not\nfound among the wild oats of a dissipated youth. Life is found only in\nChrist, and if we want to see a bit of life we must go to Him.\n\n\"In Him was life\"; and that not merely to be looked at but to be shared.\nHe is the well to which everybody can bring his pitcher, and take it away\nfilled. And my pitcher is just my need. \"All the fitness He requires is to\nfeel our need of Him.\" The Life is all-sufficient for the needs of the\nrace. This Life can vitalize all that is withered and dead; it can make\ndecrepit wills muscular and mighty, and it can transfigure the leper with\nthe glow and purity of perfect health.\n\n    \"Thou of life the Fountain art,\n       Freely let me take of Thee.\"\n\n\n\n\nDECEMBER The Twenty-ninth\n\n_THE LOVE OF GOD_\n\n1 JOHN iv. 7-14.\n\n\nLet me more assiduously think of God's love. Let me sit down to it. In the\nNational Gallery can be seen two sorts of people. There are the mere\nvagrants, who are always \"on the move,\" passing from picture to picture,\nwithout seeing any. And there are the students, who sit down, and\ncontemplate, and meditate, and appropriate, and saturate. And there are\nvagrants in respect to the love of the Lord. They have a passing glimpse,\nbut the impression is not vital and vitalizing, and there are the\nstudents, who are always gazing, and who are continually crying, \"O the\ndepth of the riches of the love of God in Christ!\" \"His riches are\nunsearchable!\"\n\nAnd God's love is the creator of my love. \"While I muse the fire burns.\" I\nam kindled into the same holy passion. That is to say, contemplation\ndetermines character. We acquire the hues of the things to which we cling.\nTo hold fellowship with love is to become loveful and lovely. \"We love\nbecause He first loved us.\"\n\nAnd then, in the third place, it is through my love that I know my Lord.\n\"_Everyone that loveth knoweth God._\" Love is the lens through which I\ndiscern the secret things of God.\n\n\n\n\nDECEMBER The Thirtieth\n\n_THE BLESSEDNESS OF FORGIVENESS_\n\n\"_Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven._\"\n--PSALM xxxii.\n\n\nIt is the blessedness of emancipation. The boat which has been tethered to\nthe weird, baleful shore is set free, and sails toward the glories of the\nmorning. The man, long cramped in the dark, imprisoning pit, is brought\nout, and stretches his limbs in the sweet light and air of God's free\nworld. Black servitude is ended; glorious liberty begins.\n\nIt is the blessedness of education. For when we are freed we are by no\nmeans perfected. We are liberated babes; and our Emancipator does not\ndesert us in our spiritual infancy. The foundling is not abandoned.\n\"Having loved His own He loved them unto the end.\" He begins with us in\nthe spiritual nursery, and He will train and lead and feed us until we are\n\"perfect in Christ Jesus.\"\n\nTherefore is it the blessedness of exultation. The babe is resting on the\nbosom of the Lord, and \"the joy of the Lord is his strength.\" It is not my\nemancipation that ensures my joy; it is the abiding Presence of the\nEmancipator.\n\n\n\n\nDECEMBER The Thirty-first\n\n_THE REAR-GUARD_\n\n\"_Goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life._\"\n--PSALM xxiii.\n\nBut why \"_follow_\" me? Why not \"go before\"? Because some of my enemies are\nin the rear; they attack me from behind. There are foes in my yesterdays\nwhich can give me fatal wounds. They can stab me in the back! If I could\nonly get away from the past! Its guilt dogs my steps. Its sins are ever at\nmy heels. I have turned my face toward the Lord, but my yesterdays pursue\nme like a relentless hound! So I have an enemy in the rear.\n\nBut, blessed be His name, my mighty God is in the rear as well as my foe.\n\"Goodness and mercy shall follow me!\" No hound can break through that\ndefence. Between me and my guilt there is the infinite love of the Lord.\nThe loving Lord will not permit my past to destroy my soul. I may sorrow\nfor my past, but my very sorrow shall be a minister of moral and spiritual\nhealth. My Lord is Lord of the past as well as of the morrow, and so\nto-day \"I will trust and not be afraid.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n\n\n                                DEVOTIONAL\n     ==================================================================\n\n     _ROBERT F. HORTON_\n\n     The Triumphant Life: Life, Warfare and Victory through the Cross\n         16mo, Cloth, net 50c.\n\n     The author, one of the most influential preachers and devotional\n     writers, presents an attractive volume of brief counsels on Faith\n     and Duty.\n\n\n     _CHARLES BROWN_\n\n     Lessons from the Cross\n         16mo, Cloth, net 50c.\n\n     A volume of remarkable spiritual power which will also prove an\n     incentive to further study of this great subject.\n\n\n     _MILFORD HALL LYON_\n\n     For the Life That Now Is\n         16mo, Cloth, net 75c.\n\n     \"Emphasizes the power and presence of a life hid with Christ in\n     God. It will be a revelation to many that there is such a\n     correspondence between the needs of mankind and the provisions of\n     redeeming grace.\"--_Reformed Church Messenger._\n\n\n     _HANNAH WHITALL SMITH_\n\n     The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life\n     New Edition, with Decorative Lace Border and Lace Cover Design.\n         12 mo, Cloth, net $1.00.\n\n     A Handsome New Gift Edition of this famous Christian classic, which\n     as a prominent writer once said will \"transform the dark days of\n     your life, as it has transformed those of thousands before you.\"\n\n\n     _J. H. JOWETT_\n\n     Our Blessed Dead\n         16mo, Boards, 25c.\n\n     A booklet of consolation; suggestive and effective.\n\n\n     _CORTLAND MYERS_\n\n     The Real Holy Spirit\n         12mo, Cloth, net 50c.\n\n     \"To make this unreality real and mighty in the life of the\n     individual and of the Church is the purpose of this book, that is\n     eminently sane and practical, and will appeal with force to every\n     thoughtful and earnest Christian.\"--_Christian Guardian._\n\n\n\n\n                    THE WORLD OF RELIGIOUS THOUGHT\n     ==================================================================\n\n     _RICHARD ROBERTS_\n\n     The Renascence of Faith\n     With an Introduction by G. A. Johnston Ross.\n         12mo, cloth, net $1.50.\n\n     \"A fresh and striking contribution to current religious discussion.\n     It is the average man,--the man in the street--who is at once the\n     subject of Mr. Roberts' study. He is keenly alive to and frankly\n     critical of the weaknesses, shortcomings and divisions of modern\n     Christianity; but he has a well-grounded optimism and a buoyant\n     faith which will be found contagious.\"--_Living Age._\n\n\n     _JAMES W. LEE_\n\n     The Religion of Science\n     The Faith of Coming Man\n         12mo, cloth, net $1.50.\n\n     \"Dr. Lee thinks scientifically. He delivers a clear-cut thought\n     product and his powers of intellectual visualization are\n     transferred to the reader. After having read 'The Religion of\n     Science,' we can only underwrite the testimony of Dr. Birney, Dean\n     of the Theological School of Boston University: 'It is the finest\n     apologetic for the modern mood of thought concerning things\n     Christian that I have seen. The book in a masterly manner reveals\n     the pathway of triumphant faith.'\"--_Christian Advocate._\n\n\n     _MARSHALL P. TALLING, Ph. D._\n     _Author of \"Extempore Prayer\" and \"Inter-Communion with God\"_\n\n     The Science of Spiritual Life\n     An Application of Scientific Method in the Exploration of Spiritual\n     Experience.\n         Cloth, net $1.50.\n\n     This comprehensive handbook of theology is a mediatory work of real\n     value, combining as it does the insight of a spiritually minded man\n     with the keen perception of one who fully recognizes what science\n     has done and is doing to-day.\n\n\n     _JOHN DOUGLAS ADAM, D.D._\n\n     Religion and the Growing Mind\n         12mo, cloth, net 75c.\n\n     This stimulating treatise on the development of a science of soul\n     culture is intended primarily for young people. The expansion of\n     the spiritual nature is shown to be the supreme thing in life. In\n     clear, brief, logical, sane manner Dr. Adam describes man's\n     psychical nature and methods of its development in terms of modern\n     psychology.\n\n\n     _W. H. P. FAUNCE, D.D._\n\n     What Does Christianity Mean?\n     The Cole Lectures for 1912.\n         12mo, cloth, net $1.25.\n\n     Dr. Faunce, President of Brown University, has chosen an unusually\n     attractive theme which is discussed in this series of lectures on\n     the following subjects:\n\n     1. The Essence of the Christian Faith. 2. The Meaning of God. 3.\n     The Basis of Character. 4. The principle of Fellowship. 5. The Aim\n     of Education. 6. The Goal of Our Effort.\n\n\n\n\n                        THEOLOGICAL DISCUSSION\n     ==================================================================\n\n     _ROBERT F. HORTON, D.D._\n\n     How the Cross Saves\n         16mo, cloth, net 50c.\n\n     \"Will bring help and light to minds perplexed and darkened by\n     doubt. It is a clear statement of the central truth of\n     Christianity. Logically and biblically Dr. Horton calls to mind the\n     fact that the atonement is of God; that men need it; and that\n     man-made atonements which minimize sin will not do. Then he\n     discusses the atonement, the meaning and the victory of the\n     cross.\"--_Advance._\n\n\n     _JAMES A. ANDERSON, L.L.D._ _Editor of \"the Western Methodist\"_\n\n     Religious Unrest and Its Remedy\n         12mo, cloth, net 75c.\n\n     A query raised by theological unrest and an attempt to indicate\n     where rest is found.\n\n\n     _Christian Faith and Doctrine Series_\n         12mo, cloth, each net $1.00.\n\n\n     _PRINCIPAL W. F. ADENEY, D.D._\n\n     The Christian Conception of God\n\n     A vitalizing, tonic treatise of a fundamental theme. The scholarly\n     author of \"The Theology of the New Testament\" needs no\n     introduction. He is a stalwart defender of the essential truths of\n     Christianity. The _British Congregationalist_ says: \"This\n     remarkable book will have a place of its own side by side with\n     Prof. Newton Clarke's more elaborate work.\"\n\n\n     _J. MONRO GIBSON, D.D._\n\n     The Inspiration and Authority of Holy Scriptures\n     _With Introduction by Principal Forsythe_\n\n     Principal Forsythe's Introduction gives the key to the book: \"There\n     is no more difficult position to-day than that of the minister who\n     has to stand between the world of modern knowledge and the world of\n     traditional religion and mediate between them.\" \"Its facts have\n     been verified in the writer's own experience, and they are set down\n     in the precise order that they appear to be necessary in the life\n     of a man who desires to live well and die well.\"--_Expository\n     Times._\n\n\n     _GEORGE HANSON, D.D._\n\n     The Resurrection and the Life\n\n     This thorough-going study of the Resurrection of Jesus is\n     characterized by a vigorous intellectual grasp of the subject. The\n     author presents a most assuring and comforting contribution to\n     Christian apologetics. It is a work that will not only meet the\n     demands of the scholarly and thoughtful, but minister to those who\n     have no questionings.\n\n\n\n\n                         GIFT BOOKS, ESSAYS, Etc.\n     ==================================================================\n\n     _W. J. DAWSON, D.D._\n\n     The Book of Courage\n         12mo, decorated cloth, net $1.25.\n\n     To meet a present day demand. Everyone needs help to live the\n     courageous life--to learn to face life as it is and yet continue to\n     be in love with it. The Book of Courage meets the need of all who\n     search for help. It is a mine of inspiration to courageous living.\n\n\n     _NEWELL DWIGHT HILLIS, D.D._\n\n     The Contagion of Character\n     Studies in Culture and Success.\n         Gilt top, net $1.20.\n\n     _The Outlook_ says: \"Brief, pungent studies, sparks struck out on\n     the anvil of events. Sparkling indeed they are and likewise full of\n     ethical wisdom and vigor. Essays for the times whose lessons are\n     printed and clinched at every turn with personal experiences that\n     grip attention.\"\n\n\n     _PROF. HUGH BLACK, D.D._\n\n     Happiness\n         Decorated, 8vo, cloth, gilt top, net $1.50.\n\n     This is the fourth in a quartette of gift books which began with\n     FRIENDSHIP and naturally ends with HAPPINESS. Similar to FRIENDSHIP\n     in its form it is distinct in matters of cloth, cover design, title\n     page and decorative page borders. Altogether it is one of the\n     season's most delightful gift books--the mechanical setting being\n     worthy of the subject matter in every respect.\n\n\n     _HERBERT G. STOCKWELL_\n\n     Essential Elements of Business Character\n         16mo, cloth, net 60c.\n\n     The author has won an enviable reputation through his articles on\n     \"Business\" in recent issues of _The Outlook_. The editors say that\n     the readers of _The Outlook_ have expressed their appreciation in a\n     very unusual way. Some of the largest corporations in the country\n     have written asking for permission to reprint extracts in their\n     \"house organs.\"\n\n\n     _FREDERICK A. ATKINS_\n\n     Life Worth While\n     A Volume of Inspiration for Young Men.\n         Net 50c.\n\n     This new volume of talks to young men by Mr. Atkins contains the\n     same tonic qualities that made MORAL MUSCLE, FIRST BATTLES and\n     ASPIRATION AND ACHIEVEMENT so truly helpful. The author is a man of\n     magnetic and winning personality. His appeal is particularly to\n     young men. The virile and persuasive tone will stimulate to greater\n     endeavor and higher achievement.","title":"My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":80239}