Index of Texts Quoted in This Volume. (continued 2)

May 31st.

Without me ye can do nothing. John xv. 5.

I can do all things, through Christ which strengtheneth me. Phil. iv. 13.

Apart from Him we can do nothing. Whilst we are abiding in Him nothing is impossible. The one purpose of our life should therefore be to remain in living and intense union with Christ, guarding against everything that would break it, employing every means of cementing and enlarging it. And just in proportion as we do so, we shall find His strength flowing into us for every possible emergency. We may not feel its presence; but we shall find it present whenever we begin to draw on it. There is no temptation which we cannot master; no privation which we cannot patiently bear; no difficulty with which we cannot cope; no work which we cannot perform; no confession or testimony which we cannot make, if only our souls are living in healthy union with Jesus Christ; for as our day or hour, so shall our strength be.—F. B. Meyer.

June 1st.

As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. John xx. 21.

We should never leave our room until we have seen the face of our dear Master, Christ, and have realized that we are being sent forth by Him to do His will, and to finish the work which He has given us to do. He who said to His immediate followers, "As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you," says as much to each one of us, as the dawn summons us to live another day. We should realize that we are as much sent forth by Him as the angels who "do His commandments, hearkening unto the voice of His word." There is some plan for each day's work, which He will unfold to us, if only we will look up to Him to do so; some mission to fulfil; some ministry to perform; some lesson patiently to learn, that we may be able to "reach others also." As to our plans we need not be anxious; because He who sends us forth is responsible to make the plan, according to His infinite wisdom; and to reveal it to us, however dull and stupid our faculties may be. And as to our sufficiency, we are secure of having all needful grace; because He never sends us forth, except He first breathes on us and says, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost." There is always a special endowment for special power.—F. B. Meyer.

June 2nd.

A fountain . . . for sin and for uncleanness. Zech. xiii. 1.

You that have faith in the Fountain, frequent it. Beware of two errors which are very natural and very disastrous. Beware of thinking any sin too great for it; beware of thinking any sin too small. There is not a sin so little, but it may be the germ of everlasting perdition; there is not a sin so enormous, but a drop of atoning blood will wash it away as utterly as if it were drowned in the depths of the sea.—James Hamilton.

June 3rd.

I am black . . . as the tents of Kedar. Song of Sol. i. 5.

I am my beloved's, and his desire is toward me. Song of Sol. vii. 10.

Nothing humbles the soul like sacred and intimate communion with the Lord; yet there is a sweet joy in feeling that He knows all, and, notwithstanding, loves us still.—J. Hudson Taylor.

June 4th.

David enquired of the Lord. 2 Sam. v. 19.

Christian, if thou wouldst know the path of duty, take God for thy compass; if thou wouldst steer thy ship through the dark billows, put the tiller into the hand of the Almighty. Many a rock might be escaped if we would let our Father take the helm; many a shoal or quicksand we might well avoid if we would leave it to His sovereign will to choose and to command. The Puritan said, "As sure as ever a Christian carves for himself he'll cut his own fingers." "I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go," is God's promise to His people. Let us, then, take all our perplexities to Him and say, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" Leave not thy chamber this morning without enquiring of the Lord.—Spurgeon.

June 5th.

A certain man . . . who never had walked . . . heard Paul speak: who . . . perceiving that he had faith to be healed, said . . . Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped and walked. Acts xiv. 8, 9, 10.

Where true faith is, it will induce obedience and where it does induce obedience, it will always, in one form or another, bring a blessing.—W. Hay Aitken.

June 6th.

Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord . . . I know that . . . whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee. Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. Martha saith unto Him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. John xi. 21, 22, 23, 24.

Beware, in your prayer, above everything, of limiting God, not only by unbelief, but by fancying that you know what He can do. Expect unexpected things, above all that we ask or think. Each time you intercede, be quiet first and worship God in His glory. Think of what He can do, of how He delights to hear Christ, of your place in Christ; and expect great things.—Andrew Murray.

June 7th.

As many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Gal. iii. 27.

Not simply the righteousness of our Savior, not simply the beauty of His holiness or the graces of His character, are we to put on as a garment. The Lord Himself is our vesture. Every Christian is not only a Christ-bearer but a Christ-wearer. We are so to enter into Him by communion, to be so endued with His presence, and embued with His Spirit that men shall see Him when they behold us, as they see our garments when they look upon our bodies.—A. J. Gordon.

June 8th.

Thou shalt never wash my feet. John xiii. 8.

Whatever hinders us from receiving a blessing that God is willing to bestow upon us is not humility, but the mockery of it. A genuine humility will ever feel the need of the largest measures of grace, and will be perfected just in the degree in which that grace is bestowed. The truly humble man will seek to be filled with all the fulness of God, knowing that when so filled there is not the slightest place for pride or for self.—George Bowen.

June 9th.

Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee. Psa. lv. 22.

He that taketh his own cares upon himself loads himself with an uneasy burden. The fear of what may come, expectation of what will come, desire of what will not come, and the inability to redress all these, must needs bring him continual torment. I will cast my cares upon God: He hath bidden me. They cannot hurt Him: He can redress them.—Hall.

June 10th.

Well done, good and faithful servant. . . . Thou wicked and slothful servant. Matt. xxv. 21, 26.

God holds us responsible not for what we have, but for what we might have; not for what we are, but for what we might be.—Mark Guy Pearse.

June 11th.

Jesus constrained His disciples to get into a ship. Matt. xiv. 22.

Jesus constrained them to go! One would think that if ever there was the certain promise of success in a mission, it was here. Surely, here, if anywhere, a triumphant issue might have been confidently predicted; and yet here, more than anywhere, there was seeming failure. He sent them out on a voyage, and they met such a storm as they had never yet experienced.

Let me ponder this, for it has been so with me, too. I have sometimes felt myself impelled to act by an influence which seemed above me—constrained to put to sea. The belief that I was constrained gave me confidence, and I was sure of a calm voyage. But the result was outward failure. The calm became a storm; the sea raged, the winds roared, the ship tossed in the midst of the waves, and my enterprise was wrecked ere it could reach the land.

Was, then, my divine command a delusion?

Nay; nor yet was my mission a failure. He did send me on that voyage, but He did not send me for my purpose. He had one end and I had another. My end was the outward calm; His was my meeting with the storm. My end was to gain the harbor of a material rest; His was to teach me there is a rest even on the open sea.—George Matheson.

June 12th.

Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 2 Tim. ii. 15.

Have thy tools ready; God will find thee work.—Charles Kingsley.

June 13th.

Come out from among them, and be ye separate. 2 Cor. vi. 17.

With all the world in his choice, God placed His ancient people in a very remarkable situation. On the north they were walled in by the snowy ranges of Lebanon; a barren desert formed their eastern boundary; far to the south stretched a sterile region, called the howling wilderness; while the sea—not then, as now, the highway of the nations, facilitating rather than impeding intercourse—lay on their west, breaking on a shore that had few harbors and no navigable rivers to invite the steps of commerce.

May we not find a great truth in the very position in which God placed His chosen people? It certainly teaches us that to be holy, or sanctified, we must be a separate people—living in the world, but not of it—as oil, that may be mixed, but cannot be combined with water.—Guthrie.

June 14th.

I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land. Gen. xxviii. 15.

"With thee," companionship; "Keep thee," guardianship; "Bring thee," guidance.

June 15th.

I have set thee . . . that thou shouldst be for salvation unto the ends of the earth. Acts xiii. 47.

Ye shall be witnesses unto me . . . unto the uttermost parts of the earth. Acts i. 8.

Men are questioning now, as they never have questioned before, whether Christianity is, indeed, the true religion which is to be the salvation of the world. Christian men, it is for us to give our bit of answer to that question. It is for us, in whom the Christian church is at this moment partially embodied, to declare that Christianity, that the Christian faith, the Christian manhood can do that for the world which the world needs.

You ask, "What can I do?"

You can furnish one Christian life. You can furnish a life so faithful to every duty, so ready for every service, so determined not to commit every sin, that the great Christian church shall be the stronger for your living in it, and the problem of the world be answered, and a certain great peace come into this poor, perplexed, phase of our humanity as it sees that new revelation of what Christianity is.—Phillips Brooks.

June 16th.

I know whom I have believed. 2 Tim. i. 12.

Personal acquaintance with Christ is a living thing. Like a tree that uses every hour for growth, it thrives in sunshine, it is refreshed by rain—even the storm drives it to fasten its grip more firmly in the earth for its support. So, troubled heart, in all experience, say, "This comes that I may make closer acquaintance with my Lord."—Selected.

June 17th.

Wait for the promise of the Father. Acts i. 4.

When the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place . . . and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost. Acts ii. 1, 4.

Obedience to a divine prompting transforms it into a permanent acquisition.—F. B. Meyer.

June 18th.

We have known and believed the love that God hath to us. 1 John iv. 16.

The secret of walking closely with Christ, and working successfully for Him, is to fully realize that we are His beloved. Let us but feel that He has set His heart upon us, that He is watching us from those heavens with tender interest, that He is working out the mystery of our lives with solicitude and fondness, that He is following us day by day as a mother follows her babe in his first attempt to walk alone, that He has set His love upon us, and, in spite of ourselves, is working out for us His highest will and blessing, as far as we will let Him, and then nothing can discourage us. Our hearts will glow with responsive love. Our faith will spring to meet His mighty promises, and our sacrifices shall become the very luxuries of love for one so dear. This was the secret of John's spirit. "We have known and believed the love that God hath to us." And the heart that has fully learned this has found the secret of unbounded faith and enthusiastic service.—A. B. Simpson.

June 19th.

Endure . . . as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. 2 Tim. ii. 3.

Life is not victory, but battle. Be patient a little longer. By and by, each in his turn, we shall hear the sunset gun.—Selected.

June 20th.

Whosoever doth not bear his cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple. Luke xiv. 27.

There is always the shadow of the cross resting upon the Christian's path. Is that a reason why you should avoid or not undertake the duty? Have you made up your mind that you will follow your Master everywhere else, save when he ascends the path that leads to the cross? Is that your religion? The sooner you change it, the better. The religion of the Lord Jesus Christ is the religion of the cross, and unless we take up our cross, we can never follow Him.—W. Hay Aitken.

June 21st.

These . . . have turned the world upside down. Acts xvii. 6.

The serene beauty of a holy life is the most powerful influence in the world next to the might of God.—Pascal.

June 22nd.

What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter. John xiii. 7.

God keeps a school for His children here on earth and one of His best teachers is Disappointment. My friend, when you and I reach our Father's house, we shall look back and see that the sharp-voiced, rough; visaged teacher, Disappointment, was one of the best guides to train us for it. He gave us hard lessons; he often used the rod; he often led us into thorny paths; he sometimes stripped off a load of luxuries; but that only made us travel the freer and the faster on our heavenward way. He sometimes led us down into the valley of the death-shadow; but never did the promises read so sweetly as when spelled out by the eye of faith in that very valley. Nowhere did he lead us so often, or teach us such sacred lessons, as at the cross of Christ. Dear, old, rough-handed teacher! We will build a monument to thee yet, and crown it with garlands, and inscribe on it: Blessed be the memory of Disappointment!—Theodore Cuyler.

June 23rd.

As thy days, so shall thy strength be. Deut. xxxiii. 25.

I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. Phil. iv. 13.

He will not impose upon you one needless burden. He will not exact more than He knows your strength will bear. He will ask no Peter to come to Him on the water, unless He impart at the same time strength and support on the unstable waves. He will not ask you to draw water if the well is too deep, or to withdraw the stone if too heavy. But neither at the same time will He admit as an impossibility that which, as a free and responsible agent, it is in your power to avert. He will not regard as your misfortune what is your crime.—Macduff.

June 24th.

Thy heart is not right in the sight of God. Acts viii. 21.

The worst of all mockeries is a religion that leaves the heart unchanged: a religion that has everything but the love of Christ enshrined in the soul.—F. Whitfield.

June 25th.

The Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. Acts xiii. 2.

We have such a nice little quiet, shady corner in the vineyard, down among the tender grapes, with such easy little weedings and waterings to attend to. And then the Master comes and draws us out into the thick of the work, and puts us in a part of the field where we never should have thought of going, and puts larger tools into our hands, that we may do more at a stroke. And we know we are not sufficient for these things, and the very tools seem too heavy for us, and the glare too dazzling and the vines too tall. Ah! but would we dally, go back? He would not be in the shady corner with us now; for when He put us forth He went before us, and it is only by closer following that we can abide with Him.—Frances Ridley Havergal.

June 26th.

Small things. Zech. iv. 10.

It is the little words you speak, the little thoughts you think, the little things you do or leave undone, the little moments you waste or use wisely, the little temptations which you yield to or overcome—the little things of every day that are making or marring your future life.—Selected.

June 27th.

Be perfect, be of good comfort. 2 Cor. xiii. 11.

A glance at the words is enough to make us feel how contradictory they are. Be perfect—that is a word that strikes us with despair; at once we feel how far away we are from our own poor ideal, and alas! how much further from God's ideal concerning us. Be of good comfort—ah, that is very different! That seems to say, "Do not fret; do not fear. If you are not what you would be, you must be thankful for what you are."

Now the question is this—How can these two be reconciled?

It is only the religion of Jesus Christ that reconciles them. He stands in our midst, and with the right hand of His righteousness He pointeth us upward, and saith, "Be perfect." There is no resting-place short of that. Yet with the left hand of His love He doth encompass us, as He saith, "Soul, be of good comfort; for that is what I came to do for thee."—Mark Guy Pearse.

June 28th.

Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. Matt. v. 48.

Seeking the aid of the Holy Spirit, let us aim at perfection. Let every day see some sin crucified, some battle fought, some good done, some victory won; let every fall be followed by a rise, and every step gained become, not a resting-place, but a new starting-point for further and higher progress.—Guthrie.

June 29th.

Sleep on now, and take your rest. Mark xiv. 41.

Never did that sacred opportunity to watch with Christ return to His disciples. Lost then, it was lost forever. And now when Jesus is still beholding the travail of His soul in the redemption of the world, if you fail to be with Him watching for souls as they that must give account, remember that the opportunity will never return. "Watch, therefore," says your Lord, "lest coming suddenly, He may find you sleeping."—A. J. Gordon.

June 30th.

Let us not sleep, as do others. 1 Thess. v. 6.

There are many ways of promoting Christian wakefulness. Among the rest, let me strongly advise Christians to converse together concerning the ways of the Lord. Christian and Hopeful, as they journeyed towards the Celestial City, said to themselves:

"To prevent drowsiness in this place, let us fall into good discourse."

Christians who isolate themselves and walk alone are very liable to grow drowsy. Hold Christian company, and you will be kept wakeful by it, and refreshed and encouraged to make quicker progress in the road to heaven.—Spurgeon.

July 1st.

He laid His right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not. Rev. i. 17.

One of Wellington's officers, when commanded to go on some perilous duty, lingered a moment as if afraid, and then said:

"Let me have one clasp of your all-conquering hand before I go; and then I can do it."

Seek the clasp of Christ's hand before every bit of work, every hard task, every battle, every good deed. Bend your head in the dewy freshness of every morning, ere you go forth to meet the day's duties and perils, and wait for the benediction of Christ, as He lays His hands upon you. They are hands of blessing. Their touch will inspire you for courage and strength and all beautiful and noble living.—J. R. Miller.

July 2nd.

Being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. Acts i. 3.

This lingering for forty days is the crowning proof of Christ's tender regard for His little flock. He who had laid down His life for them is loath to leave them. Though they had forsaken Him, and doubted Him, they had not wearied, much less had they worn out, His love. He stays to look again, and yet again, and yet again, upon them, as if turning back and lingering to bless them. It is all of a piece with His life of love. Everywhere He meets them without a touch of upbraiding, without recalling a single memory of all His bitter suffering, revealing Himself to the disciples with a tenderness and blessedness indescribably beautiful.

How can He go till He has healed the Magdalene's broken heart? He must linger till poor Peter can venture near to have his forgiveness assured. He must stay to strengthen Thomas' faith. He must tarry with them till He has made them feel that He is just the same friendly, brotherly Jesus that He has ever been, caring for them in their work, watching them with a yearning pity, stooping to kindle a fire for their warmth, and to cook the fish for their meal, and then to bid them come and dine.—Mark Guy Pearse.

July 3rd.

Jesus, . . . being wearied with His journey, sat thus on the well. . . . (For His disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.) . . . And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on Him for the saying of the woman, which testified, He told me all that ever I did. John iv. 6, 8, 39.

The bits of wayside work are very sweet. Perhaps the odd bits, when all is done, will really come to more than the seemingly greater pieces!. . . It is nice to know that the King's servants are always really on duty, even while some can only stand and wait.—Frances Ridley Havergal.

July 4th.

Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you . . . let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. John xiv. 27.

Dark hours come to us all; and if we have no clew to a peace that can pass unbroken through their murky gloom, we shall be in a state of continual dread. Any stone flung by a chance passer-by may break the crystal clearness of the Lake of Peace and send disturbing ripples across it, unless we have learnt to trust in the perpetual presence of Him who can make and keep a "great calm" within the soul. Only let nothing come to you which you shall not instantly hand over to Him—all petty worries, all crushing difficulties, all inability to believe.—F. B. Meyer.

July 5th.

Isaac dwelt by the well Lahai-roi. Gen. xxv. 11.

Isaac dwelt there, and made the well of the living and all-seeing God his constant source of supply. The usual tenor of a man's life, the dwelling of his soul, is the true test of his state. Let us learn to live in the presence of the living God. Let us pray the Holy Spirit that this day, and every other day, we may feel, "Thou God seest me." May the Lord Jehovah be as a well to us, delightful, comforting, unfailing, springing up unto eternal life. The bottle of the creature cracks and dries up, but the well of the Creator never fails. Happy is he who dwells at the well, and so has abundant and constant supplies near at hand! Glorious Lord, constrain us that we may never leave Thee, but dwell by the well of the living God!—Spurgeon.

July 6th.

Judas Iscariot . . . was a thief, and had the bag, and bore what was put therein. John xii. 4, 6.

Freely ye have received, freely give. Matt. x. 8.

Ah, but if we should go thoroughly into this matter, should we not probably find that many of us are guilty, in some modified and yet sufficiently alarming sense, of treachery to the poor? Are we not, some of us, sent to them with benefactions which never reach them, and are only unconscious of guilt because so long accustomed to look upon the goods as bestowed on us, whereas the light of God's word would plainly reveal upon those goods the names of the poor and needy?—George Bowen.

July 7th.

Let every man take heed how he buildeth. 1 Cor. iii. 10.

Our business is not to build quickly, but to build upon a right foundation, and in a right spirit. Life is more than a mere competition as between man and man; it is not who can be done first, but who can work best; it is not who can rise highest in the shortest time, but who is working most patiently and lovingly in accordance with the designs of God.—Joseph Parker.

July 8th.

As thy days, so shall thy strength be. Deut. xxxiii. 25.

No day without its duty; no duty without strength to perform it.—Selected.

July 9th.

Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not. Gen. xxviii. 16.

"Surely the Lord was in this place, and I knew it not." My soul, this is also thine experience! How often hast thou said in thy sorrow, "Verily thou art a God that hidest Thyself!" How often hast thou slept for very heaviness of heart, and desired not to wake again! And when thou didst wake again, lo, the darkness was all a dream! Thy vision of yesterday was a delusion. God had been with thee all the night with that radiance which has no need of the sun.

O my soul, it is not only after the future thou must aspire; thou must aspire to see the glory of thy past. Thou must find the glory of that way by which thy God has led thee, and be able even of thy sorrow to say, "This was the gate of heaven!"—George Matheson.

July 10th.

My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me. John iv. 34.

The real secret of an unsatisfied life lies too often in an unsurrendered will.—J. Hudson Taylor.

July 11th.

Giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue. 2 Pet. i. 5.

You will find it less easy to unroot faults than to choke them by gaining virtues. Do not think of your faults, still less of others' faults; in every person who comes near you look for what is good and strong; honor that; rejoice in it, and, as you can, try to imitate it; and your faults will drop off, like dead leaves, when their time comes.—John Ruskin.

July 12th.

Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Song of Sol. iv. 16.

Sometimes God sends severe blasts of trial upon His children to develop their graces. Just as torches burn most brightly when swung violently to and fro; just as the juniper plant smells sweetest when flung into the flames; so the richest qualities of a Christian often come out under the north wind of suffering and adversity. Bruised hearts often emit the fragrance that God loveth to smell. Almost every true believer's experience contains the record of trials which were sent for the purpose of shaking the spice tree.—Theodore Cuyler.

July 13th.

Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Song of Sol. iv. 16.

There are two winds mentioned in this beautiful prayer. God may send either or both, as seemeth Him good. He may send the north wind of conviction, to bring us to repentance, or He may send the south wind of love, to melt us into gratitude and holy joy. If we often require the sharp blasts of trial to develop our graces, do we not also need the warm south breezes of His mercy? Do we not need the new sense of Christ's presence in our hearts and the joys of the Holy Ghost? Do we not need to be melted, yes, to be overpowered by the love of Jesus?—Theodore Cuyler.

July 14th.

Behold the man! John xix. 5.

"Behold the man!" was Pilate's jeer. That is what all the ages have been doing since, and the vision has grown more and more glorious. As they have looked, the crown of thorns has become a crown of golden radiance, and the cast-off robe has glistened like the garments He wore on the night of the transfiguration. Martyrs have smiled in the flames at that vision. Sinners have turned at it to a new life. Little children have seen it, and have had awakened by it dim recollections of their heaven-home. Toward it the souls of men yearn ever.—Robert E. Speer.

July 15th.

He (John) saith, Behold the Lamb of God! And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. John i. 36, 37.

To be a Christian means to know the presence of a true personal Christ among us, and to follow.—Phillips Brooks.

July 16th.

Ye shall not eat of it. Gen. iii. 3.

The Sin of Paradise was eating the tree of knowledge before the tree of life. Life must ever be first. Knowing and not being, hearing and not doing, admiring and not possessing, all are light without life.—Selected.

July 17th.

Let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. James i. 4.

Are you where God would have you be? If not, come out, and at once, for you certainly ought not to be there. If you are, then be afraid to complain of circumstances which God has ordained on purpose to work out in you the very image and likeness of His Son.—Mark Guy Pearse.

July 18th.

Sow beside all waters. Isa. xxxii. 20.

Never mind whereabouts your work is. Never mind whether it be visible or not. Never mind whether your name is associated with it. You may never see the issues of your toils. You are working for eternity. If you cannot see results here in the hot working day, the cool evening hours are drawing near, when you may rest from your labors and then they will follow you. So do your duty, and trust God to give the seed you sow "a body as it hath pleased Him,"—Alex. McLaren.

July 19th.

Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe. Psa. cxix. 117.

Do not spoil the chime of this morning's bells by ringing one half a peal! Do not say, "Hold thou me up," and stop there, or add, "But all the same I shall stumble and fall!" Finish the peal with God's own music, the bright words of faith that He puts into your mouth: "Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe!"—Frances Ridley Havergal.

July 20th.

Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy. Matt. viii. 6.

We, in this age of the church, are in the position of that sick servant at Capernaum. To the eye of sense we are separated from the Savior. We see Him not—we can touch Him not—the hand cannot steal amid the crowd to catch His garment hem—we cannot hear His loved footsteps as of old on our threshold; but faith penetrates the invisible; the messenger—prayer—meets Him in the streets of the New Jerusalem; and faith and prayer together, the twin delegates from His church below, He has never yet sent empty away.—Macduff.

July 21st.

Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling: for it is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure. Phil. ii. 12, 13.

What a staggering weight of thought is excited by these words! Stay, my soul, and wonder that the Eternal God should stoop to work within thy narrow limits. Is it not a marvel indeed, that He, whom the heavens cannot contain, and in whose sight they are not clean, should trouble Himself to work on such material, so unpromising, and amidst circumstances so uncongenial?

How careful should we be to make Him welcome, and to throw no hindrance in His way! How eager to garner up all the least movements of His gracious operation, as the machinist conserves the force of his engine; and as the goldsmith, with miserly care, collects every flake of gold leaf! Surely we shall be sensible of the fear of holy reverence and the trembling of eager anxiety; as we "work out," into daily act and life, all that God our Father is "working in."—F. B. Meyer.

July 22nd.

. . . Sinners of whom I am chief. . . . Now unto the King, eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen. 1 Tim. i. 15, 17.

Only those who have struck the deepest note of penitence can reach the highest note of praise.—A. J. Gordon.

July 23rd.

Blessed is the man . . . that keepeth the Sabbath. Isa. lvi. 2.

The Sabbath is the savings-bank of human life, into which we deposit one day in seven to be repaid in the autumn of life with compound interest.—Selected.

July 24th.

Cleanse thou me from secret faults. Psa. xix. 12.

The world wants men who are saved from secret faults. The world can put on an outside goodness and go very far in uprightness and morality, and it expects that a Christian shall go beyond it, and be free from secret faults. A little crack will spoil the ring of the coin. . . . The world expects, and rightly, that the Christian should be more gentle, and patient, and generous, than he who does not profess to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus. For the sake of those who take their notion of religion from our lives, we need to put up this prayer earnestly, "Cleanse thou me from secret faults."—Mark Guy Pearse.

July 25th.

Do thou that which is good. 2 Kings x. 5.

Keep as few good intentions hovering about as possible. They are like ghosts haunting a dwelling. The way to lay them is to find bodies for them. When they are embodied in substantial deeds they are no longer dangerous.—William Arnot.

July 26th.

Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. 2 Pet. iii. 18.

Grace has its dawn as well as day; grace has its green blade, and afterwards its ripe corn in the ear; grace has its babes and its men in Christ. With God's work there, as with all His works, "in all places of His dominion," progress is both the prelude and the path to perfection. Therefore we are exhorted to grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to go on to perfection, saying with Paul, "I count not myself to have apprehended; but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."—Guthrie.

July 27th.

Sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived, and by it slew me. Rom. vii. 11.

Christian, beware how thou thinkest lightly of sin. Take heed lest thou fall by little and little. Sin, a little thing? Is it not a poison? Who knows its deadliness? Sin, a little thing? Do not the little foxes spoil the grapes? Doth not the tiny coral insect build a rock which wrecks a navy? Do not little strokes fell lofty oaks? Will not continual droppings wear away stones? Sin, a little thing? It girded the Redeemer's head with thorns, and pierced His heart! It made Him suffer anguish, bitterness and woe. Could you weigh the least sin in the scales of eternity, you would fly from it as from a serpent, and abhor the least appearance of evil. Look upon all sin as that which crucified the Savior, and you will see it to be "exceeding sinful."—Spurgeon.

July 28th.

Your heavenly Father knoweth. Matt. vi. 32.

The Master judges by the result, but our Father judges by the effort. Failure does not always mean fault. He knows how much things cost, and weighs them where others only measure. Your Father! Think how great store His love sets by the poor beginnings of the little ones, clumsy and unmeaning as they may be to others. All this lies in this blessed relationship, and infinitely more. Do not fear to take it all as your own.—Mark Guy Pearse.

July 29th.

Ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. Col. iii. 3.

It is neither talent, nor power, nor gifts that do the work of God, but it is that which lies within the power of the humblest; it is the simple, earnest life hid with Christ in God.—F. W. Robertson.

July 30th.

The mother of Jesus saith unto Him, They have no wine. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come. His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it. John ii. 3, 4, 5.

In asking for temporal blessings, true wisdom lies in putting the matter into the Lord's hand, and leaving it there. He knows our sorrows, and, if He sees it is good for us that the water should be turned into wine, He will do it. It is not for us to dictate: He sees what is best for us. When we ask for prosperity, perhaps the thing which we should have is trial. When we want to be relieved of a "thorn in the flesh," He knows what we should have is an apprehension of the fact that His grace is sufficient for us. So we are put into His school, and have to learn the lessons He has to teach us.—W. Hay Aitken.

July 31st.

Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. 1 Cor x. 12.

Angels fell in heaven, Adam in paradise, Peter in Christ's presence.—Theophilus Polwheile.

August 1st.

Continue in prayer. Col. iv. 2.

The greatest and the best talent that God gives to any man or woman in this world is the talent of prayer. And the best usury that any man or woman brings back to God when He comes to reckon with them at the end of this world is a life of prayer. And those servants best put their Lord's money to the exchangers who rise early and sit late, as long as they are in this world, ever finding out, and ever following after better and better methods of prayer, and ever forming more secret, more steadfast, and more spiritually fruitful habits of prayer, till they literally pray without ceasing, and till they continually strike out into new enterprises in prayer, and new achievements, and new enrichments.—Alex. Whyte.

August 2nd.

He entered into one of the ships . . . and . . . sat down. Luke v. iii.

When Jesus sits in the ship everything is in its right place. The cargo is in the hold, not in the heart. Cares and gains, fears and losses, yesterday's failure and today's success do not thrust themselves in between us and His presence. The heart cleaves to Him. "Goodness and mercy shall follow me," sang the psalmist. Alas, when the goodness and mercy come before us, and our blessings shut Jesus from view! Here is the blessed order—the Lord ever first, I following Him, His goodness and mercy following me.—Mark Guy Pearse.

August 3rd.

Now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light. Eph. v. 8.

We do not realize the importance of the unconscious part of our life ministry. It goes on continually. In every greeting we give to another on the street, in every moment's conversation, in every letter we write, in every contact with other lives, there is a subtle influence that goes from us that often reaches further, and leaves a deep impression than the things themselves that we are doing at the time. It is not so much what we do in this world as what we are, that tells in spiritual results and impressions.—J. R. Miller.

August 4th.

Created in Christ Jesus unto good works. Eph. ii. 10.

Let us ask Him to work in us to will those good works, so that our will, without being impaired in its free operation, may be permeated and moulded by His will, just as light suffuses the atmosphere without displacing it. And let us also expect that He will infuse into us sufficient strength that we may be able to do His will unto all pleasing. Thus, day by day, our life will be a manifestation of those holy volitions and lovely deeds which shall attest the indwelling and inworking of God. And men shall see our good works, and glorify our Father which is in heaven.—F. B. Meyer.

August 5th.

Go in this thy might . . . have not I sent thee? Judges vi. 14.

God never leaves His child to fail when in the path of obedience.—Theodore Cuyler.

August 6th.

Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. Col. iii. 2.

Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might. Eccles. ix. 10.

If we are to live separate from the world, how, since men only do well what they do with a will, are we, with affections fixed on things above, to perform aright the secular, ordinary duties of life? If our hearts are engrossed with heavenly things, how are we to obey this other, and equally divine, commandment, "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might"?

The two are perfectly consistent. Man standing between the celestial and terrestrial worlds is related to both; and resembling neither a flower, which, springing from the dust and returning to it, belongs altogether to the earth, nor a star which, shining far remote from its lower sphere, belongs altogether to the heavens, our hearts may be fitly likened to the rainbow that, rising into heaven but resting on earth, is connected both with the clods of the valley and the clouds of the sky.—Guthrie.

August 7th.

Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus. Heb. xii. 1, 2.

Think, as you sit here, of anything that you are doing that is wrong, of any habit of your life, of your self-indulgence, or of that great, pervasive habit of your life which makes you a creature of the present instead of the eternities, a creature of the material earth instead of the glorious skies. Ask yourself of any habit that belongs to your own personal life, and bring it face to face with Jesus Christ.—Phillips Brooks.

August 8th.

They took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus. Acts iv. 13.

If I think of the world, I get the impress of the world; if I think of my trials and sorrows, I get the impress of my trials and sorrows; if I think of my failures, I get the impress of my failures; if I think of Christ, I get the impress of Christ.—Selected.

August 9th.

Ye call me Teacher, and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. John xiii. 13. (R. V. margin).

How wonderful a Teacher we have! Sometimes we seek Him in the house, but He is not there. We go forth seeking Him and find Him perhaps in the wilderness or on a mountain praying, or leading some poor blind man by the hand, or eating with publicans or sinners, or asleep in a storm or conversing with a Samaritan woman, or surrounded by wrathful men, or bearing a cross. It is not merely His words that instruct. His place, His occupation, His companions, His environment, His garment, His silence, His submission—all teem with instruction. And they that learn of Him are made like unto Him.—George Bowen.

August 10th.

The Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. 1 John iv. 14.

It is a sweet thought that Jesus Christ did not come forth without His Father's permission, authority, consent, and assistance. He was sent of the Father that He might be the Savior of men. . . . Didst thou ever consider the depth of love in the heart of Jehovah, when God the Father equipped His Son for the great enterprise of mercy? If not, be this thy day's meditation. The Father sent Him! Contemplate that subject. Think how Jesus works what the Father wills. In the wounds of the dying Savior see the love of the great I AM. Let every thought of Jesus be also connected with the eternal, ever-blessed God.—Spurgeon.

August 11th.

They that wait upon the Lord shall change their strength. Isa. xl. 31. (R. V.)

August 12th.

As for thee, the Lord thy God hath not suffered thee so to do. Deut. xviii. 14.

What a stepping-stone! We give thanks, often with a tearful, doubtful voice, for our spiritual mercies positive; but what an almost infinite field there is for mercies negative! We cannot even imagine all that God has suffered us not to do, not to be.—Frances Ridley Havergal.

August 13th.

Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and He healed their sick. . . . And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come He was there alone. Matt. xiv. 14, 23.

Do we, like Him, combine the two great elements of human character? Are our public duties, the cares, and business, and engrossments of the world, finely tempered and hallowed by a secret walk with God? If the world were to follow us from its busy thoroughfares, would it trace us to our family altars and our closet devotions?

Action and meditation are the two great components of Christian life, and the perfection of the religious character is to find the two in unison and harmony.—Macduff.

August 14th.

Leaving you an example, that ye should follow His steps. 1 Pet. ii. 21. (R. V.)

I have long since ceased to pray, "Lord Jesus, have compassion on a lost world!" I remember the day and the hour when I seemed to hear the Lord rebuking me for making such a prayer. He seemed to say to me, "I have had compassion upon a lost world, and now it is for you to have compassion."—A. J. Gordon.

August 15th.

Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Ex. xx. 3.

If you find yourself beginning to love any pleasure better than your prayers, any book better than your Bible, any house better than God's, any table better than the Lord's, any person better than your Savior, any one better than your soul, a present indulgence better than the hope of heaven—take alarm!—Guthrie.

August 16th.

Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. 1 Cor. xi. 1.

When in the Mexican war the troops were wavering, a general rose in his stirrups and dashed into the enemy's line, shouting, "Men, follow!" They, seeing his courage and disposition, dashed on after him, and gained the victory.

What men want to rally them for God is an example to lead them. All your commands to others to advance amount to nothing so long as you stay behind. To effect them aright, you need to start for heaven yourself, looking back only to give the stirring cry of "Men, follow!"—T. DeWitt Talmage.

August 17th.

Serving the Lord with all humility of mind. Acts xx. 19.

There is a legend of an artist who long sought for a piece of sandalwood, out of which to carve a Madonna. He was about to give up in despair, leaving the vision of his life unrealized, when in a dream he was bidden to carve his Madonna from a block of oak wood, which was destined for the fire. He obeyed, and produced a masterpiece from a log of common fire-wood.

Many of us lose great opportunities in life by waiting to find sandalwood for our carvings, when they really lie hidden in the common logs that we burn.—Orison Swett Marden.

August 18th.

My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. 2 Cor. xii. 9.

God's way of answering His people's prayers is not by removing the pressure, but by increasing their strength to bear it. The pressure is often the fence between the narrow way of life and the broad road to ruin; and if our Heavenly Father were to remove it, it might be at the sacrifice of heaven. Oh, if God had removed that thorny fence in answer, often to earnest prayers, how many of us would now be castaways! How the song of many a saint now in glory would be hushed! How many a harp would be unstrung! How many a place in the mansions of the redeemed would be unfilled! If God answered all the prayers we put up to heaven, we should need no other scourge. Blessed it is that we have One who is too loving to grant what we too often so rashly ask.—F. Whitfield.

August 19th.

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, no more can ye, except ye abide in me. John xv. 4.

From moment to moment, and from hour to hour, the inner nature of man is to be continuously sustained with the life of God. Only as I am constantly receiving His fulness into my emptiness am I really living in the true, full, deep sense of the word, that life of eternity, which is my privilege now, and will be my glory hereafter.—W. Hay Aitken.

August 20th.

By faith Noah . . . prepared an ark to the saving of his house. Heb. xi. 7.

What a humble, what a modest sphere for the exercise of faith! One would have said that the purpose was quite disproportionate to the work. The ark was a great undertaking, but what was it undertaken for? To save his own family. Is so narrow a sphere worthy to be the object of faith? Is so commonplace a scene as the life of the family circle fit to be a temple for the service of God? . . . My soul, when thou hast finished thy prayers and ended thy meditations, do not say that thou hast left the house of God. God's house shall to thee be everywhere, and thine own house shall be a part of it. Thou shalt feel that all the duties of this place are consecrated; that it is none other than the house of God and one of the gates to heaven. Thou shalt feel that every one of its duties is an act of high communion. Therefore be it thine to make thy house His house. Be it thine to consecrate each word and look and deed in the social life of home. Be it thine to build thine ark of refuge for the wants of common day; verily, thy labor of love shall be called an act of faith.—George Matheson.

August 21st.

We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Eph. ii. 10.

No man is born into the world whose work is not born with him. There is always work, and tools to work withal, for those who will.—J. B. Lowell.

August 22nd.

He . . . began to wash the disciples' feet. John xiii. 5.

We forget that Jesus Christ is the same to-day, when He is sitting on the throne, as He was yesterday, when He trod the pathway of our world. And in this forgetfulness how much we miss! What He was, that He is. What He said, that He says. The Gospels are simply specimens of the life that He is ever living; they are leaves torn out of the diary of His unchangeable Being. To-day He is engaged in washing the feet of His disciples, soiled with their wilderness journeyings. Yes, that charming incident is having its fulfilment in thee, my friend, if only thou dost not refuse the lowly loving offices of Him whom we call Master and Lord, but who still girds Himself and comes forth to serve. And we must have this incessant cleansing if we would keep right. It is not enough to look back to a certain hour when we first knelt at the feet of the Son of God for pardon; and heard Him say, "Thy sins, which are many, are all forgiven." We need daily, hourly cleansing—from daily, hourly sin.—F. B. Meyer.

August 23rd.

I am the Lord, I change not. Mal. iii. 6.

Our hope is not hung upon such untwisted thread as "I imagine so," or "it is likely"; but the cable, the strong rope of our fastened anchor, is the oath and promise of Him who is eternal verity. Our salvation is fastened with God's own hand and Christ's own strength to the strong stake of God's unchanging nature.—William Rutherford.

August 24th.

I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing. Ezek. xxxiv. 26.

What is thy season this morning? Is it the season of drought? Then that is the season for showers. Is it a season of great heaviness and black clouds? Then that is the season for showers. "As thy days so shall thy strength be." "I will give thee showers of blessing." The word is in the plural. All kinds of blessings God will send. All God's blessings go together, like links in a golden chain. If He gives converting grace, He will also give comforting grace. He will send "showers of blessings." Look up to-day, O parched plant, and open thy leaves and flowers for a heavenly watering.—Spurgeon.

August 25th.

Nevertheless, at thy word. Luke v. 5.

Oh, what a blessed formula for us! This path of mine is dark, mysterious, perplexing; nevertheless, at Thy word I will go forward. This trial of mine is cutting, sore for flesh and blood to bear. It is hard to breathe through a broken heart, Thy will be done. But, nevertheless, at Thy word I will say, Even so, Father! This besetting habit, or infirmity, or sin of mine, is difficult to crucify. It has become part of myself—a second nature; to be severed from it would be like the cutting off of a right hand, or the plucking out of a right eye; nevertheless, at Thy word I will lay aside every weight; this idol I will utterly abolish. This righteousness of mine it is hard to ignore; all these virtues, and amiabilities, and natural graces, it is hard to believe that they dare not in any way be mixed up in the matter of my salvation; and that I am to receive all from first to last as the gift of God, through Jesus Christ my Lord. Nevertheless, at Thy word I will count all but loss for the excellency of His knowledge.—Macduff.

August 26th.

If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him. 2 Tim. ii. 12.

The photographer must have a negative, as he calls it, in order to furnish you with a picture. Now, the earthly cross is the negative from which the heavenly crown is to be made; the suffering and sorrow of the present time determining the glory, honor and immortality of the life to come.—A. J. Gordon.

August 27th.

The word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. 1 Pet. i. 23.

The Word abideth. The Jew hated it—but it lived on, while the veil was torn away from the shrine which the Shekinah had forsaken, and while Jerusalem itself was destroyed. The Greek derided it—but it has seen his philosophy effete and his Acropolis in ruins. The Romans threw it into the flames—but it rose from its ashes, and swooped down upon the falling eagle. The reasoner cast it into the furnace, which his own negligence had heated "seven times hotter than its wont"—but it came out without the smell of fire. The formalist fastened serpents around it to poison it—but it shook them off and felt no harm. The infidel cast it overboard in a tempest of sophistry and sarcasm—but it rode gallantly upon the crest of the proud waters. And it is living still—yet heard in the loudest swelling of the storm—it has been speaking all the while—it is speaking now!—Punshon.

August 28th.

Let the peace of God rule in your hearts. Col. iii. 15.

Years ago one of our fleets was terribly shattered by a violent gale—but it was found that some of the ships were unaffected by its violence. They were in what mariners call "the eye of the storm." While all around was desolation, they were safe. So it is with him who has the peace of God in his heart.—Pilkington.

August 29th.

Ye serve the Lord Christ. Col. iii. 24.

Our business as Christians is to serve the Lord in every business of life.—Mark Guy Pearse.

August 30th.

Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. 1 John ii. 15.

If you will go to the banks of a little stream, and watch the flies that come to bathe in it, you will notice that, while they plunge their bodies into the water, they keep their wings high out of the water; and, after swimming about a little while, they fly away with their wings unwet through the sunny air. Now, that is the lesson for us. Here we are immersed in the cares and business of the world; but let us keep the wings of our soul, our faith and our love, out of the world, that, with these unclogged, we may be ready to take our flight to heaven.—J. Inglis.

August 31st.

I would have you without carefulness. 1 Cor. vii. 32.

Do not look forward to the changes and chances of this life in fear. Rather look to them with full hope that, as they arise, God, whose you are, will deliver you out of them. He has kept you hitherto—do you but hold fast to His dear hand, and He will lead you safely through all things; and when you cannot stand, He will bear you in His arms. Do not look forward to what may happen to-morrow. The same everlasting Father who cares for you to-day will take care of you to-morrow, and every day. Either He will shield you from suffering, or He will give you unfailing strength to bear it. Be at peace then, and put aside all anxious thoughts and imaginations.—Francis de Sales.

September 1st.

Thus saith the Lord God, I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them. Ezek. xxxvi. 37.

Prayer is the forerunner of mercy. Turn to sacred history and you will find that scarcely ever did a great mercy come to this world unheralded by supplication. Prayer is always the preface to blessing. It goes before the blessing as the blessing's shadow. When the sunlight of God's mercies rises upon our necessities it casts the shadow of prayer far down upon the plain. Or, to use another illustration, when God piles up a hill of mercies He Himself shines behind them, and He casts on our spirits the shadow of prayer so that we may rest certain, if we are much in prayer, our pleadings are the shadows of mercy. Prayer is thus connected with the blessing to show us the value of it.—Spurgeon.

September 2nd.

Let us not be weary in well doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not. Gal. vi. 9.

The hours of this present life are the ages in embryo of the life to come.—A. J. Gordon.

September 3rd.

My presence shall go with thee. Ex. xxxiii. 14.

We should never leave our prayer closets in the morning without having concentrated our thoughts deeply and intensely on the fact of the actual presence of God there with us, encompassing us, and filling the room as literally as it fills heaven itself. It may not lead to any distinct results at first, but, as we make repeated efforts to realize the presence of God, it will become increasingly real to us. And, as the habit grows upon us, when alone in a room, or when treading the sward of some natural woodland temple, or when pacing the stony street—in the silence of night, or amid the teeming crowds of daylight—we shall often find ourselves whispering the words, "Thou art near; thou art here, O Lord."—F. B. Meyer.

September 4th.

To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgiveness. Dan. ix. 9.

As a spring lock closes itself, but cannot be unlocked without a key, so we ourselves may run into sin, but cannot return without the key of God's grace.—Cawdray.

September 5th.

It is high time to awake out of sleep. Rom. xiii. 11.

I have heard of a painter who loved to work by the morning light. He said that the colors were better understood by the light of the early day, and so he was wont to be in his studio waiting for the rising of the sun. Then every moment it grew lighter, and he found he could accomplish things which he could not reach if he waited till the day had advanced.

Is there not work waiting for us—work that no one else can do—work, too, that the Master has promised to help us perform? Shall He come and find that we still sleep? Or shall the Son of Righteousness, when He appears, find us waiting, as that painter waited, looking and longing for the first gleam of day? Surely those of us who thus wait on the Lord shall renew our strength, and, eagle-like, rise to greet the Sun.—Thomas Champness.

September 6th.

The church of God, which He hath purchased with His own blood. Acts xx. 28.

Surely He may do what He will with His own. The price He has paid to make them His own is a sufficient guarantee that He will never make light of anything in which their welfare is at all concerned. We are precious to Him by the virtue of the blood which He has shed for us, and for Him to be found at any time wanting in solicitude for our happiness would be for Him to treat that blood of His as the sinners of this world treat it. The persuasion of Christ's love must be graven in our hearts so deeply that no semblance of indifference on His part will ever make the slightest impression upon us. This is the victory which overcometh the world.—George Bowen.

September 7th.

The God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost. Rom. xv. 13.

In spiritual as in earthly things there is great strength in hope, and, therefore, God's people are carefully to cultivate that grace. A well-grounded hope that, having been made new creatures in Jesus Christ, we are His; that with our names, though unknown to fame, written in the Book of Life, we have grace in possession and heaven in prospect; that after a few more brief years, pure as the angels that sing before the throne, we shall be brought with gladness into the palace of the King, to be like Christ and with Christ, seeing Him eye to eye and face to face—such hopes are powerful springs of action.—Guthrie.

September 8th.

He asked life of Thee, and Thou gavest it him, even length of days or ever and ever. Psa. xxi. 4.

When poor men make requests of us we usually answer them as the echo does the voice—the answer cuts off half the petition. We shall seldom find among men Jael's courtesy, giving milk to those that ask water, except it be as this was, an entangling benefit, the better to introduce a mischief. There are not many Naamans among us, that, when you beg of them one talent, will force you to take two; but God's answer to our prayers is like a multiplying glass, which renders the request much greater in the answer than it was in the prayer.—Bishop Reynolds.

September 9th.

This beginning of miracles did Jesus. John ii. 11.

It was out of the common thing that the precious thing was brought; and it is out of the common things of daily life, presented obediently to Jesus and laid at His feet, that He brings His own glorious gifts, so that our whole lives become one great sacrament.—W. Hay Aitken.

September 10th.

In the daytime . . . He led them with a cloud, and all the night with a light of fire. Psa. lxxviii. 14.

My day is my prosperity; it is the time when the sun of fortune is bright above me, and, therefore, it is the time when I need a shade. If my sunshine were not chequered I would forget Thee, O my God.

But I have nights to meet as well as days. The night is my adversity; it is the time when the sun of fortune has gone down behind the hills, and I am left alone, and then it is, O my Father, that I need the light of Thy fire! My light of fire for the night is the vision of Calvary—the vision of Thy love in the Cross. I need the light of Thy fire "all the night."—George Matheson.

September 11th.

Now are we the sons of God: and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. 1 John iii. 2.

"Now are we the sons of God." That is the pier upon one side of the gulf. "It doth not yet appear what we shall be, but when He shall appear we shall be like Him." That is the pier on the other. How are the two to be connected? There is only one way by which the present sonship will blossom and fruit into the future perfect likeness, and that is, if we throw across the gulf, by God's help day by day, the bridge of growing likeness to Himself, and purity therefrom.—Alex. McLaren.

September 12th.

Behold, we go up to Jerusalem. Matt. xx. 18.

Never had there been such a going up to Jerusalem as that which Jesus here proposes to His disciples. He goes up voluntarily. The act was not enforced by any external compulsion. Jerusalem might at this time have been avoided. It was deliberately sought. It was a going up to a triumph to be reached through defeat, a coronation to be attained through ignominy and humiliation.

O believer, in your walk through the world to-day, be strengthened, be comforted, be inspired, by the spectacle of the Captain of your salvation thus going up to Jerusalem! And remember, in all those apparently downward passages of life, where sorrow, and it may be death, lie before you, that all such descents, made or endured in the Spirit of Jesus, are really upgoing steps, leading you to the mount of God and the resurrection glory.—J. B. Stratton.

September 13th.

These were the potters, and those that dwelt among plants and hedges: there they dwelt with the king for his work. 1 Chron. iv. 23.

Anywhere and everywhere we may dwell "with the King for His work." We may be in a very unlikely or unfavorable place for this; it may be in a little country life, with little enough to be seen of the "goings" of the King around us; it may be among hedges of all sorts, hindrances in all directions; it may be, furthermore, with our hands full of all manner of pottery for our daily task. No matter! The King who placed us "there" will come and dwell there with us; the hedges are all right, or He would soon do away with them; and it does not follow that what seems to hinder our way may not be for its very protection; and as for the pottery, why, this is just exactly what He has seen fit to put into our hands, and therefore it is, for the present, "His work."—Frances Ridley Havergal.

September 14th.

I will instruct thee, and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go; I will guide thee with mine eye. Psa. xxxii. 8.

When God does the directing, our life is useful and full of promise, whatever it is doing; and discipline has its perfecting work.—H. E. Cobb.

September 15th.

The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many. Matt. xx. 28.

We are so to surrender ourselves to Christ that this great purpose of His coming shall claim and possess the whole life. We are to live, like God, to bless others. This is His will, His purpose concerning us. This is what His power waits to do for us. And this too, is the claim of His great love upon us.

Do not sigh a poor assent to the truth of it, and then pass by neglectfully on the other side. Do not think about it and pray about it without even a passing hope that the prayer will be answered. Do not gather yourself up in great resolutions to be good and useful. Kneel in sight of the Crucified. In the cross of Christ spell out His great purpose and yearning love to men. Let the heart feel all the might of the appeal that comes to us from those torn hands and feet and bleeding brow, from all the dreadful shame and agony of our dear Lord. And, bought and bound by all this, surrender yourself to Him for His great purpose. Take Him as your strength for this life-work.—Mark Guy Pearse.

September 16th.

Jesus . . . went about doing good. Acts x. 38.

The finest of all fine arts is the art of doing good; and yet it is the least cultivated.—T. DeWitt Talmage.

September 17th.

And the angel of the Lord said unto her [Hagar], Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands. Gen. xvi. 9.

Submission is a great Christian law, but we find it early in Genesis, early in the history of mankind, and angel-given.—Selected.

September 18th.

Then spake Solomon . . . I have surely built thee an house to dwell in. 1 Kings viii. 12, 13.

Solomon, the prince of peace, alone could build the temple. If we would be soul-winners and build up the church, which is God's temple, let us note this; not by discussion nor by argument, but by lifting up Christ shall we draw men unto Him.—J. Hudson Taylor.

September 19th.

I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction. Isa. xlviii. 10.

Does not the word come like a soft shower, assuaging the fury of the flame? Yea, is it not an asbestos armor, against which the heat hath no power? Let affliction come—God has chosen me. Poverty, thou mayest stride in at my door—but God is in the house already, and He has chosen me. Sickness, thou mayest intrude, but I have a balsam ready—God has chosen me. Whatever befalls me in this vale of tears I know that He has "chosen" me. Fear not, Christian; Jesus is with thee. In all thy fiery trials His presence is both thy comfort and safety. He will never leave one whom He has chosen for His own. "Fear not, for I am with thee," is His sure word of promise to His chosen ones in the "furnace of affliction."—Spurgeon.

September 20th.

Base things of the world and things which are despised hath God chosen. 1 Cor. i. 28.

In some of the great halls of Europe may be seen pictures not painted with the brush, but mosaics, which are made up of small pieces of stone, glass, or other material. The artist takes these little pieces, and, polishing and arranging them, he forms them into the grand and beautiful picture. Each individual part of the picture may be a little worthless piece of glass or marble or shell; but, with each in its place, the whole constitutes the masterpiece of art.

So I think it will be with humanity in the hands of the great Artist. God is picking up the little worthless pieces of stone and brass that might be trodden under foot unnoticed, and is making of them His great masterpiece.—Bishop Simpson.

September 21st.

Serve the Lord with gladness; come before His presence with singing. Psa. c. 2.

God wants our life to be a song. He has written the music for us in His Word and in the duties that come to us in our places and relations in life. The things we ought to do are the notes set upon the staff. To make our life beautiful music we must be obedient and submissive. Any disobedience is the singing of a false note, and yields discord.—J. R. Miller.

September 22nd.

When thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father, which is in secret. Matt. vi. 6.

This is faith's stronghold; here she weapons herself for the daily conflict. Silence in that closet of prayer bespeaks death throughout all the house. When that door is suffered to rust on its hinges, and that chamber is deserted, then the heart-house is soon retaken by Satan, and evil spirits come in and dwell there.—Theodore Cuyler.

September 23rd.

Be ye holy; for I am holy. 1 Pet. i. 16.

The highway of holiness is along the commonest road of life—along your very way. In wind and rain, no matter how it beats—it is only going hand in hand with Him.—Mark Guy Pearse.

September 24th.

And the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do? Gen. xviii. 17.

Abraham, in communion with God, knew long before Lot, in Sodom, of the destruction of that city. Oh for more communion!—Selected.

September 25th.

The life which I now live in the flesh. Gal. ii. 20.

I expect to pass through this world but once—therefore, if there be any kindness I can show or any good thing I can do to any fellow human being, let me do it now; let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.—Marcus Aurelius.

September 26th.

So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. Psa. xc. 12.

Every day is a little life; and our whole life is but a day repeated: whence it is that old Jacob numbers his life by days; and Moses desires to be taught this point of holy arithmetic—to number not his years, but his days. Those, therefore, that dare lose a day, are dangerously prodigal; those that dare misspend it, desperate.—Bishop Hall.

September 27th.

Christ in you the hope of glory. Col. i. 27.

Religion is not the simple fire-escape that you build in anticipation of a possible danger, upon the outside of your dwelling, and leave there until danger comes. You go to it some morning when a fire breaks out in your house, and the poor old thing that you built up there, and thought that you could use some day, is so rusty and broken, and the weather has so beaten upon it and the sun so turned its hinges, that it will not work. That is the condition of a man who has built himself what seems a creed of faith, a trust in God in anticipation of the day when danger is to overtake him, and has said to himself, I am safe, for I will take refuge in it then. But religion is the house in which we live, it is the table at which we sit, it is the fireside at which we draw near, the room that arches its graceful and familiar presence over us; it is the bed on which we lie and think of the past, and anticipate the future, and gather our refreshment.—Phillips Brooks.

September 28th.

Wait for the promise of the Father. Acts i. 4.

Tarry at a promise till God meets you there. He always returns by way of His promises.—Selected.

September 29th.

This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. 1 John v. 4.

The world conquers me when it succeeds in hindering me from seeing, loving, holding communion with, and serving my Father, God. I conquer it when I lay my hand upon it and force it to help me to get nearer Him, to get more like Him, to think oftener of Him, to do His will more gladly and more constantly. The one victory over the world is to bend it to serve me in the highest things—the attainment of a clearer vision of the divine nature, the attainment of a deeper love to God Himself, and a more glad consecration and service to Him. That is the victory—when you can make the world a ladder to lift you to God. When the world comes between you and God as an obscuring screen, it has conquered you. When the world comes between you and God as a transparent medium you have conquered it. To win victory is to get it beneath your feet and stand upon it, and reach up thereby to God.—Alex. McLaren.

September 30th.

He shall give His angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways. Psa. xci. 11.

Count no duty too little, no round of life too small, no work too low, if it come in thy way, since God thinks so much of it as to send His angels to guard thee in it.—Mark Guy Pearse.

October 1st.

At Jesus' feet. Luke x. 39.

At Jesus' feet—that is our place of privilege and of blessing, and here it is that we are to be educated and fitted for the practical duties of life. Here we are to renew our strength while we wait on Him, and to learn how to mount on wings as eagles; and here we are to become possessed of that true knowledge which is power. Here we are to learn how real work is to be done, and to be armed with the true motive power to do it. Here we are to find solace amidst both the trials of work—and they are not few—and the trials of life in general; and here we are to anticipate something of the blessedness of heaven amidst the days of earth; for to sit at His feet is indeed to be in heavenly places, and to gaze upon His glory is to do what we shall never tire of doing yonder.—W. Hay Aitken.

October 2nd.

God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. 1 John iv. 16.

God is love; and it is good, as it is true, to think that every sun-ray that touches the earth has the sun at the other end of it; so every bit of love upon God's earth has God at the other end of it.—Mark Guy Pearse.

October 3rd.

They took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus. Acts iv. 13.

A Christian should be a striking likeness of Jesus Christ. You have read lives of Christ, beautifully and eloquently written, but the best life of Christ is His living biography, written out in the words and actions of His people. If we were what we profess to be, and what we should be, we would be pictures of Christ; yea, such striking likenesses of Him that the world would not have to hold us up by the hour together, and say, "Well, it seems somewhat of a likeness": but they would, when they once beheld us, exclaim, "He has been with Jesus; he has been taught of Him; he is like Him; he has caught the very idea of the holy Man of Nazareth, and he works it out in his life and every day actions."—Spurgeon.

October 4th.

Be not afraid, only believe. Mark v. 36.

Be not downcast if difficulties and trials surround you in your heavenly life. They may be purposely placed there by God to train and discipline you for higher developments of faith. If He calls you to "toiling in rowing," it may be to make you the hardier seaman, to lead you to lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and, above all, to drive you to a holier trust in Him who has the vessel and its destinies in His hand, and who, amid gathering clouds and darkened horizon and crested billows is ever uttering the mild rebuke to our misgivings—"Said I not unto thee, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldst see the glory of God."—Macduff.

October 5th.

Happy is the man whom God correcteth. Job v. 17.

Happy, because the correction is designed to bring him into paths of blessedness and peace.

Happy, because there is no unnecessary severity in it.

Happy, because the chastisement is not so much against us, as against our most cruel enemies—our sins.

Happy, because we have abundant words of consolation.

Happy, because whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth.

Happy, because our light affliction is but for a moment.—George Bowen.

October 6th.

When they saw the star they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. Matt. ii. 10.

We who look for Jesus ought to be joyful; it is no credit to our Lord when we look as though we were seeking His grave. The dull looks of Christ's followers have injured Him in the sight of the world. Let us, then, smile as we go, for we have the star if we will look up and put ourselves in the right path.—Thos. Champness.

October 7th.

When I sit in darkness the Lord shall be a light unto me. Micah vii. 8.

If you are willing to choose the seeming darkness of faith instead of the illumination of reason, wonderful light will break out upon you from the Word of God.—A. J. Gordon.

October 8th.

I (Daniel) was left alone, and saw this great vision. Dan. x. 8.

Solitude is the antechamber of God; only one step more and you can be in His immediate presence.—Landor.

October 9th.

Come and dine. John xxi. 12.

This morning the voice of the Beloved of our soul is heard giving us His invitation.

"Children," He asks, "have ye any meat?"

We answer, "No; of ourselves we have nothing but hunger and starvation. O God, we cannot feed ourselves!"

Then it is that His own sweet voice replies, "Come and dine!"—W. Hay Aitken.

October 10th.

O Lord God, Thou knowest! Ezek. xxxvii. 3.

Here is the response of faith. "Thou knowest!"—what a pillow for the heart to repose upon! "Thou knowest!"—what few but comprehensive words to sum up and express the heart's difficulties and perplexities and trials. "Thou knowest!"—what an inexpressibly sweet resting-place in the midst of life's tumultuous heavings; in the midst of a sea that knows no calm; in the midst of a scene in which tossings to and fro are the hourly history! What an answer they contain for every heart that can find no words to express its big emotions; for a heart whose sorrows are too deep for language to find its way to God! Oh, that they were ever uppermost in the soul, as the response to every difficulty in our path! They are God's answer to everything we cannot fathom; God's answer for our hearts to rest upon, and our lips to utter, when every way is hedged up so that we cannot pass. "O Lord God, thou knowest!" Rest here, believer. Lean thy soul on these words. Repose calmly on the bosom of thy God, and carry them with thee into every scene of life. "O Lord God, thou knowest."—F. Whitfield.

October 11th.

Behold, a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. Gen. xxviii. 12.

Think of that mystic ladder, which descends from the throne of God to the spot, however lowly, where you may be. It may be a moorland waste; a humble cottage; a ship's cabin; a settler's hut; a bed of pain; but Jesus Christ finds you out, and comes just where you are. The one pole of this ladder is the gold of His deity; the other is the silver of His manhood; the rungs are the series of events from the cradle of Bethlehem to the right hand of power, where He sits. That ladder sways beneath a weight of blessing for you. Oh, that you would send away your burdens of sin, and care, and fear, by the hands of the ascending angels of prayer and faith!—so as to be able to receive into your heart the trooping angels of peace, and joy, and love, and glory.—F. B. Meyer.

October 12th.

Surely God is in this place, and I knew it not. Gen. xxviii. 16.

October 13th.

Now therefore, hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers giveth you. Deut. iv. 1.

"Hearken" and "do," that ye may "live" and "possess." This is a universal and abiding principle. It was true for Israel, and it is true for us. The pathway of life and the true secret of possession is simple obedience to the holy commandments of God. We see this all through the inspired volume, from cover to cover. God has given us His Word, not to speculate upon it or discuss it, but that we may obey it. And it is as we, through grace, yield a hearty and happy obedience to our Father's statutes and judgments, that we tread the bright pathway of life, and enter into the reality of all that God has treasured up for us in Christ.—C. H. M.

October 14th.

I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me. Gal. ii. 20.

The man who lives in God knows no life except the life of God.—Phillips Brooks.

October 15th.

Let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet, the hope of salvation. 1 Thess. v. 8.

Faith, love, hope—these three form the defensive armor that guards the soul; and these three make self-control possible. Like a diver in his dress who is let down to the bottom of the wild, far-weltering ocean, a man whose heart is girt by faith and charity, and whose head is covered with the helmet of hope, may be dropped down into the wildest sea of temptation and of worldliness, and yet will walk dry and unharmed through the midst of its depths, and breathe air that comes from a world above the restless surges. Faith will bring you into communication with all the power of God. Love will lead you into a region where all the temptations round you will be touched as by Ithuriel's spear, and will show their own foulness. And Hope will turn away your eyes from looking at the tempting splendor around, and fix them upon the glories that are above. And so the reins will come into your hands in an altogether new manner, and you will be able to be king over your own nature in a fashion that you did not dream of before, if only you will trust in Christ and love Him, and fix your desires on the things above. Then you will be able to govern yourself, when you let Christ govern you.—Alex. McLaren.

October 16th.

The word of our God shall stand forever. Isa. xl. 8.

The Word of God is the water of life; the more ye lave it forth, the fresher it runneth. It is the fire of God's glory; the more ye blow it, the clearer it burneth. It is the corn of the Lord's field; the better ye grind it, the more it yieldeth. It is the bread of heaven; the more it is broken and given forth, the more it remaineth. It is the sword of the Spirit; the more it is scoured, the brighter it shineth.—Bishop Jewel.

October 17th.

I spake unto thee in thy prosperity. Jer. xxii. 21.

We shade our eyes with the hand to shut out the glare of the strong daylight when we want to see far away. God thus puts, as it were, His hand upon our brows, and tempers the glow of prosperity, that we may take in the wider phases of His goodness. It is a common experience that, looking out from the gloom of some personal affliction, men have seen for the first time beyond the earth plane, and caught glimpses of the Beulah Land. Let us not shrink from the Hand which we know is heavy only with blessing.—Ludlow.

October 18th.

Surely He shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler. Psa. xci. 3.

He shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler. That is, from the little things, the hidden traps and nets that are set for us. Great sins frighten where little snares entangle. It is easier to escape the huntsman's arrow than the crafty lure.

And where are they not set? Riches and poverty, sickness and strength, prosperity and adversity, friendship and loneliness, the work and the want of it—each has its snare, wherein not only are the unwary caught, but the wise and the watchful sometimes fall a prey. Little things, mere threads, hardly worth guarding against—yet they are strong enough to hold us and hinder us, and may be the beginning of our destruction.—Mark Guy Pearse.

October 19th.

The Lord set a mark upon Cain. Gen. iv. 15.

We speak of the mark of Cain as if it was the mark of a curse. In reality it was the mark of God's mercy, a defence against his enemies.—D. J. Burrell.

October 20th.

Who is among you that feareth the Lord . . . that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God. Isa. l. 10.

"In fierce storms," said an old seaman, "we can do but one thing, there is only one way; we must put the ship in a certain position and keep her there."

This, Christian, is what you must do. Sometimes, like Paul, you can see neither sun nor stars, and no small tempest lies on you; and then you can do but one thing; there is only one way. Reason cannot help you. Past experiences give you no light. Even prayer fetches no consolation. Only a single course is left. You must put your soul in one position and keep it there. You must stay upon the Lord; and, come what may—winds, waves, cross seas, thunder, lightning, frowning rocks, roaring breakers—no matter what, you must lash yourself to the helm, and hold fast your confidence in God's faithfulness, His covenant engagement, His everlasting love in Christ Jesus.—Richard Fuller.

October 21st.

Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. Rev. ii. 10.

There is a heaven at the end of every faithful Christian's journey.—Cuyler.

October 22nd.

Flee into Egypt. Matt. ii. 13.

Why? Because there is a cruel king who will seek the young child's life.

Is Christ born in thee? Is thy life like that manger—precious as a casket, because of what it holds? Then have a care; for, craftier and more unscrupulous than Herod, the destroyer of souls will seek to destroy thee.

There is a day coming when they shall say, "They are dead which sought the young child's life." Grace shall survive the foe, and we shall yet return to enjoy the comforts of life, with no Herod to threaten us. After all, it is sin which is short-lived, for goodness shall flourish when the evil one is chained up for ever.—Thos. Champness.