7)EV07JONAL 'READINGS
•TOI{A TEAR^
W-L-WATICINSON- K
tihvaxy of t:he trheolojvcal ^emmarjp
PRINCETON • NEW JERSEY
PRESENTED BY
The Estate of
Harold McAfee Robinson, D.D.
BV 4811 .W37
Watkinson, W. L. 1838-1925.
The gates of dawn
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THE GATES OF DAWN
W. L. WATKINSON, P.P.
The Gates of Dawn
Devotional Readings for a Year. . . net, $1.25
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THE ^^5:2^LS?^
GATES OF DAWNT
devotional IReaMnge for a l?ear
BY
W. L. WATKINSON, D.Do
WITH A SHORT SERIES OF PRAYERS
BY THE
Rev. LAUCHLAN MACLEAN WATT, M.A., B.D.
New York Chicago Toronto
Fleming H. Revell Company
London and Edinburgh
January 1
Scripture Reading — Ps. xxvii.
Thought for the Day
"Examine me, Lord, and prove me; try my reins and my
heart." — Ps. xxvi. 2
IT is indeed well on the first day of the New Year
thus to submit our heart to the Divine criticism.
We do not know where the weak spot may be.
Somewhere in London there is a museum of broken
materials used in engineering work. This organised
testing laboratory is to examine materials which have
failed, and by practical tests to show why they failed.
The museum contains hundreds of broken pieces of
steel, iron, brass, wood, stone, and cement, and the
reason for their failure is revealed. The Psalmist
daringly, trustingly, brings his reason and heart into
the laboratory of God, and demands that any secret
flaw therein shall be detected and exposed.
The metallurgist cannot always determine the
cause of failure ; again and again he is brought face
to face with the inscrutable; but the Divine heart-
searcher infallibly penetrates to the hidden weakness,
the blind spot, the diseased fibre.
Let us, with the Psalmist, solicit "the eyes of
glory," which at once reveal and cleanse.
THE GATES OF DAWN
January 2
Scripture Reading— Phil. ii. i-ii
Thought for the Day
"Wherefore God also hath highly exalted A/w?."— Phil. ii. 9
THIS is the object on which we must fix our
eye. The descent of our Lord into the sphere
of time and sense is a solemn fact to be celebrated
with wonder and gratitude, but His exaltation is
cause of endless exultation to all His ransomed
worshippers. The crown of thorns glows into gold
and multiplies into diadems ; the marred face makes
the sun dim ; the pierced hand grasps the universal
sceptre ; the cross towers and expands into a throne
based on the jasper and girdled by the rainbow.
Do we think enough, anything like enough, of
the royalty of our Master ? In all the days when we
have the sense of impotence and struggle, let us
remember whose we are and whom we serve. In
every season of need and solitude let us remind our-
selves that our Lord was parted from His disciples
whilst blessing them, and although carried up into
heaven, He has never ceased that blessing.
And let us expect His coming again in like manner.
As Andrew Bonar writes: "How seldom the ex-
pression ' going to heaven ' is used in the Bible !
It is rather going to be ' with the Lord,' as if the
Lord wanted to keep our eye on Himself as the
heart and soul of heaven."
THE GATES OF DAWN
January 3
Scripture Reading — Ps. xvi.
Thought for the Day
"Thou wilt shew me the path of life; in Thy presence is
fulness of Joy." — Ps. xvi. ii
THE "path of life" may be rough, dark, steep,
or long; but, seeing that it is the path of
life, nothing else is of serious concern. If only I am
on the right path, all the rest matters little. There
is a path that seemeth right, but the end thereof are
the ways of death. What shall I be profited if I
follow this path, even if I have roses and music all
the way ?
" Thou wilt shew me." God is the safe pathfinder.
Left to ourselves, we mistake at every step ; directed
by others, we are beguiled into false ways — we are
lured into by-paths which mock, we plunge into a
wilderness of briers. How blest is a teachable and
obedient disposition ! " I will bless the Lord, who
hath given me counsel."
" In Thy presence is fulness of joy." Whatever
the path may be, it is forgotten in the charm of the
Guide. In the midst of the roughest sea I am in
port with the Pilot of Galilee. " At thy right hand
are pleasures for evermore." The path, royal; the
pathfinder, infallible j the prize, sublime and sure.
THE GATES OF DAWN
January 4
Scripture Reading — Isa. Iv. 6-13
Thought for the Day
"There is forgiveness with Thee, that Thou may est be feared."
Ps, cxxx. 4
H
E will abundantly pardon," It is strengthen-
the Divine compassion and clemency. Nothing less
than a sense of infinite mercy and grace can meet
the case of the true penitent, with his sense of the
infinity of sin.
Whenever grace is shown by society to an offender,
it is finely calculated and qualified. Says the master:
" I condone the fault this time, but it will not again
be overlooked." Grudgingly one friend complains of
another, " I forgive, but I do not forget." The
magistrate inclining to forbearance, " The prisoner
is discharged, but must come up for judgment when
called upon." The prison authorities open the gates,
but the liberated convict is a " ticket-of-leave " man,
who must periodically report himself. When the
capital sentence is stayed, the reprieved one is
" detained at the King's pleasure." The lifted thunder
still rumbles and threatens.
How pure and absolute the mercy of God ! He
forgives all, hopes for all. How comforting is this
in the light of the guilty past ! And what an obliga-
tion it imposes upon us for the future ! How can we
sin against such magnanimity ?
THE GATES OF DAWN
January 5
Scripture Reading— Matt. x. 1-15
Thought for the Day
"Freely ye have receiued, freely give." — Matt. x. 8
NOTHING is of our creation, and so we have
no property. How free are all the great
blessings of nature — the air, rain, sunlight, the
precious things of the garden, vineyard, and field !
And yet selfish men begrudge us these things, and
withhold them when they have opportunity.
Recently a writer told us that one day he climbed
a steep path in the neighbourhood of Lynmouth, to
enjoy a view from the top. There, however, he
found a board bearing the inscription in large letters :
" This Outlook is Private." Ah ! there are men who
would make a private path of the Milky Way, claim
all rights in the rainbow, and proclaim the ocean
their heirloom.
If Nature is thus free, how much more the higher
gifts which we have in Christ ! All the riches of the
Gospel are freely given of God. Will any one dare
to inscribe on the crest of Calvary, " This Outlook is
Private " ? Every gift of life is a free gift, the " un-
speakable " gift most 01 all.
" Freely give." Ask for nothing in return — no
renown, no appreciation, no gratitude. Let me be
content to bless, finding my whole reward in the
joy of blessing.
THE GATES OF DAWN
January 6
Scripture Reading — Isa. xxxv.
Thought for the Day
"Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not."
— Isa. xxxv, 4
STRENGTH for every duty and trial is ours in
Christ. One of the greatest of chemical
discoverers, M. Berthelot, pressed on the attention
of scientists the question of the possibility of tapping
the central heat of the earth and making use of it
as a perennial source of energy. If this should ever
come to pass there will be power enough for all
possible purposes. Power to drive unlimited en-
ginery, to illuminate the mightiest cities, to remove
mountains.
But revelation shows a far grander thing — it shows
how the central blue has been tapped, and how the
fulness of the heavenly power has become available
for the moral uses of man. The Old Testament
caught sight of this great truth ; the New Testament
shows how it has been fully realised in the gift of
Pentecost.
Let me not then faint. With the power of Christ
perfected in my weakness, I am equal to every
temptation, competent for every duty, equipped for
every struggle, the master of every fear.
THE GATES OF DAWN
January 7
Scripture Reading— Luke xxi. 5-15
Thought for the Day
"/ will glue you a mouth and wisdom, which all your ad
versan'es shall not be able to gainsay nor resist" — Luke xxi. 15
FROM time to time one might think that the world
was going to pieces ; and it often seems as if the
Church was on the verge of destruction, with back-
slidings, heresies, schisms, infidehties, and persecutions.
Cataclysms and cyclones give the hue of tragedy to
all history.
But, whatever is destroyed, something better is
substituted. " The end is not immediately," perhaps,
but it is sure. The hurricanes of history have purified
the world, and the rough purification proceeds. The
Church from time to time is dissolved, only to give
place to a worthier. "The Temple adorned with
goodly stones and offerings " perished, to be succeeded
by the Christian Church ; and defective Christian
societies are yet being dissolved to secure a worthier
representation.
Through the ages of conflict and sorrow Christ
will give His people patience ; He will inspire with
wisdom and strength ; He will keep alive their courage
and hope.
" Unmoved above the storm they lie.
They lodge in Jesu's breast,"
THE GATES OF DAWN
January 8
Scripture Reading — Acts iv. 32; v. 11
Thought for the Day
"And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart
and of one soul," — Acts iv. 32
TRUE brotherhood is realised in the power oi
the Holy Ghost. The multitudes of them
that believed were of one heart and one soul, because
of the spiritual grace that rested on them. When
the tide is low the coast is a scene of agitation ; a
thousand savage splinters of rock jut out, and the
shore is girdled with angry foam. But when ocean's
tide, rolling in fullest pride, returns, the disturbing
debris is buried in the depths and the sea becomes
smooth as glass. So the divisive things of the world
are obliterated in a great tide of heavenly purity,
love, and power.
An old writer says : " God sometimes writes in
shorthand." And in this union of hearts and com-
munity of goods in the primitive Church we may
see, writ brief and small, what will come to pass
on a world-wide scale when all men believe in Christ.
But let me observe the order. Too many dream
of a rich and contented world, whilst ignoring the
moral conditions of such a millennial state. This
glorious flower can only grow from a pure spiritual
root ; otherwise, the blossom will be dust.
THE GATES OF DAWN
January 9
Scripture Reading — Prov. xii.
Thought for the Day
" The wicked is snared by the transgression of his lips."— Trov,
xii. 13
WE ought to be on our guard against the fatal
power of words. We often count words as
light as air, and yet how tremendous their significance !
By our words we are justified, by our words we are
condemned.
" Thou lovest all devouring words, O thou deceitful
tongue." Have I ever thought of the destructive
influence of the speeches which fall so glibly from my
lips ? Bitter words, unkind words, mischievous
words, words of spitefulness, deceit, and falsehood,
are " devouring words," " words of swallowing up."
As a French writer justly observes : " Insults, harsh
words, threatening utterances kill morally those who
give expression to them." He who thinks to deceive
another is himself deceived ; he who slanders another
wrongs his own soul; he who wounds another by
harsh words commits moral suicide.
" Keep, O Lord, the door of my lips." Other
doors are to keep my enemies outside ; this door is
to save me from being mine own enemy."
THE GATES OF DAWxN
January 10
Scripture Reading— Ps. cxxxix. 1-12
Thought for the Day
'* There is not a word in my tongue; but lo, Lord, Thou hnowest
it altogether." — Ps. cxxxix. 4
'' '' I ^HERE is not a word in my tongue ; but lo, O
J^ Lord, Thou knowest it altogether." We feel
it must be so. He must know every atom of the
globe, every vibration of the air, every flake of the
snow ; and, by virtue of His omniscience and omni-
presence. He must know the finest film of character,
the lightest word we breathe. A recent aeronaut tells
us that when far up in the heavens he could hear the
whispering of the leaves as they were stirred by the
wind. Our faintest word reaches higher still, and is
judged above the sky.
How great my task to be offenceless in word ! An
old writer tells of an illiterate saint who came to
someone to be taught a psalm. Having learnt the
single verse, " I said I will take heed to my ways,
that I offend not with my tongue," he went away,
saying that was enough if it were practically acquired.
When asked six months and again many years after
why he did not come to learn another verse, he
answered that he had never been able truly to master
this. Rejoice ! The things impossible with men are
possible with God.
10
THE GATES OF DAWN
January 11
Scripture Reading — Acts v. 29-42
Thought for the Day
"^Ne ought to obey God rather than men." — Acts. v. 29
THE counsel of Gamaliel is a fine specimen of
the reasoning of the worldly wise, the logic of
the politic. On the face of it it is plausible in the
extreme, but duly examined it is proved tempor-
ising and cowardly. We do not wait to see the issue
of a thing before we form an opinion of it. Usually
we have to decide and act at once. Gamaliel's
reasoning was the sophistry by which cowardice is
made to counterfeit statesmanship.
How different the temper of the Apostles ! " We
ought to obey God rather than men." No waiting to
see how the thing turns out. No policy here, only
obedience to what they knew to be the will of the
Lord. Gamaliel had a reed for a spine ; the Apostles
belonged to the true backbone family.
Let me make life clear and simple by first obtain-
ing the knowledge of God's will, and then securing
the daily strength by which I shall render prompt
obedience. It is well sometimes to have "the courage
of our opinions," but it is better to have the courage
of our convictions, wise, firm, tender.
II
THE GATES OF DAWN
January 12
Scripture Reading — Matt. x. 16-22
Thought for the Day
"Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to hill the
soul." — Matt. x. 28
" T T shall be given you in that hour." We are not
J_ subjected to the same kind of trial as were the
first disciples. We are not delivered up to councils,
not scourged in synagogues, not brought before
governors and kings, but in these modern days for
the sake of Christ His followers endure great tribula-
tion. In various ways our work, bread, fortune,
health, promotion, family, yea, life itself, is put in
jeopardy by our faithfulness.
Life has a place for compromise, but when duty
becomes clear there must be no tampering with it.
The wet hand may be plunged with impunity into
metal if it is only white hot, and we are held harmless
as we directly brave unrighteous opposition in its
extreme wrath. Conciliation is sometimes admirable,
but we may be stung because we fail to grasp our
nettle. As R. L. Stevenson puts it : " No man is of
any use until he has dared everything."
Our Master is with us. " The goldsmith is never
far away when the gold is in the fire." Let me then
be calm and confident. In "the same night," in "the
same day," in "the same hour," I shall find Him
strong to deliver and good to redeem.
12
THE GATES OF DAWN
January 13
Scripture Reading— i Peter iii. 8-18
Thought for the Day
"If ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye."—i Peter
iii. 14
THE attitude in which we should deal with trial
and hostility is here described. Compassionate,
loving as brethren, tender-hearted, humble-minded,
returning blessing for reviling — it is thus we should
meet criticism, injustice, impatience, persecution.
There is a kind of iron that is known as " passive
iron " — such is the true saint, yielding and gentle
in spirit whilst firm as heaven's pillars.
Describing the force of the waves which beat on
the Eddystone lighthouse, a writer goes on to say,
" But without a quiver the lighthouse supports these
terrible attacks. Yet it bends toward them as if
to render homage to the power of its adversaries.
The summit of the tower describes an arc of more
than a yard in extent. For the rest, this very
pliancy may be regarded as a pledge of durability.
Towers built after this fashion are, in fact, reeds
of stone which bend before the wind ; but, like the
reeds, they raise their heads again as soon as the
hurricane is past." Let me then meet the storms
of life with the fixedness and plasticity with which
the lighthouse overcomes the wild tempest.
13
THE GATES OF DAWN
January 14
Scripture Reading — Acts vi. 1-15
Thought for the Day
"He that is greatest among you shall be your servant."^
Matt, xxiii. 11
HOW forcibly does this teach the need of the
highest character and gifts for the right
discharge of Hfe's lowHest duties ! The Apostles
could not at the same time minister in two spheres
successfully; they therefore confined themselves to
their spiritual work: yet the ministry of tables was
in no wise depreciated by their action. They chose
men of good report, full of faith, wisdom, and of the
Holy Spirit.
The commonest duties of life demand the highest
qualities, and, indeed, they can be fulfilled perfectly-
only with the soul at its best. Some gardeners, it
is said, can grow orchids better than wallflowers ;
and society abounds in dilettante people who court
great places and things, despising homelier posts
and callings.
When princes like Stephen were thus made stewards
of carnal things, let me not forget the sovereign and
sacramental character of the secular, or that the
utmost saintliness and wisdom are necessary for the
ordinary routine life.
14
THE GATES OF DAWN
January 15
Scripture Reading — Heb. xi. i-io
Thought for the Day
"He loohed for a city which hath foundations, whose builder
and maker is God." — Heb. xi. lo
WE are strangers and pilgrinms, as all our fathers
were; and we, with them, look for a city
which hath foundations whose builder and architect
is God.
I do well to lay to heart the fugitiveness of human
life, and the passing of all the things of wealth,
beauty, and joy in which the natural man delights.
Delitzsch renders Isa. xxxviii. 12, "Mine home is
broken up, and is removed from me as a shepherd's
tent." How soon must I thus bemoan myself! It
is a fact, a fact it is folly to hide or forget.
Yet this thought is not to embitter the present
life, only to enlarge and enrich it by causing me to
realise eternal ideas.
Three weeks before his death Corot exclaimed,
" You have no idea of the things I could paint now.
I see what I have never seen before. Ah ! if I could
show you these immense horizons."
Let me' live in full sight of these "immense
horizons " ; so shall this passing life be greatly
inspired, and clothed with strength and grandeur.
15
THE GATES OF DAWN
January 16
Scripture Reading— Heb. xil. i-ii
Thought for the Day
"Let U3 run with patience tlie race that is set before us," —
Heb. xii. i
THE impatience which has its root in unbelief
was shown by Israel at every period of its
history. It took centuries for the working out of
God's great design in His people, and again and
again they became impatient, and in despair did
desperate things.
How much room there is for patience, both in
regard to things personal and things of the Church !
And what do we gain by discontent and fretfulness ?
A Malabar proverb gives an excellent hint, " By
running in the boat, do we come to land ? "
No worry on our part hastens things. Neither
our own canoe, nor the ark of Christ's Church, go
a whit faster for our feverish oscillations between
stem and stern. Far better to bend the oar, to hoist
the sail, and sweetly trust the Pilot.
" Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have
seen the end of the Lord." The " end of the Lord " !
Our God is great in His endings, and in His faith-
fulness round about Him. To patient faith the prize
is sure.
i6
THE GATES OF DAWN
January 17
Scripture Reading— Ps. Ixxxix. 7-16
Thought for the Day
"Blessed is the people that hnovu the joyful sound." —
Ps. Ixxxix. 15
THE fear of God brings joy to the individual,
and peace to the commonwealth. " Blessed
are the people to whom the solemn sounding of
trumpets is a familiar sound." One might fancy-
reading of "cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery,
dulcimer, and all kinds of music," that all the
instruments of jubilation belonged to Babylon ; but
Jerusalem also was rich in trumpets, psalteries, and
harps, which accompanied purer festivals and dis-
coursed nobler music.
Felicity of spirit is the prerogative of the saints,
peace and joy are ours beyond all worldly dreaming.
Says R. L. Stevenson : " I do not call that by the
name of religion which fills a man with bile."
There is nothing in daily discipleship with Christ
calculated to create bile ; and any fretfulness, bitter-
ness, or melancholy on our part wonderfully discredits
our religion.
The colouring of our moods depends largely upon
ourselves. Whether we walk on the sunny or the
sunless side of the street is much a matter of choice.
17
THE GATES OF DAWN
January 18
Scripture Reading — Isa. Hi. i-io
Thought for the Day
"All the ends of the earth shall see the saluation of our God."
— Isa. lii. lo
WHEREVER the messengers of Christ go,
teaching His holy Word and working in
His loving spirit, flowers spring in their footsteps.
The advent of the adventurer is not always a
blessing to the native. Not that of the soldier, not
that of the trader, but the feet of the missionary are
always beautiful, bearing the message of peace and
salvation.
How gloriously is this prophecy fulfilled before
our eyes in the Acts of the Apostles ! " There was
great joy in that city" — joy in every city that
received the anointed messengers.
Ever since that period the missionary has waved
wide the torch, scattering the darkness ; he has sown
the germs of life, causing the wilderness to blossom.
The grandest thing in the history of the world is
Christ's effort to save the world. The richest solace
of good men is the thought of the unresting growth
of the kingdom of righteousness and peace.
This shall be a pure, beautiful, happy world yet,
Am I to share in the glory of helping to make it
so? Let me think, give, work, prayl
i8
THE GATES OF DAWN
January 19
Scripture Reading— i Cor. \. 18-31
Thought for the Day
"God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound
the things which are mighty." — i Cor. i. 27
WE must not be faint-hearted because we are
consciously poor instruments. Something
certainly depends upon an instrument, but, after all,
the main question is the mastery of him who uses
it. It would be a poor fiddle indeed that Paganini
could not bring music out of; a poor pencil with
which Raphael could not create a masterpiece; and
the power of the Spirit behind the least gifted can
work to glorious issues.
A science writer observes : " Nature and Art
abound with cases where a little energy, rightly
directed, controls energy infinitely greater in quantity.
Often in a chemical compound the poise of attrac-
tion is so delicate that it may be disturbed by a
breath, or by a note from a fiddle, and the substance
explodes."
It is far more wonderful what a little talent or
energy may accomplish in the moral world ; there
a note of warning, a breath of prayer, a shake of
the hand may bring about the mightiest change in
men's hearts and lives.
Let me put myself wholly at God's service, what-
ever I may be; greatness is not called for, but
"meetness" for the Master's use.
19
THE GATES OF DAWN
January 20
Scripture Reading — Acts viii. 26-40
Thought for the Day
"/ believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God." — Acts viii. 37
P
ON BERING the great blessing of salvation which
came to this officer, we are first arrested by the
fact of his readiness for the blessing. He " had come
to Jerusalem for to worship ; and he was returning
and sitting in his chariot, and was reading the prophet
Isaiah." Attention, predisposition, sympathy, expec-
tation. All high blessing is ours as we await it in a
certain state of preparedness, ripeness, susceptibility,
and desire.
We often hear of men lighting accidentally on
great discoveries. Newton luckily observed the falling
apple, and the grand truth of gravitation flashed upon
him ; so we are assured the grandest discoveries and
inventions are usually the consequence of the veriest
accident. But it will always be found that it was by a
prepared, pondering, sympathetic mind that the great
truth was discovered, seized, proclaimed. Others can-
not see, hear, or understand.
Let my mind be intent on spiritual things, my
heart open and longing, my will inclined to obedience.
Let my soul be sensitive as the photographic plate is
to the unseen stars ; wistful as the eye that watches
for the morning ; eager and acquisitive as the flower
to the pollen.
20
THE GATES OF DAWN
January 21
Scripture Reading — Isa. liii. ; Acts viii. 32-35
Thought for the Day
" The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all. " — Isa. liii. 6
WHEN the New Testament thus interprets the
Old, we may be very certain about the
real signification.
That we cannot understand all that is implied in
Christ suffering in our stead, dying for our sins,
need not blind us to the precious fact. Thousands
of thinking men to-day believe in the doctrine of
evolution, that all the higher forms of life were
evolved from lower forms, but they confess them-
selves unable to understand how Nature proceeds
in her work of development.
I am not able to give an account to myself of
the way in which Christ's death becomes the basis
of my salvation ; but I see the law of vicariousness
operative everywhere, and why should I not believe
in Calvary as its supreme illustration? It satisfies
my conscience ; it wins my heart ; it becomes a
sublime law for my own life that I shall suffer for
others.
Living the vicarious life, I shall perhaps the better
understand the doctrine of vicariousness, the central
doctrine of the New Testament.
21
THE GATES OF DAWN
January 22
Scripture Reading — Ps. cxix. 9-18
Thought for the Day
"Open Thou mine eyes that / may behold wondrous things out
of thy law." — Ps. cxix. 18
REALLY, so far as spiritual vision is concerned,
the angels must look upon this earth as a
big blind asylum. We see close to us, but not afar
off; we see the surface, and miss the depths ; we
see not as wide awake, but as those who rub their
eyes hardly knowing whether they wake or sleep.
Have I seen the " wondrous things " out of God's
law ? The things which accompany salvation. Many
feel the intellectual interest of God's Word, enjoy
its eloquence, extol its moral worth, or they ap-
preciate its prudential wisdom, like Napoleon, who
put it in the political section of his library ; but
they do not grasp its spiritual, saving message.
They gather shining pebbles and painted shells, and
overlook the pearl of great price.
Oh ! to see the wondrous depths of redeeming
love! Whilst I study systems of theology and
search the commentaries of exegetes, do I sufficiently
remember the promised Revealer and wait His
illumination ? " Ye have an unction from the Holy
One, and know all things."
22
THE GATES OF DAWN
January 23
Scripture Reading— i Tim. vi. 9-19
Thought for the Day
"God loueth a cheerful giuer," — 2 Cor. ix. 7
WE must combine a life of unselfishness with
a spirit of graciousness ; constantly doing
helpful things in a fine, free, rejoicing temper. Friends
at weddings sometimes dash the confetti so violently
into the face of the bridal party as to bring tears into
their eyes ; and it is quite possible to bestow blessings
so ungraciously that we wound those we relieve.
Giving a " cup of cold water " in the name of the
Master we do not lose the reward. But note that the
water must be cold; herein lies its beauty and merit.
In a burning clime the host has been considerate and
gives his guest a chilled draught. A water-pot full
to the brim on which no care has been bestowed
counts for little ; it is the emptied cup that expressed
thoughtfulness and love that the King fills with gold.
A warm heart tenders cold water.
Let us take care in all our helpfulness that the
spirit in which it is done is lovely, multiplying the
value of the gift and service a hundredfold. Let
nothing be cold, except the water.
23
THE GATES OF DAWN
January 24
ScRiPTDRE Reading — Matt. xxv. 31-40
Thought for the Day
"Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.'*
— Gal. vi. 2
THE spirit of love realised in Christ and reveal-
ing itself in the law of self-sacrifice is the
determining line between the saved and the lost.
What a truly solemn thought !
How many people cunningly and persistently
contrive to shift their burden to the shoulders of their
neighbours ! They are not particular as to whom
they saddle with their duty and care, but they
determine to bear as little of it themselves as is
possible. In youth somebody must fag for them ;
they treat their friend as a valet ; their public life is
parasitical ; as husband or wife, they shuffle the whole
weight of responsibility on their partner.
The ingenuity of the ignoble to make themselves
comfortable at other people's expense is no small
part of the comedy and tragedy of human life.
How different the spirit of Christ ! Let me man-
fully accept my own burden ; and then, by thought,
sympathy, influence, and substantial aid, let me lighten
the burden of my neighbour. My Master was the
great burden bearer of the race. Let me drink in
His spirit and follow in His steps.
24
THE GATES OF DAWN
January 25
Scripture Reading— Gal. vi. i-io
Thought for the Day
"As we haue therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all
men." — Gal. vi. io
" '' I ^O work that which is good towards all men "
X is a simple and sublime canon. We have
special reason to succour them that are of the house-
hold of faith, but after that the field is wide— all are
brothers, all have a brother's claim.
So " then, as we have opportunity." What a great
thing it is in life to seize the opportunity ! An
Eastern traveller tells us that "the Arab is never
ready." If a gazelle is surprised it generally makes
good its escape whilst he is fumbling for his gun.
How much like the majority of us in regard to the
chances of life !
But if we are unready to get, are we not, too, often
strangely blind to the opportunity to give, help, bless ?
Our most genuine sorrow is again and again oc-
casioned by the knowledge that we let a gracious
opportunity slip. We see, too late, what we might
have done if we had only been awake.
May I this day be alive to the golden chance of
doing good ! Let me be ready to buy up the oppor-
tunity. Blessing is missed for want of thought as
well as want of heart.
25
THE GATES OF DAWN
January 26
Scripture Reading — 2 Cor. viii. 1-9
Thought for the Day
"// there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to
that a man hath and not according to that he hath not." — 2 Cor.
viii. 12
THE feeling obtains widely even among sincere
people, that we do so little good because we
have little resource. We dream of the vast things
we should have accomplished with talent and fortune.
Yet is not the whole history of Christianity de-
signed to teach the contrary idea, the wealth of the
poor, the power of the feeble? He who had not
where to lay His head, has made us all rich. His
Apostles without silver and gold dowered men with
health and salvation. The churches of Macedonia in
affliction found abundance of joy, and in deep poverty
abounded unto the riches of their liberality. The
race has been helped most by benefactors who
struggled with narrow means.
The degree in which I bless the world is far more
a question of what I am than of what I have. Power
is determined chiefly by personality. Sixteen ounces
of gold are sufficient to gild a wire that would encircle
the earth ; but faith, love, and prayer make a very
small bit of gold do far greater wonders in the moral
and spiritual life of mankind. Shakespeare made a
few scraps of knowledge go a long way, but grace
effects more than genius ; faith, love, and prayer make
of slenderest intellectual gifts instruments of measure-
less blessing.
26
THE GATES OF DAWN
January 27
Scripture Reading— 2 Tim. ilL
Thought for the Day
"// any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed."—
1 Pet. iv. 16
NO man need be ashamed who has suffered as a
soldier. The leg or arm lost for his country's
sake is his glory. No man need be ashamed who
has suffered in the interests of society. Many cripples
emerge out of the army of industry as well as from
the field of battle, and the blindness and mutilation
of such are tokens of honour moving the spectator's
admiration and sympathy. The physician who has
suffered in the interests of humanity has only pride
in his scars. How much more if we are counted
worthy to suffer for Christ's sake ! That is to suffer
for the race in the highest sense of all.
Christ suffered joyfully. He wore the crown of
thorns as if it were a wreath of roses; He went to
Calvary with a hymn on His lips — " I delight to do
Thy will, O my God."
Am I a partaker of t/iese sufferings? Is any part
of my tribulation anxiety, pain, and loss on account
of others ? Do I voluntarily undertake services for
humanity which involve sacrifice and sorrow ? Do I
rejoice that I am thus partaker of Christ's suffering?
If "we suffer with Him we shall also reign with
Him."
27
THE GATES OF DAWN
January 28
Scripture Reading. — Acts vii. 54 ; viii. 4
Thought for the Day
"They that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching
the word." — Acts viii. 4
THE distribution of plants is to the scientist a
most engrossing study ; how the wind, tides,
and birds carry the seed to widely-sundered shores
is a veritable romance. Even more mysterious are
the manifold ways by which the knowledge of Christ
has been, diffused throughout the nations.
It took root in the red streets of Jerusalem ; it
sprang as by magic in the fields of Samaria; it
blossomed like a rose in the desert in the Ethiopian
chamberlain ; its first-fruits were gathered in Asia,
and directly harvested in Europe.
Gardeners often have a piece of spare ground which
they use for the trial of seedlings. Let us put to
proof the gracious truths of revelation in our own
heart and experience ; and then, having proved how
precious and beautiful they are, let us become sowers
of the germs of life, scattering them by tongue, pen,
and influence wherever we go.
28
THE GATES OF DAWN
January 29
Scripture Reading. — Prov. xxiii. 29-35
Thought for the Day
" Wine is a mocl<er, strong drink is raging." — Prov. xx. 1
" T~) EDNESS of eyes " signifies in the original
_[\^ " muddled, confused sight " ; and the main
idea of the sacred writer is that in intoxication we
cease to see truly — we become the victims of hallucina-
tions, we blunder painfully as to the fact.
When an opiate was offered to the dying queen
Maria Theresa she put it aside, saying, " I will meet
my God awake." If noble souls could desire to enter
eternity with unclouded mind, is it less desirable that
we should deal with the momentous things of life with
perfect sobriety of thought and feeling ?
The pilot of a ship, the driver of an engine ought
not to suffer from "muddled, confused sight"; and
surely in all this solemn and dangerous life we ought
to see with clear eyes and be in full possession of our-
selves with every step we take.
Truth and sobriety may seem prosaic, but they are
infinitely better than the lurid illusions of false
excitements with their tragic awakenings.
29
THE GATES OF DAWN
January 30
Scripture Reading.— Gal. v. 13-25
Thought for the Day
" Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the
flesh."— GAh. V. 16
WHAT a terrible list of vices ! What an infernal
garden of weeds and nightshade, with the
devil for gardener ever sowing poison-flowers and
planting upas trees !
On the other hand, what a catalogue of graces !
A veritable paradise of God, full of blooms which
never spring naturally on earthly ground.
" Walk in the Spirit," in His wisdom, power, and
peace ; order your lives by the Spirit's guidance, and
ye shall by a sweet necessity break into the fruition
of light; ye shall reap the harvest of the Spirit's
sowing ; and, on the other side, there will be no fear
of your gratifying the cravings of the sensual nature.
Belonging to Christ, sharing in His death, we have
slain upon His Cross our sensual nature, with its
passions and its cravings (ver. 24).
This is the drastic fashion of dealing with the
animal self No soft impeachment of it, no feeble
chiding of it or gingerly treatment of it, but its
crucifixion. We are dead to sin and can live no
longer therein.
30
THE GATES OF DAWN
January 31
Scripture Reading.— Matt. xxiv. 42-51
Thought for the Day
"Watch therefore; for ye knoiv not what hour your Lord doth
come."— Matt. xxiv. 42
" T N an hour that ye think not the Son of Man
I Cometh." The surprises of life are many, but
usually the ending of life is the greatest surprise
of all.
Many are fond of speculating about the commg of
the Son of Man to judge the nations, a problem none
can hope to resolve. But I know, and am perfectly
sure, that it cannot be long before the Son of Man
will be revealed to me, and call me to give an account
of my stewardship. I ought not to be greatly
surprised at any hour to receive His summons. Let
me leave the larger question and concentrate myself
on the personal one.
When the Master comes He ought to find me living
the life of spirituality, love, purity, helpfulness. Alas !
if He surprise me in sloth, selfishness, sensuality.
Richard III. went out at twilight to reconnoitre ; he
found a sentinel fast asleep at the outposts. The
king promptly stabbed him to the heart, with the
stern words, " I found him asleep, and I leave
him so."
What does the 51st verse mean?
31
THE GATES OF DAWN
February 1
Scripture Reading. — Ephes. v. 1-21
Thought for the Day
"For the fruit of the light is in all goodness and righteousness
and truth." — Ephes. v. 9
"npHE fruit of the light" How beautiful on
J[ paper! the list of the graces reads like a
poem, and in actual life we feel the full power of their
beauty. A writer has just complained that flowers in
the garden often fall far short of the glowing descrip-
tion of them in the seedsman's catalogue ; but when
the sowing of the Spirit has free course there is no
disappointment; very rich and delightful are the
passive and active graces of the Christian character.
But a sensual taste is the old serpent that destroyed
the primitive Eden. He brings blight and ruin.
The ghastly trail of an unchastened carnal desire
defiles the soul's beauty ; the creeping passion bites
like a serpent, poisons like an adder, finally wrecking
the garden of the soul.
Do not be bewitched by his beauty, or beguiled by
his sophistry. Remember the promise, and " trample
upon the adder." Call to your aid Him who bruises
the serpent's head. Save your paradise.
32
THE GATES OF DAWN
February 2
Scripture Reading— Acts x. 17-33
Thought for the Day
"Thine alms are had in remembrance in the sight of God."—
Acts x. 31
OUR little acts of kindness may be unremembered
by our friends and neighbours, yet they are
never forgotten by God. Our memory is usually
retentive as to what is owing to us, and short in regard
to what we owe others ; but God tenderly keeps in
memory our best moments and deeds, rejoicing to
remember our sins no more.
We must not think of our sacrifices as forming a
ground of merit, yet we may safely and helpfully
recall the fact that God is not unrighteous to forget
our acts of faithfulness and love. For a single fault,
real or imaginary, friends take umbrage and ignore
the better things wrought by us in many bygone
years; but in the days in which we falter and fail
Heaven reminds itself, and us, that we are capable of
better things. Do let us remember that God is full
of gracious consideration and rich sympathy.
What a grand response the prayers and gifts of
Cornelius elicited ! Similar running-over measure will
God mete out to us.
33
THE GATES OF DAWN
February 3
Scripture Reading— Gal. iii. 7-14
Thought for the Day
"The just shall Hue by faith." — Gal. iii. 11.
THIS whole question of faith and works is simpy
a question whether religion is to be a matter
of personal love, trust, and fellowship, or to be a matter
of rule, ceremony, and sacrament ; whether it is to be
personal or official, spiritual or material, vital or
mechanical.
Faith means vision. The constant sense of things
unseen and eternal. Faith means trust. Daily
confidence in the faithful Creator, the loving
Redeemer. Faith means expectation. The anticipa-
tion of the recompense of the reward. Faith is the
root, hope is the blossom, charity is the flower of true
religion.
Let me beware of the technical, the tangible, the
formal in my religious life ; let me keep intact the
ethereal chords which bind me to the upper universe,
and which bring into my life the spiritual electricity
on which everything depends. I live by trust, love,
admiration, fellowship, revealing themselves and
justifying themselves in obedience.
34
THE GATES OF DAWN
February 4
Scripture Reading — ^John iv. 1-14
Thought for the Day
" Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall
never thirst." — John. iv. 14
THE fulness of the grace of the Lord Jesus.
"Whosoever." The Old Testament might
suggest limitation in God's thought and love, but the
New Testament dissipates the mist and makes clear
the universality and plenitude of saving grace. As
Andrew Bonar says, " The well of life never sinks
below the brim," and nations may drink and live.
How free that grace ! " That I shall give him."
What a price in suffering and sacrifice the pilgrim
must pay for the waters of the Ganges ! Every
blessing in Christ is ours for a look, a sigh, a breath !
How effectual is the gift ! " Shall never thirst."
He who knows the love of Christ and the peace it
brings, no longer envies the golden goblet of wealth,
the " loving cup " of worldly 'festivity, the waters of
Lethe, or any of the many broken cisterns of the
carnal life.
" Whosoever drinketh." Let me consider that
word. " Eateth," " drinketh." Do I by personal
faith appropriate the blessing ?
35
THE GATES OF DAWN
February 5
Scripture Reading — Luke xxili. 33-47
Thought for the Day
" Thy God, whom thou servest continually, He will deliver
thee." — Daniel vi. 16.
LET us beware of desperate moments. The God
whom we serve continually, He will deliver
us. In the darkest hours, in the most threatening
circumstances, let us trust and hope.
The triumph of Christ on the Cross, the establish-
ment of His Kingdom in the very hour and power of
darkness, is the assurance of the deliverance and
victory of the good in all ages when the sun's light
fails and the earth is removed out of its place. When
the worst comes to the worst, God and His salvation
come.
In the deepest despondency we rise again, trusting
in the Eternal love and faithfulness. " I am
astonished," says Quinet, " at the resources that are
in the human heart, since it can be reborn in the very
moment it seemed to die. Oh ! if we could but trust
a little to time." Yes, if we could only trust a little
to time ; but infinitely better still if we trust to
eternity! That shall see us gloriously righted and
satisfied.
36
THE GATES OF DAWN
February 6
Scripture Reading— Acts ix. 1-19
Thought for the Day
"Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do ? " — Acts ix. 6.
" T ORD, what wilt Thou have me to do?" The
I _j turning point. Hitherto Saul had done what
he liked, and liked what he did. Breathing threatening
and slaughter, haling men and women to prison
suits the selfishness and truculency of human nature,
as fire and smoke a volcano ; but Saul must have
been conscious, when he asked this question, that he
was inviting much that would go sadly against the
grain.
This acquiescence in the will of God is of the very
essence of conversion. According to the Bulgarian
proverb, " The true hermit retires from himself."
He not only removes from the world, he renounces
himself; forsaking the life of selfishness and sin, he
subjects himself to that higher law which contradicts
flesh and blood at every step.
This fusing of the human will in the will divine is
only possible in the fire of love. As Spenser sings —
•* Love that two hearts makes one, makes eke one will."
37
THE GATES OF DAAViN
February 7
Scripture Reading — i Tim. i. 12-17
Thought for the Day
"Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinnners." — i Tim,
i- IS
WHATEVER we can do for ourselves heaven
leaves us to do ; it never weakens or stulti-
fies by relieving us of obligations with which we can
personally cope. Christ coming into the world to
save sinners demonstrates our helplessness. There
is no more pathetic sight than to see poor human
nature struggling to raise itself above itself
How infinite the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
how it abounds to the chief of sinners ! Paul for
once seems egotistical and to lay claim to pre-
eminence over all men ; he confesses himself the
guiltiest of all. ^
But do not all who see themselves as God sees
them share the Apostle's conviction ? There are
as many claimants for the lowest place in the dust as
there are true penitents.
All are included under sin that He might have
mercy on all. Oh ! the wonderful love, the infinite
compassion, the almighty grace. None must pre-
sume; none despair. Just as I am, let me come.
38
THE GATES OF DAWN
February 8
Scripture Reading— Matt. xvi. 21-28
Thought for the Day
"If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself." — Matt.
xvi. 24
OUR Lord denied Himself in the path of redemp-
tion, in the procuring of salvation for a lost
world. We are to deny ourselves along the same
path in making that salvation known. A life of
sacrifice does not consist in a few agonising dramatic
acts, but in a patient effort to let men know how
much Christ loves them, how much He has done for
them, how much He waits to give them.
What keeps me back from publishing the sinner's
Friend ? Why do I not throw myself more heartily
into evangelic work? Indifference? How little I
can know of the Saviour's spirit if I neglect to publish
the benefits of His death ! Pride ? The Son of God
will teach me to stoop ! Sloth ? What a deadly sin
is sloth, especially the sloth that causes me to forget
my Lord's vineyard !
There are tens of thousands of Christian men and
women of gifts, culture, leisure, doing nothing, or
next to nothing, and all the while missions are with-
out helpers, schools are lacking teachers, the poor
the sick, the sad, are unvisited !
39
THE GATES OF DAWN
February 9
Scripture Reading— i Thess. L
Thought for the Day
"Rejoice, because your names are written in fieauen." — Luke
X. 20
HERE the Apostle strikes the note of triumph.
Very chequered were his experiences as he
passed from city to city, but here the note is altogether
that of victory and thankfulness.
If we envy this holy joy of successful toil, let us
mark the qualities ensuring success. We have no
cause to rejoice in the Church except as through it
fresh names are being written in heaven ; how, then,
shall we secure this ?
The work of the Thessalonians was in faith, inspired
by faith. It was vitalised throughout by a great
belief in God, in Christ, in the human soul and its
destiny. Their toil was born of love. Out of a pure
heart, beating warmly towards God and man, sprang
all their teaching, travelling, and sacrifice. Their
strong endurance was sustained by their waiting for
the coming of the Lord, by their patience of hope.
These are the founts and elements of success.
Faith, love, patience : can any work fail in which
this trinity is engaged ?
40
THE GATES OF DAWN
February 10
Scripture Reading — Romans x. 6-17
Thought for the Day
"Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be
saved." — Rom. x. 13
REVELATION leaves no method unemployed
to bring home to us the fact that Christ died
for all men, for the worst of men, and that salvation
is a free gift.
Doughty, whose knowledge of the Arabs was most
intimate, says of them, " In their greediness to spoil
the castaway life, whom they will not help forward,
the Arabs are viler then any nation." When they
find any sick, destitute, or helpless, they are in haste
to strip the forlorn ones of whatever rags may be left,
and to leave them to perish.
How absolutely contrary to the genius of the
Gospel ! To save the castaway life is the express
mission of the Church of Christ — the helpless, friend-
less, hopeless ones of the whole earth.
How shall they hear without a preacher? It is
the duty of every saved sinner to tell of this rich, free
grace ; to seek to bring home to his fellow-sinners
the knowledge of salvation. Am I faithful ?
41
THE GATES OF DAWN
February 11
Scripture Reading — Deut. xviii. 9-14
Thought for the Day
"Thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy Got/,"— Deut. xviii. 13
THE Israelites were to keep themselves severely
free from the vices of the heathen ; we are
required to have no commerce with the spirit and
ways of the world.
"Ye cannot serve God and Mammon," said the
Master ; yet how cunningly and persistently we
attempt the impossible ! In curious ways we seek to
combine the spiritual and the carnal, the consecrated
and the profane, the divine and the worldly.
Chemists are continually discovering the possibility
of blending substances once thought incompatible;
but the Christian spirit, and the spirit of the world,
are infinitely disparate, and can never be reconciled.
How much easier and happier is the Christian life
when once we have effected a complete severance
from the world ! Henry Drummond says truly,
" The most of the difficulties of trying to live the
Christian life arise from attempting to half live it."
To be an out and out disciple is to enjoy peace and
strength to which the double-hearted are entirely
strange.
42
THE GATES OF DAWN
February 12
Scripture Reading — Acts xiii. 26-41
Thought for the Day
"Through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of
sins. "—Acts xiii. 38
GOD forgives sin in the most royal fashion. As
Dr. Owen writes, " The forgiveness that is
with God is such as becomes Him. It is not Hke
that narrow, difficult, halving, and manacled forgive-
ness that is found amongst men ; but it is full, free,
boundless, bottomless, absolute, and before which our
sins are as a cloud before the east wind and a rising
sun.
John saw " a rainbow round about the throne " of
God and the Lamb. The rainbow, as we see it, is
always an arc. The rainbow John saw was orbicular,
a vast, completed ring of glory.
We see the tints of the rainbow in human forgive-
ness, we behold a majestic arch in the Mosaic
dispensation, but the bow of the cloud in its
completeness is witnessed only about the mediatorial
throne. The law made nothing perfect, but that is
exactly what Christ does. The remission of sins is
so complete that " every one that believeth is justified
from all things." Do I know this grace in all its
richness and blessedness ?
43
THE GATES OF DAWN
February 13
Scripture Reading— Ezek. iii. 4-n
Thought for the Day
" The house of Israel will not hearken unto thee, for they will
not hearken unto Me." — Ezek. iii. 7
THE privileges we enjoy may be misused to our
injury; our very knowledge, through pride
and prejudice, may render impossible further and
clearer light.
Bessemer, speaking of his discoveries, said, " I had
an immense advantage over many others, inasmuch
as I had no fixed ideas derived from long-established
practice to control and bias my mind, and did not
suffer from the too general belief that whatever is, is
right."
He meant that he owed much to "golden ignor-
ance," to freedom from prejudice, to a sincere dis-
interested mind. If this be true in purely intellectual
questions, how much more is it so in moral and
spiritual life !
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, and all
spiritual knowledge is little ; but when associated
with conceit, arrogance, and self-will, the light that is
in us becomes darkness. "Teach me Thy way, O
Lord ; show me Thy paths."
44
THE GATES OF DAWN
February 14
Scripture Reading— 2 Cor. v. 11-21
Thought for the Day
"If any man be in Christ, he is a neiv creature."— 2 Cor. v. 17
THE main point of the passage concerns the
regenerative, transforming power which ac-
companies the preaching of the Word. The end of
the whole redemptive process is that in Christ we
become new creatures.
Richard Spruce tells of a poor Mamaluco sailor
whom he encountered on his travels, and who was a
bit of a philosopher. " How is it," said the native,
"that almost every animal except man renews its
youth and beauty at stated seasons? Birds moult
their plumage, snakes slough their skins, even the
cockroach casts off its old covering, and all come
forth bright and beautiful as in the days of their youth ;
but we " (casting his eyes on his brown wizened hand)
"grow uglier and more discoloured every year, and
the same skin must serve unto our dying day ! "
The poor fellow knew nothing of that transforma-
tion "in the spirit of the mind" which is infinitely
more wonderful than any change that Nature knows,
the same skin, but a new creature whose adorning is
a transfigured soul.
45
THE GATES OF DAWN
February 15
Scripture Reading — 2 Tim. iv. 1-8
Thought for the Day
"The Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise." —
2 Tim. iii, 15
THE strength, safety, and serviceableness of
Timothy was, in the estimation of St. Paul,
largely the consequence of early familiarity with the
sacred writings.
Careful experiments have shown that the deviation
of the compass on board iron ships is very perceptible,
which is due solely to the position occupied by the
vessel while it was lying on the building slip, where it
acquires a definite magnetic character, the needle
invariably turning to that part of the ship which was
farthest from the north while she was in process of
construction.
Is not the human character profoundly affected
whilst on the building slip? Is there not then
imparted to the soul a bias which strangely persists
through the years ? Do we not then acquire a definite
moral character ? Let us watch carefully the culture
of the child, building ever with an eye to the cardinal
points, so shall the delicate needle of choice and
sympathy suffer no deviation, but point infallibly to
the true lode-star.
46
THE GATES OF DAWN
February 16
Scripture Reading— 2 Cor. iv. 5-18
Thought for the Day
"Death worketh in us, but life in you." — 2 Cor. iv. 12
THE point specially to be observed here is the
unselfishness of the Apostle's suffering. His
sorrows were to a large extent vicarious, and because
they were vicarious, his humiliations were changed
into triumphs, his losses into gain, his grief into
gaiety.
The martyrs of science are so renowned because
they suffered poverty and persecutions that they
might enrich the world with their discoveries. The
martyrs of literature are honoured because their
genius carried our burden ; they bled for our larger
illumination and delight. The martyrs of patriotism
are crowned with flowers because they wore the crown
of sorrows for our political emancipation. The
martyrs of God are sublime because they laid down
their lives for their brethren.
The more the element of disinterestedness comes
into life the more is life exalted, satisfied, honoured.
Unselfishness is the secret of sorrow's transfiguration.
Selfish sorrow starves, paralyses, embitters, works
death.
47
THE GATES OF DAWN
February 17
ScRiPTDRE Reading— Matt, xxiii. 1-13
Thought for the Day
"He that is greatest among you shall be your servant" —
Matt, xxiii. 11
IT was, indeed, an original thought in the world
when Jesus Christ identified greatness with
service. Closely regarded, the morality of the New
Testament is full of originality, yet nowhere more
than here.
The iron crown of Lombardy is composed of a
broad circle of gold, set with large rubies, emeralds,
and sapphires, on a ground of blue and gold enamel.
But the most important part of the iron crown, from
which it derives its name, is a narrow rim or band of
iron attached to the inner circumference of the circle.
This inner band of sacred iron is believed to have
been made of one of the nails used at the crucifixion,
and accounts for the veneration in which the crown
has always been held.
How instinctively men feel that the true greatness
is not in the gold, rubies, emeralds, and sapphires of
pride ; but rather in the iron which entered into the
soul of one who served and suffered for us all ! Any
work, suffering, sacrifice, with the element of service
in it, is sublime. The nail is the Koh-i-noor. The
crown of thorns the diadem of the kingliest. The
throne of glory is prepared for the loving helper of
his brother.
48
THE GATES OF DAWN
February 18
Scripture Reading — Gal. ii.
Thought for the Day
"For I through the law am dead to the lavu that I might live
unto God."— Gal. ii. 19
THE contrast here is between law and life. " I,
through the operation of the curse of the law,
have (in Messiah's person) suffered the death which
puts me beyond the reach of the law, to live hence-
forth a life consecrated to God."
The death of Christ freed me from the dominion
of the law as given by Moses, by creating within me
the law of the spirit of life. The difference between
art and nature shadows forth the difference between
obedience in the Mosaic dispensation and the
obedience of Christ. It is the difference between the
artificial flower and the garden rose, between the
sculptured figure and the breathing body ; the one
shaped from outside, the other determined from
within. It is the difference between the mechanical
and the vital ; the one unsympathetic and constrained,
the other organic, instinctive, voluntary, delightful.
The law is henceforth put within our mind, written in
our heart.
Let me seek that the grace of Christ so hallows my
thought, and conscience, and will, that my very
nature becomes identified with the eternal law of
righteousness.
49
THE GATES OF DAWN
February 19
Scripture Reading— John xv. 17-27
Thought for the Day
"Be ye doers of the word and not hearers only." — James i. 22
THESE things I command you that ye should go
and bear fruit." The Jews generally were
guilty of unbelief and disobedience, but the disciples
were to believe in Him in such a way that their faith
would demonstrate itself in beautiful works and ways.
They were to be doers of the word and not hearers
only. How easy it is to fall into the error of treating
Christianity as if it were an abstract thing ; to enter-
tain it as a mere doctrine, to discuss it controversially,
to deal with it as a theory, as an abstruse speculation !
This is a great and subtle peril. Yet how entirely
unsatisfactory ! It is like cheating ourselves with the
reflection of a bank note in a looking-glass. As love
is the glory of God, so must it be reckoned the glory
of man. Glory not in strength, riches, or genius, but
in the love that seeks another's good. The love of God
suffered and bled. So our love must not evaporate
in poetry, but take upon itself vicarious sacrificial
burdens.
Let me realise my creed in thought, prove it in
experience, illustrate it in character, obey it in daily
practical life. Thus do I build on the rock.
50
THE GATES OF DAWN
February 20
Scripture Reading — i Cor. ii. 1-16
Thought for the Day
"Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but accord-
ing to His mercy He saved us." — Titus iii. 5
THAT our salvation is wholly of God is a truth
that ever becomes clearer to a sincere spiritual
mind.
Our works of righteousness are really not works of
righteousness at all ; if you put the whitest snow, the
purest dew, under the glass, they are found defiled ;
and beneath the criticism of the spiritual law our best
feelings and deeds are not perfect before God.
When the great theologian, Richard Watson, was
on his death-bed, he confessed, " I feel myself like a
worm that has just crawled out of the earth amidst
the glory of the meridian sun. It behoves me to lie
very low in the dust before God."
The noble missionary John Hunt said in dying,
" Let me go, a heap of inconsistencies, backslidings,
and unfaithfulness ; let me go, as I trust I shall
through Divine mercy alone, to heaven."
If these eminent saints thus abandoned themselves,
to trust wholly in God's mercy and Christ's merit, can
I dare to reckon on anything that I am or have done ?
It is sweet and safe to pray with the Apostle, '* That
I may find mercy in that day."
51
THE GATES OF DAWN
February 21
Scripture Reading — i John iii. 18-24
Thought for the Day
"Let us not love in word, . . . ; but in deed and in truth."
I John iii. 18
SINCERITY is of the very first importance in all
human life and conduct. J. A. Froude writes
most wisely on this point. " Be sincere with your-
self, whatever the temptation. Say nothing to others
that you do not think, and play no tricks with your
own mind. Of all the evil spirits abroad in the world
insincerity is the most dangerous."
Truthfulness in dealing with God. Nothing unreal,
simulated, affected ; nothing without veracity and
honesty of purpose. Is not the etymological
signification of sincerity, sunshine? " If we say that
we have fellowship with Him, and walk in the dark-
ness, we lie."
Truthfulness in dealing with men. To think to
deceive them is to deceive ourselves, and we do not
mislead them for long. They discern the hollowness
of sham goodness much sooner even than the worth-
lessness of sham jewellery. There is an idiom in
truth, actuality, sincerity, that our neighbours rarely
mistake.
52
THE GATES OF DAWN
February 22
Scripture Reading— James iii. 1-18
Thought for the Day
" Where envying and strife is, tliere is confusion and every evil
work." — James iii. 16
IT is a common thing in South America for a
person stung by a scorpion to have the tongue
paralysed for some hours ; but stung by the scorpion
sin, the tongue acquires a fatal nimbleness.
How true that envy and strife breed every evil
work ! The destructive fires which mysteriously occur
in the great forests of the West are said to be
occasioned by the friction set up by the wind
agitating the branches of the trees. Two branches
rub against each other until a spark is kindled, and in
the end the forest is reduced to ashes.
How much this resembles the irritations of the
home, the oppositions of business, the rivalries of
members within the Christian Church !
Let me seek peace and pursue it. A tranquil,
kindly, genial temper means much. Astronomers
prize serene, clear nights for the vision of the heavens ;
so I best see the unseen and eternal through an
untroubled medium. I best serve my neighbour,
and he best serves me, as we live in peace.
53
THE GATES OF DAWN
February 23
Scripture Reading — Prov. x. 11-22
Thought for the Day
"The tongue of the just is as choice siluer," — Prov. x. 20
SILVER-TONGUED orators are greatly famous
and much sought after ; yet, after all, the
tongue of the just is the rarest eloquence, and this
excellence is open to all.
Beware of " flattering words "; words of ensnaring
eloquence, of specious argument, of smooth deceit
and seductiveness. Watch against "the multitude of
words." " If we talk much we talk well," said a lady
to a cardinal. His eminence replied : " Half of that
is true." Watch the scornful words which wound
like a sharp razor. Use not the tongue as an engine
of treachery. Condescend not to the idle gossip that
wanteth not sin. Refrain from " devouring words " ;
that most brutal and truculent form of cannibalism
which in slander swallows down a brother's reputation.
Dread the impure, the impious word. Suppress the
whisper that might bring down an avalanche of
trouble and ruin.
How wide is the range of sin and mischief possible
to the tongue ! If we can only be innocent here, we
shall be well-nigh guiltless of all offence.
54
THE GATES OF DAWN
February 24
Scripture Reading- -IIeb. xi. 32-40
Thought for the Day
" Without faith it is impossible to please Him." — Heb. xi. 16
SIR SAMUEL BAKER says, "The African will
believe in nothing, unless he can obtain some
specific benefit from the object of his belief" Much
faith in this day is of the same carnal species.
When a Bible-reader inquired of a poor creature in
the slums as to what he believed in, the reply came
frankly, " In a mutton chop."
Much modern faith in Christianity resolves itself
into this sordid service. Something is to be said for
the test of utility, but our Lord thought little of the
faith occupied with loaves and fishes.
The test of pure faith is not in what it gets, but in
what it yields ; not in what it enjoys, but in what for
the sake of the highest it is prepared to suffer ; not
in its material lucrativeness, but in its moral and
spiritual efficiency.
The faith described in these verses is a very
different thing from the faith that justifies itself by
putting money into our pocket, bread into our mouth,
and by scattering flowers on our path.
Let me know that faith of Christ which is set on
the highest, which suffers for the highest, which
achieves the highest.
55
THE GATES OF DAWN
February 25
Scripture Reading— Acts xii. 5-17
Thought for the Day
"The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and His ears are
open unto their cry." — Ps. xxxiv. 15
IT has been wisely and truthfully written, " True
prayer is no earth-born thing. It is falling
helpless at a Father's knee in answer to His call. It
is the putting up of empty hands to receive what has
been already promised. It is a poor, weak, trembling
echo of Divine love. It is a pure thought, born in
Heaven, and struggling back again into its native
atmosphere, with some of the dust of earth upon its
wings.
" When you cry for special blessings in such a spirit,
be sure that you are not only fulfilling the required
conditions of all answered prayer, but that in
answering you for your highest good, God is acting
in exact accordance with the conditions of His own
infinite being. The special answer will follow the
special prayer."
We are always getting into straits of some sort
which shut us up as in stone walls or iron cages.
We know the remedy. The disciples did not petition
Herod, but Heaven ; and Heaven granted an order
of release, which Herod could not gainsay. Do not
let our poor ignorant reasonings about prayer stultify
our Divine instinct.
56
THE GATES OF DAWN
February 26
Scripture Reading— Acts xiii, 1-12
Thought for the Day
"The Lord shall guide thee continually."— IsK. Iviii, 11
THE Divine guidance of the Christian Church is
a reassuring fact. The pilot of Galilee took
charge of it from its very inception, and the Divine
superintendence has never been withdrawn. Just as
the philosophical historian recognises design and
government in the world at large, the Christian
believer must acknowledge the sovereignty of the
Spirit in the development of the Church.
Do we seek as we ought this leading of the Spirit
in the direction of ecclesiastical rule and evangelical
enterprise ? Our God keeps all things tremblingly
dependent upon Himself. The Spirit accompanies
the Bible, and is essential to its interpretation. He
ever overshadows the Church, and is essential to its
guidance. We must not forget the Spirit in the
statesman.
Whilst ever alive to Christ's spiritual providence
over the affairs of His Church, let us not forget his
spiritual directorship in all the phases of our religious
experience and history. "And may our Lord pilot
your hearts into the haven of the love of God, into
such calm patience as was Messiah's," is Arthur S.
Way's translation of 2 Thess. iii. 5.
57
THE GATES OF DAWN
February 27
Scripture Reading — Rom. xiii. 7-14
Thought for the Day
"Ouje no man anything, but to hue one another." — Rom, xiii. 8
LOVE is here shown as obligation. It is a debt ;
something that we owe. To love one another
is usually regarded as a question of pure sentiment
and caprice. We regard ourselves with infinite
reproach if we do not discharge our financial liabili-
ties, but that we fail to honour and help our
neighbour seems at most as if we were only neglectful
of the poetry of life. True love is dutiful ; it has the
sense of obligation.
Love has a wide range — it implies universal obliga-
tion. The Greek word translated in the text
" neighbour " is given in the margin " the other."
That is simple and large. " The other," never mind
anything more. No matter about nation, rank, or
kindred ; no matter whether stranger, foe, or suspect ;
" the other." It is a debt to society, to humanity.
The sufficiency of love. It is the guarantee for
the discharge of manifold obligation. Love is really
ethical genius; it fits for the swift, complete, and
delightful accomplishment of the universal duty. If
law is the definition of love, love is the summation
of law.
58
THE GATES OF DAWN
February 28
Scripture Reading— Rom. vi. 8-18
Thought for the Day
"If we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live
with Him." — Rom, vi. 8
HOW entirely the mind of the Apostle is
occupied with sin ! The fact of sin, its
power, its mastery, is the subject of his whole
thought. Nothing is to him of the slighest conse-
quence in art, philosophy, or politics, compared with
the question of understanding and dealing with the
principle of lawlessness, which afflicts us. It should
also be the first grand question with us all.
In our oneness with Christ we have died to sin ; in
our oneness with Him we have risen into a new, holy,
immortal life. If the death unto sin is the first
thought, the ascent unto righteousness becomes the
second and final aspiration.
This is the primary, beautiful, dominant ideal of
the Christian life — holiness to the Lord. The old
self is dead, the grass grows over it, the Devil himself
being the chief mourner ; the new self walks in the
glory of a divine and eternal righteousness.
Completeness is the grand thought of this passage.
Completeness in the severance from sin ; completeness
of identification with the Lord of righteousness.
59
THE GATES OF DAWN
February 29
Scripture Reading — 2 Cor. vi. 11-18
Thought for the Day
"Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers."— 2 Cor.
vi. 14
THERE are few greater illusions than to think
that we can voluntarily enter into association
with evil and yet be none the worse for it. Whatever
precautions we may adopt, the coarse thing which we
foolishly allow will infect us.
A photographic plate may be wrapped up in any
quantity of black paper to make perfectly sure that
there is no risk whatever of light getting to it ; but
if a radio-active substance is anywhere near, it will
penetrate the black paper, and impress figures on
the plate despite the protective darkness.
But the heart is more sensitive than any photo-
graphic film or plate, and if we gratuitously allow
ourselves in equivocal associations, they will in-
juriously affect our thought and temper, in spite of
the cleverest and most elaborate precautions.
It is enough that we have to guard against the
depressing and defiling influences of daily life, with-
out voluntarily touching pitch.
60
THE GATES OF DAWN
March 1
Scripture Reading — i Peter i. 13-25
Thought for the Day
"As He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy. " — i Peter
i. IS
"AS He which hath called you." Judging our-
_/~\^ selves in the light of the world, we may
easily find grounds for personal satisfaction ; but to
judge ourselves in the light of the Lord, to measure
ourselves by the Divine standard, is to put our pride
to shame.
Corot said : " When I find myself in one of Nature's
beautiful places, I grow angry with my pictures."
Pleased with them in his studio, in sight of the glory
of the world the artist was humbled.
We may be content with ourselves, comparing
ourselves with ourselves, but in the presence of the
purity and beauty of the Lord we are rebuked. O that
I may see sin as God sees it, and renounce it with all
my heart !
Yet our consolation is here. He who has called us
to emulate His spotlessness will also do it. If we
give Him free course, and loyally co-operate with
His grace, our calling will become effectual, and the
servant be as His Lord.
61
THE GATES OF DAWN
March 2
Scripture Reading — Ephes. iv. 17-24
Thought for the Day
"Put on the new man, which after God is created in righteouS'
ness and true holiness." — Ephes. iv. 24
THE people used to complain of Chrysostom, the
golden-mouthed preacher, that he was always
harping on one string. The Apostle Paul might be
similarly impeached ; holiness is the golden string on
which he never ceases to make music.
Have we not all to fear imperfect repentance?
That we put the sin away without abhorring it ; that
we put it away partially ; that we put it away in gross
forms, to entertain it in subtler forms ; that we bury
our idols when we ought to burn them ?
" Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ." In Arabic
countries the belief is common that if a child is sickly,
or of infirm understanding, and his parents put upon
him the name of wolf, or leopard, or lion, his human
fragility will take on a temper of strength and noble-
ness. This superstition becomes a glorious moral
truth as we hide ourselves in the name of Christ, and
wrap ourselves up in His merit, love, and power.
The old offending nature dies, dies utterly, in
fellowship with Him. It cannot survive contact with
His grace and beauty. "And the new man, which
after God hath been created in righteousness and
holiness of truth," takes the place of the annihilated
sensual self.
62
THE GATES OF DAWN
March 3
Scripture Reading — Acts xvi. 1-15
Thought for the Day
"Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."
— Rom. X. 17
IT is inspiring to remember that the Spirit of God
is ever operating on the minds of men, preparing
them for the reception of gospel truth and blessing.
We see this in the longing of Macedonia, in the
sensibility of Lydia.
It is a common mistake to assume the unfitness,
the unripeness of men for the blessing, when in truth
the very opposite is the fact. As the opening flowers
display their leaves and gladly drink in the solar fire,
so hearts all around us hunger and thirst for spiritual
blessing.
Yet it is only when the appeal is made by the
evangelist, only when he proclaims the gospel
message of truth and love, that the spiritual affinities
and aspirations of the waiting heart are evoked.
" Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word
of God."
When a grain of pollen is brought to a plant by
wind or wing, it is fertilised, and its blossoms pass
into richer flower and fruit ; so often to a single
gracious word human souls will respond in immediate
joyous faith and love. " Whose heart the Lord
opened, to give heed unto the things which were
spoken by Paul." How the human and divine
ministries are blended !
63
THE GATES OF DAWN
March 4
Scripture Reading— Philippians, iii. i-ii
Thought for the Day
"I pray , . . that ye may be sincere and without offence till
the day of CAr/st."— Philippians i. lo
LOVE to God and 'man is to abound more and
more, yet it is to remain reflective and dis-
criminative. Tiie ninth and tenth verses remind us
that love is not vague sentiment, unreasoning
enthusiasm, the mere poetic embroidering of life.
A recent writer on the growing of summer roses
gives this advice : " A certain use of the critical
faculty, even on the best of June mornings, some sort
of classifying of sorts and specimens, and a defining
of perhaps too vague ideals and desires, would, for
many rosarians, repay ten times over the temporary
loss of a little enthusiasm. A really skilled grower
owns a mind balanced between zeal and caution ;
analytic even in its hours of fruition."
Do not many of the saints need similar advice ?
We need more discerning and classifying to define
our too vague ideals and designs, to instruct our zeal,
to get a sounder judgment into our fine enthusiasms.
What is love without knowledge ? What is love
without conscience, justice, right ? What is love
without character and obedience ?
64
THE GATES OF DAWN
March 6
Scripture Reading — Phil. ii. 12-23
Thought for the Day
"/ can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth
me." — Phil. iv. 13
THE great ideal of Christian character and life is
possible because of the Divine power which
worketh in us. He who supplies the ideal supplies
the grace. He who sets the task inspires the genius.
Having attained to a pure arid blameless character,
we become luminaries in a dark world. As a light-
house shines across the sea, so we hold forth the word
of life in our lips and lives. There is such a thing as
speaking for Jesus, singing for Jesus, working for
Jesus, and there is such a thing as simply shining for
Jesus.
Does not the Apostle remind us that if we are to
play the part of luminaries we must be real, and pure,
and lofty? "Children of God without blemish."
Spots on the sun are here of serious moment. Our
faults terribly interfere with our usefulness. Let us
not be dim lights, intermittent lights, lights in which
there is the shadow of turning.
65
THE GATES OF DAWN
March 6
Scripture Reading — Acts xvi. 16-24
Thought for the Day
"Strive to enter in at the strait gate."— Luke xiii. 24
""\'\ THICH brought her masters much gain by
V Y soothsaying." " Her masters saw that the
hope of their gain was gone." How often do we find
covetousness at the bottom of moral failure and
spiritual declension !
Captain Scott, in T/ie Voyage of the Discovery, tells
of the immense care that was taken by the magnetic
experts on board to banish all iron and steel from
the vicinity of the magnetic observatory. Everything
within thirty feet of the observatory had to be made
of brass, lead, hemp, or some other non-magnetic
material. These regulations secured the accuracy of
the magnetic observation.
But the motions of the heart are most disturbed by
a bit of gold anywhere in its neighbourhood. The
thought of gain seems to mar and deflect the whole
delicate machinery of the moral sense. Let a single
yellow particle insinuate itself too near the sacred
circle of the conscience, and the judgment is no
longer true to the eternal verities. We must watch
here lest greed should cause us to forget honesty,
fairness, brotherliness.
66
THE GATES OF DAWN
March 7
Scripture Reading — Acts vi. 25-40
Thought for the Day
"He that loseth his life for H/ly sake shall find it." — Matt, x. 39
HOW real, great, and delightful was the change
that the midnight prison witnessed ! It was
the habit of the old Methodists to speak of a newly-
converted man as one who had " found liberty," and
strangely enough the gaoler himself this time was
the ransomed one. Happy the man whose chains
have fallen off, whose heart is free, and whose dungeon
life gives place to the liberty of the glory of God's
dear children !
How convincingly the change was demonstrated !
" And he took them the same hour of the night, and
washed their stripes. . . . And he brought them up
into his house, and set meat before them, and rejoiced
greatly." This was he who a little before had " cast
them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast
in the stocks." Restitution, reparation is a fine proof
of genuine conversion.
The interior change must be evidenced in the out-
ward conduct, and no proof of conversion is more
indubitable than the more faithful, generous, and
loving treatment of our fellow-men.
67
THE GATES OF DAWN
March 8
Scripture Reading — 2 Cor. xii. i-io
Thought for the Day
"My strength is made perfect in weakness." — 2 Cor. xii, 9
IT appears almost certain that the weakness here
recorded was bodily weakness, which, in the
Apostle's case, as in so many others, was closely
allied with mental disturbance and trouble.
Torstensohn was one of the generals formed in
the school of Gustavus Adolphus, and to whom
that great commander transmitted the prosecution
of the Thirty Years' War. Physically, he was so
shattered and dislocated by disease and deformity,
that he could neither walk nor ride on horseback.
He had to be carried at the head of his forces in a
litter. Yet no commander of his age was so resist-
less and terrible in his onset and so invariably
victorious.
Let us be loath to accept infirmity as an excuse
for uselessness. A naturalist asks : " How is it that
the golden-crested wren, apparently so weak and
helpless, can fly right across the North Sea from
Norway ? " Because God knows how to fix strange
energy within delicate organisms. Our very in-
firmities through resolution and grace may give us
special efficacy.
68
THE GATES OF DAWN
March 9
Scripture Reading— Dan. iii. 19-27
Thought for the Day
"Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us." — Dan. iii. 17
THE Babylonians were to discover that there
was another gold than that of which their
golden image was made. The stuff out of which true
men are fashioned is the fine gold of the universe.
The best people are greatly tried. " The most
mighty men that were in the King's army " were set
to bind the faithful three ; and the fiery furnace was
heated " seven times more than it was wont." Hell
does its worst with the saints. The rarest souls
have been tested with high pressures, strains, and
temperatures.
But heaven will not desert us. "Lo, I see four
men loose." There is always One extra. We some-
times think sadly and doubtfully of the fiery trials
which are to try us, but to doubt is disloyalty. " Our
God whom we serve is able to deliver us." Are
we now trusting and serving Him ? It is through
practical obedience that we become dear to God, and
through fire and water He brings us into the wealthy
place. The fire does not consume but transfigures.
69
THE GATES OF DAWN
March 10
Scripture Reading — i Thess. iii.
Thought for the Day
"For now we live if ye stand fast in the Lord. " — i Thess. iii. 8
THE Apostle exults to know that amid great
afflictions and temptations his Thessalonian
converts stood firm. " This to me is very life, the
consciousness that you stand firm in union with our
Lord."
The writer knew a manufacturer of anchors and
chains, who was exceedingly proud of a large
photograph in one of his rooms, representing a ship
riding at anchor in a tremendous storm. Some
twenty vessels on that fatal day parted with their
anchor and made shipwreck ; whilst the anchor
forged by my friend bore triumphantly all the stress
of the terrible tempest. Thus the Apostle gloried
in the firmness and victory of the much-tried
Thessalonians. The anchor held.
One of the actors in the French Revolution, who
was asked what he did during several awful weeks of
peril, replied, " I lived." Sometimes it is just enough
to live. Let us hold confidently by the great truths,
promises, and hopes of our faith, and they will not
fail us in the great crises of life and death.
70
THE GATES OF DAWN
March 11
Scripture Reading — Ps. cxix. 97-104
Thought for the Day
"0 how I love Thy law I it is my meditation all the day." —
Ps. cxix. 97
THE scientist is a lover of law: the order of
Nature fills him with delight. The artist is a
lover of law ; the principles of matter duly observed
secure beauty and joy. The noble citizen is a lover
of law ; social order guarantees the wealth and pro-
gress of nations.
Just as the laws of Nature mean beauty, music,
life ; so the higher laws of the Spirit fill the soul with
the sense of harmony, elevation, delightsomeness.
To rejoice in the pure and majestic ordinances of
love and righteousness is great indeed. " Believe it,
my good friend, to love truth for truth's sake is the
principal part of human perfection, in this world,
and the seed-plot of all other virtues," wrote Locke
to Collins.
Here is, too, the realm of freedom. Everything in
Nature is necessitated, but the realm of the Spirit is
the realm of liberty. Let me, then, prove my power
and liberty by setting the will of God above my own,
and lovingly and adoringly keep His commandments.
71
THE GATES OF DAWN
March 12
Scripture Reading— Ps. cxIx. 105-117
Thought for the Day
"Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path."
— Ps. cxix. 105
THE Society of Illuminating Engineers and
others too have long sought for a light which
would, by excluding the ultra-violet rays, become
fog-penetrating. An inventor has just made the
desired discovery, and produced an electric lamp
which can penetrate the densest fog. The Bible in
the world of the soul is such a lamp. It is effective
alike by what it includes and excludes. The sincere,
prayerful student of the sacred page will find his way
through black and blinding illusions and delusions.
Let me use it as " a lamp to my/eei" for practical,
personal uses. Not as a Chinese lantern, engaging
the fancy by virtue of its artistry and imagery ; but
as a signal lamp on the railway, a Davy lamp in the
mine, an electric lamp in the fog.
And the more we apply the sacred truths to action
and experience the more precious and luminous do
they become. " The man who insists upon seeing
with perfect clearness before he acts, never acts,"
writes Amiel ; but, bringing the statutes, command-
ments, and promises to bear on life, they become
ever clearer, and more fully evince their divinity.
72
THE GATES OF DAWN
March 13
Scripture Reading— Jer. x. i-i6
Thought for the Day
"The Lord is the true God, He is the living Got/."— Jer. x. io
" '' \ ^HE Lord is the true God, He is the living
X God " ; this is the glory of our faith, the
strength of our life.
Probably the only idol factory in the world is now
located in the city of New York, where the idols of all
countries are reproduced and new ones manufactured,
some from models and some through the inventive
genius and fertile brain of a designer. They are
made in plaster, in aluminium and bronze, largely;
but some are carved in ivory, while iron, brass, and
other metals and materials are occasionally used.
In Christendom idols of this order are not called
for, but their analogies are close and numerous.
Fashion has its plaster gods, painted, oiled, and
polished ; wealth, its golden images and silver chains ;
art, its ivory divinities ; sensuality, its gross fetishes ;
formal religion, its icons. Yes ; God's eye discerns
in Christendom vast chambers of imagery, a whole
Pantheon of unholy gods.
Let me not coarsen, defile, and destroy my nobler
self at the shrine of any idol. Let my eye be so full
of the true and living God, that I can see no other.
73
THE GATES OF DAWN
March 14
Scripture Reading— 2 Cor. v. i-ii
Thought for the Day
"God is a Spirit"— Jona iv. 24
THAT God is Spirit is a great truth touching
the interpretation of our human nature. As
Dr. Macmillan writes, " It is a sublime conception
that a Personality is seated on the throne of universal
empire. How much more ennobling is this concep-
tion than that of the material origin and existence of
all things ! We must postulate Spirit and not a thing
as the first formative cause. The universe is not
self-created and self-upheld. A thing cannot originate
a thing."
"God is Spirit." "We are His offspring." Made
in the image of His spirituality, holiness, infinity,
what manner of men ought we to be !
That God is Spirit is a great truth concerning our
future. We are made in the image of His incor-
ruptibility and immortality. The spirituality of our
nature suggests great things for the future. "Now
are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear
what we shall be." God hath given us " the earnest
of the Spirit."
74
THE GATES OF DAWN
March 15
Scripture Reading — 2 Cor. vi. i-
Thought for the Day
"When I am weak, then am I strong." — 2 Cor. xil 10
JESUS CHRIST has been called "The Great Mis-
understood," and His Apostle shared with Him
this affliction. It was another mark of the
Lord Jesus that St. Paul bore.
It is rather a common thing that ordinary men fail
to discern and appreciate rare excellence. St. Paul
suffered here. His greatness, resignation, and dis-
interestedness were not understood, were misunder-
stood, and he suffered greatly in consequence.
Is it possible that we have to pay the penalty of
superiority ? That our comrades and neighbours fail
to understand the purity of our motives, the strength
of our principles, the warmth of our love? The best
servants of Jesus Christ are often cut to the heart by
mean misinterpretation.
If this should come into our life, let it drive us
closer to Him who was despised and rejected of men
because of His supreme beauty, His unaccountable
love, His infinite sacrifice.
75
THE GATES OF DAWN
March 16
Scripture Reading— i Cor. iv. 1-16
Thought for the Day
"It is required in stewarda that a man be found faithful."—
I Cor. iv. 2
BEFORE some spectacles silence is most
becoming. They are so grand, beautiful,
precious, that eloquence seems profane. Is it not so
here?
It is inspiring to know that poor human nature can
be raised to this height of nobleness. Patriotism,
science, and commerce boast their martyrs, but surely
the crowning consecration is in this Apostle who was
so rich in the spirit of his redeeming Master. I might
be crushed by this immense superiority, but let me
rather be aroused and inspired by it. This wonder-
ful portrait is not designed to paralyse, but to
stimulate.
We can never hope to match the extraordinary
intellectual achievements of the Apostle, or to achieve
such a vast field of service, but we may share with
him his pure, burning zeal. His master is ours.
The grace which ennobled him may be magnified in
us. He fully understood this. May we apprehend
it
76
THE GATES OF DAWN
March 17
Scripture Reading— Jkr. I.
Thought for the Day
"/ am with thee, saith the Lord, to deliver thee." — Jer. I 8
" T AM with thee, saith the Lord." Napoleon was
J^ fond of referring to his "star," but He who
marshals the stars is the strength of His messengers.
Nothing but this fact can account for the triumphs
of the Gospel in the primitive age. It is madness to
deny the supernatural. Men can do wonderful
things, but their limitations are obvious enough.
Stephenson could construct a railway, but he could
not prepare a path for the march of the stars.
Lesseps might dig a canal, but he could not tackle
an Atlantic or Pacific. The triumph of Christianity
is as manifestly the direct work of God.
God does not grant the necessary grace before the
trial. He builds the bridge when we reach the river.
We often fear that we shall sink under the fiery trials
that we see others endure ; we are afraid in the dis-
tance of the mystery and anguish of death ; but we
have not yet reached these crises, and grace is not
vouchsafed before it is needed. " Jesus comes with
our distress."
77
THE GATES OF DAWN
March 18
Scripture Reading — Rom. xii. 10-21
Thought for the Day
"Be not overcome of euil, but overcome evil with good"—'RoM.
xii. 21
COULD more beautiful things be crowded into
fewer words? We think not. Every clause
is a big, sweet flower. Or, to change the image, we
have here a rare piece of music, every note majestic,
lovely, or tender.
And this catalogue of graces is not to be divided
among the many members ^of a Church for one to
cultivate this excellence and another that ; but each
member is to adorn the doctrine of God in all things.
As life and circumstances perpetually change, we are
to display in sweet and unbroken succession the
whole range of the variegated glories of Christian
perfection, each trait in its season.
The garden, however, finds no difficulty in pro-
ducing a thousand flowers of various forms, colours,
and perfumes ; the sun and shower easily make a
paradise of it. So the vital influences of truth and
grace acting on the good soil of an honest heart will
in turn evoke every noble temper and deed.
78
THE GATES OF DAWN
March 19
Scripture Reading — Luke xviii. i-8
Thought for the Day
"Pray without ceasing." — i Thess. v. 17
" IX /T EN ou£;-/i^ ahvays to pray." The obligation
_[ y J^ of persistent prayer.
If a.j2idge grants the importunate request what will
not a father do? "Your Heavenly Father knoweth
that ye have need of all these things." " How much
more shall your Heavenly Father give?"
If an unrighteous judge is mastered by importunity,
how much more hope in appealing to the righteous
One ! " God is not unrighteous that He will forget."
If a hard, reluctant judge, who " regarded not man,"
is conquered by obstinacy of supplication, what may
we not expect from the sympathetic Friend whose
mercy is not strained, but which droppeth as the
gentle rain from heaven — from Him who waiteth to
bless ? There is a three-fold contrast, each one
emphasising the efficacy of persevering prayer.
*' Speak to Him, then, for He hears,
And spirit with spirit may meet ;
Closer is He than breathing,
And nearer than hands and feet."
79
THE GATES OF DAWN
March 20
Scripture Reading— Matt, xxvii. 11-26
Thought for the Day
"God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave."— Ts.
xlix. 15
NOWHERE else is the question of death dealt
with as in the New Testament. By various
cunning devices we seek to hide from ourselves the
painful aspects of our mortality, or to reconcile our-
selves to the inevitable, but the serious problem is
seriously dealt with only by Him who is the resurrec-
tion and the life.
When Jesus entered the chamber of death He put
forth the flute-players and the babbling crowd. It
was a parable of what He has done on a vaster scale.
He has dismissed from the death chamber the philo-
sophers with their guesses, the sceptics with their
everlasting farewells, the sentimentalists with the
chaff well-meant for grain, the flute-players of poetry
and music, who by melodious words and strains seek
to disguise the tragic fact, and shown us how death is
a sleep with a golden awakening.
The Living One, with His majesty, love, and
promise, is the "strong consolation" of the dying
saint.
80
THE GATES OF DAWN
March 21
Scripture Reading— Mark ix. i-io and xv. 16-32
Thought for the Day
"He was transfigured before them." — Mark ix. 2
WHAT possibilities of glory there are in human
nature ! Scientists perceive in us un-
developed senses, and anticipate a period when man
will possess qualities, perceptions, and powers far
exceeding any attributes of the present.
It is in Christ Jesus that the latent glory of our
nature stands most fully and conspicuously declared.
In Him we see what man is in the Divine ideal. He
has shown of what our moral nature is capable; in
Him we behold the transfigured conscience, will,
affections, character. He has shown of what this
physical vesture is capable in exaltation, refinement,
and splendour.
They " spake of His decease." Through His
death He attained His mediatorial glory and secured
to us eternal life. Sin eclipsed our glory ; and the
Cross, taking away sin, has unmasked the hidden
beauty, strength, and effulgence. We need not fear
death. Christ transfigures the shroud into shining
raiment that waxes not old. Let me only fear sin.
81
THE GATES OF DAWN
March 22
Scripture Reading— i Cor. xv. i-ii
Thought for the Day
"For I know whom I have believed." — 2 Tim. i.12
HALL CAINE tells us that Rossetti was not an
atheist, but simply one with a suspended
judgment; in face of death his attitude was one of
waiting, he did not know.
Now the great work of Jesus Christ touching the
doctrine of immortality was to convert it from a
speculation into a certainty. The evidence for His
resurrection, which carries with it the doctrine of our
incorruptibility and immortality, is overwhelming ; as
one has said, it is the best authenticated fact in
history.
The Christian is one who knoivs. The Spirit of
God has so opened up to our consciousness the truth
of Christ's teaching, the fact of His resurrection, that
we are satisfied of our continued and permanent
existence as we are that we exist at all. The nearer
we live to Christ, the more deeply we drink into His
Spirit, the more the assurance of eternal life grows
upon us.
82
THE GATES OF DAWN
March 23
ScRiPTDRE Reading — i Cor. xv. 12-28
Thought for the Day
"Now is Christ risen from tiie dead, and become the first fruits
of tliem that slept." — i Cor. xv. 20
OUR Lord has demonstrated the harmlessness of
death, the powerlessness of the grave. To
the natural eye death effaces all our beauty, and the
grave is the last humiliation in which our strength
and glory finally disappear. The empty grave of our
Lord delivers us from the dominion of our senses,
and convinces us that on our real selves death has no
power.
The story is told that a chamber in a certain
dwelling was reputed to be haunted, and the family
regarded it with terror. But one night the father
determined to sleep in it himself, and, coming forth
the next morning all safe and sound, laughed away
the fears of his children. So our Lord entered the
grave, and dwelt among the dead ; but in the
morning He issued forth crying to His affrighted
ones, " All hail ! " and the gloomy chamber is divested
of its terror.
83
THE GATES OF DAWN
March 24
Scripture Reading— Eph. iil.
Thought for the Day
"/ boiv my hnees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of
whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named."— Evu.
iii. 14, 15
IT is a good thing to take a large view, and we
have one here. The word " agoraphobia " is
used to designate a remarkable type of disease that
manifests itself in a /ear of open space^ which is the
literal meaning of the term. Persons suffering from
this illness experience it whenever their gaze is
directed to some considerable expanse of open space.
Many are afflicted with this malady in their mind,
and dare look at nothing but the cramped spaces of
this mortal life.
How vast the outlook of the Apostle ! How un-
utterably grand and inspiring ! " The Father ! "
" Every family in heaven and on earth," divinely
named and gathered together in Christ ! The saints
raised to a sublime perfection in love, knowledge,
and felicity ! Glory revealed in the Church through-
out all generations. How far-reaching, profound,
and magnificent are the thoughts that the faith of
Jesus Christ brings into human life ! And I have a
personal interest in all this !
84
THE GATES OF DAWN
March 25
Scripture Reading — Isa. xliv. 6-23
Thought for the Day
"/ am the first and I am the last, and beside me there is no
God."— ISA. xliv. 6
IN this last dispensation everything connected
with rehgion has been spiritualised. The Epistle
to the Hebrews shows how the material has been
replaced by the spiritual idea in all that concerns
faith and worship. At the same time the devil has
spiritualised the pantheon of idols.
" Shakespeare is my god," said a great German to
George Eliot. Literature is the god of many. " Eat,
drink, and be merry." Appetite and pleasure are
popular idols. " I will pull down my barns and build
greater." Goods become a god.
Exclaimed Marie Bashkirtseff, " It is two o'clock ;
it is the new year. At the theatre, precisely at mid-
night, watch in hand I wished my wish in a single
word, intoxicating, whether it be written or spoken —
Fame." Honour and renown are the twin gods of
multitudes.
An idol is whatever takes the thought, love, admira-
tion, and service which ought to be centred on the
living God.
85
THE GATES OF DAWN
March 26
Scripture Reading — i Cor. xvi.
Thought for the Day
"God loueth a cheerful giver." — 2 Cor. ix. 7
IT has often been objected that the collection
should follow the sermon " because it spoils the
fine spiritual tone of the service." But the Apostle
did not feel this. He passes abruptly from the
glorious theme of the resurrection to the matter of
finance. He felt that there was no anomaly in so
doing.
Let us give to our Lord our best, just as the natives
in South America are said, when they find a rare
orchid, to plant it on the church roof or in its precincts.
And let us contribute in the best way, making our
gift as free and graceful as love and prudence united
can effect. When we present lovely flowers to any-
one, we so arrange them that their disposition adds to
their beauty.
There is nothing merely material and commercial
to a truly spiritual man ; his money contributions are
spiritual and sacramental. Of such gold are the
walls of the New Jerusalem fashioned.
86
THE GATES OF DAWN
March 27
Scripture Reading — James ii. 1-13
Thought for the Day
"Thou shalt hue thy neighbour as thyself." — James ii. 8
THE whole of this passage turns on the first
verse : " Hold not the faith of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons."
In the Lord Jesus Christ we not only see the glory
of God, but also the glory of man, and henceforth
must judge humanity in the light of the Incarnation,
the Cross, and of that heavenly universe of which
Christ has taken possession in our name !
Scholarship teaches that the word which James
uses for " respect of persons " means to " take the
outside surface for the reality, the mask for the man."
How apt we are to do this; to judge by the ring and
the clothing, instead of looking to the essential
qualities and destiny !
By taking our nature, the Lord has shown that
whatever a man wears on his skin, he wears scarlet
on his soul ; we must therefore treat all with courtesy,
justice, and love. We are all royal, and must deal
with each other according to the royal law.
87
THE GATES OF DAWN
March 28
Scripture Reading — Matt. xxii. 34-40
Thought for the Day
" Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with
all thy soul, and with all thy mind."— Matt. xxii. 37
GEORGE MATHESON asks in his Landmarks
of New Testament Morality : "In what order is
the love of God to come ? Is it to precede, or is it to
follow, the love of our neighbour ? To that question
Platonism and Christianity both give an unequivocal
answer ; but the answer of Platonism is not the
answer of Christianity. Platonism says: Love God
before all other things; begin at the head of the
ladder, and then descend as far as you can descend
without losing sight of the Divine Idea. Christianity,
on the other hand, says : Begin with the love of men ;
start from the foot, and not from the top of the
ladder ; enter first into communion with the heart of
your brother, and ascend thence into fellowship with
the heart of God."
We emphatically believe that this view is wrong.
We do not climb from the love of our neighbour
to the love of God. As we know the love of God
we get the secret of human love. " Glory to God
in the highest " comes first ; then peace and goodwill
among men. A vital point.
88
THE GATES OF DAWN
March 29
Scripture Reading— John xv. 1-17
Thought for the Day
"This is My commandment, that ye loue one another, even as I
have loved you." — John xv. 12
'"TT^HIS is My commandment, that ye love one
J^ another, even as I have loved you." Some
complain that there is little originality in Christian
teaching. Here, then, is something original — a new
standard.
^^ Even as I have loved you." This makes the
second commandment new by the fresh thought and
power put into it. Christ loved His disciples before
they loved Him ; He continued to love them when
they were unlovely — with small jealousies, ambitions,
and conceits ; He still bore with them in their angry,
impatient, and unbelieving moods ; He did not cease
to love them when they all forsook Him and fled.
Our Lord shows us what love means ; what it will
suffer ; what it will give ; what it will do. Hitherto
it had been much of an abstraction ; in Him it took
shape, and we saw its majesty and beauty.
Ruskin writes : " The best things are seldomest
seen in their best form." The best thing, the greatest
thing in the world, was seen in its best form only once
in Him who is our standard and pattern.
89
THE GATES OF DAWN
March 30
Scripture Reading — Col. i. 21-29
Thought for the Day
"As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk
ye in Him." — Col. ii. 6
IN Christ are the grandest transformations, gifts,
felicities, and hopes. Corot said that he would
have liked to paint the walls of prison cells, so that
the prisoners might have been refreshed and purified
by the glories of landscape ; but Paul needed no such
works of art to relieve his imprisonment. How these
few verses absolutely teem with the wealth of grace
and the splendours of hope !
And these treasures and splendours are for all.
" Every man perfect in Christ." The Apostle was an
absolute democrat in the highest things.
A legend of the Jews relates that the prophet
Ezekiel once raised a number of his countrymen from
the dead ; but the miracle was so far defective that
the resuscitated ever after retained somewhat of the
complexion of corpses, and their garments a certain
scent of the sepulchre. Not thus does Christ raise
us from the death of sin. " To present you holy and
without blemish and unreprovable before Him."
Perfect, and every man perfect
90
THE GATES OF DAWN
March 31
Scripture Reading — Col. ii. i-io
Thought for the Day
"In Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily."— Cau
ii. 9
THE sufficiency of Christ is one great thought here.
He is the secret of God ; in Him is disclosed
the completeness of light and grace, love and power.
The fulness of spiritual blessing is assured in Him.
Away from Him are gleams, wells, fragments of
heavenly wisdom and blessing; in Him is the fulness
of the Godhead bodily.
They who knew Him not had the cup, we the sea ;
they saw the heavens through a skylight, we walk in
the noonday ; divine truth and beauty appeared to
them in a flowerpot, we possess the summer land-
scape. Forget not your mighty privilege !
"And in Him ye are made full." Let nothing
come between you and your Lord, is another great
thought here. Let no philosophy, no ecclesiasticism,
and, for that matter, no theology, come between you
and the living Lord ! Deal with Him at first hand.
Be one with Him. Be rooted in Him, as the tree in
the soil, and you shall abound in fruits of light; build
on Him, as the lighthouse on the rock, and you shall
never fall.
91
THE GATES OF DAWN
April 1
ScRiPTDRE Reading— Acts xxi. 1-17
Thought for the Day
"I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem
for the name of the Lord Jesus." — Acts xxi. 13
THE progress of the Apostle is beset by trial.
" They that sow in tears." How much the
great evangelist knew of this experience ! Much of
the Christian life partakes of the nature of conflict,
and this is equally true of the working part — the trowel
in one hand, the sword in the other.
We should not object to the sowing if the task
were that of the dainty sowing of seeds and planting
of bulbs in a summer's garden. It is quite interest-
ing and delightful on a spring morning to sprinkle
the mould with a few selected seeds.
When evangelical work resembles this playfulness
we are not indisposed to it ; but to put our hand to
the plough and break up the waste ; to toil in the
vineyard, bearing the heat and burden of the day ; to
cast our bread on the waters whilst we mingle them
with our tears, this kind means sacrifice, and we too
often shirk it.
Yet, really, sowing generally is of little moment
until it is sowing in tears.
92
THE GATES OF DAWN
April 2
Scripture Reading— Acts xi. 22-30
Thought for the Day
"In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength. " — Isa.
XXX. 15
THE union of spiritual fervour and practical
charity is well illustrated in this reading.
The Orientals have a saying, " All is vanity which
is not bread " ; and here the disciples are active in
the distribution of the heavenly bread and the bread
that perisheth.
The reproach that the faith of Christ concerns
itself with spiritual enthusiasms and forgets earthly
needs is the emptiest of sarcasms. There was little
of philanthropy before Christ came ; but such is the
example and inspiration of His mighty love that ever
since He came sacrifice for the humble and needy
has become a commonplace in the circle of His
followers.
We remember reading that when the alms box of
the Samaritan Fund of St. George's Hospital was
opened at Tattersall's, after an interim of twelve
months, not a single farthing was found in it.
We must go elsewhere than to racing circles, and
such-like, for sympathy with those ready to perish.
93
THE GATES OF DAWN
April 3
Scripture Reading — Luke vi. 27-38
Thought for the Day
'Ms ye would that men should do to you do ye also to them."
— LuKEvi. 31
THE world had said, "Blessed are the great, the
rich, the strong, the famous." And the world
says so still.
But our Lord taught us another and far deeper
lesson : that the satisfaction of life lies in sincerity,
humility, patience, surrender of the will to God,
kindness, and the spirit of self-sacrifice. And have
we not, in some degree at least, proved the truth of
His philosophy ? Our happy hours are distinctly
those in which our heart has leisure from itself, in
which we cease from self-will to sink into the will
Divine, in which we escape from our vain dreams, and
are able to live in lowliness and love.
Whilst enjoying all the good gifts of God, let me
not forget that my life does not, that it cannot, con-
sist in these. I must launch into the deep of thought,
devotion, experience, and service.
Nothing can so fill the soul with joy as the sense
of the Divine favour.
94
THE GATES OF DAWN
April 4
Scripture Reading— Luke xviii. 28-34
Thought for the Day
' Though He cause grief yet will He have compassion," — Lam.
iii. 32
RENUNCIATION and sacrifice mean manifold
and everlasting enrichment. The Master
endured the cross, despising the shame, for the joy
that it brought Him ; and His disciples must
prove the same discipline and recompense.
How astonishingly illuminated, noble, powerful,
and delightful the Apostle Paul became in that life
of intense and continuous trial ! A French writer
has finely said, " Great sorrows are the forcing-houses
of the soul." How strangely, and often suddenly,
do misfortunes mature character ! In the high
temperature of affliction and grief how the graces
flower ; how the branches grafted into the bleeding
vine bear their choicest clusters.
Austere discipline saves us from conditions that we
have most reason to fear. As Lacordaire expresses
it, " Suffering is better than decay." And sanctified
loss and labour may bring us precious fruits not
otherwise ours.
95
THE GATES OF DAWN
April 5
Scripture Reading — i Cor. ix. 19-27
Thought for the Day
/ keep under my body and bring it into subjection." — i Cor.
ix. 27
HE self-denial that finds its reason and its
object in considering others is the divinest
form of self-sacrifice.
We think sometimes that we are hardly realising
the Christian idea of self-sacrifice because our back is
not scourged and our feet bare, because we keep no
fast days and wear no hair shirt. Let us not dis-
tress ourselves. So to live that we may help and
bless those around us will often involve sufficient
mortification, and in its best form.
To endure the unreasonableness of some is to wear
a hair shirt ; to bear patiently their tongue is to be
beaten with stripes ; to live with them is to suffer
martyrdom in a slow fire. To please all men to
their edification is a fine form of martyrdom, and a
severe one. It will tax our faith, patience, humility,
and perseverance to the uttermost.
The " daily round will furnish all we ought to ask,"
and generally all we shall care to ask.
96
THE GATES OF DAWN
April 6
Scripture Reading— i Cor. viiL
Thought for the Day
"Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on
the things of others," — Phil, ii. 4
WHEN we are disposed to resent the claim of
our neighbour to sympathy and considera-
tion, will it not be well to think how often be has
suffered through our fault ! The consequences of
our ignorance, foolishness, and sin are hardly, if ever,
confined to ourselves ; consciously or unconsciously,
we affect society injuriously. Let me then be willing
to make reparation for the wrong I have done my
fellows, by bearing their sicknesses and dealing
tenderly with their prejudices and frailties. I owe it
to them.
We once knew a poor old man who trudged miles
to repair the country stiles that they might be a little
easier for the aged and infirm. The people voted
him a lunatic, but in the Great Day he will outshine
Napoleon.
To take a stumbling-block out of our brother's
way, and to help the cripple over the stile, is to reveal
the mind that was in Christ Jesus.
97
THE GATES OF DAWN
April 7
Scripture Reading — i Pet. v. i-ii
Thought for the Day
" Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God."
— I Pet. v. 6
A SCEPTICAL writer speaks of humility as "a
monkish virtue " which it is not well for the
manly to cultivate ; and it is quite the fashion in
some quarters to reproach the lowly spirit enjoined
by Christ as being cowardly and servile.
Yet we instinctively reverence the humble, we at
once know modesty as a great quality. What a
singular serene joy attends its exercise ! There is
not a more delicate and delicious sensation than that
which accompanies an act of genuine humility.
What power it hides ! It implies quiet, assured,
treasured strength. How safe it is ! Inviting no
disasters.
Jesus Christ came to teach us this grace because
it is of the essence of perfection. He best asserts his
greatness who humbles himself before God, as the
seraphim veil their face with the wings on which they
soar.
98
THE GATES OF DAWN
April 8
Scripture Reading — Titus ii.
Thought for the Day
" We should Hue soberly, righteously, and godly in this present
world." — Titus ii. 12
WE are to "adorn the doctrine of God our
Saviour in all things " ; and we may observe
that this instruction is given to servants. The
grandeur and loveliness of the Christian doctrine can
be shown in the humblest people and in the homeliest
things. It is not only kings, bishops, and statesmen
who may manifest its power and beauty, but also
manservants and maidservants ; it may not only be
illustrated advantageously in the grand affairs of
empire, but in the meanest task of labour.
Milet, the great painter, taught that it was the
business of art " to make use of the trivial to express
the sublime." It is certainly the duty and privilege
of the saint so to handle the trivial as to express the
sublime doctrines and principles of his holy faith.
I do not need a big sphere, or big interests, to
show men what a noble faith is that of a Christian.
99
THE GATES OF DAWN
April 9
Scripture Reading— Eph. vi. 1-20
Thought for the Day
"As the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the
heart." — Eph. vi. 6
REALLY the love of Christ turns life into a
concert of sweet relations. Fathers, mothers,
children, harmonised by love, and all things in the
household, moving as to the measures of stately
music.
What a grand thing true godliness is in the house-
hold ! Religion never enters a cottage without
making it a palace. Ah ! far more than most palaces.
A sanctuary of peace, love, and blessing.
And all that the business world needs is that Christ
should be recognised as the common Master. If all
men would so live as to please Him, they would be
surprised to find how nearly they pleased one
another.
What is needed to solve all problems of domesticity,
of politics, of capital and labour, is higher character.
Christian character, and they will never be solved
without. It is a mistake indeed to think that religion
ignores earth. Heaven supplies the motive that sets
risht the terrestrial.
100
THE GATES OF DAWN
April 10
Scripture Reading — Rev. ii. i-ii
Thought for the Day
"To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life."
— Rev. ii. 7
THE promise is consistently "to him that over-
cometh." The ideal life to the Greek was one
of serene pleasantness ; the life of the Christian is
ever represented as a strenuous conflict in which we
must strive to overcome.
When we read these verses we feel how severe and
tragic was the lot of the primitive Christians. It has
been objected to Rubens' picture of the Crucifixion,
that he has painted Golgotha like a garden where
you can hardly see the skulls for the flowers.
It might seem as if in the softening processes of
the ages that the Christian life was nothing like so
stern and sorrowful as of old ; that many flowers
have sprung up in the place of persecutions and
martyrdoms. Yet we too have our difficulties,
temptations, and sorrows ; often as much as we can
bear.
Our one duty is to overcome. A poet of scepticism
boasts : " I am captain of my soul." If Christ is
Captain, I am also : otherwise defeat is inevitable.
lOI
THE GATES OF DAWN
April 11
Scripture Reading— Phil. iii. 1-16
Thought for the Day
"What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for
Christ."— PniL. iii. 7
AS to the sacrifices we may be called upon to
make for Christ's sake, they will differ
immensely. They will necessarily be peculiar and
personal, and it is well that they are so. Amongst
the Arabs to-day every man kills his sacrifice, as in
the ancient world, with his own hands. It is fitting
that our renunciations should be marked by some-
thing peculiarly our own.
" Peter began to say unto Him : Lo, we have left
all and have followed Thee." A few old fishing nets.
How infinitely beyond their sordid calculation was
the spirit of Paul in the text ! The fact is that in
the meantime the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ had
been better understood ; and by the side of the
sacrifice of Calvary every sacrifice we can make is
light indeed. " He emptied Himself," withheld
nothing. Here is our motive and pattern.
Christ tells us to " count the cost " of discipleship,
but He never asked us to count the gain. He knew
we could not; there is no arithmetic to compute
thatc
102
THE GATES OF DAWN
April 12
Scripture Reading — LuKExxi. 20-28
Thought for the Day
"In your patience possess ye your souls." — Luke xxi. 19
T^T'HEREVER the flowers of the North are
W distributed they prevail; they establish
themselves in all climates, driving out the native
flowers. On the other hand, the flowers of the South
cannot establish themselves here. The explanation
is that what the northern blooms have endured has
made them robust and victorious.
The Christian religion is one of endurance. This
was first and pre-eminently true of our Lord. The
first ages of the Church were ages of martyrdom.
Ever since then the Christian faith has borne the
weight of opposition and trial. As the glacial period
has made the flowers hardy, so the discipline of
suffering has made the Church of Christ the very
home of patience, power, heroism.
In this power of patience we win our souls — we
realise ourselves, save ourselves everlastingly. We
may be put to death, but not a hair of our head shall
perish. That is, not a jot or tittle of our great self
shall be lost ; every jot and tittle shall be secured
and glorified.
103
THE GATES OF DAWN
April 13
Scripture Reading — Ps. xxviL
Thought for the Day
"The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be
afraid?" — Ps. xxvii, i
WE speak of causeless fear, but in truth all fear
touching- wordly things is causeless to one
who believes in God ; that is, in One infinitely wise,
powerful, and good. Causeless apprehension is bad
every way. It is bad, as it tends to make us insen-
sible to real danger.
Fear impairs the reason. It causes us to act
wildly, irrationally. Fear spoils our joy in to-day
by anticipating shadows which to-morrow may not
cast. Fear saps the strength and courage which are
so necessary when trial does arrive. Fear has a
tendency to bring upon us the very thing we dread.
If we are afraid of a dog it bites us.
A rationalistic lady recently remarked to us that
Christian people in actual life display no more com-
posure and courage than purely worldly souls do. Is
there not some truth in this charge? We do not
apply our theoretical faith to practical life. " The
extent to which we have put fear under our feet is a
good measure of manhood," writes Carlyle. It is
certainly a good measure of Christian manhood.
104
THE GATES OF DAWN
April 14
Scripture Reading — Rom. xv. 14-29
Thought for the Day
"Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in
believing." — Rom. xv. 13
THE writers of the New Testament know how to
raise vices into rare virtues, just as clever
gardeners convert noxious weeds into handsome
flowers. Paul made "guile" lovely, showed how we
might nobly "provoke one another," taught us how
to " covet earnestly " and yet be pure, whilst here he
puts " ambition " into the front rank of the graces.
" Being ambitious so to preach the Gospel." Truly
the ambition of a noble mind ! To go to those
beyond, to go to those to whom no one else had gone,
to go to those who needed him most. There was a
big piece of Columbus in St. Paul ; he was indeed the
Columbus of the Christian Church.
Let me be " ambitious " to do good. Not making
the greater show, but the greater sacrifice. Not that
I may be the greater in station, but in service. Not
that I may be most famous, but most useful. Is
there not some special line of usefulness open to
me ? It would be well if there were a bit of Columbus
in me. Some neglected work, some work along the
line of my gifts calls me.
105
THE GATES OF DAWN
April 15
Scripture Reading — Isa. xli. 8-14
Thought for the Day
" Fear thou not, for I am with thee ; be not dismayed, for I am
thy God." — Isa. xli 10
IN the recent life of an unbeliever we read in one
of his letters : " Anxiety is a poison, and I do
not know how much more of it I could stand. It
was a friend's treachery that broke me up recently.
... I don't know that being brave would serve me
much."
But a Christian ought to know nothing of this.
No one is more sensitive than a saint, alive to life's
mutabilities and sorrows, but such is his faith in the
Divine faithfulness that he remains calm and con-
fident in trying hours. Anxiety is a poison, a poison
destroying thousands to-day. It works in the days
of prosperity as well as in misfortune, embittering all
life.
An atheist ought to be anxious ; a believer in a
faithful Creator and gracious Redeemer ought not to
have a care in his heart, a tear in his eye, a murmur
on his lip.
T06
THE GATES OF DAWN
April 16
Scripture Reading — 2 Cor. v. 11-21
Thought for the Day
" The love of Christ constraineth us." — 2 Cor. v. 14
HOW much inspiration and strength do we owe
to this heavenly hope The naturalist tells
us that in the forests of Nicaragua the ground is
sometimes carpeted with large flowers that have
fallen from some invisible tree-top above ; or the air
is filled with a delicious perfume, for the source of
which one seeks around in vain, for the flowers that
cause it are far overhead out of sight, lost in the great
overshadowing crown of verdure.
How much sweetness and inspiration does that
upper, invisible world bring into this ! " For which
cause we faint not," It consoles us, strengthens us
to do and suffer, creates in us a holy joy and ecstasy.
Do I look up as much as I might to where these
flowers and immortality grow whose perfume is wafted
into this lower life? It will do me good to think
oftener of being " at home with the Lord."
107
THE GATES OE DAWN
April 17
Scripture Reading— John v. 39-47
Thought for the Day
"Had ye belieued Moses ye would have believed Me, for he
wrote of Me." — ^John v. 46
' T AM come in My Father's name, and ye receive
X Me not : if another shall come in his own name,
him ye will receive." They rejected the pure and
guiltless Jesus, and approved Barabbas ! And do
not many still show the same preference ?
As Archer Butler writes: "Who, then, are the
darling idols of human applause? Who are the chosen
of our race that poetry crowns with its halo of glory,
and every young imagination bows to worship?
Who but the laurelled Barabbases of history, the
chartered robbers and homicides that stain its pages
with blood, and that, after eighteen hundred years of
Christian discipline, the world has not yet risen to
discountenancing ? Remove the conventional dis-
credit that attaches to the weaker thief, exalt him to
the majesty of the military despot, and how many
would vote for Barabbas, how many linger with the
lowly Jesus ? "
" He shall convince the world of sin ; of sin because
they believe not in Me." Those in whom the world
believes condemn it for not believing in the Son of
God. The world proves its sin by its hero worship ;
proves what it is by rejecting the pure and guiltless
One.
108
THE GATES OF DAWN
April 18
Scripture Reading — Ps, civ. 24-35
Thought for the Day
"0 Lord, how manifold are Thy works, in wisdom hast Thou
made them all." — Ps. civ. 24
GOD'S absolute mastery over nature is a favourite
theme with this poet ; he revels in the thought
that his God is above stars, seas, and seasons.
To apprehend nature in its relation to the Deity
is to see it in enhanced glory, and to find its infinite
meaning. Contemplating the universe in the light
of God, the light of the moon becomes as the light
of the sun. To see nature in its relation to man is
to complete the charm.
Art almost unconsciously reveals that nature must
be known in relation to humanity, if we are to feel
the fulness of her fascination. If the sea is painted,
it must bear a sail ; if a landscape, it must be relieved
by a human figure ; if a wood, smoke must suggest
a dwelling; nature only satisfies as it is recognised
in its relation to human kind.
The Bible knows nothing of the atheism of
paganism that leaves God out of nature; of the
cynicism of the paganism that despises man in
contrast to the grandeur of earth and sky. On the
ocean God walks ; " there go the ships " in which
men sail. Let us beware of the paganism that
ignores the Lord and that belittles man.
109
THE GATES OF DAWN
April 19
Scripture Reading— Ps. xlvi.
Thought for the Day
"Be still and know that I am God. "— Ps. xlvi. lo
'"T^HEREFORE will we not fear." "Be still
j[ and know that I am God." Paul knew a
great deal about shipwreck. " Thrice I suffered
shipwreck, a night and a day have I been in the
deep." " In perils in the sea." In " perils of rivers."
Yet with all his acquaintance with the terrors of
the ocean, he knew a worse shipwreck far. Writing
to Timothy, he speaks of some " having made ship-
wreck concerning the faith." Ah ! this is the saddest
calamity of all. What a wonderful ship is faith !
She discovers worlds beyond anything found by
Columbus. What a freight she carries ! Riches
beyond the treasures of Solomon's ships of gold.
To what a glorious realm she transports ! Faith is
sweetly lost in sight of what never entered the
heart of man to conceive.
This is the wreck to be feared. To lose faith in
God, faith in His government, faith in His promises,
faith in the inheritance He has prepared for His
people. Faith is the grandest galleon of all that
dare the deeps. Let no rock shatter it ; no tempest
leave it derelict ; no pirates spoil it.
no
THE GATES OF DAWN
April 20
Scripture Reading — Ps. xviii. 1-19
Thought for the Day
"He delivered me because He delighted in me."— Ps. xviii. 19
THE personal note here is very striking. "Man
is nothing compared with the grandeur of
nature ! " cries the modern cynic ; but here the
thought is quite to the contrary, the grandeur of
nature is nothing compared with the majesty of
man, and all her movements are subordinated to
his welfare and salvation. Shaken hills, bowed
heavens, blazing lightnings, are all regarded in the
light of instruments of personal blessing. " I," " me,"
" my," come in with every line. Sublime egotism !
The soul is more than the stars.
Robert Louis Stevenson tells a correspondent that
"the world turns upon vast hinges," and that it is a
mistake to believe that Nature and Providence con-
template the individual welfare. It was Stevenson's
mistake to say so. Nature and history turn upon
straws, and personal welfare is the supreme end of
the supreme government.
Let us not obliterate ourselves in the mass, the
vast, the awful, the universal. " I " am the object
of God's thought; He contemplates "my" welfare;
delights in "me," and brings "me" into a large
place.
Ill
THE GATES OF DAWN
April 21
Scripture Reading — i Thkss. v.
Thought for the Day
"Let U8 cast off the works of darkness, and let U8 put on the
armour of light," — Rom. xiii. 12
WE ought very practically to recognise the
momentousness of the day in which we
live, and our special obligation. Every age is a
crisis, every age transitional, involving serious and
immediate duty to its own generation. " Is it a time
to receive money, and to receive garments, and olive-
yards and vineyards, and sheep and oxen ? " was the
rebuke of Elisha to his covetous servant
Is not the age in which we live one of manifest
momentousness? Surely we are called to play our
part at a great juncture, and we must recognise the
imminence of a great crisis. Strange things, terrible
things, glorious things are impending!
What is our obvious duty? To put away the
things of greed, enmity, and indulgence, and to array
ourselves in the shining invulnerable panoply of
charity and righteousness. "Clothe you with the
nature of our Lord, and let not the body, and the
pampering of its cravings, be your life's aim." Hasten
on the dawning day of the great Deliverance and
Salvation.
112
THE GATES OF DAWN
April 22
Scripture Reading— Isa, vt
Thought for the Day
"Past feeling." — Eph. iv. 19
THE Spaniards have a popular legend concerning
the Petrified Man. The story relates that
once he was in the flesh, but that he appealed to
the blessed saints to turn him into a stone image if
he had committed a certain fraud, of which really
he was guilty. In a moment a curious change came
over him. Gradually his legs turned to white stone.
The stone continued to creep further along his body
until he was altogether petrified.
Does not the unfaithful soul suffer a similar
change? The whole moral nature is gradually
materialised. The heart becomes fat, the ears heavy,
the eyes shut; so that they who quench the Spirit
cannot see with their eyes, hear with their ears, or
understand with their heart. The higher nature
suffers petrifaction — becomes insensible, deaf, blind
to the eternal.
How carefully should we guard against the un-
belief, worldliness, and sensuality which bring about
this awful transformation 1
113
THE GATES OF DAWN
April 23
Scripture Reading — Heb. iii.
Thought for the Day
" Tahe heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart
of unbelief." — Heb. iii. 12
IT has been recognised as a most difficult task to
keep heights to which the soul in rare moments
attains. The Christians to whom this Epistle was
written were in danger of bartering their glorious
privileges and hopes in Christ for the social and
secular, going back to beggarly elements.
The newspaper told within the last few months
of a digger who for the sake of a passing indulgence
surrendered a silver claim which ultimately yielded
twenty millions sterling, the vendor at length dying
a labourer on the estate he so foolishly alienated.
Yet what is this compared with the relinquishment
of the Christian faith and hope for the coarse interests
and pleasures of a carnal and godless life ?
Let me watch against the subtle processes of
spiritual degeneration. Through yielding to grosser
tastes the unbelieving Israelites lost Canaan ; let me
not through unwatchfulness and worldliness lose
the eternal reaUty of which Canaan was only the
symbol.
114
THE GATES OF DAWN
April 24
Scripture Reading— 2 Cor, xi. 16-32
Thought for the Day
" Yet of myself I will not glory, but in my infirmities . . , fot
when I am weak then am I strong." — 2 Cor. xii. 5 and 10
IN a recent autobiography, Lady Cardigan relates
that her husband, Lord Cardigan, who led the
charge of the Light Brigade in the Crimean War,
hardly ever referred to the magnificent dash that he
so valiantly led. It is strange how silent the most
brilliant heroes are concerning their achievements,
and we can see here how keenly the Apostle felt the
necessity for this recital. In his reckoning all this
was nought compared with the recompense of the
reward.
Whatever we do, give, or suffer is little indeed in
the light of Christ's sacrifice for us. Let us, whenever
we think our sorrows exaggerated, weigh them against
Calvary.
Let me not look at my trials just as they immedi-
ately concern me. Let me estimate them in their
relation to Christ Jesus, my example and perfecter, in
relation to the soul's incomparable worth, in relation
to the eternal gain ; then I shall demur to speak of
them, so insignificant are they.
"5
THE GATES OF DAWN
April 25
Scripture Reading— 2 Cor. xiii.
Thought for the Day
"Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith ; prove your
own setues." — 2 Cor. xiii. 5
'""I ^HIS is the third time I am coming to you."
J^ What solemn obligations arise from repeated
opportunities ! If only once we are granted a full
opportunity it ought to be enough, but as a rule
Heaven extends the reprieve and grants us many
seasons of repentance, reformation, perfecting.
How repeatedly are we privileged in hearing the
Word of God ! Line upon line is conceded us, we
listen to a thousand calls. How life is perpetually
furnishing openings to a new or a higher life ! Bright
things and sad things, ordinary events and extra-
ordinary appeal to us, and make possible the better
things to which they solicit us. How the Spirit of
God strives with us, exhorting, chiding, wooing !
Let me hasten to put away the evil thing, let me
not delay to close with the offers of grace, let me
beware lest the last chance be missed. " He that
being oft reproved and hardeneth his neck shall be
destroyed suddenly, and that without remedy."
« Whilst it is called to-day."
116
THE GATES OF DAWN
April 26
Scripture Reading— 2 Cor. Iz.
Thought for the Day
"He which souieth bountifully shall reap also bountifully."—
2 Cor. ix. 6
THE other day an engineering paper recom-
mended a Universal Grinding Machine. It
went on to describe this tool as being calculated " to
do all cutter grinding, flat grinding, parallel and
taper, outside and inside grinding." This machine
reminded us of a few persons we have known ;
indeed, we think we can remember men who could
have given that machine points.
How different to all this is the spirit of Christ !
It does not calculate what it can get out of men, but
what it can do for them. It does not niggardly, but
abounds. It is not reluctant, but free and cheerful.
The Universal Grinding Machine becomes a loving
brother, giving time, sympathy, prayer, influence and
money to those who need.
Let us not give to God as we pay the income tax.
As the fragrance rises from the flower, as the sweet-
ness drips from the honeycomb, as the ripe fruit
drops from the tree, so freely must we offer.
117
THE GATES OF DAWN
April 27
Scripture Reading — Deut. xxxi. 1-13
Thought for the Day
" The Lord thy God, He it is that doth go before thee, He will not
fail thee. " — Deut, xxxi. 6
" T N the year that King Uzziah died I saw the
J^ Lord sitting upon a throne." Moses died and
was buried, but the Lord God went before the
bereaved host. Paul is martyred, yet Timothy takes
the torch from his sinking hand and waves it high.
Kings, prophets, and apostles, mighty standard-
bearers faint, but the scent of mortality never infects
the great cause. Time writes no wrinkles on the
sublime front of the Gospel.
" Be strong and of a good courage." God is with
us, and the world is ours in Him. Let there be no
faintheartedness, no unbelief, no despair. We cannot
despair without unreasonableness and faithlessness.
The possession of Canaan by the Israelites was a
dim, imperfect foreshadowing of the irresistibility and
universality of Christ's dominion.
Let us not argue and speculate about the conquest
of India, China, Africa, and the rest of the regions of
the earth, as if their future conquest were an open
question ; let us mark them, claim them, go in and
possess them.
118
THE GATES OF DAWN
April 28
Scripture Reading — Jude 17-25
Thought for the Day
"Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of
our Lord Jesus Christ." — Jude 21.
AS against the heresies and lusts of ungodliness
which threaten the Church, the disciples are
called to personal vigilance and endeavour. " Keep
yourselves in the love of God." They are to work
out their own salvation. Fatalistic Orientals are
said to be poor marksmen, because believing that the
bullet will of necessity hit the predestined mark they
take little care to perfect themselves in shooting;
there is such a thing as leaving to heaven everything
that concerns our salvation, and neglecting our part.
If we do this we shall do badly. ''K.cQ'p yourselves"
" Unto Him that is able to guard you from
stumbling." But working out our own salvation, we
must remember at every step our dependence upon
God. If we fail to keep alive this consciousness we
may stumble and fall ; we shall stumble.
With what a soaring peroration this letter ends !
The apostles are continually breaking into glowing
poetry. Life in Christ will be completed with a
grand peroration.
119
THE GATES OF DAWN
April 29
Scripture Reading — Phil. iii. i7-iv. 9
Thought for the Day
"Our conversation is in heaven, from whence also we look for
the Saviour." — Phil. iii. 20
THE "high calling," or as the margin, "the
upward calling." Migrating birds fly high,
often very high, and they are said to do this for three
reasons. They get a vaster outlook and note more
clearly the points of direction. They are more secure
from enemies and hindrances. And the greater
refinement of the atmosphere enables them to
accelerate their flight.
The higher we soar the more clearly do we discern
the will of God and all the great truths by which we
live. Living in high altitudes we transcend tempta-
tions and obstructions which delay and impede
the more earthly minded. And our progress is all
the more marked and delightful in the higher realms
of thought and life.
" Swift as the eagle cuts the air,
We'll mount aloft to Thine abode."
Covet the purer, ampler air, everyway it is the best.
120
THE GATES OF DAWN
April 30
Scripture Reading— Luke xvil. 20-37
Thought for the Day
"Behold, I send My messenger before thy face, which shall
prepare thy way before thee." — Matt. xi. 10
TIMES of doubtfulness occur in every Christian
life. We live in an atmosphere of controversy
and are distressed by moods of unbelief We stand
in doubt of the things most confidently held by the
Church of God. By the mysteries of life we are
sometimes staggered, and even suspect our Master.
In these hours of questioning let us remember how
the faith of Christ has verified itself in character. It
has created in successive generations the fairest and
noblest types of character.
It verifies itself in experience. Hogarth, painting
the legend of the god descending in a shower of gold,
introduces an old woman trying one of the coins in
her teeth. The truths of our faith prove their
preciousness, submitted to the test of experience.
It verifies itself in action. The faith of Christ is
favourable in its influence upon all human institu-
tions, action, circumstance.
121
THE GATES OF DAWN
May 1
Scripture Reading — Isa. xl. i-8
Thought for the Day
" The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see
it together." — Isa. xl. 5
JOHN, whose distinctive teaching concerned the
fact and guilt of sin, was the first to recognise
the unique grandeur and mission of the
Messiah. He taught the doctrine of repentance, but
it was repentance unto remission, and remission of
sin in Christ. " Behold the Lamb of God, that
taketh away the sin of the world."
Here is " the glory of the Lord." " I paint," cried
Raphael. " I build," was the boast of Michael
Angelo. " I rule," cried Caesar. " I sing," cried
Homer. " I conquer," cried Alexander.
" I seek and save," cried Jesus Christ. This is the
glory of the Master and of His gospel, He knows
the secret of delivering us from the curse of sin, guilt,
shame ; the secret of eliciting and perfecting all the
glory of our nature.
Let me pray that I may " see " this glory of the
Lord.
122
THE GATES OF DAWN
May 2
Scripture Reading — ^John iii. 22-36
Thought for the Day
"He must increase." — ^John iii. 30
HOW vast, then, our privilege ! We have the
greatest of teachers. It is the fashion in
some quarters to exalt the founders of the great
religions of the East to an equality with Jesus Christ,
and to put the ethnic scriptures on a level with the
New Testament. Let us not be perplexed or misled.
Christ never looks greater than when you put a great
man by His side; and the glory of the New Testa-
ment is never more impressive than when you
compare it with human documents ; just as the sun
appears most splendid tried against lime-light.
" He must increase." That is true to-day. All
faiths must pale in Christ's diviner light, as the dawn
dispenses with the stars. Our religion is destined to
be the religion of the world, the religion of the ages.
Let me then rejoice in my lot, prove all the blessed-
ness of my privilege, and see to the full that in Christ
I possess my possessions.
123
THE GATES OF DAWN
May 5
Scripture Reading — Heb. ii. 10-18
Thought for the Day
"In that He Himself hath suffered being tempted, He Is able
to succour them that are tempted." — Heb. ii. 18
THE real and thorough humanity of our Lord is
a mighty consolation to His afflicted children.
He became one with us not that He might know us,
He did that by virtue of His divinity, but that we
might know that He knows us.
" In that He hath suffered, being tempted." He
knows what we want in the trying hour. We can-
not think that an angel could enter into our feelings
and fears. The Chinese ask, " What can a butterfly
know about ice?" It knows nothing. It belongs to
another sphere, and leaving the realm of sunlight and
roses can little understand the significance of battling
with frost and snow.
So the angel from Heaven fails to interpret the
mystery of human suffering and trial. Christ can.
He not only comprehends, but " He is able to succour."
We often can only look upon the tried without being
able to render them any help, but Christ can make us
share His own invincible courage and strength.
126
THE GATES OF DAWN
May 6
Scripture Reading — Matt. iv. 12-25
Thought for the Day
"In the region and shadoiv of death light ia sprung up."—
Matt. iv. 16
HOW dark was the world without Christ ! We
cannot realise the depth of the darkness,
having never known what it is to be without Him.
The inhabitants of the tropics cannot conceive a
Siberian winter, but it would be far easier for them
to do so than for us to imagine the state of mankind
without Him who is the light of all our seeing.
When unbelievers to-day refuse to acknowledge
the Sun of Rii;hteousness, they nevertheless walk in
its reflected light. How dense the gloom when that
orb of glory was yet entirely below the horizon !
" For the Lord God is a sun and shield ; the Lord
will give grace and glory." The advent of our Lord
has given this precious passage extraordinary signifi-
cation. The Eddystone Lighthouse, which now
glows like a star, showed once only a tallow candle.
The Church of God before the Incarnation threw
only a faint lustre on the vast night ; now in Christ
Jesus it is as the sun shining in its strength.
127
THE GATES OF DAWN
May 7
Scripture Reading— Mark ii. 13-17
Thought for the Day
"/ came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."—'
Marku. 17
HUMAN nature at its worst did not excite the
contempt of Jesus Christ ; there is an absolute
absence of cynicism in Him, and so far He differs
from certain philosophers ; so far, too, He is separated
from proud moralists and erring scientists. The
New Testament regards with reverence and sympathy
the saddest ruins of humanity.
Exactly here Christ finds His welcome sphere.
When Howard, the philanthropist, visited Exeter,
he found that the medical officer of the county gaol
had a clause inserted in his agreement with the
magistrates, exonerating him from attendance and
services during any outbreak of the gaol fever ! That
was, he stipulated to be excused when he was most
wanted. The opposite is the genius of Christianity
— it seeks out the darkest places, the worst nations,
the neediest souls.
Is not such a faith truly Divine ! Let me despair
of none, not even of myself.
128
THE GATES OF DAWN
May 8
Scripture Reading— Mark viii. 27-38
Thought for the Day
"Whosoever will come after Me, let him deny himself, and
take up his cross." — Mark viii. 34
IT is suggestive to read how immediately the
disciples responded to the Master's call, leaving
all to follow Him. It was certainly not much
financially that they renounced, but it was their all.
It was a complete and decisive renunciation.
And the New Testament tells us of no regrets in
those who sacrificed themselves for Christ. The
apostles never pathetically recite the story of what
they gave up for the Christian ministry. They
counted all as refuse. The ancient martyrs some-
times kissed the stake at which they suffered so
cruelly. This is the spirit in which we should lose,
suffer, and die for Christ's sake.
By thus renouncing all we gain all. The flower
of a worldly pleasure lost, blossoms into a celestial
paradise; the piece of worldly gain refused, glows
into streets and walls of gold. Nothing yields
higher interest than loving self-denials for the
highest claims.
129
THE GATES OF DAWN
May 9
Scripture Reading — Matt. v. i-i6
Thought for the Day
"Blessed are the peacemakers ; for they shall be called the
children of God." — Matt. v. 9
THE fundamental teaching of our Lord con-
cerning blessedness is that it is attained
through obedience, through spiritual obedience. The
world has ever thought that happiness was a matter
of happy circumstance, whilst our Lord has opened
our eyes to the fact of the inwardness of true felicity.
It is seen to be a question of disposition, temper,
feeling, principle and purpose.
If the soul is wrong, it is little matter what our
circumstances may be ; the outer grandeur only
mocks the interior desolation, the outer poverty only
completes the inner misery. If the soul is humble,
serious, pacific, pure, pitiful, coveting righteousness
and joying in sacrifice, the infinite peace fills and
rules the heart irrespective of the colour of life and
circumstances.
" Out of the heart are the issues of life." Spiritual
goodness is the flower and happiness its perfume.
130
THE GATES OF DAWN
May 10
Scripture Reading — Jas. ii. 1-5
Thought for the Day
"Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and
heirs of the Kingdom ?" — ^Jas. ii. 5
THE dignity and blessedness of human life spring
from the grandeur of the soul. Jesus Christ
once for all propounded the true philosophy of
clothes.
" What could I do more in royal robes, father,
than in this plain garment ? " said Edward I. to a
bishop who remonstrated with him on his attire as
unkingly. The kingly spirit, word, deed is the
main matter, not the gold embroidery of Asiatic
purple. The serene countenance not the jewelled
circle, the clean hands not the bracelet, the mag-
nanimous mind not the pageantry.
In estimating myself, let me survey myself in the
perfect law and not in the mirror. Let me honour
all men ; especially reverencing the noble, whether
they are rich or poor. It is astonishing how easily
we are dazzled by fine feathers, how easily misled
by poor clothing.
131
THE GATES OF DAWN
May 11
Scripture Reading— Acts ii. 1-21
Thought for the Day
"Not by might, nor by pou/er, but by My Spirit, saith the' Lord
of hosts." — Zech. iv, 6
THE baptism of the fulness of spiritual energy,
of moral force, is a mysterious and an extra-
ordinary event in the history of the race. "God
hath spoken once; twice have I heard this; that
power belongeth unto God." The Old Testament
knew the manifestation of this power in varying
measures, yet it never witnessed the revelation of
that power in its fulness.
The Romans with pick and spade could do little
in making roads through rocks and mountains. The
use of gunpowder in the seventeenth century raised
blasting to a science. The introduction of dynamite,
thrice as powerful as gunpowder, entirely revolu-
tionised that science. And then, again, nitro-glycerine,
half as strong again as dynamite, has largely super-
seded dynamite. In the moral world, in various
directions and ages, men have proved in various
degrees the spiritual power by which they subdue
sin and achieve holiness, but to us is the Spirit
given without measure.
Do I realise the saving, sanctifying Power?
132
THE GATES OF DAWN
May 12
Scripture Reading— Ps. I,
Thought for the Day
"Blessed is the man that ivalketh not in the counsel of the un-
godly. "—Fs. i. I
THE fulness of blessing lies in our just relation to
the highest law, the law of holiness expressed
in revelation, and whose supreme exponent and
example is Jesus Christ.
We must know the law. How much the Psalmist
has to say about knowing, learning, understanding
the law ! By much meditation and prayer we must
learn what the commandment means, and have our
conscience touched to fine issues.
We must love the law.
What an intense delight some men take in nature !
Says Spruce, the great botanist, "Throughout the
journey, whenever rains, swollen streams, and grumb-
ling Indians combined to overwhelm me with chagrin,
I found reason to thank Heaven which had enabled
me to forget for the moment all my troubles in the
contemplation of a simple moss."
But if the scientist can thus delight in a fragment
of nature, how much more ought we to delight in the
beautiful laws, the lovely graces, the glorious works,
of the moral world 1
133
THE GATES OF DAWN
May 13
Scripture Reading— Ps. xxxii.
Thought for the Day
"Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is
covered." — Ps. xxxii. i
THE condition of blessedness is purity, and when
blessedness has been forfeited through sin, it
can be regained only through repentance and pardon.
It is little use talking to men about happiness until
you can show them how to get rid of a guilty
conscience, and of the diseased, depraving principle
which infects our nature and life.
In the South Seas is one of the most beautiful
islands of the world, but it is inhabited by lepers. It
would be mockery to tell the sufferers to look at the
flowers and be happy. They first want health.
In the Bay of Naples is another island, a gem set
in a golden sea, but it is wholly tenanted by convicts.
It would be cruel to bid them be happy. They first
want liberty. Then talk to them about sunrises, sun-
sets, and all the glories of sky and sea.
We want first the peaceful conscience, the smile of
God, the principle of health and freedom established
in the soul by the power of the Holy Ghost. Then
dawns Heaven.
134
THE GATES OF DAWN
May 14
Scripture Reading — i Pet. iv. 12-19
Thought for the Day
*'God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." — Rev. xxi. 4
IF in any real sense we are partakers of Christ's
sufferings we may rejoice, and that joy no form
or degree of suffering can banish.
The joy that is contingent on pleasant conditions
is not the true or lasting joy. A recent writer dwells
on gardening in the shade. He complains that few
understand the garden possibilities of shade ; they oc-
cupy the ground with a few excessively monotonous
evergreens, and forget how many and how delightful
are the plants that will grow in the shade, and how
innumerable are the advantages it offers to the
gardener in providing a succession of even those
flowers that love the sunlight.
Our Lord taught us the art of gardening in the
shade, whilst men had hitherto thought that the
coveted flowers of felicity could be gathered only in
the sunlight. Under the darkest clouds, within the
densest shadows, we may grow the purple blossoms
of delightsomeness, the richest fruits of goodness,
*' supposing Him to be the gardener,"
13^
THE GATES OF DAWN
May 15
Scripture Reading — Rev. vii. 9-17
Thought for the Day
"Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God." — Matt.
V. 8
THIS is a passage to think about rather than to
write about. The bulbs that have been sub-
jected to the bitterest winter often bear the rarest
flowers, and those who come out of great tribulation
are most radiant in felicity.
It is perfect gladness. " And God shall wipe
away every tear." How many tears, tears for mani-
fold sorrows, dim our eyes ! He shall wipe them all
away. Sorrow shall cry, " The tears are drying in my
eyes " ; sighing shall complain, " I can't get my
breath " ; and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. It
is everlasting joy. Our gardeners to-day are busy
attempting to make roses, carnations, and sweet
flowers generally, evergreen. That problem in the
sphere of the soul has been solved in Christ.
Let me be resigned, brave, hopeful. It has not
entered our heart to conceive the grand things which
are close to us, ours for ever.
136
THE GATES OF DAWN
May 16
Scripture Reading— Matt. v. 17-26
Thought for the Day
"/ am not come to destroy, but to fulfil." — RTatt. v. 17
TRUE religion is no mere mystic passive dream
of devotion — a gazing in rapt reverence on the
mystery of godliness, and no more. It is a system
also of high, comprehensive, delicate law, which de-
mands daily determined obedience. It is a doing
and a being.
The' righteousness of Christ is excelling ; it signifies
infinitely more than civil law, social courtesy, or
ecclesiastical discipline. It means a noble heart
governing daily life in its most delicate relations
and situations. It is no "rule of thumb," but of finer
discriminations than the most exquisite instruments
of science.
Let me not mistakenly spend life in arguing down
and arguing away the lofty laws of Christ. Let me
not labour to accommodate them to my weakness.
Let me daily pray for the grace that will bring me up
to the height of the law, and not attempt to bring
down the law to my frailty.
137
THE GATES OF DAWN
May 17
Scripture Reading — Matt. v. 38-48
Thought for the Day
"Love your enemies; bless them that curse you." — Matt. v. 44
ONE day an aide-de-camp of the Emperor Nicolas
threw himself at his sovereign's feet, and
begged as an extraordinary favour permission to fight
a duel. The Emperor immediately and emphatically
refused.
" But, sire, I am dishonoured ; I must fight," cried
the disconsolate aide.
The Czar frowned, and asked him what he meant.
" I have been struck in the face," was the ready
reply.
" Well," said the Emperor, " for all that, thou shalt
not fight ; but come — come with me." And, taking
him by the arm, the Emperor led him into the
presence of the Court, which was assembled in an
adjoining saloon.
Then, in view of the flower of his realm, the
Emperor kissed the cheek of the aide-de-camp which
had received the blow. " Go now," he exclaimed,
" and be at peace ; the affront has been effaced."
The knowledge of God's infinite patience and love
to us and the race, the consciousness of His sympathy
in any injustice we may suffer, the sense of His over-
flowing love to His wronged children, ought to inspire
us to superhuman excellence. His kiss settles all.
138
THE GATES OF DAWN
May 18
Scripture Reading— Ps. cxix. 33-48
Thought for the Day
"/ ivfl/ delight myself in Thy commandments." — Ps. cxix. 47
IT is quite impossible that memory should retain
all the precepts of the law, and that we should
be able to reproduce them on the spot and at the
moment ; but we may have our eye so filled with
the beauty of holiness, our mind so saturated with
its spirit, our heart so kindled with its love, that we
shall obey instinctively every commandment.
The scholar in writing does not recur every
moment to the grammatical law which determines
the construction of the sentences in which he ex-
presses himself; the grammar is in his mind, and is
unconsciously obeyed; the painter does not with
every touch consult the special canon which applies
to the particular work on which he is engaged ; he
obeys the precept whilst forgetting it.
So let the law be written on my heart, so let my
mind be saturated with its truth and beauty, that I
shall in the infinitely varied situations of life do the
becoming thing.
Obedience is the secret. Not slavish obedience, but
sympathetic, loving, eager obedience. " His delight is
in the law of the Lord." May the law of holiness be
to me welcome as the light, sweet as the flowers, more
to be desired than much fine gold 1
139
THE GATES OF DAWN
May 19
Scripture Reading — i Sam. xxiv. 1-19
Thought for the Day
"If thine enemy hunger, feed him ; if he thirst, give him drinli."
— Rom. xii. 20
THE history of David and Saul shows how in
the long-run patience, long suffering, mag-
nanimity prevail ; the throne was not lost, but won.
Revenge is the most odious of the vices. It is
the dark passion of the savage ; the peculiar disgrace
of low civilisations. A large part of the misery of
Eastern and Southern nations is occasioned by it.
Ought not the opposite virtue of forbearance and
forgiveness, then, to appear as beautiful as vindictive-
ness appears hideous? Is not magnanimity the
characteristic of the noblest of men and nations ?
David respected Saul because he was royal. He
vi^as " the Lord's anointed," and therefore must not
be touched. But is there not a kingship about all
men, a sacred greatness, a divinity that doth hedge
them ? We must stand on our guard lest we become
regicides. Let me beware of cherishing resentment,
of pursuing my enemy with rancour, of taking the
law into my own hands. Far beyond this, let me
be clement, returning good for evil.
140
THE GATES OF DAWN
May 20
Scripture Reading— Matt. vi. 1-15
Thought for the Day
"When thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before
thee as the hypocrites do , . . that they may haue glory of men.
Verily I say unto you, They haue their reward." — Matt. vi. 2
NOTHING further was to be expected. They
coveted the praise of men ; they got it, and
so the account was squared. True Hfe is the " laying
up " of treasure ; the luxury of doing good in a
right spirit is the foretaste of a perpetual feast;
substantially everything is to come.
The almsgiving that comes up before God is with-
out selfishness. It is without calculation, grudging,
or ungraciousness. It gives as the sun its light, the
flower its fragrance, dropping as the gentle rain,
bubbling up as the sparkling waters of the spring.
It is without pride. It glorifies God, it sympathises
with the needy, it is the fruit of a heart at leisure
from itself. It is without ostentation. It does good
and throws it into- the sea, knowing that the smile
of God is enough.
What blessing is better than a big heart? Let
me seek such a heart, and let me take care that I
do not starve it.
141
THE GATES OF DAWN
May 21
Scripture Reading — ^John i, 29-34
Thought for the Day
"/ sau/ and bare record that this is the Son of God."— John i. 34
THE awakening of the soul to the glory of Christ
is a meinorable event in any life. " And I
knew Him not." John certainly knew Christ before
this in a technical sense; he knew of Him and had
a certain superficial acquaintance with Him ; but
John did not know Him, did not appreciate the real
grandeur and mission of the Messiah, In a given
hour the Baptist's eyes were opened to the glory
of the Lord.
We may have a knowledge of Christ, be indeed
familiar with Him, and yet not know Him as the
Son of God and the Saviour of the soul. " Have I
been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not
known me, Philip ? " We only know Christ when we
know His divine glory, His sacrificial death, His
pardoning grace. His sanctifying power, and know
these great truths in relation to our own personal
needs and salvation. Knowing Him thus really, we
may know Him more fully, with fresh flashes of
illumination.
T42
THE GATES OF DAWN
May 22
Scripture Reading— Matt, xxiii. 23-39
Thought for the Day
"The Lord tooketh on the heart." — i Sam. xvi. 7
OUR Lord can be satisfied only with perfect
sincerity; we must be genuine, honest, having
no decoration other than the natural shining forth
of a superior spirit and character.
A recent writer extols Japanese artists for their
method of bringing out the beauty of the natural
wood ; they trust everything to the quality of the
material itself, treating the wood as we do precious
marbles, and adding no ornamentation of carving
or paint. In the end the wood under their hand
becomes quite as wonderful a material as our ex-
pensive marbles. And this writer concludes, " In
Japan one comes to the final conclusion that stains,
paints, and varnish are nothing short of artistic
crimes."
This is precisely the position of our Lord in regard
to character. There must be interior purity, truth,
sincerity, love, reality, and beauty in the very grain
and texture of the soul, and that will suffice. Here
"stains, paints, and varnish" are moral crimes.
143
THE GATES OF DAWN
May 23
Scripture Reading— Isa. i. 10-20
Thought for the Day
f Cease to do evil, learn to do well."— Isa, i. 16, 17
WORSHIP is a ghastly mockery without moral
faithfulness. It is truly strange how many
permit themselves the appearance of piety, whilst
their character is grievously at fault.
Great painters created altar-pieces representing
Our Lord and His saints, masterpieces of consum-
mate purity and beauty, and yet they themselves
were of infamous character. Famous literary masters
have written charmingly concerning piety and ethics,
whilst ^ personally glaringly immoral in practice.
Ecclesiastics most punctilious in ritual have yet at
the same time lived a sensual life and done out-
rageous deeds.
Character must certify worship, or worship is an
insult to high Heaven. How sternly revelation keeps
its eye on righteousness! It permits nothing to
blind us as to the supreme thing. Let me bring
this jealousy into my life. If I regard iniquity in
my heart the fire in the censer becomes unhallowed,
the Litany profane, the Sacraments sacrilege.
144
THE GATES OF DAWN
May 24
Scripture Reading— Luke xviii. 9-14
Thought for the Day
"God be merciful to me a sinner. " — Luke xviii. 13
AT the root of all true prayer is the consciousness
of sin, the hunger of the soul, the sense of
humility and dependence.
We are not likely to use the language of the
Pharisee, but we may easily glide into his spirit. In
true prayer we think of our sin, not of our merit. In
true prayer we think of our own sin, not the sin of
others. In true prayer we think of our sin in God's
sight, and do not pray as did the publican, " with
himself." We stand before the great white throne
and bemoan our shame, not before a mirror to con-
template our beauty.
We remember our sin, we confess it, with a contrite
heart we lament and forsake it, and it is then that we
find the gift of justification and all other blessings.
How often do we miss the benediction because we
come to the throne feeling rich and increased in
goods and having need of nothing? The law beats
us to our knees that the gospel may put a crown of
pure gold upon our head.
145
THE GATES OF DAWN
May 25
Scripture Reading— Ps. xxxiv.
Thought for the Day
The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God."— Vs. xiv. i
HOW foolish prayer looks to the carnal eye!
A man on his knees soliciting blessing from
the Invisible, the Unknown !
Yes, and how foolish a telegraph clerk looks
standing by his strange instrument working a crank,
click, click, click ! Very foolish, perhaps, to an
ignoramus, but not so to the instructed. It is all
sublime, although the message despatched may
sometimes appear trivial.
So, only infinitely more wise and wonderful, is the
saint in the act of prayer. Ethereal chords bind
world to world, star to star, sun to sun, and all worlds
to Him who is the Life and Ruler of the universe,
as electric wires bind city to city, and the saint on
his knees thrills his prayer along these chords into
the ears of the Almighty.
Thus all spiritual and worldly good, all blessing
for time and eternity, become ours. " Shall not want
any good thing." What a charter ! Let me observe
the condition and pray always. All things are ours,
for we are Christ's, and Christ is God's.
146
THE GATES OE J)AVVN
May 26
Scripture Reading — Matt. vi. 19-34
Thought for the Day
" Ye cannot serue God and mammon. " — Matt. vi. 24
THE highest Hfe becomes impossible when we
cherish in our heart a secret covetousness.
In art a sordid motive is fatal to perfection. To
make a brilliant social position his end is to stultify
the artist's genius and fame. The greatest artists
decline to produce "pot-boilers."
Commercialism in science is equally bad. The
greatest experimentalists worked with a simple
passion for truth, entirely neglecting the idea of the
market value of their research. The very thought of
mercenary advantage acts like a blight on intellectual
life.
How impossible, then, is it to serve God and
mammon 1 Two supreme passions cannot exist
within us at the same time. Gold is often a by-
product of godliness, but if covetousness, worldiness,
and ambition are cherished in our hearts, godliness
becomes impossible.
Let my soul live for God, for Him alone, and I
leave altogether with Him the more or less of earthly
good.
147
THE GATES OF DAWN
May 27
Scripture Reading— Hag. L
Thought for the Day
"Sufficient unto the day is tlie evil thereof," — Matt. vi. 34
HOW often fears for the future render us mean
in our dealings with the cause of God, which
is also the cause of man ! If we could only feel
certain about to-morrow we might justly do more
generously to-day. So we check and quench the
finest impulses of the heart.
But may we not feel certain about the future ? It
has been well said that God never permits a man to
be ruined by his virtues, and certainly we cannot
believe that He will permit any of His children to be
ruined by their magnanimity and deeds of love.
Solicitude and stinginess easily bring into life a
mysterious blight ; they will never really enrich us.
Let me not nervously put away the alabaster box
of precious ointment with misgivings that one day I
may need it for myself; let me lovingly, and even
daringly, break it to-day in honour of my Lord and
in furtherance of His Kingdom, If I do, as surely as
the world stands, He will never see me want.
148
THE GATES OF DAWN
May 28
Scripture Reading— Luke xii. 16-34
Thought for the Day
"Provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the
heavens that faileth not." — Luke xii. 33
SURELY nothing in this world is more insane
than setting our hearts on material fleeting
treasure.
The Greeks spoke of Plutus, the god of riches, as
a fickle divinity, representing him as blind, to
intimate that he distributes his favours indiscrimin-
ately ; as lame, to denote the slowness with which he
approaches ; and winged, to imply the velocity with
which he flies away. And are we to put our trust in
such a god as this ? In all the pantheon of idolatry
no god is so rotten as the golden god,
" T/ie JiedgeJwg' s hoard" is a Gaelic saying of
significant force. It is expressive of the folly of the
worldly-minded, who part with all at the grave, as
the hedgehog is compelled to drop its burden of
crab-apples at the narrow entrance of its hole. How
strange is the infatuation of heaping up treasure !
Let us strive to be " rich toward God."
149
THE GATES OF DAWN
May 29
Scripture Reading — Rev. iii. 14-22
Thought for the Day
"They that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare." —
I Tim. vi. 9
"'nr^HE love of money can only be remedied by
J[ ' the expulsive power of a new affection.'
If we would not have the ivy creep on the ground we
must erect an object which it can embrace, and by
embracing, ascend ; and if we would detach the heart
from embracing the dust, we must give to it another
and a nobler object."
The Scriptures describe the nobler objects to which
we should cling : the knowledge and love of the Giver ;
the cultivation of sublime qualities of character and
principles of conduct ; the service of our generation
in the highest things ; the laying up in store for
ourselves against the time to come ; the living all
life in the fear of God and in the sense of the eternal.
The spiritual ideal and hope is eternal truth and
life, and if we covet earnestly the things which are
above we shall not be much tempted to let our heart
creep along the ground.
150
THE GATES OF DAWN
May 30
Scripture Reading — Luke xviii. 18-30
Thought for the Day
"Distribute unto the poor, and tfiou shaft have treasure in
heaven." — Luke xvi. 22
HOW immense the change wrought in the
Christian nations by the example and spirit
of Christ, in the attitude of the rich and powerful
towards the needy in any sense !
Think how the Greeks and Romans regarded their
slaves as cattle, how harshly they treated the captive,
how they despised the poor. That attitude has been
entirely reversed, and if the change has not been
effected by Jesus Christ, by whom has it been
effected ?
Let us seek to be imbued with the spirit of
sympathy and self-sacrifice. The ruler in the text
stifled a gracious emotion and lost a grand oppor-
tunity. Whenever the Spirit of God excites us to
holy and magnanimous renunciation and endeavour,
let us be instantly obedient to the heavenly vision
and impulse, lest the precious opportunity be gone
for ever.
151
THE GATES OF DAWN
May 81
Scripture Reading — Ps. xxxvii. 1-20
Thought for the Day
"Delight thyself in the Lord ; and He shall give thee the desires
of thine heart." — Ps. xxxvii. 4
WE must not measure the success of life by
financial or social success. It is infinitely
better to possess a modest estate and status with
honour than to hasten to be rich by feverish and
false methods.
The Gaelic proverb is indisputably true: Better
the long, clean road than tlie short, dirty one. The
short cut to pleasure, wealth, or greatness is at once
a great temptation and a great mistake. How many
who try it never get out of it ! They stick to the
mud, slip in the mire, perish miserably in the slough,
having never reached the glittering things of their
desire ; or, if they do reach the prize, how the dirt
clings to them, spoiling all.
Let me keep contentedly to the clean road, long
or short, for whether or no it leads to earthly
eminence or wealth, it certainly leads to glory,
honour, immortality, eternal life.
152
THE GATES OF DAWN
June 1
Scripture Reading— Ps. xxxvii. 21-40
Thought for the Day
"Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness ; and
all these things shall be added unto you. " — Matt. vi. 33
THE newspaper recently told of a poor lunatic
being found on the railway line gathering
stones together with great excitement. He main-
tained that he had discovered a gold mine !
How far removed from this insanity are they who
trust in gold and make fine gold their confidence?
Their perverted imagination beholds the final treasure
of existence in the dust of the earth.
Let me never forget that the real wealth of life is
in the things of wisdom and personal worth. Let
me seek first the kingdom of God and His righteous-
ness. If then I have but little, the real wants of life
are little. If I have more, I have a greater instrument
of usefulness. If I have nothing, I have yet a king-
dom, a world within of power and peace and hope.
May I be saved from the illusions of worldliness.
May I be a true alchemist, ever converting the baser
metals of earth into the fine gold of moral worth.
153
THE GATES OF DAWN
June 2
Scripture Reading— Matt. vii. 1-12
Thought for the Day
"All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you,
do ye even so to them." — Matt. vii. 12
THE place that the New Testament gives to the
matter of criticising one another is very re-
markable. Never before in the history of morals had
this question occupied the position of importance
that is now assigned it ; indeed, so far as we know,
this particular phase of conduct had never before
been recognised. In the teaching of our Lord a
new view of duty emerges.
Goethe frankly confesses: " It is only necessary to
grow old to become indulgent. I see no fault com-
mitted that I have not committed myself." How
much truth is implied in a confession of this order
we must all acknowledge. If, then, in fact or in
feeling, in thought or in deed, in motive or desire, we
have been guilty of pretty nearly all the failings of
our fellows, how silent ought we to be or how tender
in judging them! As Shakespeare puts it: "Wilt
thou whip thine own faults in other men ? " To con-
demn our brother is to condemn ourselves.
154
THE GATES OF DAWN
June 3
Scripture Reading — Matt. vii. 13-20
Thought for the Day
"Ouercome evil with good." — Rom. xii. 21
BY love, long suffering, uprightness and purity of
life, the spirit of forgiveness and forbearance,
we must meet and overcome the unkindnesses and
injustice we may be called upon to witness or to
suffer.
At Kew Gardens, among the striking pictures of
Miss North is one representing a fig tree which has
nearly strangled a poison tree, in a fork of whose
branches it started life as a seeding epiphyte. It
soon grew apace, and sent down many roots to the
earth, where they obtained food and grew in size,
finally enclosing and crushing the trunk of the nurse-
tree. So evil is to be overcome by the good. We
must seek to master evil by beauty, love, and right-
eousness, as God does.
To do this we must strike our roots deep in the
soil of the truth of revelation, we must daily in
prayer refresh our branches in the dew and rain of
heaven, we must grow in power and grace in the
sunshine of the Lord.
155
THE GATES OF DAWN
June 4
Scripture Reading— Luke xi. 5-13
Thought for the Day
"Every one that asketh receiueth ; and he that aeeheth fndeth."
— Luke xi. 10
THE men who succeed in life are the men who
will not be denied. They persist through
difficulty, delay, and disaster, and, as a rule, finally
succeed.
Our inventions are the fruits of indomitable genius,
our discoveries the triumphs of persistence, our science
and art the splendid consequences of infinite patience,
our national victories the achievements of warriors
who did not know when they were beaten. The
entire history of civilisation and progress is made up
of the biographies of men in all spheres who would
not accept repulse.
Ought we not to bring into the realm of prayer
and service more of this spirit of resolution and
persistence? "The kingdom of heaven suffereth
violence, and men of violence take it by force."
Ordinary life is a failure without a measure of asser-
tion, audacity, perseverance ; and the spiritual life
demands bold and positive elements. "For every
one that asketh receiveth."
156
THE GATES OF DAWN
June 5
Scripture Reading — Rom. xv. 1-13
Thought for the Day
"Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edifica-
tion." — Rom. XV. 2
THE Apostle everywhere reveals anxiety that
the Church should remain united, unanimous,
sympathetic, and peaceful. He is not nearly so
troubled about the hostile attitude of the world
outside as he is that within the brotherhood cordial
relations should be maintained. He knew that
nothing injures the Church like interior discord.
Jungle fires are said to be caused by the dead
stems of the bamboo rubbing together during high
winds, and thus kindling flame. So members of the
Church who have not much of their Master's spirit
provoke and agitate one another until the forest of
the Lord's house is destroyed as by fire.
Therefore we must beware of dogmatism and
masterfulness. We must be willing to take up the
burden of the tender scruples of the weak ones, and
not aim at consulting our own pleasure only. We
must try to make our neighbour happy, keeping in
view his true interests, aiming still at building up the
structure of his spiritual life.
157
THE GATES OF DAWN
June 6
Scripture Reading — Luke xiii. 18-30
Thought for the Day
"Striue to enter in at the strait gate." — Luke xiii. 24
THE world has " postern gates " by which we are
promised entrance to heaven's highway ; there
is an ecclesiastical "lych gate," and various schools
of philosophers and moralists have " wicket gates,"
which are much commended for convenience and
facility, but Christ's strait gate and narrow way alone
lead to life. Christ Himself being " the door," and
" the way."
So strait and narrow that Vanity cannot enter with
all her bravery of pride ; Selfishness cannot thrust in
her swollen shape ; Appetite fails to wedge in her
groaning table; Worldliness is arrested because she
cannot smuggle through her darling muck-rake. It
is the path of sublime self-renunciation, of noble self-
denial ; of the love of God and man, and that only.
The fact is eternal life is the present life of the soul
full-grown. Glory is grace in fruition. Heaven is
enfolded in a pure heart, as the royal oak is cradled
in the acorn. There is no Kingdom before us except
as there is one in us. The one imperative question is,
Is the sovereignty of Jesus set up now in our soul ?
158
THE GATES OF DAWN
June 7
Scripture Reading— Jas. iv.
Thought for the Day
"The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable,
gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits,
without partiality, and without hypocrisy." — Jas. iii. 17
WE often see in men strange inconsistency;
they are admirable in respect to certain
qualities, whilst painfully destitute of others; they
reveal a good spirit in some relations, and a bad one
in others equally important ; moral on one point,
they are immoral on another. On one branch fruits
of Eden, on another the apples of Sodom ; they
mingle the river of life with the waters of the Dead
Sea.
Christianity does not sanction this irregularity ; it
demands singleness of purpose, unity of character,
uniformity of life.
True Christians are one throughout ; they reveal
one spirit, obey one law, are dominated by one master
passion, contemplate one end. The fountain may be
turbid sometimes, there may be sour clusters on the
tree, but if we are Christ's in sincere and full consecra-
tion, even in our faults and failures, the reality of our
goodness will make itself felt. We shall not excuse
our failures, but strive not to repeat them. The
resiilt will be, '* Without partiality and without
hypocrisy."
159
THE GATES OF DAWN
June 8
Scripture Reading— i John ii. i-ii
Thought for the Day
"Hereby we do know that ive know Him, if we keep Hia
commandments." — i John ii, 3
AMONG moralists, some reject the feelings of the
heart, and are satisfied with mere obedience ;
whilst others resolve all morality into the feeling of
love, and reject obedience. Both are wrong; they
have reached only half of the truth.
The New Testament enjoins the complete truth :
"Whoso keepeth His word, in him verily hath the
love of God been perfected." We must keep the
word, be obedient to the commandment, be true both
to the letter and spirit of the law. Christianity is a
system of law ; its first word is duty. But, at the
same time, it demands and excites the feelings of the
heart. The love of God is the availing motive ; the
constraining force of the Christian life. The secret
of the strength of the saints is their consciousness of
God's love to them.
Through love we become dutiful, and through
obedience love is perfected. Then at last holiness
becomes our very nature, obedience an instinct, duty
delight. " Thy statutes become our songs in the
house of our pilgrimage."
160
THE GATES OF DAWN
June 9
Scripture Reading — Jas. i. 16-27
Thought for the Day
"Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your
own selues." — Jas. i. 22
SOME time ago a smart-looking youth was
charged at the Mansion House with having
stolen a ring from the shop of a jeweller in Leaden-
hall Street. The youngster was examining a tray of
rings, and contrived to slip one of these into his
pocket. When apprehended, he had in his pocket a
card on which was written, " Golden Rules — truthful-
ness, honesty, industry, sobriety, and, above all, avoid
bad company." With an affectation of innocence, he
told the magistrate that he had studied the " golden
rules " that were found upon him, and he was there-
fore not likely to commit a robbery. The magistrate
considered that he was after the wrong kind of gold,
and that a further study of those rules was necessary
in the House of Correction.
What a picture of the manner in which thousands
of us dupe ourselves ! We have golden rules in our
knowledge, memory, tongue, profession, but forget
them, violate them, in daily life and conduct. " De-
ceiving your own selves." Yes ; but not deluding
those who know us — certainly not deluding God.
161
THE GATES OF DAWN
June 10
Scripture Reading — Luke vi. 39-49
Thought for the Day
"A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bn'ngeth
forth that which is good." — Luke vi. 45
OUR Lord teaches that the heart determines the
life, and that if the Hfe is to be abundant in
fruit the heart must be rich in feeling.
Do we give due attention to our interior life,
strengthening our faith, feeding our love, renewing
our confidence and hope?
Certain plants are known as air plants, because
they merely cling to trees and rocks, without any
very evident source of nutrition, but botanists know
that really they absorb matter that collects on the
surfaces to which they attach themselves.
There is no living on air. We must have root, and
draw into ourselves fresh life. Day by day we must
replenish the treasury within if life is to be wealthy
in good works. There are ornate cisterns of taste,
cisterns of wrought gold, cisterns embowered with
the roses of pleasure and fashion, but they all leak
and mock. As I drink in the spirit of my Lord I
find the life indeed.
162
THE GATES OF DAWN
June 11
Scripture Reading — i Cor. Hi. 9-23
Thought for the Day
"Other foundation can no man lay than that I'a laid, which is
Jesus Christ." — i Cor. iii. 11
WE are to be careful as to where we build, and
with what we build. The Eddystone Light-
house was once demolished because it did not properly
rest on the rock ; and if we are not built on Christ —
His doctrine, merit, fellowship, promise — we must be
confounded. Let me be sure that I am morticed
into the impregnable Rock !
Careful with what we build. Eddystone Lighthouse
perished once because it was built of wrong material
— constructed of wood, it was burnt. How much
often enters into the Christian creed that is not jewel
or gold — fancies, speculations, notions, utterly worth-
less ! How much often enters into the Christian life
that is superficial, freakish, trivial, inferior, and
inharmonious ! Strange combinations of the true and
false, the precious and the paltry, the beautiful and
the vulgar, the essential and the absurd !
Lord, grant me grace to build on the granite — to
build on Thee.
163
THE GATES OF DAWN
June 12
Scripture Reading— Mark i. 21-31
Thought for the Day
"All power is giuen unto Me in heaven and in earth."— Matt.
xxviii. 18
JESUS did not treat slight ailments, only the most
profound, obstinate, ghastly maladies. He did
not concern Himself with simple aches and
pains, but proved His divine authority and efficacy
in distinguishing leprosy, palsy, fever, blindness, and
terrible psychic derangements.
Numbers of reformers are prepared to deal with
the superficial ailments of humanity — with its tooth-
aches, sores and scratches ; but only One dares attack
the deep, stubborn, chronic diseases of our nature,
the fundamental evils of the race. He alone is the
grand physician of the world-lazaretto, the healer of
the incurable, despairing of no man.
Let me, then, seek in Him for the grace that shall
root out the most malign morbid humours of the soul.
The darkest and deadliest elements of evil He can
rebuke and expel. " Lord, that I might be clean 1 "
164
THE GATES OF DAWN
June 13
Scripture Reading — Mark i, 32-45
Thought for the Day
"Who forgiveth all thine iniquities, who healeth all thy
diseases, " — Ps. ciii. 3
" T T E healed divers diseases." Just as physical
J[ J^ weakness and distemper betray themselves
in manifold diseases, so the virus of sin in our nature
reveals itself in a variety of irregular passions and
appetites — in one falsehood, in another intemperance,
in a third uncleanness.
But the grace of God in Jesus Christ cures a//
infirmity. In the power of His Spirit He makes
our heart pure, and out of that deep central health
we become " whole," no matter what the kind of our
sickness.
Whilst potentially, seminally, every species of evil
is in us latent, lethargic, yet depravity usually shows
itself in some one special way determined by our
individual constitution and peculiar circumstance.
Whatever may be " the sin that so easily besets us,"
let us take it to Him who healeth "all manner of
sickness."
165
THE GATES OF DAWN
June 14
Scripture Reading — Luke xvii. 11-19
Thought for the Day
" Vilere there not ten cleansed ? but where are the nine ?"— Luke
xvii. 17
" Ah, how guilty we are of thanklessness !
I hate ingratitude more in a man,
Than lying, vainness, babbling, drunkenness,
Or any taint of vice whose strong corruption
Inhabits our frail blood."
SO the great dramatist, piercing to the very
essence of this sin, finds it most hideous,
although we are apt to think of it so hghtly.
But whilst I so often forget God's benefits, do I not
most of all overlook the grace so continually vouch-
safed me, and by virtue of which I am happily
restrained and saved? Is anything in life more
wonderful and precious than our daily salvation from
the dominion and power of sin ? To think that my
Master, by His grace, word, and discipline, is con-
tinually cleansing me from the foul leprosy of sin !
This is surely the grandest boon of all !
Do I justly recognise this daily salvation ? Do I
glorify God for it with a full heart? Do I count it
my chief blessing and celebrate it as such ?
166
THE GATES OF DAWN
June 15
Scripture Reading— Mark x. 46-52
Thought for the Day
"Without faith it is impossible to please God." — Heb. xi. 6
'"T^HY faith hath made thee whole." In the
J^ miracles of Christ faith is the pivot on which
everything turns. If the suppliant can put a true
large trust, or even a true trembling trust, in the
Redeemer, nothing is impossible ; where there is no
faith there are not many mighty works.
"Without faith it is impossible to please God."
That need be no mystery. Whom can we please
without faith? Will a parent be pleased with a child
that fails to trust him ? Will a captain be satisfied
with a crew and passengers who do not believe in
their pilot?
We have every conceivable ground to rest implicitly
in the promise of God. We have in all terrestrial
things. Does He not daily fulfil His word and reveal
His faithfulness ? And have we not firm ground for
confidence in His perfecting grace and promised
glory? Preserve my soul; for I am bound to Thee
by the tie of covenant love.
167
THE GATES OF DAWN
June 16
Scripture Reading — Isa. xxxv.
Thought for the Day
"Then shall the lame man leap as an hart." — Isa. xxxv. 6
WHAT richness and fulness of blessing in
Christ! He restores the soul by His
matchless grace, and then joy is possible — nay,
inevitable.
We have secular writers who confidently exhort
us to be joyful. They beseech us to put on holiday
attire, to crown ourselves with roses, to eat, drink
and be merry, without once attempting to deal with
the interior disease and discord which are of the
essence of our misery.
Think of exhorting captives in prison to be merry ;
first they want liberty. Think of beseeching the
patients in hospital to enjoy themselves ; first they
require health. Think of summoning lunatics in the
asylum to rational gladness ; they first want the
restoration of a right mind.
Our Lord goes to the root of the matter; He
cleanses the heart of the foul stuff, of its discontents
and passions. Then come sparkling eyes, ravished
ears, then the once lame leaps as a hart, and the
tongue of the erstwhile dumb sings.
1 68
THE GATES OF DAWN
June 17
Scripture Reading— Ps. ciii.
Thought for the Day
"Himself took our infirmities and bare our sicfinesses." — Matt.
viii. 17
JEREMIAH reminded sinning, suffering Israel,
"Thou hast no healing medicines." And again,
" In vain shalt thou use many medicines, for
thou shalt not be cured." In no sphere is there so
much quackery as in the moral and religious sphere.
Many medicines, but no healing medicines ; many
physicians, but no real cures.
In some of our hospitals hang fine pictures, but
nobody expects them to cure agues, fevers, cancers,
and similar maladies ; so the creations of art, the
charms of literature, the prescriptions of philosophy,
the nostrums of politics will not avail against the
deep, rancorous, passionate workings and outgoings
of the fallen soul.
What a healer, restorer, comforter is the Lord !
Here is the hope of mankind, and mine. Nothing
meets my case except His words which are spirit
and life, His love and grace which strengthen the
soul, His salvation which saveth to the uttermost.
169
THE GATES OF DAWN
June 18
Scripture Reading— Matt. viii. 18-27
Thought for the Day
"He maheth the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are
still." — Ps. cvii. 29
IN the religion of Egypt a conspicuous place was
given to what was known as the Boat of the
Sun. This vessel was supposed to be built with
magic material, it carried the Sun-god, and whatever
souls embarked in it were conveyed safely through
the perils of unknown worlds to a haven of final
safety and happiness.
This mythological boat shadows forth a glorious
truth, which is the consolation and hope of Christ's
people. To sail in the same boat with Him is the
strength and assurance of the believer in life and
death ; we cannot perish when He is the pilot.
The highest ambition of the Egyptian was to
obtain a passage in the Boat of the Sun ; what harm
of fire and flood could they suffer with the Sun-god
on board ! O joy to be near Christ, to be shut up
with Him, in Him, as Noah was in the Ark, to
share His infinite tranquillity! In the fiercest storm
with Him we are in port
170
THE GATES OF DAWN
June 19
Scripture Reading— Ps. cvii. 1-3 1
Thought for the Day
" They cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and He saueth them
out of their distresses." — Ps. cvii. 19
WE are apt to forget the benign design of the
storms which agitate the ocean. Whatever
disasters are implied by the storm, a protracted calm
is most pernicious : stagnating, the very sea begins
to rot.
Quiet epochs often tend to enervate and corrupt
society. Pacific conditions often develop the atheistic
and materialistic temper, whilst public calamities
give to the mind a strong impulse towards religion.
Neither are long periods of rest and prosperity best
for the individual, so far as his highest interests are
concerned.
" Then I said, I shall die in my nest." Job's words
contained more truth than at the moment he under-
stood. All that is grand in a man is apt to die in
a downy nest. Therefore it was that God broke up
the patriarch's nest and sent him flying before the
tempest.
171
THE GATES OF DAWN
June 20
Scripture Reading — Luke viii. 26-40
Thought for the Day
"Shew how great things God hath done unto t/ree."— Luke
viii. 39
THE miracles effected by Christ in the natural
world are less wonderful than those wrought
by Him in the sphere of the human spirit and
character. It was great to hush the wrath of the
sea, it is greater to compose the discords of the
spirit. Once the fashionable doctrine declared
that we were born good, but the modern scientist
has discovered in us animal appetites and passions.
And the New Testament teaches, what the uni-
versal consciousness confirms, that not only does
the earthly and sensual work within us, but also
the devilish.
" He was in the wilderness forty days tempted of
Satan ; and He was with the wild beasts." Our
Lord encountered both, conquered both. He can
cast out of my life every relic of debasing beast
and unclean fiend, and make me a partaker of the
divine nature.
172
THE GATES OF DAWN
June 21
Scripture Reading— Eph. u.
Thought for the Day
"By grace are ye aaued through faith."— Y-vn. ii. 8
WE are no longer saved by attention to carnal
ordinances, as the ancient Jews were. Those
ordinances were instituted as a test of obedience,
but that time of arbitrary training is past. We are
not saved by ecclesiastical observances, good as they
may be in their place. We are not even saved
primarily by moral conduct, essential as such conduct
may ultimately be.
The confidence of the heart in God is the one
condition of salvation in this evangelical age. Con-
fidence in God is the living principle of obedience.
Confidence in His love, in his redeeming love; con-
fidence in the faithfulness of His word and in His
dealings with us; confidence in His declared promise
of life and immortality. Out of this trust of the
heart grows everything that is dutiful and beautiful.
What a ground of confidence we have in God's
promise of mercy and salvation in Christ I
173
THE GATES OF DAWM
June 22
Scripture Reading— Luke vii. 36-50
Thought for the Day
"Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace." — Luke vii. 50
THE badness of the good comes out in the
Pharisee. Simon was outwardly the righteous
one. Accepted by the people as such, flattered by
himself as such, and yet how much coldness, arti-
ficiality, and heartlessness was evinced by him ! He
thought himself gold, and yet the Trier of hearts
revealed him as utterly loveless — that is, utterly
worthless. Let me not mistake the whiteness of
whitewash for the whiteness of the great white throne.
The goodness of the bad is suggested by the
woman. Judging by appearances, she was one to
be shunned, and yet in her heart the spirit of true
holiness was dawning.
The goodness which begins in deep sorrow for
sin, which discovers the beauty of the Lord and
trusts in Him, which demonstrates its genuineness
in a new self-sacrificing life, is infinitely better than
the social etiquette or ecclesiastical propriety which
knows nothing of the love of God or man.
174
THE GATES OF DAWN
June 23
Scripture Reading — Luke xix. i-io
Thought for the Day
"The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was
lost." — Luke xix. lo
THE readiness of Zacchaeus for the blessing
must strike us, " He ran on before." He
made haste and came down." If we had looked on
the publican that morning we should have thought
him the most unlikely of men to become the host
of Jesus Christ, yet he received Him joyfully.
We cannot penetrate to our brother's conscience
and heart, and where the carnal eye can see only
thorns and briars God's eye beholds " fields white
unto the harvest."
The readiness of Christ to confer the blessing.
"When Jesus came to the place he looked up." He
knows where the true penitent awaits Him. "And
said unto Zacchseus, make haste, and come down."
It is all a matter of haste. No time for delay, no
waiting for a convenient season, no putting off until
to-morrow. "To-day I must abide at thy house."
" To-day is salvation come to this house."
175
THE GATES OF DAWN
June 24
Scripture Reading — Luke xv. i-io
Thought for the Day
"Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." — i Tim.
i- IS
THE inwardness of Pharisaism was that it ex-
cluded the sinner, it was without sympathy
and sacrifice. Amongst animals in their wild state,
if one is injured, sick or dying, its companions
forthwith forsake it, or worry it to death. Savages
often reveal a similar truculence.
The sign of civilisation is growing sympathy with
misfortune. What wild beasts do in the natural
world Pharisees do in the social and moral ; they
are greedy to spoil the castaway life.
The essence of the Christian faith is the direct
contrary, a passion to recover the castaway life.
It has faith in human nature at its very worst, and
honours it in its lowest estate.
The righteousness of the Pharisee was self-con-
tained, proud, selfish, unspiritual ; the righteousness
which is of God by faith in Jesus Christ is spiritual,
humble, dependent upon God, full of the spirit of
compassion and sacrifice towards them that are out
of the way.
176
THE GATES OF DAWN
June 25
Scripture Reading— Mark xvi. i-8
Thought for the Day
" Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth which was crucified : He is risen ;
He is not here." — Mark xvi. 6
THE thought of resurrection and immortality was
in the heart of mankind from the very be-
ginning. When the mummy of a famous beauty,
one of the queens of Egypt, was discovered in the
tombs, it held in its withered hand a plant of the
rose of Jericho, a symbol of the resurrection. This
queen lived and died long before the coming of
Christ. So the great nations, even whilst darkness
covered the earth, dreamed of a future life and died
in the hope of it.
Our Lord converted that dream into reality: ever
since His abundantly witnessed resurrection, the
hope of immortality has been one of the most
influential facts in the experience of the race. The
Rose of Sharon means infinitely more than the Rose
of Jericho — the one history, demonstration, assurance ;
the other suggestion, speculation, and the mere
poetry of life. We need a great fact to confront
death with, and we have that fact glorious and in-
disputable in the empty grave.
M 177
THE GATES OF DAWN
June 26
Scripture Reading— John xviii. 28-40
Thought for the Day
"My Kingdom is not of this world."— Johjj xviii. 36
HISTORY shows that the extinction of a nation
politically may yet give it a spiritualised
existence far wider and more influential than when
it figured historically.
Ceasing to have " a local habitation and a name,"
the genius of Greece took possession of the world.
Rome perished politically, but perishing nationally
it informed all modern civilisation with its spirit.
Titus dissolved the Jewish State, but, destroyed
corporeally, it became a greater force in its moral
doctrine than when it was a world-power in the
reigns of David and Solomon.
So in the death and resurrection of our Lord ;
His Spirit went forth through all the earth. His
words and grace unto the ends of the world. Christ
has vanished from our sight; we know Him no
longer after the flesh ; He has dropped all that was
physical, local, relative, circumstantial, but only that
He might fill all things. In the moment of perishing
He triumphed. His spiritual Kingdom is supreme,
universal, everlasting.
178
THE GATES OF DAWN
June 27
Scripture Reading — Mark v. 35-43
Thought for the Day
"Be not afraid, only believe." — Mark v. 36
WE see here what faith means — a venturing,
trusting, expecting beyond all carnal appear-
ances. " Thy daughter is dead ; why troublest thou
the Master any further?" Here speaks the world.
Up to a certain point blessing is possible and may
be expected, but that point reached, all is hopeless.
Within the understood laws of nature, help, relief,
salvation are considered possible ; but if the laws of
nature forbid, "why trouble the Master any further? "
If a person is nobly born, comes into the world
with a fine disposition, he may be nobly built ; but
if the law of heredity has determined a man basely,
"why trouble the Master any further?" If we turn
to virtue in early life, much may be made of us ; but
when, having lived long in sin, we have become a
bundle of bad, tyrannical habits, "why trouble the
Master any further ? "
Christ saveth unto "the uttermost all who come
unto God by Him"; and it is best to leave Christ
to determine where the "uttermost" lies. What is
impossible with men is easy to Omnipotent grace.
179
THE GATES OF DAWN
June 28
Scripture Reading — Mark ix. 17-29
Thought for the Day
"Lord, I believe ; help Thou mine unbelief." — Mark ix. 24
FAITH for our sons who occasion us trouble.
How many godly fathers have sons suffering
from the moral malady as the youth here suffered
physically and mentally ! That the very best of men
are afflicted by children wayward, undevout, wicked
beyond the common, is one of the mysteries of life.
" They are children in whom there is no faith."
But we must not despair if this should happen to
be our sorrowful fortune. The Church has not
succeeded, yet resolutely bringing them to Christ in
believing supplication they may still be saved.
Their recovery may gladden our later years. Or
after we have gone they may return.
" If Thou canst ! " With importunity and tears we
must commend our children to the mercy and grace
of God, nothing doubting His willingness and power
to save. Let us be sure the end will justify our faith
and patience.
180
THE GATES OF DAWN
June 29
Scripture Reading — Matt. ix. 35-x. 15
Thought for the Day
"The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand."— Matt. x. 7
AS the Lord sent forth the Twelve, He is ever
sending forth messengers whom He has
chosen to forward His great work. A few are greatly
gifted, for the most part they are simple souls. Of
the major number of the original disciples we do not
hear again, but let us remember that " real power is
not measured by the noise which men make."
The essence of the commission entrusted to the
disciples was their message. " The Kingdom of
Heaven is at hand." They were to do good of
various kinds, but the medical, social and philan-
thopical were secondary to the evangelical and
spiritual.
We must execute our commission in the spirit of
pure love. " Freely ye received, freely give." It has
been finely said that " good hearts feel the obligation
of doing good more than men feel the other neces-
sities of life." Certainly the Christ-like heart feels
this overmastering necessity.
181
THE GATES OF DAWN
June 30
Scripture Reading — Matt. x. 23-33
Thought for the Day
'He that endureth to the end shall be saved." — Matt. x. 22
IN the East is found a wood so fragrant that when
buried feet deep in the earth it yet continues to
fill the air with sweetness : the Christian spirit must
similarly make itself felt, however hidden and silent.
But we are not only to make ourselves felt in
suggestion and insinuation, we must stand prepared
on occasion to avow Christ at all risks, to witness for
Him whatever it may cost. For our own sake, our
brother's sake, for Christ's sake, we must tell out
what a Saviour we have found, or the stifled truth
will be revenged upon us in subtle and painful
ways.
It often requires a courage not less than sublime,
as well as a most sublime wisdom, to witness for
Christ in the familiar haunts of life. But the oppor-
tunities for martyrdom are getting rare, and if it
should happen to cost much in feeling to speak for
Him let me not hesitate.
182
THE GATES OF DAWN
July 1
Scripture Reading— Luke x. i-i6
Thought for the Day
"The Kingdom of God is come nigh unto you." — Luke x. 9
" '' I ^ H E Kingdom of God is come nigh unto
J_ you," The great privilege. To live in this
last age is to be highly favoured amongst men.
That the Kingdom of God is preached in our streets,
pressed on our acceptance, and that it touches our
heart, is the distinguishing privilege of our age,
nation, and life.
The great refusal. We are always missing gracious
visitations, losing splendid prizes, trifling away rare
talents and opportunities, but to fail of the grace of
God is the saddest disaster of all. How solemnly
our Lord indicates the awfulness of the rejection !
" I have touched the gold," cried a diver, who came
up from the wreck of an Australian vessel lost on our
coast ; and that was all, for the treasure was never
recovered. Is it to be thus with us in relation to the
grandest thing of all ? Is the kingdom to come near
us, and yet are we to miss it ? Are we only to touch
the gold ?
183
THE GATES OF DAWN
July 2
Scripture Reading— Isa. Ixv. 17-25
Thought for the Day
"/ am with thee, saith the Lord, to deliver thee."— Jer. 1. 8
" l\/rO^EOVER, the word of the Lord came
IVl unto me, saying, Jeremiah, what seest
thou ? And I said, I see a rod of an almond tree."
A wakeful (i.e., early) tree. "Then said the Lord
unto me, Thou hast well seen ; for I will hasten My
word to perform it." " I am wakeful over My word."
Heaven is ready, waiting, anxious to bless. Men are
ready for the blessing.
To our eye the vineyard is often of most un-
promising aspect — we look upon the work of God as
upon a cactus, slow flowering, late flowering, flowering
after a century ; when we ought to regard it as an
almond tree, the harbinger of spring, that unfolds its
blossoms long before other trees put forth leaf and
flower.
God is working in the hearts of men, even when to
the carnal eye they appear hopeless. Do not feel,
brother labourer, that you are working on cacti.
That naughty child, perverse scholar, rough class,
wild district, barbarous tribe, is yet an almond tree ;
and working in faith and love it may suddenly sur-
prise you with blooms and clusters
184
THE GATES OF DAWN
July 3
Scripture Reading— John iv. 27-38
Thought for the Day
"Freely ye have received, freely give." — Matt. x. 8
'"TT^HE fields are white already unto harvest."
J[ Here our Lord touches the same truth as
that suggested by Jeremiah's " rod of an almond
tree." The Spirit of God working on the hearts of
men and making them ready for the heavenly
blessing. The Spirit is before us, and there is far
more susceptibility in men to gospel truth than we
suspect.
" Freely ye have received, freely give." If there is
this readiness even in the most unlikely let us put
it to the proof by immediate appeal.
The scent of flowers is delightful whilst they freely
yield it on the air, and whilst they delight they
bloom ; but if they are placed under a bell-glass so
that the atmosphere becomes saturated with their
own scented exhalations, they poison themselves in a
few days or even hours.
Let our lip and life radiate the truth and grace of
Christ, for if we think to imprison it in our own
breast, unspoken and unrevealed, it will destroy itself
as the flower is suffocated by its own imprisoned
perfume.
185
THE GATES OF DAWN
July 4
Scripture Reading— Matt. xi. 1-19
Thought for the Day
"Blessed 18 he, whosoeuer shall not be offended in Me." — Matt.
xi. 6
IN judging others we unconsciously judge ourselves,
and in some instances this is specially the case.
William Hazlitt, in his essay on T/ie CJiaracter of
Burke, makes this remark: "It has always been with
me a test of the sense and candour of any one
belonging to the opposite party whether he allowed
Burke to be a great man."
But what a test of personal character is our estimate
of Jesus, His character, doctrine, and work ! We
have critics who sit in judgment upon our Lord,
and affect to discover His limitations, errors, and
frailties, little thinking all the while that they are
convicting themselves.
" Blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in
Me." Whenever we differ from Him let us be sure
that He is right and we are wrong. Whenever we
suspect Him we detect false elements in ourselves.
The more fully and delicately we harmonise with
His spirit, teachings, and method, the nearer are we
to perfection.
186
THE GATES OF DAWN
July 5
Scripture Reading— John x. 22-42
Thought for the Day
"The works that I do in My Father's name, they bear witness
of Me."— John x. 25
JESUS does not make the question of His
Messiahship to turn upon what is abstract and
controversial, but entirely upon the undeniable
fact of the beneficence of His action.
The present day is specially one in which we place
emphasis on the actual result, the practical effect
of doctrine and philosophy. Writing to Emerson,
Carlyle confesses, " I grow daily to honour facts more
and more and theory less and less."
And this is exactly the position of thinkers to-
day. How far does this doctrine help us? How
does this system practically advantage us? What
are the substantial fruits of this theory ?
With what absolute confidence can we submit the
faith of Christ to this ordeal? It never touches
personal character except to ennoble it. It never
enters a cottage without making it a palace. It
never acts upon a community or nation without
proving itself the blessing of blessings.
187
THE GATES OF DAWN
July 6
Scripture Reading — Mal. iii. i-6
Thought for tht^. Day
"He shall purify the sons of Levi and purge them as gold and
silver." — Mal. iii. 3
GOD sent many ambassadors to His people to
prepare them for the advent of the Messiah,
but the Baptist, with his stern, searching ministry,
was pre-eminently the forerunner of the Lord of
truth and righteousness.
The end of Christ's coming was to purify. " He
shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver. He shall
purify the sons of Levi." How much dross is there
in the people of God, how their very virtues, prayers
and good works are mingled with inferior elements !
It is the work of the Holy Spirit given in Christ to
expel the latest atom of the base and bad.
" And like fuller's soap." A quaint Quaker de-
scribed certain formal, inconsistent professors as being
"starched before they were washed." Christ, too,
has His eye on these, and seeks to work in them
that holiness without which no man shall see the
Lord.
THE GATES OF DAWN
July 7
Scripture Reading — Matt. xi. 20-30
Thought for the Day
"Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me." — Matt. xi. 29
IN Christ we enjoy supreme spiritual privilege,
and to be deaf to His words, to deny His call,
to resist His grace, is to make our sin red like
crimson, and to bring upon ourselves supreme retri-
bution. Chorazin, Bethsaida, Capernaum, have been
blotted out from under the sun, not a fragment of
them survives, and the souls that dwelt there are
reserved to a judgment more severe than that which
awaits the guiltiest pagan.
According to the intensity of the light is the depth
of the shade, the white limelight makes the blackest
shadows ; and according to the fulness of our rejected
privilege shall be the emphasis of our condemnation.
Let me remember the immense obligation of living
in the light of the Gospel. Where sin abounded
grace doth much more abound ; but abounding grace
despised makes penalty much more to abound. Oh,
for a contrite heart and a life fully surrendered to
the gracious Master 1
189
THE GATES OF DAWN
July 8
Scripture Reading — Ezek. xxviii. i-io
Thought for the Day
"Pride goeth before destruction, and an haugtity spirit before
a fall."— Frov. xvi. i8
THE immense pride and satisfaction of the
human heart is depicted in self-glorious Tyre.
A poor lunatic mastered by dazzling delusions is
always a pathetic spectacle. He reckons himself an
oracle, apes the attitudes of conquerors, revels in
phantom millions, mistakes his rags for purple, and
with straws crowns himself a king.
How infinitely more sad is the human soul boasting
its wisdom, strength and virtue, in the sight of God !
For such God can do nothing except pity them,
Christ can do nothing except weep over them.
Let me beware of this spirit of blind conceit and
self-sufficiency, which excludes every great blessing
that Christ has to give. Let me be teachable, con-
scious of my weakness, ever dependent upon God,
my contrite heart and lowly walk established by His
grace. Then will the Divine Spirit give me true
light, power, riches, righteousness, peace and joy.
190
THE GATES OF DAWN
July 9
Scripture Reading— Isa. i. 1-9
Thought for the Day
"/ have nourished and brought up children, and they have
rebelled against Me." — Isa. i. 2
SHALL we ever understand the mystery of sin
— its black ingratitude, its horrible treason, its
inexplicable infatuation, its tragic folly and woe!
Yet are we all more or less under its awful power
and guilt.
And because of these things comes the wrath of
God upon the children of disobedience. It is not
volcanoes, earthquakes, and blizzards that desolate,
deform, and destroy the earth, it is the wickedness
of the people ; all the rest is a trifle compared with
the consuming power of passion, the plague of un-
righteousness, the retribution of sin.
And yet our God remembers mercy, or we should
have been as Sodom, we should have been like
Gomorrah. Shall we ever understand the mystery
of Divine love? The infinite patience, the inex-
haustible long-suffering, the measureless clemency,
we shall never comprehend. Let the love and mercy
of God move me, melt me, awe me into obedience.
191
THE GATES OF DAWN
July 10
Scripture Reading — i Cor. i-8
Thought for the Day
"He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lorcl."—i Cor. i. 31
NOTHING meets the need of sinful, perishing
man like the truth and grace of Jesus Christ.
The Roman Catholic Sanctuary of New Pompeii
has a garden filled with roses. These roses are
pulled to pieces leaf by leaf, dried, and made up in
little packets sent to the sick. The sick person
swallows them, and is supposed to recover. The
rose-leaf cure is celebrated throughout Italy.
But really the rose-leaf cure is celebrated through-
out the world. ** They have healed the hurt of the
daughter of My people slightly." What vain philo-
sophies, tricks of politics, quackeries of culture, are
supposed to cure the deep, destroying maladies of
our bosom !
Only one rose has the virtue of sovereign healing.
The Rose of Sharon alone cures the sickness of the
soul. He brings into our life strength and beauty.
Let me hold Him closely to my heart and He shall
fill my life with sweetness, loveliness, and delight.
" He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord."
192
THE GATES OF DAWN
July 11
Scripture Reading— John vi. 35-45
Thought for the Day
"Him that cometh to Me, I will in no wise cast out."— John
vi. 37
HOW the note of universal, undistinguishing
love sounds throughout this discourse of our
Lord's ! Human nature alternates between widely
removed extremes. On the one side vaingloriousness,
on the other side remorse and despair. The Gospel
sharply rebukes the first, and then wooingly seeks to
excite within the contrite breast courage and hope.
The ancient Romans recognised what they called
" inexpiable crimes." But Christianity knows no
"inexpiable" offences; it leads us perpetually from
repentance to love, and from love to repentance, it
discloses a Mediator exercising infinite mercy and
forgiveness.
Yet Christianity, whilst recognising no single
transgression as "inexpiable," yet brands as damning
sin the deliberate and final rejection of the free grace
of the Son of God. " Of sin, because they believe
not on Me," Grace is a golden mystery that
welcomes the chief of sinners.
N 193
THE GATES OF DAWN
July 12
Scripture Reading— Isa. Iv.
Thought for the Day
"Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I
will giue you rest." — Matt. xi. 28
" A FEAST of things purified," as Isaiah speaks in
/^ another place, is here spread by the hand of
Him who is the great Master of feasts. He who
knows best how to spread a table, as we see in nature,
excels Himself as He spreads the banquet of
redeeming grace.
It is substantial. The Orientals have a saying :
" All that is not bread is vanity." No mockery
about the provision in Christ, it satisfies the longing
soul and fills the hungry soul with goodness. It is
rich and overflowing.
There is a book entitled Crumbs Swept Up, but
that title will not do for the New Testament. The
fatted calf is killed. The flagons of love are filled to
the brim, the cup runs over with strengthening and
refreshment.
It is free. No other qualification is demanded
beyond that we hunger and thirst. "And shall 1
perish with hunger ? "
194
THE GATES OF DAWN
July 13
Scripture Reading — Matt. xii. 1-14
Thought for the Day
"The Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath day.^' — Matt.
XII.
THE standing danger of the devout lies between
the exaggeration of ordinances and their
neglect.
Christ is greater than the temple, but He does not
therefore discredit it. He emphasises its high signi-
ficance as the meeting place of spirits — the Spirit of
God and the broken and contrite spirit of man.
Christ is Lord of the Sabbath. He does not, however,
abolish it, only confirms it by showing its larger
spiritual meaning.
So long as the letter expresses the spirit, revere
both ; if the letter obscures the spirit, be loyal to the
latter. Men are more than institutions, as the soul is
more than the body.
The English Government maintains in force a
severe code respecting the landing of aliens in this
country, but the other day, when an emigrant ship
took fire, the Customs authorities at once waived all
regulations and welcomed the rescued.
195
THE GATES OF DAWN
July 14
Scripture Reading — Ps. Ixxxir.
Thought for the Day
" Blessed are they that dwell in Thy house: they will be still
praising Thee." — Ps. Ixxxiv. 4
WE sometimes hear the plea that God is every-
where, and that we can see and worship
Him in the green fields as well as in a church. It is
true that we can keep the Sabbath and worship amid
trees and flowers, yet is there a special blessing in
spending the sacred day where God has put His
name.
One might reason, You can see the sky anywhere,
you can watch from your own windows the sun, moon,
and stars ; why, therefore, spend days and nights in
an observatory? Yes, but you get in an observatory
a view of the firmament you get nowhere else : by
the aid of special instruments and teachers you master
secrets of the heavens in that astronomical coign of
vantage not possible in your house or on the
common.
God's house has special privileges and promises.
There the heavens open ; there God's voice is heard
in majesty and mercy ; there He feeds us with the
bread in the strength of which we go many days.
196
THE GATES OF DAWN
July 15
Scripture Reading — Prov. xxiii. 15-23
Thought for the Day
" Wine is a mocfter; whosoever is deoeiued thereby is not wise."
— Prov. xx. i
SOME of the strongest denunciations of Holy
Writ, alike in the Old and in the New Testa-
ment, are directed against " witches " and " sorcerers,"
that is against the dealers in drugs for the purpose of
debauch. They are represented as the vilest of men,
as guilty of producing the darkest crimes, reserved to
severest judgment.
Without confusing opium and wine, Holy Writ
never fails to warn us that excessive sensual in-
dulence entails the same bad consequences as do
the most noxious narcotics. Red magic may easily
become as deadly as black magic. With what
circumspection ought we to walk !
The restrained and hallowed life has its "sequel."
It issues in glory, honour, and peace. Lest we be
tempted by the purple bubbles at the brim of sin's
cup, let us remember its poisonous dregs. " The end
of these things is death." "And in the end eternal
life." Let me all the day long look beyond to the
sequel.
197
THE GATES OF DAWN
July 16
Scripture Reading— i Kings xx. 1-21
Thought for the D y
"Every man that stn'ueth for the mastery is temperate in all
things." — i Cor. viii. 25
BEN-HADAD lost the battle through drinking,
and through indulgence we may lose the battle
ol life.
" Every man that striveth in the games is temperate
in all things." Let us be on our guard against the
cheap luxury of damning sins to which we have no
inclination, and yet all the while practising others
equally bad.
We are often guilty of sad partialities. He who
has the mind of Christ cultivates a catholic goodness.
It is possible to be temperate in eating and drinking,
and yet very intemperate in temper, in the love of
money, and in the criticism of one's neighbours. We
must watch and chasten ourselves on every side.
"Temperate in all things," and say nothing about
it. The athlete is so intent on the crown that he
never dreams of magnifying the denials of training.
Let my soul be so intoxicated with the great visions
and hopes of my faith that I shall count all things
loss for the sake of moral conquest, that I smile at
toil and pain if I may only win Christ.
iq8
THE GATES OF DAWN
July 17
Scripture Reading — i Cor. xii.
Thought for the Day
"By one Spirit we are all baptized into one body." — i Cor.
xii. 13
THE unity of the Church is a great fact. Carlyle
writing Emerson affirms : " No truly great
man, from Jesus Christ onwards, as I often say, ever
founded a sect — I mean wilfully intended founding
one." Jesus Christ did not intend to found a sect, but
He certainly wilfully designed to found a Church. It
is impossible to read the Gospels without being
satisfied of this.
The diversity within the unity. Diversities of gifts
diversities of ministrations, diversities of working.
The Saviour of all men creates an organism that is
rich in many gifts, ministries, instruments, and
programmes, so that His catholic truth and love may
be brought home to all the redeemed. It would have
been a pity if the rainbow had been of one colour ; it
is absurd to try to make it so.
The efficacy of every arangement and gift must not
be forgotten. "The manifestation of the Spirit is
given to profit withal." Nothing is in the Church
simply to satisfy the theories of ecclesiastics, nothing
for ornament, everything exists for the conversion of
sinners and the building up of the saints.
199
THE GATES OF DAWN
July 18
Scripture Reading— John xvi. 1-14
Thought for the Day
" When He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into
all truth." — ^JoHN xvi. 13
GOD did not at the beginning of history give to
the race a full account of nature, or of the
principles of society, or of the goal of things, but as
the ages unfold He gently opens our eyes to the facts
and philosophy of the world.
So He did not give to His Church full and final
knowledge of all that relates to the experience of His
children and the fortunes of His kingdom. The rays
of light filter through, are ever filtering through, as
they are needed.
Our infallibility is with the Spirit. The light that
never leads astray shines directly from heaven, and
this Oracle all sincere, penitent, believing men are
invited to consult. The grandest privilege of human-
ity is here, to speak with God as with our friend.
"If any man lack wisdom let him ask of God."
Prayer finds the true " Inquiry Ofifice." Whatever we
need to solve our doubts, to guide our steps, shall be
given.
200
THE GATES OF DAWN
July 19
Scripture Reading — Matt. xiv. 1-12
Thought for the Day
"Even I it is tfiat have sinned and done evil indeed." — i Chron.
xxi. 17.
SO conscience worked in the murderous Herod !
" This is John the Baptist ; he is risen from the
dead."
Caracciolo, the Neapolitan patriot, at the instigation
of Ferdinand, the Bourbon King of Naples, was
hanged at the yardarm of a frigate in the Bay, when
weights were attached to his body, and it was sunk in
the sea. A few days later it would seem that the
weights slipped, and the corpse reappeared, to the
horror of the conscience-stricken king, who happened
to witness it. So the ghost of John tormented the
guilty Herod. How strange and terrible the power
of conscience ! In the crypts of the soul sleep all dark
memories, and they are ever being startled into life
to convict and punish the sinner.
" I believe in the forgiveness of sins." Conscience
is a tremendous reality ; let me then understand the
power of Him who forgives sin and who cleanses it.
We have all crimson sins which He alone can purge.
20 T
THE GATES OF DAWN
July 20
Scripture Reading — Mark vi. 20-29
Thought for the Day
"Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin." — Eccles. v. 6
WE all need to stand on our guard against the
dangers of gay occasions. Herod on his
birthday making a great supper was carried away by
excitement to do what was contrary to his sober
opinion, and what, ever after, he bitterly regretted.
The newspapers often warn us against " holiday
perils " ; that is, the special dangers of boating, bath-
ing, and climbing during the summer vacation. Then
we are gay, hilarious, venturesome, off our guard, and
are liable to accidents as we are not on ordinary
occasions.
So the festal day, the jubilee celebration, the social
function, brings its peril, and many a worthy man and
woman has had bitter reason to regret the lapses of
gala days. We may not be tempted to sacrifice the
heads of other people, but we may easily lose our
own :
" Gird thy heavenly armour on ;
Wear it ever, night and day ;
Ambushed hes the evil one :
Watch and pray."
202
THE GATES OF DAWN
July 21
Scripture Reading— Luke ix. 1-9
Thought for the Day
" There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked." — Isa.
xlviii. 22.
WHAT a striking contrast is established in
this section of Scripture ! First, we see the
Twelve sent forth on their errand of mercy and
salvation. They are to cure diseases, to publish
peace, to destroy the works of the devil. And all is
simple and modest in an extraordinary degree. Yet
how truly grand is the mission, and how incomparably
majestic the missioners ! All is unselfish, magnani-
mous, and full of blessing.
Then in contrast we have the Tetrarch, a guilty
wretch wrestling with spectres. The Apostles without
a staff, Herod with a sceptre ; the one without bread,
the other making great suppers for lords and captains ;
the one with a single garment, the other with a ward-
robe stuffed with purple and gold. Yet how infinitely
superior the men of love, purity and sacrifice !
Well may Corot exult, " Long live conscience and
simplicity ! There lies the only way to the true and
the sublime." Let me choose the better part, which
shall not be taken away from me !
203
THE GATES OF DAWN
July 22
Scripture Reading— Dan. vi, 10-17
Thought for the Day
"Thy God, whom thou seruest continually, He will deliver
thee." — Dan. vi. 16
WE see in Darius, and again in Herod, the
power of false honour. Darius regarded
Daniel, and set his heart to deliver the prophet.
Herod was deeply impressed by the character of
John, and was exceedingly sorry to do him violence.
Yet from a false sense of duty they both became
guilty of capital crime. They forgot that "a man
cannot be just if he is not humane."
To-day a false sense of honour is the source of
much mischief, of many evils. Let us not mistake
here. True honour is a golden bond binding to
deeds willed in high and holy moments ; false honour
is only an article of the devil's decalogue, an iron
bond in which there is no real obligation, only illusion
and disgrace. We had better appear cowards before
men than before God.
"Honour rooted in dishonour" is best repudiated
at the earliest moment. Nothing is binding that
is inhuman, nothing that is impious, nothing that
is unjust. Let us watch lest we make snares for
ourselves.
204
THE GATES OF DAWN
July 23
Scripture Reading — Luke vii. 24-30
Thought for the Day
"He was a burning and a shining light." — ^John v. 35
IT is a great thing to be eulogised by the lips of
Christ ! We are sure of the grandeur of one
whom He sanctions and glorifies. How profoundly
He appreciates the Baptist, and on what a pinnacle
He sets him 1 John in the black hole of Herod had
apparently moods of depression ; for a moment it
would seem that the gathering tragedy bewildered
his great, pure soul; but the Master has nothing
to say of His servant's human frailty. Only splendid
words of praise !
Oh ! to be approved by Christ. No matter what
we think of ourselves if only He recognises us. No
matter what the world says about us, if He counts
us worthy. And we may be approved by Him.
Truly, John was a great man, " Yet he that is
but little in the Kingdom of God is greater than
he." The little, the obscure, the unremembered, may
have Christ for their panegyrist. " Salute Apelles,
approved in Christ." Nothing more is known of
Apelles than this; it is enough. Let me simply
live for this.
205
THE GATES OF DAWN
July 24
Scripture Reading — Matt. xiv. 13-21
Thought for the Day
"Give us this day our daily bread." — Matt. vi. 11
THE multiplying power of God is a thought to
be laid to heart. We are apt to look simply
at that which is before us, and to forget its possi-
bilities of enlargement and reduplication.
A Scotchman, named David Fife, of Canada,
obtained from Glasgow some wheat of a special
kind. Only three ears, the produce of a single grain,
ripened, but the splendid Canadian harvest of 1908,
more than eleven million quarters, was wholly de-
scended from that one seed. The multiplication of
the loaves and fishes was a passing illustration of
the far larger miracle of the daily feeding of the
race.
Let me remember the multiplying power of God
in all my earthly affairs. The barrel of meal, the
cruse of oil, shall not fail if my faith and faithfulness
do not fail. My opportunities in the spiritual life
may be very meagre ; but in my scraps of knowledge,
my narrow resources, my restricted privileges, I may
find bread enough, and to spare.
206
THE GATES OF DAWN
July 25
Scripture Reading— Ex, xvi. 10-21
Thought for the Day
"/ am the living bread ivhicfi came down from heaven." —
John vi. 51
" A ND when the children of Israel saw it, they
£\^ said one to another, What is it? for they
wist not what it was." Our Lord worked His
miracle, and mysteriously the multitude was fed.
They understood not the process of the creation of
the banquet of the desert.
But is not our daily bread also bread of wonder?
Who can understand the secret of the nourishing
of the body ? Even Voltaire could write, " Ask by
what secret mystery this bread and this meat digest
in the body, and are transformed into a sweetly
prepared milk? How, always filtered in its unerring
course, does it run in long purple streams to swell
my veins? How does it give to my languishing
body a new power, and make my heart beat, and
my brain think ? "
Why should I then stumble at the mystery of the
spiritual life, and the support of that life by the
truth of Jesus ? Let me eat and drink of my Lord
by faith with thanksgiving.
207
THE GATES OF DAWN
July 26
Scripture Reading— Matt. xiv. 22-36
Thought for the Day
"Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid." — Matt. xiv. 27
THE mystery of the ocean well represents the
mystery of life, especially in relation to the
sadness of life. We sail in daily peril, we are helpless
amid the waves, we are liable to shipwreck, we
founder in the deep. But our Lord and Master
walks the wave. He is the true Lord High Admiral
of the seas. Amid all the uncertainty of life, its
seeming cruelty, its terrible wreck and ruin, there
runs wise and generous law, enjoined and adminis-
tered by Almighty power and grace.
But let me be guilty of no presumption. There
was no necessity for Peter to attempt the sea, and
his temerity brought humiliation. Let me stick to
the ship until my Lord calls me to forsake it. In
other words, let me humbly use all prudential
measures for the safeguarding of life, and then I
may confidently hope for deliverance when the hour
comes to set my foot on the wave, without even a
cork to trust to
208
THE GATES OF DAWN
July 27
Scripture Reading — Mark iv. 35-41
Thought for the Day
"Why are ye so fearful? hoiv is it that ye have no faith." —
Mark iv. 40
"'I "\ THY are ye so fearful?" In addition to its
V V natural mystery and danger, a whole host
of superstitious terrors have become associated with
the deep. Sea giants, diminutive dwarfs, cunning
fairies, wonderful goblins and demons are supposed
to haunt the depths. So human life teems with
spectres.
" Why are ye so fearful ? " Because we know
ourselves too well. Conscience is at the bottom of
fear. If life were smooth and still as the lake of
glass before the Throne, we should see spectres on
its glittering surface, sharks in its jewelled depths;
conscience makes us cowards.
" Why are ye so fearful ? " Because we do not
know our Master well enough. If we once believed
in the riches of His grace to forgive, in the fulness
of His power to save, there would be no more
sorrow on the sea.
209
THE GATES OF DAWN
July 28
Scripture Reading — Ps. cvii. 32-43
Thought for the Day
"He bn'ngeth them unto their desired haven." — Ps. cvii. 30
HOWEVER often one has been to sea, it always
seems wonderful that after weeks on the
deep without guiding marks the vessel at last strikes
exactly the lighthouse or beacon that indicates the
haven. So shall the Divine Pilot steer us true.
Let me then, when life seems vague, when there is
nothing to show where I am, no pathway, no signal,
let me be sure that there is a plan and programme
notwithstanding. When life seems without progress
let me yet be confident.
However fast a vessel moves at sea, the horizon
moves at an equal pace, and it seems ever the same
horizon. So sometimes we urge onwards with much
effort and motion, and yet appear just as far off from
our ideal as ever. " So " we are brought to the
haven.
" Jesus, Saviour, pilot me
Over life's tempestuous sea !
Unknown waves before me roll,
Hiding rock and treacherous shoal ;
Chart and compass came from Thee I
Jesus, Saviour, pilot me."
210
THE GATES OF DAWN
July 29
Scripture Reading— Luke vii. i-io
Thought for the Day
"/ haue not found so great faith, no, not in Israel." — Luke
vii. 9
" T T E marvelled because of their unbelief" (Mark
J7X vi. 6). How often had He to do this? But
for once at least, Jesus is surprised by a miracle.
" He marvelled at him." How rarely we give our
Lord this joy !
" Say with a word." How strangely and fully did
the centurion apprehend the majesty and sovereignty
of Jesus ! With a word the centurion ordered his
affairs, because at the back of his word was the
authority and strength of the Roman Empire — the
sceptre of Csesar, the tramp of legions, the majesty
of the law, the axe of the lictors. The world
trembled at that word, and obeyed.
What, then, will a word of God effect? " He spake
and it was done ; He commanded, and it stood fast."
And His every word of grace is strong as that which
built the skies. Not a syllable of His but more than
twelve legions of angels are behind it. It is in this
word that 1 trust for all that life means, all that death
and eternity mean.
211
THE GATES OF DAWN
JulySO
Scripture Reading— Matt. xv. 21-28
Thought for the Day
"Lord, help me." — Matt. xv. 25
THE cry of misery: "Have mercy on me, O
Lord." The woe of the daughter was the woe
of the mother, and very deep and bitter it was. The
rebuke of misery : " Send her away." How callous
we often are! A great writer has observed how
much more ready we are to sympathise with the
successes and victories of our neighbours than we are
with their misfortunes. But even the Master seemed
to chide. He who feels for us most sometimes deeply
tries us by strange delays.
The logic of misery. When we want a thing badly
enough we become wonderfully acute and eloquent.
Aeronauts say that a woman's voice is heard farther
up in the sky than any other sound. But how far
does her voice reach in anguish and faith ? Right up
to the throne of God.
The victory of misery. "Be it done unto thee
even as thou wilt." Wrestling Jacobs, pray on.
Prevail you must I
212
THE GATES OF DAWN
July 81
Scripture Reading — Ps. criv.
Thought for the Day
" The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all
His works." — Ps. cxlv. 9
THIS is the Psalm of universality. "The Lord
is good to all, and His tender mercies are
over all His works." It often looks otherwise, but
" He meaneth not so."
"The Lord upholdeth all that fall." We see a
dark side to life, but the mercy of the Lord is active
here also. Here He is graciously present to comfort,
heal, and deliver. He is with us in all our misfortunes
to convert them into blessings.
** The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon
Him." All have free access to the throne of grace,
and no petition is rejected when we " call upon Him
in truth."
The optimism of this psalm concerning all beings
and things is remarkable. In the poet's opinion,
goodness is at the bottom of it all, pervades it all,
and endures through all. There is no pessimism
except to the deliberately and persistently wicked.
213
THE GATES OF DAWN
August 1
Scripture Readinc— Ps. Ixvi.
Thought for the Day
"Blessed be God, which hath not turned away my prayer." —
Ps. Ixvi. 20
THE Psalmist tells his experience of God's
answers to his prayers. Note that the bless-
ing is given in answer to prayer. Can we expect
either gift or deliverance when we do not ask for it ?
But it would appear that the answer was not given
immediately. Heaven sometimes treats us as our
Lord did the Canaanitish woman. When the prayer
was answered, it was not in the way expected.
The English peasant believes that lightning ripens
the corn, and the Italian believes that comets ripen
the vine, but certainly God brings into being His
greatest blessings through great tribulations.
" But verily God hath heard me." He does finally
answer, and He pays well for delays. Does He not
sometimes best answer our prayers by not answering
them at all in the form we urged ? A saintly woman
said that she had " lived long enough to thank God
for some unanswered prayers,"
214
THE GATES OF DAWN
August 2
Scripture Reading— Matt. xiii. 1-23
Thought for the Day
"He that aoweth the good seed is the Son of man." — Matt.
xiii. 37
WORKERS for God may find much to suggest
discouragement in this parable ; and yet its
conclusion is comforting and inspiring.
Not so many years ago the Island of Krakatoa
was utterly destroyed by a terrible volcano, and
every vestige of vegetation perished. Yet its present
condition demonstrates in a remarkable degree how
quickly plants are able to take possession of a steril-
ised region even under the most unfavourable con-
ditions. From a variety of causes, a large proportion
of the germs reaching the desolated shores perished ;
and yet, despite all this difficulty and destruction, in
about fifty years the island was covered with vegeta-
tion, flowering plants, ferns, orchids, palms.
So is there ever difficulty, delay, and failure in
sowing the golden seed of the Gospel ; yet in wild
neighbourhoods, in rough hearts, in heathen lands,
shall the sowing not prove in vain.
215
THE GATES OF DAWN
August 3
Scripture Reading— Ps. xix.
Thought for the Day
"The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul." —
Ps. xix. 7
WE want to be sure, in the first instance, that
the doctrines we learn, hold, teach, are indeed
the seed of the Kingdom. The seedsman's catalogue,
as the gardener runs over it in January, raises within
him visions of delight — all sorts of things, gay, sweet,
splendid. And yet, when the season arrives, the
blooms do not by any means justify the catalogue.
The seeds, perhaps, were not of the best.
It is said that seed should always come direct from
its native home, imported direct from the country to
which the flower belongs, and not taken from flowers
domesticated here. Let us, whilst thankful for all
human aid in understanding God's Word, be sure
that we again and again go back to "the native
home " of God's truth in the Holy Book.
Then we shall never be disappointed. The divine
Word is full of enlightening, purifying, converting
power.
2l6
THE GATES OF DAWN
August 4>
Scripture Reading — Mark vi. i-6
Thought for the Day
"The word of the Lord endureth for euer."—i Pet, i. 25
HOW often men miss the great blessing through
occupying themselves with a variety of curious
questions ! Instead of fixing their mind on the
astonishing teaching and gracious words, they turn to
superficial and irrelevant questions about the Master's
relatives.
In close proximity to the diamond as it is found in
the mine are inferior substances known as boart,
carbonado, and graphite. They are interesting
formations in some respects, but useless for gems.
How strange it would be if men should stay to discuss
these pebbles and forget the diamond ! Yet this is
exactly what critics do in regard to the " pearl of
great price." They ignore the substantial thing in
discussing curious questions of many kinds.
Let me be sure that I seize the essential thing.
That I find in Christ my divine, complete, personal
Saviour. That I prove in my Bible the word of God
saving the soul.
217
THE GATES OF DAWN
August 5
Scripture Reading — Acts ii. 37-47
Thought for the Day
"Let the word of God dwell in you richly in all wisdom." —
Col. iii. 16
HERE is the seed that falls on honest hearts —
true, sincere, obedient hearts. " Added in
that day about three thousand souls."
There is a wonderful germinating, multiplying,
fructifying power in evil, A single weed taken into
a foreign country in a few years becomes a gigantic
nuisance ; but we will still believe that the conquering
vitality is with the good and beautiful.
In the individual life it is the same. It is astonish-
ing how a single Gospel truth, honestly and warmly
held, takes possession of our whole being and influ-
ences the whole life.
A lichen is minute and frail, yet it will corrode
quartz, pulverise the hardest rocks. So get a very
fragment of Christ's truth into the soul, and it sub-
dues the powers of evil, brings forth sweet and
glorious fruits of light.
218
THE GATES OF DAWN
August 6
Scripture Reading— John iv. 35-42
Thought for the Day
"Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields: for they are white
already to harvest." — John iv. 35
IN some parts of Russia only six weeks elapse
between the deep snows of the winter and the
ingathering of the harvest. And the Master, who
here again appears as a glorious optimist, declares
the ripeness of human hearts for the heavenly
blessing.
Let us remember this in the house, the sanctuary,
the school. If we take a bulb into an ice-house it
may well be an age before it flowers, if indeed it ever
does so ; but take it into a hot-house and it blooms
directly.
The chilling way some Christians have in dealing
with the unconverted is as snow in summer, and not
calculated to assist the working of the Spirit.
The husbandman goes around garden, orchard,
field, saying to everything that grows : " All is ready,
you are expected, come along." So should we treat
the undecided.
219
THE GATES OF DAWN
August 7
Scripture Reading — Mark xiii. 24-43
Thought for the Day
" Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom
of their Father." — Matt. xiii. 43
HOW soon we become aware of the conflict ever
raging in the world between truth and error,
good and evil ! How real it is, mysterious, and
sometimes peculiarly disheartening !
The origin of our common weeds is a very difficult
question to solve, and very perplexing is the problem
of evil, its sources and subtlety. The universality
and persistency of weeds astonish the naturalist ; and
we may be even more astonished as the false and
foul everywhere assert themselves, and cunningly inter-
mingle with whatever is true and beautiful, alike in
the individual and in society.
But the distinctive teaching of this parable is clear
enough, evil is evil. " An enemy hath done this."
One of the deepest, deadliest evils is to think lightly
of evil. We are never right or safe except when we
glow with an enthusiasm for good, and dread evil.
220
THE GATES OF DAWN
August 8
Scripture Reading— Gen. iii, i-8
Thought for the Day
"The devil ainneth from the beginning." — i John iii. 8
IN God's field, beautiful field of Paradise, came the
devil sowing black germs.
Yet how tempting often are the malign fruits of
evil! They appeal to the appetite. "Good for
food." Whilst the diet of health is sober, the devil's
viands are piquant and intoxicating. They appeal
to the imagination. " Pleasant to the eyes." They
appeal to the intellect. To " be desired to make one
wise." The knowledge of evil that means pride,
violence, presumption is peculiarly seductive. Poison
flowers are sometimes gay, poisonous fruits are
ruddier than the cherry, and the things which destroy
morally are often replete with fascination.
Let me beware of the desire of the eye, the lust of
the flesh, and the pride of life. The chaste beauty,
the sober gold, the pure sweetness of innocence and
goodness are infinitely beyond the fierce and fatal
delights of the fool's paradise.
221
THE GATES OF DAWN
August 9
Scripture Reading— John viii, 39-47
Thought for the Day
"He that is of God heareth God's words."— John viii. 47
TO surrender to evil in any shape is to render
ourselves insusceptible to the eternal light.
A fruit that grows in Queensland, and which pos-
sesses a specially pleasant flavour, is said to induce
paralysis of the optic nerves and cause blindness and
death. All sin acts thus on the optic nerves of the
soul.
" He that is of God heareth God's words." A
sincere soul, a pure life, makes us tremblingly alive
to the truth. The leaves, stems, and petioles of
plants are extraordinarily sensitive to sunlight.
According to Darwin, grass seedlings will curve
towards a source of light so faint that it is indis-
tinguishable to a human eye. Yet far more sensitive
is the true soul to the faintest shining of the eternal
light.
The sincere-hearted are just as quick to discern in
Christ the very things for which they long. As the
needle turns to the pole, so their hearts turn to
Christ
222
THE GATES OF DAWN
August 10
Scripture Reading — 2 Pet. iii. 8-17
Thought for the Day
" We, according to His promise, look for neiv heauena and a new
earth." — 2 Pet. iii. 13
THE conflict between good and evil continues
from age to age, yet nevertheless it is not for
ever. " The day of the Lord wi// come."
Professor Thomson recently pointed out that a
certain radium substance attracted and repelled an
object much in the style of a pendulum, so that with
some clockwork attached to the pendulum we should
have a clock that would require winding up only once
in a million years.
This is the kind of clock to measure God's action
by. To consummate His plan, to make and unmake
worlds. He requires ages.
Yet time is not of the essence of the question.
However long the conflict of right and wrong may
continue, the struggle will end in the achievement
of the Divine purpose, and the present system of
things will vanish because it has answered God's
design. No matter when the second coming of our
Lord may be, how soon He will come to me !
223
THE GATES OF DAWN
August 11
Scripture Reading — 2 Thess. L i-io
Thought for the Day
" We shall all stand before the Judgment seat of Christ." — Rom.
xiv. 10
IT is justice on God's part to requite with retribu-
tion those who afflict the saints, and to reward
the suffering saints with the final and eternal rest.
How different is all life according as to whether
we are the subjects of a fearful looking for of judg-
ment, or are anticipating the saints' everlasting rest !
A while ago we were returning from a long journey
to spend Christmas at home ; whilst in another
part of the train we noticed a prisoner chained to a
policeman, on his way to the county gaol. How
different the journey to the two travellers ! The
train got on too fast for one, not fast enough for the
other ; every mile increased the misery of the one,
heightened the joy of expectation in the other.
May my faith in the great crises of the future
become so vivid and sure that it shall most power-
fully influence all my days ! May my hope be so
strong as to constrain me to whatever is good and
true!
224
THE GATES OF DAWN
August 12
Scripture Reading — Rev. xx. ii-ij
Thought for the Day
"Every one of us shall give account of himself to God." — Rom.
xiv. 12
ALL things are being recorded, and we shall have
to face the music of the archangel's trumpet.
We are assured by science that every fugitive
movement registers itself, photographs itself, and in a
sense becomes eternal. Is it a superstition to believe
that the individual life makes its mark on the page
of nature ? We write our history in the book of our
body. Yes, the body is a rubric, a story sternly
recorded in red lines, partially seen even to-day.
And in the book of conscience the deeds done in the
body are recorded as by a diamond pen in the rock
for ever. We are the recording angels of our own
life.
" And the books were opened." The secret
characters will blaze out, and we cannot deny our
own handwriting and signature. Let me then, by
Divine grace, write my passport to the skies. How
terrible to think of writing our own death warrant 1
225
THE GATES OF DAWN
August 13
Scripture Reading — Dan. xii.
Thought for the Day
"Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the Kingdom
of their Father." — Matt. xiiL 43
AGRICULTURALISTS are often sadly troubled
by the weeds which get mixed with the seed
corn, A pound of " clover seed " was found to
contain 14,400 seeds of no less than forty-four distinct
and separate weeds. So farmers take great care to
ensure that no weeds are sown along with the true
corn. Yet do what they will, the dormant pos-
sibilities of evil are quite incalculable, and germin-
ating weeds steal in and mock them.
So are the good and evil mingled in society,
mingled in families, mingled in the Church, and it is
often impossible for us to discriminate and divide
them without doing more harm than good.
Yet a day is coming when eternal justice and
faithfulness will accomplish what is impossible now.
" Whose fan is in His hand, and He will throughly
cleanse His threshing floor ; and He will gather His
wheat into the garner, but the chaff He will burn up
with unquenchable fire." He is doing this by His
Spirit now ; He will complete the tremendous process
before He has done with us. Spirit of God, bring
home to me the solemn lesson !
226
THE GATES OF DAWN
August 14
Scripture Reading— Acts x5x. 1-20
Thought for the Day
"So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed." — Acts xix, 20
THE workings of grace may be shrouded in
deepest secrecy, and proceed in profoundest
silence, but their power is marvellous. The workings
of iniquity are put to shame, whatever their pride and
boasting.
It is impossible to say what was the reality and
measure of this power of magic, but it yielded to the
mighty power of the " word of God." All evil par-
takes of the nature of magic — whilst pretentious, it is
unreal ; whilst boasting great things, it is vain and
fruitless.
Many pestilent weeds grow just too deep to be
reached by the ploughshare, but the Gospel plough
reaches the root of every error and turns it up to the
light and air of the upper universe which kill every
evil thing.
Let us not lose faith in the kingdom of God
because of its modesty and noiselessness. A fern
springing in a cranny splits the rock more certainly
and thoroughly than a thunderbolt, and the hidden
action of truth and grace works in human hearts and
institutions effects simply miraculous.
227
THE GATES OF DAWN
August 15
Scripture Reading— Prov. Hi. 13-26
Tho^tght for the Day
"Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are
peace. — Prov. lii. 17 '^
HE who has found Christ " hath paradise found,"
as the hymn of Wesley declares. By freeing
us from the sense of sin and guilt the Saviour delivers
us from all the blighting power of life. By the
strengthening and purification of our moral being
He enables us to taste all the sweetness of natural
thmgs; none enjoy the riches of sense as do the
pure in heart. " The world is yours." By granting
us the riches of grace, He adds another vast realm
to our possessions of comfort, power and hope.
Christ is " the rose of Sharon." He is the noblest,
loveliest, sweetest of all the flowers of the garden
of God. To wear in our bosom that flower is to
breathe and to diffuse perpetual sweetness.
We have not understood Christ whilst we cherish
a regret for anything His service may have cost us.
He who is adorned and enriched by pearls of great
price does not grieve over the oyster-shells he flung
away.
228
THE GATES OF DAWN
August 16
Scripture Reading — Dan. vii. 8-14
Thought for the Day
"Blessed are the meek; for they shall Inherit the earth."—
Matt. v. 5
THE strange beasts of Daniel's vision symbolise
the various and terrible forms of iniquity
which afflict the world and destroy the race. They
are horrible to the sight, terrible in strength, wholly
destructive.
How hopeless it would seem to enter upon a
struggle with them ! A lion with eagle's wings, a
bear with three ribs in its teeth, a leopard with four
wings, and a dreadful beast with horns and iron
teeth ! And what have we to oppose to these
rampant, roaring dragons? A lamb!
Yet shall the lamb prevail, taking away the world's
sin and vanquishing its foes. The softness of love,
the gentleness of meekness, the insinuations of truth,
the charms of peace, shall prevail against the wild
passions of men and the rage of hell. Let me not
be afraid for my Master. Because He is meek He
brings salvation. His gentleness shall make us great.
229
THE GATES OF DAWN
August 17
Scripture Reading — Matt. xii. 22-37
Thought for the Day
"All they that hate me love death."— Prov. viii. 36
THE old poet sings of moments when we "into
glory peep," but here we get sudden insight
into the frightful realities of the infernal. Under
the decent surface of things how hell seethes ! The
fierce, malefic, polluting, murderous elements are
never far off. As an awful gulf of fire smoulders
beneath the pleasant landscape, so our Lord reveals
that fiendish forces work beneath the crust of civilisa-
tion, putting us in peril every hour.
In the presence and fellowship of our Lord is
our safety from the powers of wickedness. The
helplessness of man in the power of the devil, and
the helplessness of the devil in the power of Christ,
are the lessons writ large throughout the narratives
of the demoniacs.
The heart will suffer no vacuum; and to refuse
Christ as our royal guest is to surrender ourselves
to the craft and power of Satan. Let me be a
temple of the Holy Ghost, and no demon dare lurk
in its neighbourhood.
230
THE GATES OF DAWN
August 18
Scripture Reading — Ps. xxiii.
Thought for the Day
"Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine
enemies."— Fs. xxiii. 5
HOW the rich provisions of grace reach God's
people whilst they are shut up by most
unpropitious circumstances ! In desert places our
God provides heavenly feasts. Thousands of sincere
men and women are compelled to live in neighbour-
hoods and work in scenes where there is nothing to
feed the soul, yet even there do they find meat of
which the world knows not.
Multitudes through manifold accidents are cut off
largely from worship and sacraments and fellowship,
yet the Lord of the feast by His Spirit and word
makes them to share in His dainties.
Let me not fear for the supplies of grace, whatever
may be my circumstances. The fairy story tells of
a magical table-cloth which might be spread any-
where, and was at once covered with delicacies. I
have that wonder-working thing. Let the hand of
prayer spread the cloth of faith, and I have the
bread of heaven and wine on the lees well refined.
231
THE GATES OF DAWN
August 19
Scripture Reading — ^John vi. 46-71
Thought for the Day
" We believe and are sure that Thou art that Christ, the Son of
the living God." — ^John vi, 69
AN imperfect attachment to Christ is good, just
as it leads on to something more profound,
but let me beware of precarious ties. He who follows
Christ from mere intellectual admiration, or for social
status, or for utilitarian advantage, will very probably
before long begin to doubt and desert him.
" Many of His disciples went back, and walked no
more with Him." How many have we known who
from one cause or another have fallen away from
Christian discipleship ! The fire dies down in their
heart; the joy passes out of their life; the crown
slips through their fingers. Alas !
This saddest of all lapses, in a world where men
are always missing great chances, can be prevented
only by keeping the soul alive to the essential glory
of Jesus Christ. " My Lord and my God." Let me
daily recognise His majesty, preciousness, sweetness.
232
THE GATES OF DAWN
August 20
Scripture Reading— John xi. 18-46
Thought for the Day
"/ believe that Thou art the Christ, the Son of Got/."— John xi. 27
WHAT power and majesty our Lord assumed !
Can He be confounded with men? The
woman knew by an instinct that will not lie that
He was the Divine One. " I believe that Thou art
the Christ, the Son of God."
Nowhere is the majesty of our Lord more im-
pressively expressed than in His dealings with death.
Mythology records how Hercules successfully wrestled
with Death, and brought back to the upper world
the body of Alcestis. But how pale is the classic
fable by the side of the resurrections of the New
Testament! Here a mightier Hercules smote the
King of Terrors. " He brought to naught him that
hath the power of death,"
Let this fact comfort me in the prospect of death,
in the article of death. Christ is everything to me
to-day, and He will not be less on my last day.
No; then He will be specially precious.
233
THE GATES OF DAWN
Auifust 21
Scripture Reading — Matt. xvii. 1-21
Thought for the Day
"As He prayed the fashion of His countenance was altered." —
Luke ix. 29
USUALLY our Lord appears in the simplicity
and weakness of ordinary human nature, but
how much did this veil ! His suppressed magnifi-
cence suggests much to think about. For a moment,
however, His disciples are dazzled by His majesty.
It is a good thing, when troubled by the apparent
weakness of the Church and its gospel, to think of
the silent reserve power they mask. It is not the
purpose of God to dazzle the carnal eye, but, all
the same, infinite majesty and strength pertain to
His Kingdom. Let me never forget " the hiding of
His power."
The transfigured is also the transfigurer. He
causes the soul of His people to shine as the sun.
He makes their lives white as the light. One
day He will light up their "too solid flesh" into a
heavenly transparency. Our Lord will bring out our
vast possibilities, 02(r suppressed magnificence, con-
forming our whole personality to the body of His
glory.
234
THE GATES OF DAWN
August 22
Scripture Reading— John xii. 23-33
Thought for the Day
' And I, if I be lifted up from tfie eartfi, will draw all men unto
Me." — John xii. 32
THE glorifying of Christ is the theme. And yet
how strange that the process of glorification is
through sorrow, suffering and sacrifice ! He attains
the power of judging the world, and saving the world,
through voluntary obedience to the law of renuncia-
tion, pain and death.
Just as the glory of Christ is bound up with His
willing humiliation on our behalf, so the glory of His
Church can spring only out of following its Lord in
the path of the Passion. The attempt to transfigure
the Church by marbles, jewels, robes and pageantries
is a very superficial expedient. She is glorified rather
by what she puts off, by what she gives, endures,
renounces, suffers for the common salvation.
Glory through sacrifice is the grand secret.
Through sympathy and sacrifice does Christ attract
men magnetically, saving them, lifting them up, and
thus only can we bless men in the highest sense.
Am I willing to learn the lesson, and pay the price ?
235
THE GATES OF DAWN
August 23
Scripture Reading— Mark i. i-ii
Thought for the Day
"The Father Himself loueth you, because ye have loved Me." —
John xvi. 27
'"nr^HE beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ,
J_ the Son of God." We are fond of penetrat-
ing to the origin of things, and here we get to the
very fountain of that living stream of truth and grace
which we know as Christianity,
How superficial and inadequate are the explana-
tions given by Gibbon and other philosophers to
account for the spread of the Christian faith ! No-
thing explains its power and prevalency except that
it is the breaking forth into time of the eternal love
and righteousness. The heaven of heavens is at its
back.
Men are fond of quoting the saying, " Hitch your
wagon to a star " ; but all the stars are harnessed to
the Gospel chariot, and He who counts the stars
drives it. Much is against me, but let me never
forget the universe' of glory that is carrying me
forward.
236
THE GATES OF DAWN
August 24
ScRiPTTTRE Reading— John viii. 12-20
Thought for the Day
"/ am the light of the world. " — John viii. 12
AN ancient legend tells of one who lighted a torch
and sallied forth to seek the sun. But, really,
we need no torch to discover the sun ; the sun dis-
covers itself We best find it by its own light.
" I am the light of the world." We need no ex-
traneous evidence to attest the Divine authority of
our Lord. The sincere of heart must recognise in
him "the master light," and listening to and obeying
His teachings we prove that light of life which is
its own witness. We need invent no instrument to
know that the sun shines at noon ; and thousands of
men need no laboured treatises to assure them of
the authority of their Lord; His words, finding
the reason, conscience and heart, bear witness of
Him.
Many failed to recognise in Jesus a teacher sent
from God because of their insincerity and hardness of
heart. Many do so still. Let us with honest hearts
listen to the great Teacher. He beareth witness of
Himself, and the Father that sent Him beareth
witness also.
237
THE GATES OF DAWN
August 25
Scripture Reading— Matt, xviii. 21-35
Thought for the Day
"// thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he
repent, forgive him." — Luke xvii. 3
FORGIVENESS such as the New Testament
enjoins is a very difficult act indeed, may we
not say to the natural man an impossible act?
When we have been sorely wronged in feeling,
reputation, estate, or character, it is not a light thing
to forgive from the heart. Marcus Aurelius could
write, " The best way of revenge is not to imitate the
injury." Fine, indeed, from the pagan source, but
signifying far less than the absolution of the Christian
disciple.
Here, therefore, our Lord supplies a master motive.
He takes the subject to the highest ground. How
can we, in the light of Divine pardoning love, be
severe on our brother! A new and mighty motive
has been brought into the realm of ethics.
Let not my hand be on my brother's throat for an
hour ; it may strangle two.
238
THE GATES OF DAWN
August 26
Scripture Reading— Gen. 1. 14-21
Thought for the Day
"Forgive, and ye shall be forgiven." — Luke vi. 37
THE sovereign spirit of holiness and love has
been working in the world from the beginning,
and elect souls have transcended all the standards
and environments of imperfect ages, reaching at a
bound the ideal. Was ever love and clemency seen
in greater beauty than here !
Just as Joseph illustrates this Divine virtue toward
those of his own household, let me remember how
domestic life is usually a sphere in which we may
display the gracious spirit. How many are the pos-
sibilities of irritation and misunderstanding in an
ordinary household ! What heart-burnings are there !
What deep and bitter alienations are developed !
Let charity, then, begin at home. Lord, give me a
large mind that does not easily take offence, a large
heart that easily forgives it, an understanding heart
cleverly to smooth away the inevitable discords.
239
THE GATES OF DAWN
August 27
Scripture Reading — Matt. xix. 16-26
Thought for the Day
"Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." — Matt. xix. 19
IT is possible to be good without being good
enough, to be very good yet not good enough.
This is the moral of the story in the text. The
youth seemed perfect, he evidently considered him-
self perfect, and yet by a subtle touch of the Master
the fair creature was found wanting. Good before
the Church and Society, he was not "gcod before
God."
And what was wanting was vital. As if vaunted
gold proved to lack gravity, as if the glittering gem
turned out crystal, Christ showed that really the
youth was destitute of the faith without which it is
impossible to please God, that he lacked the love
without which all the rest is sounding brass and
tinkling cymbal.
All of which is a solemn warning to me. When I
read a narrative like this I understand why the holiest
of men are always bringing themselves to the touch-
stone of the Spirit's searching.
240
THE GATES OF DAWN
August 28
Scripture Reading— Deut. xxxi. 14-23
Thought for the Day
"The Lord, He it is that doth go before thee: He will be with
thee." — Deut. xxxi. 8
THAT the Lord goes before me I most fully
believe ; every day confirms my faith in the
benign purposefulness of life. That there is a real
end, a distinct end, an adequate end toward which
moves the individual and general life, I am firmly
persuaded. God is grand in His endings, and I
know that these frail sproutings will pass into purple
blossoms and rare fruit.
But we enter into the promised inheritance through
dutifulness toward the law. Some naturalists believe
that migrating birds are guided by the stars ;
certainly God's pilgrim children are. Keeping our
eye on the starry lights of God's word, we shall find
the path unerringly to God's eternal rest.
Let me be a close student of my chart ; stopping
my ears to the songs of the Sirens, shutting my
eyes to seductive golden sands, braving threatening
seas with confidence. I shall arrive.
241
THE GATES OF DAWN
August 29
Scripture Reading — Matt, xviii. 1-14
Thought for the Day
"It is not the will of your Father which is in heauen, that one
of these little ones should perish." — Matt. xviiL 14
" O EE that ye despise not one of these little ones."
^^ Our Lord here inculcates sympathy and
tenderness not only toward little children, but also
toward that considerable class of persons who
manifest the feebleness, witlessness, and helplessness
of children. The singularly weak, the unskilled and
inefficient, the " mean whites " of society, the men
and women who never get out of the cradle.
A couple of volumes by a distinguished naturalist
were recently published, setting forth his travels in
strange lands, and the records were chiefly occupied
with discussing the mosses of the regions he visited.
He passes by stately palms and gorgeous orchids to
describe the obscure and flowerless mosses that most
of us would neglect and despise. It was thus with
our Lord, His heart was ever occupied with
humblest life.
Have we not, then, a duty here? The weak, the
needy, the "poor creatures" of the world of every
type, have a special claim upon us, and we must care
for them, cost what it may.
242
THE GATES OF DAWN
August 30
Scripture Reading— Luke xii. 13-21
Thought for the Day
"Take heed and beware of couetousness." — Luke xii. 15
MONEY grows upon men. They do not know
how sweet it is until they have saved a bit,
then they begin to be strangely enamoured. If they
have not tasted blood they have tasted gold, and a
mysterious passion begins to awake, the consequences
of which none may foresee. It brings with it the
sense of importance, power, large possibilities of
honour and indulgence, until in the end the man is
mastered by it and ruined by it, as bees are some-
times drowned in their own honey.
Let me not forget that the power and joy of sacri-
fice grow upon those who exercise it. Pure passions
grow as well as dark ones. Men do not know how
sweet it is to relieve, comfort, bless, until they have
done a bit, then they too have tasted blood, the blood
that is drink indeed.
Having felt the luxury of doing good, they are in
delightful danger of becoming noble epicures who
shall finally regale themselves for ever at the Supper
of the Lamb. This is whereunto the appetite for
doing good will grow. So checkmate the base by
the divine.
243
THE GATES OF DAWN
August 31
Scripture Reading — Rom, xii. 1-9
Thought for the Day
"Abhor that which is euil ; cleave to that which Is good." —
Rom. xii. 1-9
IN the vineyard are many labourers entrusted with
diverse tasks. It must be so if the vintage is to
be gathered. May God save us from the spirit of
criticism and exclusiveness ! In reading history one
is struck by the fact that so many campaigns have
ended disastrously because of the want of unanimity
in the army. The various sections were jealous of
each other, despised each other, did not co-operate.
Does it not often look as if the battle of the Church
is endangered from the same cause?
It is incredible how many various workmen are
essential to the making of a pin. Need we, then,
wonder how many various agents, methods, organisa-
tions and instruments are necessary for the salvation
of a world ? Let me be sure that I do my own work,
and do it well.
244
THE GATES OF DAWN
September 1
Scripture Reading— Mark xii. 41-44
Thought for the Day
"Prepared unto every good work." — 2 Tim. ii. ai
WE need a large, reckless, never-despairing faith
in working for God. We must break up
the most unpromising ground, tackle most unlikely
people, plough the sands, and throw in the seed with
desperate confidence.
The South African native at the diamond mines
will save a little money and entrust it to his
employers ; but it must be kept in the rag in which
he brought it, and every few days he goes to look at it.
This is the spirit in which some do good. They
must be able to keep their eye on it. They must see
exactly what they have done, and be able to measure,
weigh, and reckon it.
How much better to throw our mite trustfully into
the treasury of the King ! It will not be lost ; it can-
not be lost. Let me boldly do good against all odds.
245
THE GATES OF DAWN
September 2
Scripture Reading— i Tim. iv
Thought for the Day
"But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions." — 2 Tim. iv. 5
A GREAT art critic has said that a picture ought
to be judged in the evening twilight. In the
sober Hght of eventide it is seen what the merit
of the picture really is. The glare of the noon may-
give it tints which do not belong to it, and false
estimates of its worth are probable.
The evening twilight enables us most truly to
judge of life, Alas ! how many lives fail to bear this
test ! When the irradiations of imagination cease,
when the glow of vanity and pride fades, when the
lurid colours of passion die away, then the poverty
and folly of the wasted life sadly appear. The
Apostle's career bore triumphantly the stern test
of eventide. Then its truth and beauty, its power
and promise, were revealed. The colours were the
colours of heaven.
Let me often anticipate the final days. When they
arrive may they witness that I have been a brave
soldier, a faithful steward, a winner of the unfading
crown.
246
THE GATES OF DAWN
September 3
Scripture Reading — Matt. xx. 17-28
Thought for the Day
" Whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister."
— Matt. xx. 26
WE mistake as to wherein true greatness lies.
We fancy it to consist in golden treasure,
in soft raiment, in the likeness of a kingly crown,
whilst our Lord shows that substantial glory is found
in sympathy, service, sacrifice.
Whilst the disciples are coveting crowns, and
disputing as to which amongst them should be the
greater, our Lord has an ear for the cry of misery.
The multitude had no sympathy, and the disciples
little, but the majesty of God demonstrated itself
in bringing salvation to the humble.
The stars of Christ's renown were the eyes He
opened, the castaway mantle of the blind was His
royal attire, His bodyguard was composed of those
whom He had saved, His crown of glory was the
diamonds rescued from the dustbin of the despised
and forgotten. I cannot open eyes, but I can wipe
away tears.
247
THE GATES OF DAWN
September 4
Scripture Reading — Mark viii. 34-38
Thought for the Day
" Whosoever shall lose his life for My sake and the Gospel's,
the same shall save it." — Mark viii. 35
GREATNESS is acquired and revealed by-
voluntary sacrifice on behalf of those whose
salvation can be secured in no other way. Selfish-
ness arrayed in the glittering frippery of wealth and
pride is contemptible ; the real sublime is the mother
suffering for her child, the patriot bleeding for his
country, the rescue party braving death in the burning
mine, or on the wild sea.
Our Lord gave the supreme illustration of this,
and His Cross has made paltry the magnificence of
palaces and the pride of kings.
And let me not lose myself in the sublimities of
the thing. Just as the scientist can best discern in
comparative trifles the manifestation and working
of nature's supreme laws and forces, so may I bring
out the fact and glory of the principle of sacrifice
in nameless deeds of love to my neighbour, in
trifling attentions, in cups of cold water.
248
THE GATES OF DAWN
September 6
Scripture Reading— Mark ix. 30-37
Thought for the Day
"If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all."—
Mark ix. 35
SCARCELY a day passes without showing us
fresh instances of vaulting ambition over-leaping
itself and falling on the other side, of selfishness
losing all because it grasped too much, of pride
hiding its eyes in the dust.
Let us be sure that the spirit of Christ is the spirit
through which we shall possess life. The simple
win whilst the subtle fail. " There is a profound as
well as a superficial simplicity." The unselfish find
out the strange truth, "there is that scattereth yet
increaseth."
In humility men prove greatness. "A really great
man has always an idea of something greater than
himself," and this very sense of something greater
is the key to its possession.
Simplicity, lowliness, moderation, here is the secret.
The meek possess the earth. As Rutherford writes :
" Down, down, for God's sake, with your topsail !
Be humbled."
249
THE GATES OF DAWN
September 6
Scripture Reading— John xiii. 1-17
Thought for the Day
"/ haue given you an example, that ye should do as I have
done to you." — John xiii. 15
JAMES SMETHAM writes: "I never before saw,
as I have since I tried to get into it more,
the humbling influence of the /i/e of Christ."
Yes, at every page of that wonderful life we are
impressed with the majesty of meekness, the nobleness
of humbleness, the luminousness of simplicity, the
sweetness of contentment.
We are always being told of the richness, abund-
ance, and variety in the wardrobes of our kings and
queens, but here the King of Glory, passing on His
way, girds Himself with a towel ! Oh ! how He
has freed us from illusions ! Helpfulness is glory.
Am / freed from illusions? Is the principle of
my life selfishness or disinterestedness ? As a great
philosopher puts it : " Magnanimity owes no account
of its motives to prudence." Losing my life, in
substance, in reputation, in leisure, let me find it
in finer quality, richer measure.
250
THE GATES OF DAWN
September 7
Scripture Reading — Isa. xlii. i-8
Thought for the Day
"A bruised reed shall He not break, and the smoking flax shall
He not quench." — Isa. xlii. 3
VERY wonderful is the tenderness of God in
Christ. Sir Philip Sydney writes : " Children
about a tender father from a long voyage returned,
with lovely childishness hang about him, and yet
with simple fear measure by his countenance how far
he accepts their boldness."
So we, half-trusting, half-fearing, draw near to
God ; but we need not be anxious, the bruised reed
shall not be broken, the faintest spark quenched.
And this tenderness is over us all lifelong. Gilbert
White relates that a pair of fly-catchers who in-
advertently placed their nest in an intolerably hot
situation, hovered over it " all the hotter hours, while
with wings expanded and mouths gaping for breath
they screened the heat from their suffering young."
So does the eternal Love hover over us, and in all
the hotter hours screen us from the heat of the day.
2;i
THE GATES OF DAWN
September 8
Scripture Reading — Mark x. 32-45
Thought for the Day
"The Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to
minister, and to give His life a ransom for many." — Mark x. 45
MAY the Divine Spirit this holy day imbue us
richly with the genius of our Master, " who
in a definite compass set forth infinite beauty ! "
The Imitation of Christ was always on the pillow
of Corot, the famous artist. He said it was the book
which gave him to live in ease of heart. " I always
keep it in my room," he said, " and read it nearly
every evening. It has taught me that men must not
be puffed up because they are emperors, and add this
province or that to their territories, or because they
can paint and win a name for themselves. If these
men are gifted more or less, I see no merit attaching
to them. Theirs is no glory compared to that of a
Sister of Charity."
Corot had seized the marrow of the great teaching
of the lesson. Loving God and man, and in the
grace of the one seeking the salvation of the other,
is more than all social splendour or intellectual
renown.
252
THE GATES OF DAWN
September 9
Scripture Reading — Matt. xxi. 1-17
Thought for the Day
"Learn of me : for I am meek and lowly in heart." — Matt. xi. 29
THE horse is in the Old Testament the symbol
of worldly brute power, whilst the ass repre-
sents humility and unobtrusiveness. With what
silence and meekness our Lord entered upon His
mighty task ! The secular history of that period
records the doings and writings of a crowd of kings,
statesmen, conquerors and poets, but it contains
hardly an allusion to our Lord, His teachings or His
works.
And yet under all this aspect of mildness what
power was hidden ! To ride an ass's wild colt was a
triumph indeed. This is what the meek and patient
Jesus has been doing ever since. Taming the wild
power, curbing the wild passions of the nations.
Bringing high thoughts, irrational tempers, defiant
lusts, into captivity to the law of reason and love.
King of power and peace, put a bridle into my lips !
Subdue my whole proud, restless being by the magic
of Thy will and mastership 1
253
THE GATES OF DAWN
September 10
Scripture Reading— Mark vii. 31-3J
Thought for the Day
"Behold, the world is gone after ////w."— John xii. 19
THIS enthusiasm of the mass left a good deal to
be desired, but it is very wonderful to note
how Christ fascinates the people.
He appeals to the crowd by His words. They
recognise in His doctrine a power and grace found
nowhere else. He appeals to them by His works.
They may not comprehend philosophy and theology,
but they feel the witness of Lazarus raised from the
dead, the power of Christ in men raised from the death
of sin to the life of righteousness. He appeals to
them by His personality.
Misled by their rulers, the multitude assisted at the
crucifixion, but the unsophisticated heart recognised
the Deliverer, and strewed His path with palm. The
intellect of the great is oftener wrong than the heart
of the simple. " The world is gone after Him." Yes,
it has. The needle turns to the pole. " I will go
also."
254
THE GATES OF DAWN
September 11
Scripture Reading — Luke xix. 37-48
Thought for the Day
"Hotv often would I have gathered thy children together . . ,
and ye would not." — Matt, xxiii. 37
" /^^H, that all the Lord's people were prophets !"
\_y For the hour they were and saw the glory of
the Lord. We all have these times of revelation. In
privileged hours obscuring unbeliefs melt away, and
we see the beauty of the Lord, we recognise His
authority, we perceive the blessedness of His service.
The Orientals speak of a certain hour of the morn-
ing as the " false dawn." It seems as if the day were
breaking, when it suddenly sinks back into darkness.
This scene of the palm-strewing was the last " false
dawn" of Jewish history. Again and again had there
been mocking epochs of repentance and hope, but
now the final national penitence and recovery was to
sink back into the blackness of Calvary.
Let me know the day of my visitation. Let not
the great truths and hopes which I see so clearly,
which I feel so deeply, ever be hidden from my eyes.
255
THE GATES OF DAWN
September 12
Scripture Reading — Ps. viii.
Thought for the Day
" What is man, that Thou art mindful of him ?" — Ps. viii. 4
THE Psalmist saw the greatness of man in the
light of nature. He did not see exactly
wherein that greatness lay, but marking man's place
in creation he became conscious of the mysterious
significance of his kind.
But the great thought of our reading is that the
ideal greatness of humanity is manifested in Jesus
Christ. The glory set upon the heavens is dim by
the excelling light of the glory revealed on the earth
in the Son of Man.
The greatness of humanity is realised in Jesus
Christ. He not only shows us what is possible for
us, but in His faith and fellowship we awake to actual
greatness and blessedness. The glory of humanity is
bound up with Jesus Christ. Strewing branches for
the feet of Christ we are strewing them for our own.
It is in Him we get the victory over the beast and
his image ; that we attain the mastery of the world ;
that we vanquish death.
256
THE GATES OF DAWN
September 13
Scripture Reading— John ii. 13-22
Thought for the Day
"Holiness becometh Thine house, Lord, for ever." —
Ps. xciii. 5
TO confound gain with godliness is a most
heinous sin. As Montesquieu states it: "To
investigate our interests too strictly is to apply a
sponge to all the virtues."
What is our temperance worth if based only on
economy? What is purity when tainted by calcula-
tion ? What is love prompted by greed ? What is
generosity governed by the thought of recompense?
The suspicion of gain makes the noblest virtues
infamous.
The Persian when in the act of worship puts away
from his person all silver and gold. His instinct is
right. We must renounce all thought of pride and
:ovetousness in dealing with God.
Is there not a special danger here in these days
when secularism eats- as doth a canker? Let me
beware of making God's house a barn, a marketplace
a Stock Exchange, a cattle market
257
THE GATES OF DAWN
September 14
Scripture Reading— 2 Chron. xxix. 15-20
Thought for the Day
"Mine house shall be called a house of prayer for all people." —
ISA. Ivi. 7
'"nr^HE iniquities of our holy things" are many.
J^ Some are quite obvious. Making a theatre
of the temple ; a scene of gorgeous spectacles, of
impious baubles. Making of it a music-hall. Making
it a Vanity Fair for the display of fashion. Sunday
" church promenades ! " All this is no better than
the sin of sacrilege.
Some of these " iniquities " are more subtle. " And
the priests went in unto the inner part of the house
of the Lord to cleanse it." There is not only much
vulgar rubbish to cart away, but secret faults which
only the Spirit of God can disclose and cleanse.
Secret unbeliefs which profane the altar, secret sins
which pollute the sacred vessels, secret worldliness
desecrating the table of the Lord, secret pride
offending the Divine Presence.
We often in puritanic zeal talk of worshipping
God with "four bare walls and a pure heart," but
it is easier to get the first than the second.
258
THE GATES OF DAWN
September 15
Scripture Reading— Matt. xxi. 23-32
Thought for the Day
" The atone which the builders rejected, the same is become the
head of the corner." — Matt. xxi. 42
A GENTLEMAN sowed on a plot of carefully
prepared soil some rare seeds. None ot them
grew, but a few that accidentally fell on the hard,
stony garden walk flowered sweetly. Many Gentiles
surpassed the privileged Jew. Many in heathen
lands to-day are entering the Kingdom, whilst the
favoured European remains outside. The Lazarus
of the East-end becomes a saint, whilst Dives sinks
into a pagan. In the most unfriendly surroundings
are beautiful souls; whilst, with everything to help,
others are sinners exceedingly.
If the lot falls to me in pleasant places, and I
have a goodly heritage, all will be unavailing if I
do not stir up myself to make the best of golden
opportunity. li, on the other hand, my situation
seems inimical to spiritual and moral life, let me
remember that an earnest soul triumphs over cir-
cumstance. The rose that failed in the conservatory
grows among the stones.
259
THE GATES OF DAWN
September 16
Scripture Reading— Matt. xxi. 33-46
Thought for the Day
"Take ye heed, watch and pray." — Mark xiii. 33
THERE is a time of national visitation that
may pass unimproved, and not again return.
Speaking of art, Ruskin writes : " No nation ever
had, or will have, the power of suddenly developing,
under the pressure of necessity, faculties it had
neglected when it was at ease ; nor of teaching
itself in poverty, the skill to produce, what it has
never in opulence had the sense to admire."
Is not this true in regard to the religious sense
and moral faculty of a nation? Can it in days of
disaster suddenly develop faculties it had neglected
when it was at ease? Can it teach itself in adversity
to produce what it had not the faithfulness in happier
days to admire and practise?
What is true of a nation is true of the individual.
Wasted privilege may not be retrieved ; neglected
opportunity atoned for. *' And thou mourn at thy
latter end, and say, How have I hated instruction,
and my heart despised reproof."
260
THE GATES OF DAWN
September 17
Scripture Reading — Jer. xxv. i-ii
Thought for the Day
"Turn ye again now every one from his evil u/ay."— Jer. xxv. $
'"nr^HESE three-and-twenty years, the word of
J[ the Lord hath come unto me, and I have
spoken unto you, rising up early and speaking ; but
ye have not hearkened." How great the Divine
graciousness ! Through many long, rebellious years
does the long-suffering God bear with us !
Disregarded warnings ! It is not one clear call
that we get, but repeated calls ; and, alas ! how deaf
many are to these heavenly entreaties ! We know
that we ought to break with sin, to follow Christ, to
confess Christ, but we trifle and postpone. There
is, however, a last call ; are we to hear that without
heeding it?
If not hitherto, let me now be obedient to the
heavenly vision.
"I will accept His offers now,
From every sin depart,
Perform my oft -repeated vow,
And render Him my heart,"
261
THE GATES OF DAWN
September 18
Scripture Reading— Acts vii. 37-53
Thought for the Day
"The Most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands." —
Acts vii. 48
THE impeachment of Israel by Stephen charges
it with forgetting God, and violating the moral
law. They " served the host of Heaven." They did
not worship what was low, mean, small, impure ; but
what was lofty, large, splendid, and chaste — the starry
heaven. But glorious as it was it came between
them and God, and the issue of such idolatry was
unrighteousness of the darkest type.
Our modern danger is not that God will be shut
out by vulgar things, but by things as superb as
nature, science, art, and literature ; He is to be
hidden from our eyes by the vast, the beautiful, the
sublime.
But whatever renders us forgetful of God means
before long the bad, the base, the bitter. Whatever
separates us from Christ implies degeneration and
destruction. Let us be warned. If we "turn back
in our hearts unto Egypt," we "shall be carried
away beyond Babylon." There is an inevitable and
awful retribution for abused privilege !
262
THE GATES OF DAWN
September 19
Scripture Reading— Ezek. xx. 1-20
Thought for the Day
"Walk in My statutes, and keep My judgments, and do them."
— Ezek. xx. 19
HOW this admonition is repeated again and
again, as by a peal of bells !
The indispensable thing in religion is obedience.
Some seem to think that the seat of religion is in
the imagination. It is in their sight wholly cestheti-
cal, the poetry of life. Others argue as if good and
beneficent afTections constituted virtue. Others act
as if the whole duty of man was a round of ecclesi-
astical ceremonies. But, as Vinet writes : " Obedience
alone constitutes moral good. It has not pleased God
to be worshipped without being obeyed. Religion
is always a law and a prohibition." " Walk," " keep,"
"do."
" Do as you are told," says the parent to the child.
" Do as you are told," cries the master to the scholar.
" Do as you are told," is Heaven's grand admonition.
We have not to sound depths of mystery, but to do
as we are bid. Oh ! for the spirit of simple, prompt,
exact obedience ! The doing of God's will without
questioning, delay, or repining.
263
THE GATES OF DAWN
September 20
Scripture Reading — Luke xiv. 12-24
Thought for the Day
"Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the Kingdom of God."—
Luke xiv. 15
HOW superficial and untenable the excuses
offered for the neglect of true religion, that is
the faith of Christ ! " They made Hght of it," made
light of that on which all Heaven concentrates itself.
How frivolous the excuses occasioned by property !
" I have bought a field." They fondly call their lands
their own, and exhaust themselves in acquiring an
inheritance that to-morrow must pass to others. How
vain the apologies of the commercial ! " Bought five
yoke of oxen." Coveting gain and gold, and ignoring
all the mighty facts and hopes which make us men,
as if they were no better than the oxen whose points
they canvass. How absurd the social subterfuge!"
" I have married a wife." No legitimate social duty
or pleasure need stand in the way of godliness.
Let nothing separate between me and the Gospel
of the glory of the blessed God. If even lawful things
accidentally interfere let me renounce them without a
pang. It is better to enjoy the King's love than to
possess the King's gold.
264
THE GATES OF DAWN
September 21
Scripture Reading — Prov. ix.
Thought for the Day
"Forsake the foolish and Hue, and go in the way of understand-
ing." — Prov. ix, 6
" '' I ^HE feast of reason and the flow of soul," how
J_ pure and lovely ! How infinitely more noble
and delightful is the intellectual than all sensual
gratifications ! Her house is of celestial architecture,
her wine without dregs, her table allures with sweet
morsels, the virgins, her companions, minister in un-
spotted white.
But if the voice of philosophy is thus musical as is
Apollo's lute, and her viands sugared sweets, how
ineffable is that diviner wisdom which concerns itself
directly with God Himself, His Kingdom, law, and
righteousness !
In the Lord Jesus we have the last revelation of
Wisdom, the fullest expression of divine Philosophy.
Let, then, my chief joy be in this banqueting
chamber. Let me leave gross things for high delights
of reason and knowledge; let me then ascend to the
highest delights of the spirit in the fellowship of the
Lord Jesus.
265
THE GATES OF DAWN
September 22
Scripture Reading — Acts xiii. 42-52
Thought for the Day
"/ have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles." — Acts xiii. 47
HISTORY makes us familiar with the forfeiture
of great gifts and privileges. But whilst one
nation fails, another is entrusted with its stewardship ;
God's purpose cannot be baulked through the faith-
lessness of men or empire. We may despair of a
nation, never of humanity; of a Church, never of the
Kingdom.
If England prove faithless to her high calling, yet
God abides faithful. The vineyard is " given to
others," the removed candlestick sheds its light else-
where. Will England in coming ages know a " wailing
place " where it will weep over its forfeited glory, as
the modern Jew amid the ruins of Jerusalem bewails
the humiliation of his faithless nation?
Let me beware of losing my personal gifts and
opportunities. The figures of Alsace and Lorraine in
the Place de la Concord, Paris, covered with funeral
wreaths, tell the grief of a nation at the loss of
provinces ; but what does it mean to lose an immortal
crown and inheritance?
266
THE GATES OF DAWN
September 23
Scripture Reading — Prov. i. 20-33
Thought for the Day
" Whoso hearheneth unto Me shall dwell safely." — Prov. 1. 33
HOW fully is the truth of our position set
before us by God's Word ! We cannot
plead ignorance. A fierce light is made to fall on
our situation. We are instructed, we are warned,
we are entreated.
And yet how criminally we neglect warning and
scorn reproof! The French Ambassador at Berlin
exactly informed his master of the warlike temper
and preparations of the Germans, but these warning
letters, after the calamity that overtook the gay
nation, were found in the royal palace unopened. So
tens of thousands disregard the appeals of God's
Word.
" See that no man take thy crown." The bitterest
grief is not occasioned by what is torn from us by
stern circumstance, but by what is lost through pre-
sumption, apathy, folly and faithlessness. " How
camest thou in hither, not having a wedding garment ?
And he was speechless." A thousand excuses now,
not one then.
267
THE GATES OF DAWN
September 24
Scripture Reading — Rom. xiii. i-8
Thought for the Day
"If thou do that which is euil, be afraid." — Rom. xiii. 4
THE faith of Christ is eminently favourable to
civil welfare. Sceptics have repeatedly de-
clared that the religious idea ought to be respected
and the Church patronised because of their restraining
influence on the lawless.
The fact is that the fear of God and the faith of
Christ strengthen and hallow all social and civic bonds,
and are to be cherished because they are at once true
and ameliorative.
We respect the law, we honour the magistrate,
because without order there can be no security,
happiness, or progress for the community. Sick of
tumult and revolution involving profound public
misery, a sceptic like George Sand could write : " It
is high time we had lights that are not incendiary
torches."
Jesus Christ gave us those "lights." Personal
goodness, the love of our neighbour, the doctrine of
the Cross, the spirit of moderation, patience, and
aspiration toward the City of God. Let these
" lights " put out incendiary torches.
268
THE GATES OF DAWN
September 25
Scripture Reading— Deut. vi. 1-13
Thought for the Day
"Thou ahaltfear the Lord thy God and serve ////n."— Deut. vi. 13
OBEDIENCE to the highest law secures national
prosperity. It has been profanely declared
that there is " no law that reaches above the mountain
tops," nothing more binding than human codes. If
the top of Sinai were meant we would not dispute,
for its law descended out of heaven from God. The
nation that comes nearest to its keeping is a sovereign
people ; and he who observes it most faithfully is the
noblest and happiest of men.
We are told by travellers that it is not wise to ask
the Indians to do any kind of work as a task. But
take them as for a walk, they are all alacrity to climb
or cut down the trees, the gathering of the flowers
being all the while represented as a mere matter of
amusement. Such are savages, incapable of serious-
ness, duty, purpose.
The civilised man is such because of his growing
respect for law ; he has seen that self-limitation and
duty are essential to fuller, worthier life. The saint
understands that loving obedience to the highest law
means the best on earth and in heaven.
269
THE GATES OF DAWN
September 26
Scripture Reading — Lev. xix. 9-18
Thought for the Day
"Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart."— Lev. xix, 17
WHAT a lovely passage ! A bundle of myrrh,
the perfume of frankincense, the scent of
Lebanon ! We are assured by geologists that all the
most beautiful things of our world came late. The
birds with their music, the butterfly with its splendour,
the orchid, the rose, and lily were among the latest
creations.
So we conclude that only in the later revelation of
the New Testament are the highest and loveliest
moral teachings inculcated. Yet here, in the morning
of the ages, the most exquisite social duty is
enjoined ! Nothing in the whole Bible is more
delightful.
We shall need all the grace of the New Testament
to reach the ideals of the ancients. There is a
terrible Bulgarian proverb: "May God think of you
as your neighbours think!" Let me act so justly
and generously to my neighbour, with so much
courtesy, consideration, and magnanimity, that he
shall think handsomely of me, and that God shall
do the same.
270
THE GATES OF DAWN
September 27
Scripture Reading — Rom. viii. 1-14
Thought for the Day
" To be spiritually minded is life and peace. "—Rom. viiL 6
HERE, again, we are brought face to face with
the sovereign power of regeneration and
sanctification, and there is the utmost need that we
should remind ourselves of it and realise it. St. Paul
tells that he fought with beasts at Ephesus, but long
before that he makes it clear that he had found a den
of wilder beasts within his own breast. And when
the science of our day finds the relics of ancient
animality in us, fierce and foul, we are not surprised ;
we knew that all along.
But think of the holy power working in the
believer ! The Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of God,
the omnipotent saving energy ! He who brought the
world out of chaos delivers from the law of sin and
death, and energises us to walk in newness of life.
It is not a human power in which we trust, but one
altogether divine. More than the strength of the
stars, the pull of gravitation, the throb of the ocean,
the quickening- of the sun, work in us to make us
pure, and to keep us so. Let us not then be afraid
of " the power of darkness," nor of all the wild beasts
that roam in it.
271
THE GATES OF DAWN
September 28
Scripture Reading — Matt. xxv. 1-13
Thought for the Day
" Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour
wherein the Son of Man cometh." — Matt, xxv, 13
THE tragedy of the light that failed ! The fact
that their " lamps are going out " shows that
those they represent have a measure of grace. They
possess the vital thing in insufficient measure.
It is manifestly possible that we outlive our faith.
Either the events of life or doubtful reasonings
quench the light of high belief, and leave us like the
explorer of the catacombs whose torch is extinguished.
Our love may wax cold, and its sweet light glimmer
to extinction. Our duties of meditation, prayer, and
worship may little by little be neglected, until we
have no longer pleasure in them, and the power of
godliness departs and nothing is left but the form.
Let me be solicitous that my lamp is kept brightly
burning. This is the grand point. Daily may I
replenish the soul with sacred oil. Then, when the
candle of my natural life fails and flickers, my
spiritual life shall glow into the glory of the King's
banquet.
272
THE GATES OF DAWN
September 29
Scripture Reading— Luke xix. 11-27
Thought for the Day
"From him that hath not, even that he hath shall be taken
away from him." — Luke xix, 26
IT is astonishing how spiritual power may be
multiplied, moral character and life enhanced,
by diligent, faithful, persevering service. Our re-
ligious possibilities are immense.
A few years ago the sweet-pea was one of the
poorest and most despised of flowers, but a gentleman
devoted himself to its special culture, and it has
become the pride of the garden, the peer of the roses,
the rival of gorgeous lilies, the loveliest of lovely
things.
Here see a parable of the soul true to grace. We
are poor in knowledge, vision, strength, joyousness,
general efficiency and fruitfulness, not because we are
constitutionally, organically inferior, but because we
do not realise ourselves in the light of the truth, in
the power of the Spirit. It is all in us, and if once
the quickening energy stir the soul we shall unfold to
unexpected perfection.
273
THE GATES OF DAWN
September 30
Scripture Reading — Matt. xxv. 31-46
Thought for the Day
"The Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all the holy
angels with Him."— Matt, xxv, 31
THE Son of Man is the final judge. We are not
to be judged by a moral code, by certain
abstract rules and principles, but by the standard of
character and action revealed in Christ Jesus and
expounded in His Gospel.
Our relation to Christ and His Kingdom is the
standard of decision. This relation is not conven-
tional, a thing of tradition and forms ; it is not a
question of doctrine, a matter of barren orthodoxy;
it is not a question of ecclesiasticism, membership
with the visible Church ; but a living relation that
fills the heart with Christ's own self-sacrificing
love, the hands with generous aid to our neediest
brothers.
Richard Rothe accuses certain religious enthusiasts
of his day of neglecting practical helpfulness: " You
Pietists have set before yourselves no work of world-
wide importance to accomplish for Christ ! Does it
not startle you to hear it? " If the charge were true
it ought to have startled them, and it may well
startle us.
274
THE GATES OF DAWN
October 1
Scripture Reading— Ezek. xviii. 25-32
Thought for the Day
"He hath appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world
in righteousness." — Acts xvii. 31
WE cannot too often be reminded of our
personal responsibility as against collective
responsibility. We are usually quite anxious that for
our meritorious qualities and deeds we shall not be
confounded with the multitude, but in the day of
reckoning for misdemeanour we are ready to merge
ourselves in the crowd.
Yet individual responsibility is a solemn truth, not
for a moment to be forgotten. All modern know-
ledge is intent on recognising the unit. Our fathers
were impressed by magnitudes, we are more occupied
with the molecule. He who is perfect in knowledge
deals primarily not with races, nations and families,
but with individual souls.
And how exquisitely just will God be ! We some-
times think that we discern signs of inequality in
His dealings with us, but in our deepest self we know
that this is an absolute impossibility. Let us waste
neither time nor feeling on any criticism of God's
ways : let us watch and pray lest our way be unequal.
275
THE GATES OF DAWN
October 2
Scripture Reading— Rom. ii. 3-16
Thought for the Day
"There is no respect of persons with Goo." — Rom. ii. 11
TO what a very slight extent are we estimated by
our fellows for what we really are ! That is,
for what we are morally at heart. It has been truly
said that " very little of the blessing of our fellow-
creatures' good opinion of us is due, in reality, to any
merits, or, indeed, to any characteristics, of our own."
They estimate us rather in the light of our family
status, our social repute, our talents and culture, the
offices we hold, our wealth and power.
But there is One in whose reckoning all these
things of the surface drop away, who, disregarding
all gilding and veneer, weighs the spirit, who knows
us for what we are in strict reality.
Let me, then, appraise myself on the grounds of
what I really am before God. Let me, as far as
that is possible, judge myself to-day as God will
judge me finally, let me test myself by the ultimate
criterion.
276
THE GATES OF DAWN
October 3
Scripture Reading — Heb. iv.
Thought for the Day
"Let ua labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man
fall after the same example of unbelief." — Heb. iv. ii
FEW things in life are more painful than to look
back and recall the great opportunities we
neglected, the great things we missed.
But to miss the one grand object of life ! This is
the dire catastrophe we have most to fear. Perhaps
we sometimes exaggerate the importance of the
chances we ignored, the value of things we threw
away ; the fish that escapes the angler is always the
biggest : but we cannot exaggerate the importance of
the grace and salvation that make a success of this
life and the next. If we ignore the blessings that are
now freely given to us of God, we inflict upon our-
selves a loss for which there is no remedy.
Let me seize the present ; these are the golden
hours, the critical moments ; they are big with fate.
The Spirit is ever telling me this. Lord, arouse my
drowsy sense.
277
THE GATES OF DAWN
October 4
Scripture Reading — Matt, xx. i-i6
Thought for the Day
"Behold thy King cometh unto thee; He is just, and having
salvation," — Zech. ix. 9
SOME persons appear to have a much more
manageable constitution than others. We all
know men whose temper is such that they must ever
be held in with bit and bridle, and it is with them a
long and bitter struggle to rule their flesh and spirit.
With others the softness and geniality of their
disposition is such that the laws and duties of the
Christian life seem quite natural and easy.
Some seem to have a much easier lot than others.
From first to last life is smooth with one, rough and
bitter throughout with another. Some seem to slip
into heaven at the last five minutes, whilst another
suffers conflict and sorrow through a long lifetime.
Let me not perplex myself " They supposed they
would receive more." Let me drop my suppositions
and leave all with God. " He is just, and having
salvation." What more do I wish to know? There
will be no defect of justice, only an excess of grace
will surprise us. The excess of grace will surprise us
all. The final problem will be the greatness of God's
love.
278
THE GATES OF DAWN
October 5
Scripture Reading— John xii. i-8
Thought for the Day
"The house was filled with the odour of the ointment." — John
xii. 3
THERE is an economy that is truly admirable;
to this our Lord gave His sanction when the
fragments of His divinely-created feast were gathered
into baskets. This economy in magnificence was
most striking.
Here the Master teaches the complementary lesson
of magnificence even in sight of the needs of poverty.
While respecting the claims of prudence, we must not
refrain from giving play to the finer feelings of the
heart — the impulses of love, reverence, devotion,
sacrifice. Poetry must not be extinguished on the
urgency of pence.
Let me be careful not to discourage the warm,
spontaneous, expansive emotions of the soul as they
are evoked by the presence of Jesus and the claims of
His Kingdom.
" We must be ready for the right moment. Genius
is perhaps not so rare as the five hundred hands to
seize opportunity by the forelock." With at least
two hands let me grasp my great opportunity. Jesus
is passing by. Now or never 1
279
THE GATES OF DAWN
October 6
Scripture Reading— Luke x. 38-42
Thought for the Day
"Mary hath chosen that good part which shall not be taken
away from her." — Luke x. 42
THE Master does not extol sentiment at the
expense of practical duty. We once knew a
lady who sat for hours mooning over religious themes,
and who grew quite lyrical on the subject of entire
sanctification, whilst her fire-grate was choked with
ashes, and her house became a veritable chaos. She
mistook herself for Mary.
Our Lord delicately touches the defect of Martha
in the word "cumbered," or, as it is given in the
margin, " distracted." Simply, we must not allow
legitimate cares to impair our full and free fellowship
with our Master. It is here that so many of us err.
The sisters represent two types, in themselves equally
admirable ; as an old writer puts it, Martha is good
before dinner, and Mary after. Happy the Christian
who combines the two !
" One thing is needful," essential — the pure love
and service of the Master ; after that, few things
suffice. " One thing I know." I know Christ has
opened my eyes, and I behold His beauty. " One
thing I do." I lovingly seek to please and serve
Him.
280
THE GATES OF DAWN
October 7
Scripture Reading — Luke iv. 16-24
Thought for the Day
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed
Me to preach the Gospel." — Luke iv. 18
NO wonder that they wondered. Here was one
who spake living words. Not the cold, dry,
formal, Rabbinical talk with which they had been
so long familiar, but vital breathings. A recent
invention has made it possible for heart-beats to be
heard at a distance. These listeners at Nazareth
heard heart-beats, the throbbings of the largest,
truest, tenderest heart that ever beat in a human
bosom.
" Wondered at the words of grace." They dropped
as the gentle dew upon the place beneath. The
world was thirsting for such a message — a hard,
dark, cruel, despairing world.
Good tidings to the humble, release from the
tyranny of the devil, recovering of the inner vision
of God and the wider horizons, comfort and healing
for the bruised and bleeding heart, the dawning of
the golden year of universal salvation, these were
the messages that fell like heavenly music on the ear.
Lord, I too am listening ; speak to me the words
that shall make my heart burn within me I
281
THE GATES OF DAWN
October 8
Scripture Reading— John xiv. 15-27
Thought for the Day
"He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is
that loueth Me." — ^John xiv. 21
THE intimate oneness of law and love ! Law is
love defined, love is law in essence and power.
We prove our love to Christ by keeping His com-
mandments, by keeping His commandments we
abide in His love.
The best legacy that any man can bequeath the
race is great thoughts, heightened ideals, enlarged
and assured hope. This is the reason why we
think so highly of the master authors from Plato
to Shakespeare.
Christ's grand gift to the race was the Spirit of
truth, righteousness, and love, and the more loyal
we are to this Spirit in character, in actual life and
conduct, the more certainly are we Christ's.
And in personal faithfulness, in positive obedience,
we realise most intimately the presence, love, and
blessing of God. " If a man love Me, he will keep
My word ; and my Father will love him, and we will
come unto him, and make our abode with him."
In keeping the word of Christ we prove divine
fellowship. Action is also prayer, availing prayer
of the highest kind.
282
THE GATES OF DAWN
October 9
Scripture Reading— Luke xxii. 7-20
Thought for the Day
"This cup 18 the New Testament in My blood, which is shed for
you." — Luke xxii. 20
HOW strikingly simple the place, vessels and
associations of the Last Supper ! Entirely
devoid of the pomp of circumstance which attends
the feasts of the rich, the banquets of kings. We
are taught by this that the spiritual principle is the
essential thing in the commemoration of the Lord's
death. It is not designed as an appeal to the senses,
a festival for the imagination, but as a simple love
token, reminding us of Love's supreme sacrifice.
An enthusiast in art writes : " The man who
drinks from a wooden bowl is nearer to the brute
that drinks from a stone trough than he who quenches
his thirst from a crystal cup." It may be so, or it
may not ; but he who realises the spiritual blessing
of personal pardon and peace through the simplest
ceremony at the table of the Lord is far nearer the
Lord's ideal than he who at gorgeous altars chiefly
satisfies his aesthetic sense.
Let no shadow or symbol rob me of the precious
substance — the realisation of the Saviour's merit
and grace.
283
THE GATES OF DAWN
October 10
Scripture Reading— Ex. xii. 21-28
Thought for the Day
"Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us." — i Cor. v. 7
AS the angel of death passed by the Israelites
when he saw the blood on the lintel, so shall
the angel of retribution spare those who have found
refuge in the Cross.
Flippant men suppose that nothing is easier than
the forgiveness of sin. They cannot believe that it
presents any difficulty to God. But it has justly
been said, " A fault is not effaced because we re-
proach ourselves with it." No, it strikes infinitely
deeper than that; it loudly calls for atonement or
punishment, and all revelation teaches that the
supreme act of Divine wisdom and power was the
provision of redemption for a world of sinners.
That redemption is in the blood of Christ, shed
for me. " Being now justified by His blood, we
shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him."
I do not understand the mystery of redemption, as
I do not understand many other mysteries ; but if
I am not forgiven, healed, perfected through the
Crucified, I see no other way of escape from the law
of retribution. It is either the red cross or the red
sword.
284
THE GATES OF DAWN
October 11
Scripture Reading— Rom. v, i-ii
Thought for the Day
"While we were yet sinners Christ died for us."— Rom. v. 8
" T ET us have peace." " Let us rejoice in hope."
I ^ "Let us also rejoice in our tribulations."
The Apostle exhorts us to claim our great privileges.
We have read a good deal lately about un-
claimed funds in the great banks, about unclaimed
prizes, dividends, and legacies, it would seem that
mighty treasures await undiscovered proprietors and
heirs.
But what spiritual wealth lies unclaimed ! " Let
us have peace." Many of us have very little. " Being
justified by faith," we have a right to peace. Let
us claim our inheritance, let us enter upon it. " Let
us rejoice in hope of the glory of God." Gold, jasper,
pearl, all manner of precious stones, harps, crowns,
everlasting light and song — all are ours. Claim it,
taste the earnest of it. " Let us rejoice in our tribula-
tions," Triumphant strength is ours in Christ ; ours
for the asking.
Great gifts, experiences, blessings are mine; let
me then claim them, live as if they were mine. Why
live with a mere title, without the estate ?
285
THE GATES OF DAWN
October 12
Scripture Reading — Matt. xxvi. 36-46
Thought for the Day
"In all things it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren."
— Heb. ii. 17
VERY clearly does our Lord apprehend the frailty
of human nature, and most delicately does
He sympathise with us in our infirmity. Frailty and
fault are often so subtly intermingled in human
nature that we are unable to determine whether an
act is a frailty to be condoned, or a fault to be
condemned.
It is good to know that our Heavenly Father
comprehends us perfectly alike in our strength and
weakness. " He knoweth our frame ; He remembereth
that we are dust." Our Lord gives this tender truth
a fresh setting, and an enhanced richness and force.
The sympathy of God in Christ is a wonderfully
healing thought When I am perplexed by my
moods and doings, hardly knowing whether to excuse
or chide myself, let me submit myself with confidence
and hope to Him who urges for all sincere souls the
strong and loving apology, "The spirit indeed is
willing, but the flesh is weak."
286
THE GATES OF DAWN
October 13
Scripture Reading— Matt. xxvi. 47-56
Thought for the Day
" Thy will be done."— Matt. xxvi. 42
IET me never despair of my Master because he
_^ appears weak, nor of His cause because it seems
to fail, nor of myself because apparently forlorn and
helpless.
Even in Gethsemane our Lord was the conscious
Master of measureless power. " Even now send Me
more than twelve legions of angels," There is a vast
ocean of power at the back of things awaiting our
Lord's bidding. In the moment of His deepest
abasement He was conscious of this. In Gethsemane
He felt the pulse of omnipotence.
Let me often dwell to my great comfort on the
reserve power of my Lord. He who revealed His
Divine authority in being able to summon legions of
angels, and who more fully revealed the sufficiency
of His power by not calling them, can fully take care
of Himself, and of His cause, and of me, even when
the worst comes to the worst, and when to the carnal
eye everything appears desperate and lost.
287
THE GATES OF DAWN
October 14
Scripture Reading — Heb. v. i-io
Thought for the Day
'• Though He were a Son yet earned He obedience by the things
which He suffered. " — Heb. v. 8
"/^^OMPASSED with infirmity," appointed to
\^_^ suffering, our Lord entered into the deepest
experience of humanity, and attained the secret of
perfect obedience to the will of God.
We may see in our suffering Lord how through
sanctified suffering we attain harmony with the
eternal will. One of the greatest of modern artists
reminds his young brethren that artistic perfection is
not reached through easy and pleasant exercises, but
through battles and agonies. How much more the
immortal perfection of the spirit !
Let me not resent the discipline of trial. A famous
traveller tells us that it is a principle thoroughly
believed in by all Asiatics, that the bitterer the remedy
the more efficacious it is. This may not be true in
physics, but it is certainly true in morals, when our
sorrows are ordained by God and accompanied by
His grace. Let me not, then, wear the fool's cap in
the school of suffering, but fully learn the great
lessons of submission, patience, trust.
288
THE GATES OF DAWN
October 15
Scripture Reading — John xviii. i-ii
Thought for the Day
"Being made perfect, He became the author of eternal salva-
tion." — Heb. v. 9
OUR garments are not made white through our
own suffering, our hearts' blood, but through
the blood of the Lamb. His agony brings us peace.
Yet the purchased perfection is attained through
personal pain.
" The cup which the Father hath given Ale^ shall I
not drink it ? " Have we not sometimes seen a parent
coaxing a child to take a distasteful medicine? The
little one is assured that the bitterness is nothing, the
draught is guilefully disguised, sweets and toys are
promised as allurements, and at length the cup is
sipped. Sipped, and therefore all its bitterness tasted,
and it is with utmost persuasion that at last the
medicine is swallowed.
So much difficulty has God with His children.
We sip when we ought boldly, trustingly to drink.
And yet the cup He gives us is the cup of salvation.
Let me welcome it, calling upon the name of the
Lord.
289
THE GATES OF DAWN
October 16
Scripture Reading— John xvii. 1-13
Thought for the Day
"The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners." —
Matt. xxvi. 45
HOW the death of Christ is here distinguished
from the death of martyrs, and raised infinitely-
above and beyond such deaths, however glorious they
may be ! The bold identification of Himself with
the Father's glory and with His eternal will and
purpose invests the Lord's passion and death with
infinite significance.
Nothing is more wonderful in this lesson than its
conclusion. " That they may have my joy fulfilled
in themselves." Joy was the last thing we were
thinking about amid these sad scenes. Yet the
suffering Master knew through all His agony the
eternal joy, and He suffered that we might share with
Him that joy.
There was a law in Jerusalem that residents were
not to grow roses in the city or keep a rose-garden
close to the walls. But really in Gethsemane spring
the most lovely and delicious of all roses, white and
red — the white of a heavenly purity, the red of a
glowing joy whose leaf does not wither.
290
THE GATES OF DAWN
October 17
Scripture Reading— John xv. 18-27
Thought for the Day
"// the world hate you, ye know that it hated Me before it
hated you." — John xv. 18
IT is often repeated that to behold beauty is to
admire it, that to know the lovely is to love it,
that we must of necessity reverence the good when
we see it. This may be the case when human nature
is sound and wise ; but when it is morbid, ignorant,
prejudiced, we know that it is not the case.
So was it with our Lord. His countrymen saw no
beauty that they should desire Him. How could
j'aundiced eyes behold His glory, or vitiated palates
taste the sweetness of His heavenly doctrine? They
rejected, crucified the Lord of glory.
We must not be surprised if we share the fate
of our Master. If we are out-and-out His disciples
we shall sometimes be conscious of isolation. The
insane are apt to be exasperated by flowers, and to
root them up fiercely whenever they have opportunity.
Spiritual disease and derangement work similarly ;
at the presence of goodness sin revives and rages.
" But when the Comforter is come," here is the
sovereign solace for days of loneliness and persecu-
tion.
291
THE GATES OF DAWN
October 18
Scripture Reading — i Pet. ii. 11-25
Thought for the Day
"Who, when He was reviled, reviled not again." — i Pet. ii. 23
" T3 EFORE I was afflicted I went astray, but now
Yj I keep Thy statutes." Here is the moral of
our lesson. The praises, the flatteries of our fellows
may easily relax and demoralise ; buffeting us, they
may render us higher service.
In South America the herds on the plains become
enfeebled by the sultry season, when the hosts of
stinging insects which attack them drive them to
higher and higher ground, until they attain cooler
levels of health and life. They run, panting and
bleeding, but it is to tonic air, purer waters, healthier
pastures. So the stinging distresses of life preserve
us from settling down on enfeebling plains of
popularity and prosperity; we weep and bleed, but
the sting and spur of the world's neglect and unkind-
ness chase us to purer, safer heights.
We " were going astray like sheep ; but are now
returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your
souls." Thank God for the discipline that saves from
the world and that drives to the Shepherd's bosom 1
292
THE GATES OF DAWN
October 19
Scripture Reading — Luke xxii. 31-34, 54-62
Thought for the Day
" / have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not " — Luke xxii.
32
WE get a glimpse into a precious truth — the
action of the Redeemer in the hour of His
people's temptation.
He anticipates the trial of whose approach we
are unconscious. Peter was profoundly ignorant of
this diabolic malice and stratagem in the background,
but the Redeemer was fully alive to the crisis, and
warned his menaced disciple. Not only is Peter
warned. He is strengthened in the supplication of
his Master. And through all the fierce ordeal, the
Redeemer does not forget the sincerity and hopeful-
ness existing beneath all Peter's faithlessness. It
is "wheat" that is being sifted, whilst the whirlwind
raised by the devil carries away only the chaff.
Here is a mighty comfort for me I In all this
trying, tempting life my Master watches over me
with eyes of flame, with tender solicitude, with
sovereign power, over-ruling my darkest moments
to ends of purification and perfecting.
293
THE GATES OF DAWN
October 20
Scripture Reading— Prov. iv. 10-27
Thought for the Day
"Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way
of evil men." — Prov. iv. 14
LEONARDO thus instructs his brethren: "The
painter requires severance from companions
who are not in sympathy with his studies. His
companions should resemble him in a taste for these
studies ; and if he fail to find any such he should
accustom himself to be alone in his investigations,
for in the end he will find more profitable companion-
ship."
But if the artist is to sever himself from companions
not in sympathy with his studies, how much rather
the disciple of Jesus Christ from those who are
without faith and character.
I cannot be too particular about my associates.
Let me not frequent places and permit acquaintance-
ships of an equivocal character for the sake of interest,
pleasure, or instruction. The science of our day
teaches us to isolate ourselves with extremest care
lest we suffer physical infection ; how much more
should we avoid places, people and pursuits which
carry in them the germs of moral disease, of spiritual
death !
294
THE GATES OF DAWN
October 21
Scripture Reading— i Cor. x, 1-13
Thought for the Day
"Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." —
I Cor. X. 12
IN one place the Scriptures liken the life of man
to the life of a tree ; now a tree may suffer
by a lightning flash marring it in a moment, or by
a parasite slowly and insidiously strangling it.
No sudden temptation can destroy us whilst we
live at our spiritual best. It is said that lightning
generally strikes the rotten tree. Let this be as
it may, it is certain when fir tree or cedar of the
King's garden falls some secret rottenness has eaten
out the heart of it.
No parasite, no creeping evil fastens upon those
who abide in strength. Stealthy murderers wait all
around, and watch their opportunity to seize upon
us, but in the glowing, growing life they find no
lodgment, no minute vantage ground to which they
may cling. With watchfulness, humility, and de-
pendence we are safe wherever it may please God
to bring us. Have I, however, fallen into condem-
nation? Peter's Lord is mine, and He will heal
all my backslidings, and love me freely. Let me
put His promise to the proof.
295
THE GATES OF DAWN
October 22
Scripture Reading— Matt, xxvii. 15-26
Thought for the Day
"He is despised and rejected of men : a man of sorrows and
acquainted with grief." — Isa. liii. 3
THE one grand point for me to note here is
the proved sinlessness of Christ. He had
many bitter enemies, but judged in the fiercest Hght
the verdict of acquittal was unanimous.
Scientists will pass a ray of light through a diamond,
and then examine it in a spectroscope, discerning
impurities in the gem not otherwise visible. Some-
times the jewel is tested by polarised light, revealing
strains and flaws ; and by other subtle ordeals black
specks are frequently detected even in the best
stones.
My Lord and Master was tried in the Hebrew
Court and in the Roman Praitorium ; by Caiaphas,
Pilate and Herod ; but no fault was found in Him.
He was declared one great white pearl. The fault-
lessness of Jesus is a precious truth to cherish and
realise. In Him I see the actual embodiment of the
highest ideal of humanity; in Him I find the power
to make me sharer of His glorious perfection.
296
THE GATES OF DAWN
October 23
Scripture Reading — Luke xxiii. 1-12
Thought for the Day
"I find no fault in this man." — Luke xxiii, 4
THE moral cowardice of Pilate teaches a lesson
that every generation needs afresh to lay to
heart. By a variety of subterfuges he attempted to
escape a dilemma, instead of at once doing the
right which he so clearly saw. One clear, bold,
decisive act would have saved his soul, but he had
not integrity enough to make it.
Men who shirk responsibility, washing their hands,
will before long wring them. Pilate did not escape
retribution ; his history henceforth becomes tragic ;
his name is everlastingly infamous.
There are times when we must not wash our
hands, but cut them off. At the call of duty we
must deprive ourselves of the ability to count the
gold of worldly success, to handle sceptres of power,
to wave palms of social pleasure and popularity.
Our two stumps will qualify us for purer riches,
kinglier sceptres, palms of an infinitely higher renown.
Let me ever be loyal to Christ, faithful to conscience,
obedient to duty, whatever it may threaten.
297
THE GATES OF DAWN
October 24
Scripture Reading— i Cor. xv, 12-26
Thought for the Day
"Since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection
of the dead." — i Cor. xv. 21
TO propose difficulties about the resurrection is
easy indeed. Wliat a lot of difficulties we
could have framed about this world before we came
into it ! Yet we find a thousand things are practicable
and actual which in anticipation would have seemed
incredible. The resurrection of our Lord settles the
fact of ours, and for the explanation we can con-
fidently wait.
Certain scientists are diligently seeking for facts
to authenticate the belief that the dead reappear, so
finding a scientific basis for the doctrine of immor-
tality. But we who believe in Jesus are not deeply
interested in these researches. One /las come back
from the grave, and shown Himself alive by many
infallible signs. Upon the Living One, who conquered
death and the grave, we build, nor shall we suffer
shame.
" Ye are yet in your sins." Our consciousness of
forgiveness in Christ is a prime proof of His
resurrection and a trustworthy pledge of our own.
Let me look chiefly in the moral, spiritual, ex-
perimental direction for the most convincing proofs
of Christ's resurrection power.
298
THE GATES OF DAWN
October 25
SCRIPTURK Reading— Rev. i. 9-18
Thought for the Day
"Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world."
— Matt, xxviii. 20
TWO men in dazzling apparel appeared in the
sepulchre — an angel at the head, an angel
at the feet. Francesco Francia, the old painter,
represented one of these as sad, the angel of the past ;
the other as radiant, the angel of the future, only
hoping for the time to come.
Standing by the Lord's sepulchre, and looking
backward, there is sufficient cause for sadness. We
see the abyss of wickedness in the human heart when
we remember that human hands crucified the Lord
of life and glory. We see the measureless depth to
which the Son of God descended when He bore our
sins upon His own body on the tree. " Did ere such
love and sorrow meet ! "
Standing by our Lord's sepulchre, and looking
forward, there is abundant cause for rejoicing. What
visions of delight open up there ! The churchyard
is full of palms ; grave-stones become transparent,
windows with peeps into heaven ; the grave's mouth
is a focus of glory. The risen and ascended Lord is
the solution of the blackest enigma — the promise and
pledge of glory beyond glory. Let me muse here
until I, too, rejoice with joy unspeakable.
299
THE GATES OF DAWN
October 26
Scripture Reading— i Kings xii. i-ii
Thought for the Day
" Where envying and strife is, tfiere is confusion and every evil
worli," — ^Jas. iii. 16
" /''^HECK a moment of anger," say the Chinese,
V^_^ "and spare thyself a hundred days of
sorrow." Yes, and much more, perhaps, than a
hundred days ; an outburst of petulance and passion
may spoil years, even mar a whole life.
In the shallow sea, in times of stress, the gardens of
coral suffer the greatest havoc ; whilst in deep waters
rough weather is imperceptible at a depth of two
fathoms, and however violent the surface commotion,
the extreme limit of wave action is ten fathoms. How
easily some people are " put out," exasperated, fretted,
surprised into furious temper and speech I Shallow
souls. How self-possessed are others subjected to
provocation I Deep-souled and strong.
A true soul is a sleeping sea, large and profound,
that no vagrant breeze may disturb. My great
Master, give me this security against sudden wrath,
a great soul, a soul stayed on Thee, a soul tranquillised
by eternity.
300
THE GATES OF DAWN
October 27
Scripture Reading — Zech. vii. 8-14
Thought for the Day
"Let none of you imagine euH against his brother in your heart."
— Zech. vii. 10
THE house of the proud is the congregation of
those whose high thoughts set at defiance the
law of righteousness, the dictates of humanity, the
claims of brotherHness. In our day there is an
intellectual haughtiness, a vanity and loftiness of
heart which scoffs at the generous and compassionate
spirit enjoined by revelation, and audaciously glorifies
blood and iron.
" They made their heart as an adamant stone."
As a diamond ; that is, as a substance which could
not be graven, which could not receive the characters
of God. It is possible to destroy that sensitiveness
of soul which is the very grandest attribute of our
humanity ; to harden the heart until it is insensible to
God, until it is no longer capable of sympathy, pity,
or sacrifice towards men !
Lord, give me a heart that is truly a heart of flesh,
tremblingly alive to Thee, yearning towards my
neighbour.
301
THE GATES OF DAWN
October 28
Scripture Reading — Prov. xv. 1-19
Thought for the Day
"A soft answer turneth away a/raf/j."— Prov. xv. i
" A SOFT answer turns away wrath ; but a trying
£\_ word arouses anger." A scholar thus trans-
lates the Hebrew, Now, many words that are not
wrathful, not malicious, not exactly offensive, are
nevertheless trying. They are pin-pricks that are
difficult to define, but often hard to bear. Such a
tongue resembles one of those trees known as monkey-
puzzles, which lacerate whoever may incautiously
come in contact with them.
" A wholesome tongue is a tree of life." Another
growth this ! We recently read of a tree on which
dozens of different fruits had been grafted ; so a
restrained, healing, sanctified tongue is a tree of
paradise on which blooms every heavenly grace. Men
are ambitious to possess an eloquent tongue ; but a
wholesome tongue is far more than a golden mouth.
What a great work lies in this direction, the
hallowing of my lips, the sanctification of my words :
That every utterance may be true, enlightening,
kindly, inspiring! Holy Spirit, pity, restrain,
illuminate, soften !
302
THE GATES OF DAWN
October 29
SCRIFTDRE Reading — Prov. xiii.
Thought for the Day
"Hethatwalheth with wise men shall be wise : but a companion
of fools shall be destroyed. " — Prov. xiii. 20
WE recently read of one of Australia's sweetest
birds of song being located near a saw-mill,
where it picked up the sound of the filing of saws,
and intermingled its splendid music with the most
distressing discords. On the contrary, an English
naturalist declares that he has known sparrows
imitate the song of the nightingale.
** He that walketh with wise men shall be wise :
but a companion of fools shall be destroyed." We
are often sufficiently presumptuous to fancy that we
can permit evil associations without suffering harm.
It is a serious mistake. Meaner men reflect the
golden colour of noble associations ; whilst the best
of men cannot choose inferior companionships with
impunity.
Let me not forget that the friendship of the good
and wise are amongst the most precious means of
grace. The Orientals say, " Grapes become purple
by looking at one another," and in close fellowship
pious peo^jle ripen one another. Let my desire be
to the saints, and all my delight in the excellent of
the earth.
303
THE GATES OF DAWN
October 30
CRiPTURE Reading — Prov. xvi. 16-33
Thought for the Day
"He that handleth a matter wisely shall find gfoot/."— Prov.
xvi. 20
ALL nations are rich in proverbs setting forth the
beauty and desirableness of humility, wisdom,
sweetness of speech, gentleness of spirit and deport-
ment ; but the difficulty has ever been to get such
fair plants to take root and grow.
An authority on gardening writes : " Many
novelties that flower so amazingly in the catalogues
make but a poor show in the garden." Men every-
where admire, enjoin, extol the lovely virtues we have
just named; they are charming in the catalogues,
but, alas ! somehow they make but a poor show when
we attempt to reproduce them in our personal life.
And here the fault is altogether that of the gardener.
The fact is that the Book of the Proverbs is of
slight actual service unless it is rooted in the New
Testament. The burning sun of the Epistle to the
Ephesians must paint these flowers ; the Epistle to
the Romans as a river of life must water this
paradise ; nothing less than the Apocalypse can ripen
these celestial fruits ; only when Christ Himself is
the gardener can this ethical Eden bloom.
304
THE GATES OF DAWN
October 31
Scripture Reading — 2 Chron. xW.
Thought for the Day
" We have sought Him, and He hath given us rest on every side. "
^-2 Chron. xiv. 7
IT is delightfully surprising to see what a great
and good work one pure king could effect. Asa
arose in the midst of manifold corruptions, like a
white flower in a bog, and by his godly character
and resolute action changed the whole aspect and
atmosphere. We have a parallel to this in the
modern world when the girl-queen Victoria trans-
formed the Court of the Georges.
But the purifying power of one personality is not
confined to palaces. One genuine saint in a ship's
crew will effect a reformation throughout the vessel.
So in a company of soldiers, in a workshop, in the
cricket-field, in an office or warehouse, even in a
council chamber.
None can tell the power of good that resides in
one sincere and devoted soul. There is a contagion
of health as well as of disease, there is an energy
of light as well as a power of darkness. " The
Ethiopians fled." The black army always does fly
before the soldiers of God. One shall chase a
thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight.
305
THE GATES OF DAWN
November 1
Scripture Reading — Isa. Ixi.
Thought for the Day
" The Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring
forth before all the nations." — Isa. Ixi. ii
IN the favour of God we find the realm of content-
ment and happiness. We are told nowadays
that harvest-fields will not long be required, for
scientists will manufacture chemical compounds to
satisfy the hunger of the nations. " That which is
not bread." The world for ages has been creating an
artificial diet for souls, which "satisfied not." The
knowledge, love, and joy of God alone rejoice the
soul ; these are the things by which we live.
In the smile of God is lasting happiness. The
great Linnaeus prepared a clock in which the hours
were marked by the opening and closing of flowers.
It began at three in the morning when the goat's
beard opens, and stopped at midnight when the large-
flowered cactus closes its petals. The true Christian
life is timed by a floral clock in which no hours are
missing. Winter's night and summer's day, youth
and years, life and death, shall find us satisfied.
306
THE GATES OF DAWN
November 2
SCRIPTDRE Reading — 2 Chron. xxxiv. 14-33
Thought for the Day
"The law ia holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and
good." — Rom. vii. 12
AN eloquent writer observes, " There are no rules
in art which some great artist has not shown
us how to break with advantage." This may be so,
but in that case it shows that the rules of art in
question did not exactly or fully express the ideal.
No one has ever shown us how to break the laws
of the decalogue with advantage. Many great men
have thought that they could tamper with the moral
law with advantage, but not one of them has been
great enough to succeed.
Indeed, the greater men are the more clearly do
they show the advantage of exalting obedience, the
disaster of passion and self-will. These kings of
Israel, good or bad, exhibit in a dramatic way and as
by limelight the advantage or disadvantage. What
they brought out on large and imperial lines is just
as true in relation to the humblest individual and the
private life.
307
THE GATES OF DAWN
November 3
Scripture Reading — Jer. xxxvi. 1-24
Thought for the Day
"Receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to
save your souls." — Jas. i. 21
IT makes all the difference in our estimate of the
Bible as to the temper in which we approach it.
We may readily treat it in a way that makes it of
none effect. The bluebells of England have a name
in Gaelic which signifies " the aversion of swine,"
because swine are said to have a peculiar aversion to
the delicate delights. Men of animal preference or
secular temper are not likely to appreciate the
spiritual beauty and import of revelation.
Pride of intellect and heart may make it impossible
to gain the blessing which awaits the sympathetic
reader.
Dr. Dale writes truly: "Incessant talking, even
about religious truth, will do nothing for you, nor hot
zeal for truth. The rejection of error, passionate
hostility against error, is not enough. The word, the
Divine word, must be so received as to take root in
life."
308
THE GATES OF DAWN
November 4
Scripture Reading — Jer. xvii. i-io
Thought for the Day
"I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins." — ^Jer. xvii. lO
IN a work just published a traveller tells of his
descent into a goldmine in the heart of a tropical
forest. " The candles shed a flickering light on the
slimy, dripping walls, and for a few moments one felt
completely confused — so hard was it to stand there
shivering and yet realise that a few yards overhead
was brilliant tropical light and sunshine, gaudy birds
and butterflies. One seemed in a wholly different
world."
Such is the contrast between the higher life with
God, and the lower life of sensuality and earthliness.
Above are the palms whose leaf is ever green, trees
of paradise of gracious fruition, flowers of grace, doves
of peace, the sweet sunshine of God. Below may be
streaks of gold, and the coarse things that gold will
buy, but darkness, mud, and fear are on every side.
Bring me, O Lord, out of the horrible pit and the
miry clay into the delectable land !
3C9
THE GATES OF DAWN
November 6
Scripture Reading — Rom. viii. 15-28
Thought for the Day
" They that are in the flesh cannot please God."— Rom. viii. 8
IT is the precious characteristic of revelation that
it furnishes us with the key to the events of
history. The profane historian simply records names,
and paints the scenes and movements of empire ;
whilst the sacred historian goes to the spiritual roots
of circumstance whether personal or national.
" The mind of the spirit." " The mind of the flesh."
Here are the origins of history — individual, national,
racial. The fortunes of men, singly or collectively,
are determined by the soul. When " the mind of the
spirit " is obeyed, life reigns through righteousness —
the natural fruits are unity, peace, security, progress.
When "the mind of the flesh" is indulged and
developed, the inevitable result is discord, disintegra-
tion, ruin. How fully this is illustrated in the history
of Judah and Israel !
"Out of the heart are the issues of life." All
politics and policy that leave out the " mind " are on
the surface. "Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me."
310
THE GATES OF DAWN
November 6
ScRiPTURB Reading— Jef. xxxvii. 6-21
Thought for the Day
"Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of
life." — Rev. ii. 10
WE, too, in our place and way and measure, may
be called upon to suffer in reputation, sub-
stance, or ev'en in health and life, for the sake of our
absolute fidelity to our Master and His cause.
Erasmus confessed that he was not constituted of
the stuff of which martyrs are made, and many of us
feel a similar misgiving concerning ourselves. But if
we resolve to be on the Lord's side He will wonder-
fully strengthen and deliver. The golden-crested
wren is one of the tiniest of birds ; it is said to weigh
only the fifth part of an ounce, and yet, on frailest
pinions, it braves hurricanes and crosses northern
seas.
It often seems in nature as if Omnipotence worked
best through frailest organisms ; certainly the omni-
potence of grace is seen to the greatest advantage in
the trembling but resolute saint.
Give me the spirit of those who are faithful unto
death !
311
THE GATES OF DAWN
November 7
Scripture Reading — Mic. vi. 6-16
Thought for the Day
"Righteousness exalteth a nation : but sin is a reproach to any
people." — Prov. xiv. 34
WHEN men will not reverence Sinai, the devil
takes them up an exceeding high mountain
and gives them his decalogue, which they diligently
observe. What is the result ?
" The treasures of wickedness." They get these.
The devil has much to bestow. He makes his faith-
ful servants eminent in infamy, splendid in false
colours, rich in misery, of the bread of adversity and
the water of affliction they have enough and to spare,
an inexhaustible wardrobe embroidered with the
broad arrow is theirs, and spacious palaces usually
known as workhouses and jails.
He begrudges them nothing of emptiness, bitter
luxury, gold and glory that turn to dust and ashes.
God Almighty has His irony. "The Lord plentifully
rewardeth the proud doer." "Ye have heaped
treasure together for the last days." And even when
they get the treasures of God in nature and society
they have not power to eat thereof.
Let me "do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly
with God," and the true riches are mine.
312
THE GATES OF DAWN
November 8
Scripture Reading — Dan, L
Thought for the Day
"/ will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honoui
him." — Ps. xci. 15
IT is well from time to time to reassure ourselves
that patient merit has a very real chance in a
world of accidents. It might easily seem to the
Israelites in Babylon that little hope was left them of
amelioration and advancement, but such opportunity
occurred after all, and it came from a quarter least
expected.
Intellectual merit is rarely finally overlooked.
Charles Reade writes of a gifted man in lowly life
that "he was like a piece of striped jasper amid
common paving-stones." One with rare capacity
of any kind is not likely to be overlooked, his day will
come. Society will not ultimately use as a paving-
stone the striped jasper. As the Persian proverb
states it, " A stone fit for the wall will not be left with
the rubbish in the way."
What, then, about moral and religious merit.
What about men with the genius of character ? They
are found out and distinguished even by worldlings,
as these Hebrews were discovered by the Babylonian
king. Be good, and trust and wait.
313
THE GATES OF DAWN
November 9
Scripture Reading— Jas. v. 10-20
Thought for the Day
"Is any among you afflicted? let him pray."— ] as. v. 13
AS Delitzsch states it : " The law contains no com-
mand to pray. Praying is so natural to man
as man that there was no necessity for any precept
to enforce this, the fundamental expression of the true
relation to God." But if the law does not enjoin
prayer, how constantly does it urge it ? " Ask and it
shall be given." How vague ! Ask what ? Blessed
vagueness — ask in everything, for everj'thing.
God is little concerned about our forms, everything
about our sincerity. We pray with a liturgy or with-
out one. If our child writes an affectionate letter,
what do we care about the quality of the paper, the
pattern of the envelope, or the postman who delivers
it? The letter, with its heart-beats, is the main
thing ; nay, the only thing.
Let me not wait until I can master the science of
prayer. " It availeth much in its working " ; that we
know, and may leave the philosophy. Who is it that
says, " Our prayers know their way better than we
do"?
314
THE GATES OF DAWN
November 10
Scripture Reading — i Kings xix. 1-18
Thought for the Day
"Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him."— Vs. xxxvii. 7
WHEN Elijah appeared in Israel the times were
dark and threatening indeed. The land was
wholly given to idolatry, the royalty of the nation was
corrupt, priest and people were alike backsliding.
Yet even at such times we must not despair. In
dark days God has wonderful ways of overthrow-
ing evil even in its utmost pride, popularity, and
power.
In mysterious ways in nature God puts limits to
destructive forms. Spruce records that great mortality
ever and anon breaks out among the alligators, a sort
of murrain, and their dead bodies go floating down
the Amazon by thousands. So Heaven marks out
for judgment corrupt persons, communities, and
nations when they become utterly degenerate.
Trust in the Lord, do good, work for good, wait
patiently for the Lord and the glory of His coming.
He will vindicate Himself, He will preserve His cause.
He will save His people who trust in Him.
31s
THE GATES OF DAWN
November 11
Scripture Reading — Num. xi. 10-17
Thought for the Day
"Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise Him, who is the health
of my countenance." — Ps. xlii. 11
THE burden of life sometimes seems too much for
us. Hours of depression overtake the strongest
natures, as is shown in Moses and Elijah ; and if these
giants faint, the rank and file may easily collapse.
These mighty souls had borne the responsibility for
many, the multitude leaned upon them, and in their
hour of agony they could expect no support from
their fellow men. Shut up, they besought God, and
one day we shall all realise the sense of solitariness
and helplessness, and have to go to Him, or sink.
How wonderful is the sympathy of God with His
over-burdened children ! He knoweth that we are
but dust. " Cast thy burden upon the Lord." As the
margin suggests, the " burden from the Lord " ; leave
it with the Lord. He gives us no responsibility that
shall crush us. With every task, trouble, bewilder-
ment, He will make a way of escape.
316
THE GATES OF DAWN
November 12
Scripture Reading — Ps. xxxiil.
Thought for the Day
"Our soul waiteth for the Lord. He is our help and our shield."
— Ps. xxxiii. 20
WHATEVER may be the pride and pre-
sumption of a sinful nation, " the counsel
of the Lord" will prevail. The nation may appear
strong and safe, but the very depth of the calm, the
serenity of its false confidence, betoken disaster.
Guppy writes concerning certain aspects of the
Southern world : " Overhead the cloudless, star-lit
sky conveys its warning ; for the stars shine with
increased brilliancy, those of less magnitude, usually
invisible to the naked eye, are now distinctly seen ;
and if the navigator who has often tried to count the
six stars in the Pleiades can do so now let him look
out for the black squall. Then sweeps along the
lowering arched mass with its rain and its waterspouts,
its wind, thunder and lightning."
So guilty nations and souls perish with surprise.
Am I nursing a vain confidence ?
317
THE GATES OF DAWN
November 13
Scripture Reading — Ps. cxv.
Thought for the Day
"They that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing."—
Ps. xxxiv. lo
ELIJAH predicted terrible famine, and it came,
but the righteous iew, we may be certain,
knew no want. Somehow, when the earth ceases to
grow corn, the heavens rain manna.
" Trust in the Lord, and do good ; so shalt thou
dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed." The
Heavenly Father has undiscovered ways of multiply-
ing bread, even as modern science is coming to per-
ceive. As to our perishing with cold, somebody has
predicted, " As to burning our coal, we will warm the
world with grindstones by and by." Not at all
unlikely. And so with all needful things. God's
secret storehouses are stocked, and will never fail.
Good men have ground firm as a rock for putting
absolute confidence in God. To worry about carnal
things is pure paganism. He who has done such
grand things for the soul will not starve the body.
The one cause for anxiety is lest we should fail to
seek God and His righteousness. If I am faithful
here, I may well trust God for the rest alike in time
and in eternity.
318
TH^: GATES OF DAWN
November 14
?' .IPTURE Reading— EccLES. ii. i-ii
Thought for the Day
"I have hatred, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be con-
tent. ' — Phil. iv. ii
THE universal desire for property, power and
enjoyment is implanted in our heart by God ;
the desire is natural, instinctive, indestructible. It is
the sign of the infinity of our being. Animals are
satisfied with narrow limits ; they eat, drink, sleep,
and ask for nothing beyond. But in human nature
is an ineradicable boundlessness. " Hedges are not
made for swans." And certainly they are not made
for six-winged birds like human souls.
But we have fallen into a false and superficial
notion of proprietorship. We think nothing ours
except it is held as leasehold, freehold, or copyhold.
The '.rue proprietorship is of the wise mind, the
pure h.;art, the obedient will, the dutiful life. Things
are ours not because of documents in a safe, but
because we possess the power clearly to see, wisely
to use, richly to enjoy. " All things are yours,
and ye arc Christ's, and Christ is God's." Solomon
made two mistakes. He did not go in for enough;
and he forgot the spiritual law of inheritance.
319
THE GATES OF DAWN
November 15
ScRiPTDRE Reading — 2 Kings ii. 1-14
Thought for the Day
"By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death."
— Heb. xi. 5
MUCH that IS mysterious invests these trans-
lations, but there is no difficulty about them
to men who look beneath the surface of things.
Nature is so full of marvels and mysteries, of sudden
transformations and startling glorifications, that I
feel quite at home in revelations ; it so exactly corre-
sponds with the delightful surprises with which the
visible world has made me familiar.
And do we not see similar translations to those of
Elijah and Enoch continually taking place before
our eyes ? Our loved ones are by our side, and then
without a struggle or sigh they are with the Lord !
Swedenborg says somewhere that in the invisible
are souls of saints who do not know of the change
that has passed upon them until their attention is
called to the fact. We may readily accept this as a
poetical statement of the truth that death is often so
natural, so easy, so swallowed up in victory, that it is
a translation only as was the passing of Enoch.
For ''before his translation." Ah! me, this is the
great matter. Am I a man of faith, of obedience,
" meet for the saints in light " ?
320
THE GATES OF DAWN
November 16
Scripture Reading — John xiv. 1-14
Thought for the Day
"Y/e have a building of God, a house not made with hands,
eternal in the heavens." — 2 Cor. v. i
" T/fyE have a house not made with hands,
' '^^ eternal in the heavens." Our God shall
"take" us, as He did Enoch; bury us, as He did
Moses ; despatch for us a chariot, as He did for
Elijah ; exalt us to His right hand, as He did the
Son of His love. All these grand truths and facts
have a direct personal significance which no false
modesty or subtle unbelief should overlook. Let me
realise this.
The hope of immortality not only vivifies us in
the hours when we vividly conceive and apprehend
it, but it secretly strengthens, consoles, and hallows
when we do not distinctly think about it ; its latent,
unobserved action upon character and life is as real
as it is great.
Belt tells how in the forests of Nicaragua the air is
filled with sweetness and the ground carpeted with
blossoms, in consequence of unseen flowers growing
at the tops of the exceedingly lofty trees. So the
hope laid up in heaven makes itself felt throughout
our whole earthly life.
321
THE GATES OF DAWN
November 17
Scripture Reading— 2 Kings viii. 1-8
Thought for the Day
"He that belieueth on Me hath everlasting ///e,"— John vi. 47
GOD has wonderful ways of restoring the years
that the caterpillar has eaten. The twelve
years John Bunyan spent in Bedford gaol appeared
a desert patch, yet what magnificent compensations
they brought !
The blue water-lily abounds in several of the
canals at Alexandria, which at certain seasons
become dry, and the beds of these canals, which
quickly become burnt as hard as bricks by the action
of the sun, are then used as carriage roads. When,
however, the water is again admitted, the plant
resumes its growth with redoubled vigour and
splendour.
Human life has its seasons of fallow, hibernation,
of arrested development, of suspended activity, of
caterpillar, locust, and palmerworm ; but to the
faithful such dispiriting seasons are treasuring up,
accumulating riches. This whole earthly life is full
of denial, suppression, limitation ; but it means
splendid future enhancement.
322
THE GATES OF DAWN
November 18
Scripture Reading— Nah. i. i-io
Thought for the Day
" The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power." — Nah. i. 3
WE have to-day a school of dilettante moralists
who, whilst generally approving of propriety
of conduct, reprobate the introduction of heat into
our relation to morals. We must look with calm
toleration on vice, and contemplate with serene com-
placency whatever is good. Goodness and badness
are only like beauty and ugliness in art, and are to
be criticised without feeling.
The passage before us knows nothing of this
lauded lukevvarmness. Our God is a consuming fire
— a God of rectitude and judgment. Loving with
flaming affection the pure, devouring the obstinate
perverse "as stubble fully dry."
" Ye that love the Lord, hate evil." Stand in
relation to righteousness as God does, loving it
with supreme delight, hating its opposite with inex-
tinguishable indignation. Morality without passion
is etiquette, not righteousness. There is little reality
in our goodness until it stirs the soul to its depths.
323
THE GATES OF DAWN
November 19
Scripture Reading— Rom. ii. 17-29
Thought for the Day
"Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for
the flesh." — Rom. xiii. 14
WE know clearly how the great future may
burst upon us at any moment, and yet how
liable we are to be seduced by indulgences which
appeal to our lower nature.
In ascending the lofty peaks of the Alps, the guides
not infrequently, it is said, resort to the innocent
artifice of endeavouring to interest the traveller in
the beauty of the lovely flowers which grow there,
to distract his attention from the fearful abysses
which the giddy path overhangs.
The design of the devil on the perilous path of
life is the very reverse of this. He seeks to dazzle
and confuse with the yellow gold, the red wine, the
purple pride, the rainbow hues of fashion and pleasure,
that we may be betrayed into the gulf yawning under
our feet.
Let me remember that I am a child of the light,
a son of the morning. Let me look for my Lord
more than they that watch for the morning.
324
THE GATES OF DAWN
November 20
ScRiPTDRE Reading — i Kings xii. 25-33
Thought for the Day
"Little children, keep yourselves from idols."— i John v. 21
RECENTLY a singular case was adjudicated
upon by the Judicial Committee of the Privy
Council. A suit was brought by an Indian Rajah,
as custodian of some family idols, to recover posses-
sion of a village alleged to have been dedicated to
the service of idols. How strange such a subject
seems to Englishmen ! Idols ! A village dedicated
to the service of idols ! How remote, absurd,
superstitious the whole thing seems in the light of
European civilisation !
And yet dare we cast a stone? Have we no
personal idols, family idols, national idols? Not
merely a village dedicated to idols, but vast cities
offering costly sacrifices to Bacchus, to Moloch, to
Mammon, to gods many? How many things come
between us and God, robbing Him of our love,
worship, and obedience !
" Little children, keep yourselves from idols."
Whatever is opposed to the God revealed in Christ,
and to His worship in spirit and in truth, is idolatry.
325
THE GATES OF DAWN
November 21
Scripture Reading— John iii. 1-21
Thought for the Day
"Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth; for
I am God, and there is none else." — Isa. xlv. 22
IT is quite possible that a man may be a self-
made moralist, and a very respectable one, too,
but no education, reformation, or culture of our own
can make sinful men good before God.
It is said that by chemical processes precious
stones can be manufactured out of the dust of
precious stones. The chemist takes the dust made
by the jeweller in cutting, grinding, and polishing
rubies, amethysts, or sapphires, and fashions the
sparkling filings once more into complete jewels ;
but the furnace has never yet been able to create a
diamond out of diamond dust.
By unaided effort we may fuse together certain
virtues and build up our character into passable
beauty and worth ; but we shall never be able to
transform our character into the loveliness and pre-
ciousness of true holiness. This is God's work. We
must be new creations, born from above, created in
Christ.
326
THE GATES OF DAWN
November 22
Scripture Reading — Rom. viii. 31-39
Thought for the Day
"If God be for us, who can be against us ?" — Rom. viii. 31
HOW wonderfully does the thought of God and
of His love nerve the Christian to face the
bitterest conditions of life? The primitive saints,
tried by manifold tribulations, were made perfect
through mighty suffering.
Explorers tell us that in Arctic regions the snow
itself affords shelter to the vegetation of those in-
hospitable regions against the piercing winds that
sweep over fields of everlasting ice. Under the cold
defence of the snow plants spring up, dissolve the
snow a few inches around, and the part above being
again quickly frozen into a transparent sheet of ice,
admits the sun's rays, which cherish the plant as in
a natural hothouse, until the returning summer renders
such protection unnecessary.
So the wisdom, love, and power of God overrule
the bitterest conditions of human life, and fits us
through those very conditions for the everlasting
summer.
327
THE GATES OF DAWN
November 23
Scripture Reading — Mark xvi. 9-20
Thought for the Day
" Ye are the temple of the living God." — 2 Cor. vi. 16
NO charge against Christianity is more foolish
than that which accuses it of doing injustice
to the body. The Greek magnified the body in the
interest of art ; but ever since the resurrection of
Christ, the body has become invested with a new
strange sacredness. Just as the corn of wheat must
die before it is glorified, so we discover the grandeur
of the body in the grave. As Alexander Smith
writes : " The meanest of us will look grand one day •
and however poor we may be, the mourners will
uncover as they lay us in the dust."
And this sense of our dignity in death pervades
all classes, even the lowliest. Lord Shaftesbury,
speaking to his son, and referring to a pauper funeral
he had once witnessed, where the bearers were drunk,
said: "There is nothing, Evelyn, which the poor feel
so keenly as dishonour to their dead." Whence
comes this sense of the majesty of man in death,
not of monarchs only, but of paupers? The burial
and resurrection of Jesus Christ gave to the race a
sense of the mystery and glory of our personaHty
such as it never had before.
328
THE GATES OF DAWN
November 24
Scripture Reading— 2 Kings xii. 9-16
Thought for the Day
"Lord, I have loved the habitation of Thine house, and the
place Lufiere Thine honour divelleth." — Ps. xxvi. 8
THERE is a distinct tendency to-day to think
lightly of the Church of God. The multitude
keep holiday instead of holy day, and the sanctuary
is painfully neglected.
" The Electric Palace" threatens to take the place
of the " palace of God." Instead of the worship of
God, we have organ recitals. Sacred concerts are
the substitute for the penitent or adoring cry of the
congregation. The devil's prayer-book, in the shape
of secular and sporting journals, is fast becoming the
popular liturgy. The tribes go up to the temple of
nature — in other words, to the railway station — for
cheap excursions. Golf supersedes godliness.
What does all this mean to this nation ? England
was not made by electric palaces, music halls, golf
clubs, and picnics, and it will not be sustained by
them. If we desecrate God's day by our games,
before long He will make game of us.
Let every Christian disciple be faithful in a day of
falling away. Let me be faithful.
329
THE GATES OF DAWN
November 25
ScRiPTUEE Reading — Ezra iii. 8-13
Thought for the Day
"The Lord is in His holy temple, let all the earth keep alienee
before Him. " — Hab. ii. 20
*' A ND they sang one to another in praising and
J^\_ giving thanks unto the Lord." There is a
rapture that is unique and infectious in the solemnities
of God's house, in its triumphal music and song. It
affords an evidence of the divinity of religion that is
most affecting, most convincing.
The Japanese Letters of Lafcadio Hearn give a
striking illustration of this. Hearn was a sensualist
of the most pronounced type, a bitter scoffer at
religion, one who wished that the missionaries might
be shipped off to sea and the vessel scuttled ; and
yet in a frank moment he confesses to a friend that
it is impossible to listen to a congregation singing
" Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee," without
deep emotion. His heart was wiser than his brains,
and bore its witness to the eternal truth.
We get very near to God in His house; we emi-
nently feel His presence and realise His blessing.
Let all keep silence before Him that His voice may
be heard.
330
THE GATES OF DAWN
November 26
Scripture Reading— Ps. cxxii.
Thought for the Day
"/ ivas glad when they said unto me, Let us go unto the house
of the Lord." — Ps. cxxiL i
"T "X fHITHER the tribes go up." We always
Y Y ascend when we go in the right spirit to
the house of God. " A high mountain is the moun-
tain of Bashan " — a mountain of summits. What
horizons it commands ! Entering the sanctuary, we
transcend fog-banks, dust storms, the narrow walls of
the earthly, and behold the ample sky, the blue and
gold distances.
What beauty we behold when we look upon the
beauty of the Lord ! Alpine plants increase in
beauty and luxuriance in the higher altitudes, and on
the heights of Zion we are charmed with Divine
loveliness and delights. Bees gather the sweetest
honey ever tasted from the flowers growing on the
snow-line. So we on the summits of the hill of God.
It is a very strong evidence that we are in a state
of grace when we have a keen relish for the sanctuary.
And we are never then far from glory. There is but
a step from the high hill of Sabbatic worship to the
jasper pavement.
331
THE GATES OF DAWN
November 27
Scripture Reading— 2 Chron. xxvi. 11-23
Thought for the Day
" When he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruc
tion." — 2 Chron. xxvi. 16
ONE of the most pitiful sights is to look upon
fair beginnings ending disastrously, as we do
here.
A naturalist writes of certain creatures which
degenerate as they grow older ! " When they first
quit the egg they are all free ; they frisk, they swim
with the rapidity of lightning, and at the close of life
we find them deformed, as if a foul leprosy had
atrophied all their splendid organs."
Alas ! how terrible are these degenerations in the
moral life.
However long I continue in the right path, let me
not presume. Stevenson somewhere speaks of the
boasting " self-made" man as a veritable wind-bag;
because he lights the gas in a back parlour he thinks
he created the light. The " self-made man is a badly
made man "; and, indeed, so far as he is made, is not
self-made at all. By the grace of God I stand, and
to the latest hour must beware of temper, appetite,
covetousness, pride. A great general was maimed at
Waterloo by the last cannon ball fired.
332
THE GATES OF DAWN
November 28
Scripture Reading — Gen. xxxix. i-6
Thought for the Day
" The Lord was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man. " —
Gen. xxxix. 2
HERE again we see the power of character in
the worldly sphere. David saw the " wicked
flourish like a green bay tree " ; so do we sometimes,
yet let us be sure nevertheless that this belongs to
the chapter of accidents which is the Bible of the fool,
whilst the prosperity of Joseph and Uzziah belongs
to the chapter of law which is the Bible of the wise.
A Bible is in existence which is printed through-
out on the self-.ame paper as that on which bank
notes are printed. A significant Bible that ! Had it
been made up of £$ notes how eagerly it would have
been sought ! Yet made of the special paper men
love so much to feel is very significant and appro-
priate. The Bible is the book of the Wealth of
Nations, although that is its least merit.
" And the Lord was with Joseph, and he was a
prosperous man." " Beloved, I wish above all things
that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as
thy soul prospereth."
333
THE GATES OF DAWN
November 29
Scripture Reading— 2 Tim. ii.
Thought for the Day
"Flee also youthful lusts : but folloLU righteousness, faith,
charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure
heart." — 2 Tim. ii. 22
THE most skilled workers are said to be most
fastidious about their tools ; on occasion they
do marvellously with indifferent instruments, yet of
all craftsmen they are the most particular to covet
tools of exquisite efficacy.
Thus God chooses the fittest instrument for the
highest service. And what determines that fitness?
Not scholarship, genius, eloquence, but personal
purity.
When a new railway is inaugurated, a nobleman is
usually present who turns the first sod with a silver
spade, and wheels it off in a fancy barrow; but the
rough navvy with coarse tools is the effective agent
who constructs the line. So the fittest instrument of
God may not be the dainty scholar, but rather the
commonplace worker, rich in faith, spirituality and
holiness.
Let me seek to be a cleansed vessel, fit for the
Master's use.
334
THE GATES OF DAWN
November 30
Scripture Reading— Mic. iv. i-8
Thought for the Day
" We will walh in the name of the Lord our God for ever and
ever." — Mic. iv. 5
UNIVERSAL and permanent peace is to be
secured through the teaching and influence
of the Church of God. Some believe that war will
be eliminated by international literature, art, trade,
science, but really the spirit of mankind itself must
be changed.
A celebrated naturalist writes thus of a murderous
bird of extreme beauty : " The red hawk, in the blue
of a spring day, is so refined in material as to seem
a spirit ; but it is the fell spirit of plunder and
bloodshed. This is the pitiable side to so much of
the beauty and wonderful design in nature — one of
the desperate riddles of the world."
So there is a pitiable side to the beauty and glory
of civilisation. It is a desperate riddle how nations
with so much wealth, culture and gaiety, can yet
cherish so much of the fell spirit of plunder and
bloodshed. No ; culture will not expel the truculent
temper of humanity; only the Spirit of Christ can
do this, making men loving brothers the world over.
335
THE GATES OF DAWN
December 1
Scripture Reading— Isa. ii.
Thought for the Day
"He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths,"
— Isa, ii. 3
RENAN thus expresses his scepticism about
millennial days : " Isaiah is sufficiently blind
to all realities, to believe that justice can govern the
world, and that the ideal of a perfect state will soon
be realised. Isaiah much resembles our Socialists,
whose illusions cannot be destroyed. After each
abortive experiment they recommence their work ;
the solution is not yet found, but it will be. The
idea that no solution exists never occurs to them."
The truth is, any kind of enthusiast, dreamer, or
socialist, is preferable to men who believe in the
possibility of nothing better than what exists already.
The ever bettering world grows out of illusions, and
would not grow without them. Dreamers are the
architects of the new world ; and the builders of it,
the practical workers, appear in due season. If we
had not first the splendid dream we should never
have the splendid fact.
On the foreheads of the righteous diadems are
beginning to take shape already.
336
THE GATES OF DAWN
December 2
Scripture Reading — Isa. ix. 1-7
Thought for the Day
"Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall
they lertrn war any more." — Isa. ii. 4
" T])ETITIONS, prayers, intercessions, thanks-
Jl givings shall be offered for all men, with
special mention of kings, and, in fact, of all who are in
authority, so that we may live an unharassed life
of inward peace in all reverence for God and in
self-respect."
Close by where this is written, stands a chestnut
tree specially exposed to the action of the east
wind, and year by year its leaves have been blighted
and its glory lost. So discord acts upon character.
Keep the peace in the house. No grudges, no
irritations, no antagonisms. Keep the peace in the
world. It is still at the centre of the whirlwind ; and
where the true Christian stands there may be a
wonderful measure of peace in a warring world.
Keep the peace in the Church. Lifting heavenward
unsullied hands, pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
It has been affirmed that the Florentines are such
rare artists because they live in such a tranquil air.
Anyhow, living in a tranquil air makes rare saints.
337
THE GATES OF DAWN
December 3
Scripture Reading — Isa. xxvu
Thought for the Day
"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed
on Thee." — Isa. xxvi. 3
LET US not dismiss this as mere poetry, but
cherish it in our heart as the most trustworthy-
truth we know.
Had we Hved in the geological ages we should
have thought the earth as we now know it an utter
impossibility. Then vast and awful monsters stalked
the slime, the sea swarmed with ferocious sharks and
snakes, the sky was darkened by winged dragons,
and there was not a bird, butterfly, or flower. How
sceptical we should have been if then one had
prophesied of this modern earth with its sky full
of singers, its meadows full of flowers, its silver sea
a delight ! Yet all has come to pass.
And greater things shall come to pass, for the
mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. A recent sceptic
sneers at what he calls "the green-meadow happiness
of the herd " ; but to feed amongst the lilies is
better, nobler, happier than to redden the meadows
with our brother's blood.
338
THE GATES OF DAWN
December 4
Scripture Reading — 2 Tim. i. 1-14
Thought for the Day
" Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the
Spirit of God dwelleth in you. " — Rom. viii. 9
" T F any man hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is
Y none of His." "And if Christ is in you." In
the New Testament we see the example set us, and
we are to walk as He also walked ; but there is no
real imitation of Christ except as His Spirit dwells
in us richly.
Ingres, the great French painter, appealed to his
students, " Do you think, when I tell you to copy,
that I want to make copyists of you ? No, I want
you to take the sap from the plant." Christ does
not want to make technical copyists of us, but by
a living union we are to take the sap from the Plant
of Renown, so that all the living fruits of righteous-
ness may naturally appear in us.
** If the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from
the dead " dwells in us, all the beauty, strength, and
victory of the Master shall be repeated in the
disciple.
339
THE GATES OF DAWN
December 5
Scripture Reading — Ps. xiv.
Thought for the Day
"// any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His."
— Rom. viii. 9
ARCHBISHOP ALEXANDER states the case
exactly. " This age Hstens with a certain
degree of patience when we tell it that sin is trans-
gression, or that sin is selfishness. But when we
assert that sin is unbelief, we are met with con-
temptuous anger."
Yet Jesus boldly declares that unbelief in Himself
is of the very essence of sin. "If ye believe not
that / am, ye shall die in your sins." " Of sin,
because they believe not on Me,"
Let me beware of " honest doubt," which doubts
Jesus Christ. We have small patience with people
who entertain doubts about the roundness of the
earth, or concerning the scientific teaching that the
earth revolves about the sun. No honest doubting
is allowed here. Those who reject Christ and His
claim must doubt their doubts in the light of the
conscience and the heart.
340
THE GATES OF DAWN
December 6
Scripture Reading — Matt. xiii. 24-30
Thought for the Day
" The Luages of sin is death. " — Rom. vi. 23
IN the Oriental jungle is a fig-tree that begins life
as a parasite. A thin, slender shoot, tremulously
weak, leans lightly on the base of some tall tree,
clings and grows. Soon a second shoot, slight and
frail, emerges near the root, but at a different angle
from its aspiring brother ; and others as delicate
follow, until the trunk of the host is sprawled over
by naked running shoots, crafty and insidious. The
trunk becomes enveloped in living lace, all the while
squeezing and causing decay, sapping the life-blood
of the tree at all points. A greedy, intractable,
implacable foe, it gives no quarter, but flourishes
upon its dead or dying friend, upon which in its
youth it leaned delicately for support.
So did idolatry delicately insinuate itself into Israel,
and in a few years the goodly tree was overrun and
blasted by the stealthy murderer. So evil ever
beguiles, enslaves, and destroys.
341
THE GATES OF DAWN
December 7
Scripture Reading— Neh. viii. g-i8
Thought for the Day
"The joy of the Lord is your strength."— Neh. ix. lo
HEZEKIAH did much with music; Nehemiah
also was anxious that the people should
work with sunshine and song.
" Our preacher is a skylark Christian," boasted one
of his people. Fine bird ! It sings morning, noon,
and evening ; sings as it springs from the flowery sod,
also when the ground is white with snow. What a
song, too !— a shower of melody, an infinite sweetness
with no undertone of pain. So is it ever with the
Christian who lives in the power of his faith.
Some Christians, however, are of a very different
feather. They recall the owl, or remind us of the
pelican of the wilderness; they have not as much
music as the sparrow on the housetop ; they chatter
like the crane or swallow, or mourn sore like the
dove. If we would only realise the full truth and
blessedness of our faith, we should continually go up
and come down singing, until one fine day we should
go up singing, up, up, beyond the blue, beyond the
sun, and come down no more, lost in the eternal
light
342
I^HE GATES OF DAWN
December 8
Scripture Reading— 2 Kings xvii. 19-23
Thought for the Day
" The children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which
he did." — 2 Kings xvii. 22
" '^ I ^HEY kept not the commandments of the Lord
J[ their God." This was the front of their
offending, they sinned against the light, against the
brightest light that had been vouchsafed to mortals,
and their unfaithfulness to the light exaggerated
their doom. Much has been written lately about
" The Repulsive Power of Light." Astronomers hold
that every ray of light exerts pressure upon any
surface where it impinges, and that in the case of
sunlight the direction of the pressure is, of course,
away from the sun ; therefore very attenuated bodies
fly away from the sun instead of falling toward it.
The sun attracts a solid body, but repels a vaporised
one.
Whilst men are sincere and serious they are
attracted by the eternal Sun and blessed by its
light; and becoming false and frivolous the light
drives them farther from its Fountain, and acts upon
them like a curse.
343
THE GATES OF DAWN
December 9
Scripture Reading— Rev. xv.
Thought for the Day
"If the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and
the sinner appear?" — i Pet. iv. i8
" T F the righteous be scarcely saved." We must
1^ not think it an easy thing to attain fitness for
eternal life.
Said Millet, the famous painter, " Art is not a
pleasure trip. It is a battle, a mill that grinds."
How much more is this true of the moral life.
Think of the difficulties often attending the
beginning of the highest life ; think of the strong
opposition a righteous life must encounter and over-
come ; think of the severity of the discipline
necessary for the perfecting of the saints ; think of
the sacred anxieties in which the best of men work
out life, and with which they anticipate its close.
Having thought of all this, we shall understand what
is meant by the righteous being " scarcely saved."
Yet the impossible to man is possible with God.
Looking at it from the human side, we are saved with
difficulty, but from the side of the Divine power and
grace there is " abundant entrance."
344
THE GATES OF DAWN
December 10
Scripture Reading — Dan. v.
Thought for the Day
"Euil will befall you in the latter days, because ye uiill do evil
in the sight of the Lord." — Deut. xxxi. 29
'"TT^HERE came forth the fingers of a man's
J^ hand," and wrote on the palace wall of
Belshazzar fiery words ; but the writing was late ; it
was the sentence of immediate death. " In that night
Belshazzar was slain." The same fingers that wrote
these words of doom wrote the warning words before
the eyes of all Israel ages before the testing days
came.
May not England to-day with solemn advantage
study this. When a modern philosopher writes
words like these, words applauded by many of our
countrymen, is it not time to take alarm ? — " Severity
violence, slavery, danger, dissimulation, stoicism,
artifice, and devilries of every kind — all that is bad,
terrible, tyrannical, predatory, and serpentine in
man — serve as well for the elevation of humanity as
their opposites." If this teaching is to prevail we
shall soon reach the crimson ending. To neglect the
hand-writing in the tables of stone is to provoke the
handwriting on the wall.
345
THE GATES OF DAWN
December 11
Scripture Reading — Rom. vii.
Thought for the Day
"He that being often reproved hardeneth his necli, shall
suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy. " — Prov. xxix. i
SINFUL men are fond of belittling the thought
of retribution, but if any doctrine is beyond
question it is that which teaches the necessity and
inevitableness of retribution.
Speaking one day of different forms of human
government, Goethe remarked : " It will be found
that one cannot succeed in the long run with over
great goodness, mildness, and delicacy, while one has
beneath a mixed and sometimes vicious world to
manage and hold in respect." If then human phil-
osophers come to this conclusion, we may well
believe in the self-executing moral order of the
world.
And time is a consideration of little moment. If
the broken law certainly avenges itself upon the
transgressor, sooner or later, is a question of no conse-
quence. The lapse of time does not change the
crime. The lapse of time does not cause it to be
forgotten or condoned. No Statute of Limitations
has place in the government of God.
346
THE GATES OF DAWN
December 12
Scripture Reading — Hos. xiv.
Thought for the Day
" They shall revive as the corn, and grow aa the vine. " — Hos.
xiv. 7
A MOST suggestive chapter touching the revival
of life that has died down, or even died away.
" They that dwell under His shadow shall return,
they shall revive as the corn." How comforting to
all who feel that somehow the vitality and richness
of their spiritual life have been lost, as the corn and
vine seem to have perished under the snow and frost
of winter! Nothing seems more hopeless than the
stem of the vine in winter, and yet at the breath of
summer it bursts into a wealth of green and purple,
all beauty and fragrance.
Let me not despair if from any cause my spiritual
life should languish. Let me come back in penitence,
desire, and faith to the God of all grace, and I shall
" revive as the corn and blossom as the vine." The
shadow of God is the sunshine of the soul. Let
me dwell in that shadow, and I shall soon exult,
"I am like a green fir-tree"; and He who is the
dew, the sunlight, the summer unto Israel shall
respond, " From Me is thy fruit found."
347
THE GATES OF DAWN
December 13
Scripture Reading— Luke i. 46-55
Thought for the Day
"But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his
destruction." — 2 Chron. xxvi. 16
SCIENTISTS teach that it was an advantage to
certain animals to increase in bulk up to a
certain point, but, having reached that point, the
increase of size became the cause of their extinction.
The glorious train of the peacock was at first an
advantage, but as its plumes increase in number
and size they become dangerous to the bird, it flies
with difficulty. The expansion of the wings in
butterflies of certain families seems to have reached
a maximum, any further development threatens the
existence of the species.
Whatever truth there may be about the danger to
animals through development in size, it is very clear
that increase in power, riches, or popularity is fraught
with temptation to poor human nature. The peacock
train soon makes it difficult to rise above the ground,
the swollen estate has a determination to the head,
the expanding butterfly wings prove a peril. Let
me beware. A very small rag of purple is enough
to intoxicate, and the purple is sad indeed if the
white of leprosy shows through.
348
THE GATES OF DAWN
December 14
Scripture Reading — 2 Chron. xxx. 13-23
Thought for the Day
"The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth U8 from all sin."
— I John i. 7
THE ground of forgiveness. "The priests
sprinkled the blood." " The blood of Jesus
Christ His Son cleanseth from all sin." No forgive-
ness except at the cross. The life surrendered at
Calvary atones for sin, brings purity and peace.
The condition of forgiveness. " Every one that
setteth his heart to seek God," or, "him that
setteth his whole heart." Truly a fault is not effaced
because we reproach ourselves with it ; it is effaced
only when we set our whole heart to seek the Divine
mercy and strength.
The sign of forgiveness. "And the Lord healed
the people." The proof of pardon is the inspiration
that cures us of our old sins. " Who forgiveth all
thine iniquities ; who healeth all thy diseases." The
proof of the former is found in the latter.
The blessedness of forgiveness. " Singing with
loud instruments unto the Lord." Brass bands are
enough to express earthly joy ; all the golden bands
of heaven are insufficient to express the gladness of
those whose sin is forgiven, whose iniquity is covered.
349
THE GATES OF DAWN
December 15
ScRiPTDRE Reading — Isa. xxxvii. 5-20
Thought for the Day
"And Hezekiah spread the letter before the Lord."—lsA. xxxvii. 14
WHEN we see the postman hastening from
door to door we do not always think what
a portentous messenger he is. He brings letters
black-bordered, telling of heart-rending bereavements.
Threatening letters are in his bag, and his sharp
knock is to many the note of doom. Perplexing
letters demanding replies we know not how to give,
or hardly dare to give, are thrust into our hands.
The postman is a great troubler of Israel.
What a grand thing to spread the letter before the
Lord ! He is the great " Dissolver of doubts," and
will give light, comfort, courage, to all who seek
Him.
A little boy who could not get satisfactory replies
to his questions said to his mother, " I wish I could
have five minutes with God." Oh ! what a flood of
light, hush of peace, pulse of power, flush of gladness,
will five minutes with God give !
350
THE GATES OF DAWN
December 16
Scripture Reading — Ezek. xxxv.
Thought for the Day
" Whereas the Lord was there."— Ezek. xxxv. io
THE "Intelligence Department" is sometimes
strangely at fault. It takes note of tangible
things, of troops, guns, and positions, leaving out
impalpable factors on which really all turns — such
as the genius of the commander, the heroism of the
troops, the superiority of weapons. Assyria saw
only what meets the carnal eye, " whereas the Lord
was there." How often men forget the main Factor !
A mere handful of Spaniards conquered South
America, prevailed against tens of thousands of
Aztecs, because whilst the natives had only rude
weapons, the invaders had powder and shot. That
little fact made all the difference.
Celestial warriors come armed with a magical
panoply, their weapons are subtle, they wield strange
forces, and so a single angel breathes in the face of
the foe, and they melt like snow in the glance of
the Lord. When shall I believe in the irresistibility
of purity and faith f
351
THE GATES OF DAWN
December 17
Scripture Reading — Ps. xxxi. 9-24
Thought for the Day
"My times are in Thy hand." — Ps. xxxi. 15
HOW much depends upon knowing when the
time is exactly ripe ! Not to interfere before
the crisis arrives, not to let the opportunity pass
when the crisis has arrived ; this power of discern-
ment, of patience and promptitude, is a gift of super-
lative value.
Who knows the psychological moment like the
Keeper of Israel ! He does not interfere too soon ;
He allows the enemy rope enough to hang himself;
He waits until His people know their weakness and
peril, and are shut up to Him. He does not interpose
too late ; at the critical juncture He smites the pride
of the unrighteous, honours the faith of His people.
We see in nature how precisely God works by the
clock ; and certainly He is not less exact in the
times and seasons of human life. We often speak
of " the hour and the man " ; let us remember the
hour and the God. " A very present help in trouble."
352
THE GATES OF DAWN
December 18
Scripture Reading — Luke xxiii. 13-25
Thought for the Day
"Never man spake like this man." — John vii. 46
NIETZSCHE, the German sceptic, whose
delirious writings just now excite much
attention, observes : " In the New Testament only one
figure appears which we are compelled to honour —
Pilate, the Roman Governor."
It must therefore be very interesting to the
admirers of Nietzsche to read what Pilate thought of
the Lord Jesus. " Behold, I, having examined Him
before you, found no fault in this man touching those
things whereof ye accuse Him." One with any sense
of morality will find it difficult to honour Pilate, but
his testimony to the purity of Jesus we are bound to
respect.
So a great cloud of witnesses from all quarters
testify to the glory of the Lord. Out of the mouths
of His enemies praise is perfected by Him who makes
the wrath of man to praise Him. The modern Pagan
endorses the acquittal declared by the ancient Pagans.
353
THE GATES OF DAWN
December 19
Scripture Reading— Job i. 13-22
Thought for the Day
"Christ also suffered for us, leauing us an example." — i Pet.
ii. 21
ONE of the very greatest writers on science, in
discussing the presence of pain in the world,
has just reminded his brethren that the very existence
of pain is one of the essential factors in evolution ;
that it has been developed in the animal world for a
purpose ; that it is strictly subordinated to the law of
utility ; and therefore never developed beyond what
is actually needed for the preservation of life.
Is not this precisely the view that revelation gives
of the place of suffering in the moral universe ? Pain
is essential to our highest development ; it is always
developed for a purpose; it is strictly subordinated
to the moral design ; and is therefore never developed
beyond what is actually needed : these are the great
teachings of the New Testament touching the
presence and action of pain in the spiritual life. They
are full of rational comfort
354
THE GATES OF DAWN
December 20
Scripture Reading — 2 Cor. iii. 7-18
Thought for the Day
" The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. "
— Ps. xix. 8
IT is surprising what a magical power is operative
in a ray of light. A naturalist writes : " Whilst
I was watching, a ray of sunlight happened to fall
directly on the path of the chrysalis under observation.
Immediately there was a response. The pupa
suddenly jerked as if startled by the light. This was
the beginning of great things — that wandering ray of
light was evidently Nature's signal to the hidden
butterfly within, informing it that then was the oppor-
tune moment for it to come forth. Instantly the
chrysalis began to bulge, the enveloping shell burst
open, the butterfly quickly appeared."
Is it not somewhat thus when a ray of heaven's
sunlight, reflected from the sacred page, falls upon
the soul? What an illuminating, a quickening,
rejoicing, converting power there is in the truth of the
Gospel, in the truth as it is in Jesus I
355
THE GATES OF DAWN
December 21
ScRiPTDRE Reading — Matt, ii. 1-12
Thought for the Day
" We have seen His star in the east, and are come to worstiip
Him." — Matt. ii. 2
WISE men from afar are still seeking that cradle.
All the great religions of the earth are
really feeling for Christ. The consummation of all
deep thought and aspiration is in Him. And al-
though often unknowingly, all the sovereign thinkers
do Him reverence.
The geatest of men have in successive generations
made that cradle the shrine of their sincerest worship.
In the corn-fields the heaviest heads bow most, and
the mightiest intellects have done the Master lowliest
reverence.
All the ground is strewn with the tokens of their
homage — sublime poems, harps and organs, deep
philosophies, eloquent orations, rich sculpture, de-
lightful pictures, magnificent architecture, dedicated
to His praise and glory. Genius brings its choicest
products to His feet, and thinks them poor.
356
THE GATES OF DAWN
December 22
Scripture Reading — Luke ii. 8-20
Thought for the Day
"/ bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all
people." — Luke ii. 10
THE Lord manifested to the sage, the sovereign,
is now manifest to the shepherd. This last
was peculiarly significant of the genius of Chris-
tianity.
The. people need Christ. They have their share of
sin, suffering, sorrow. They deeply need the grace,
consolations, and strengthening of the Gospel. The
people are capable of Christ. Without the intel-
lectual distinction of the Magi, or the social eminence
of Herod, they have the essential greatness of soul
which renders them capable of Christ and of His
greatest gifts. The people rejoice in Christ. " The
shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for
all the things that they had heard and seen." From
that day to this a new glory has shone on all common
scenes, a new joy has filled the common heart that
has been opened to the Prince of Peace, the Saviour
of the world.
357
THE GATES OF DAWN
December 23
Scripture Reading — Luke ii. 25-35
Thought for the Day
"A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people
Israel." — Luke ii. 32
THE manifestation of the Lord Jesus to the
good. Simeon waited for the Messiah, and
knew that he had not waited in vain. Scientists tell
how the flowers of the Alps are buried for long
months under the snow, yet all the time they are full
of energy and expectation, and no sooner does the
sun shine than in a few hours they open into glorious
flower. So Simeon waited through a long life, waited
as beneath cold snows, but at the first kiss of the Sun
of Righteousness he broke into flower.
Men who have been good according to their lights,
waiting for a yet higher good, and then suddenly
coming into the knowledge of Christ, feel that they
have found in Him just what they longed and hoped
for, and forthwith blossom as the rose.
The Bible is a glorious revelation of mercy and
helpfulness. It is the Magna Charta, converting a
world of slaves into a world of free men rejoicing
in the liberty of the glory wherewith Christ maketh
free.
358
THE GATES OF DAWN
December 24
Scripture Reading— Matt. ii. 1-12
Thought for the Day
" fn thee shall all families of the earth be blessed."— G^^. xii. 3
WHEN the morning dawns and the sun arises
all obscene birds are disquieted and hasten
to their hiding place ; the snails leave their slimy trail,
and take cover ; the wild beasts lay themselves down
in their dens. The sun searches them out. But now
it calls forth whatever is of a higher quality ! Instead
of the slug, the butterfly ; instead of the wild beast,
the cattle feed in the meadows ; instead of bats and
owls, the lark sings at heaven's gate.
So it was when the " Sun of Righteousness " arose
on the earth. " Herod was troubled, and all Jerusalem
with him." Whatever belonged to the night and
darkness was agitated and put to mortal fear. " When
they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great
joy." At the first faint beam of the golden orb the
pure greeted the day with rapture, all the birds of
heaven broke into song.
Unto the sincere, the penitent, the good and pure,
unto all them that believe, Christ is precious.
359
THE GATES OF DAWN
December 25
Scripture Reading— John i. 1-14
Thought for the Day
"Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given." — ISA. ix. 6
HOW the race from the beginning has been
steadily gazing into heaven expecting a
Saviour — one who should break the awful tyranny
of evil by which we are accursed !
The race looks unto heaven for a deliverer, because
it is profoundly conscious that it cannot save itself;
that there is no law of salvation working in us, or in
the nature of things. Science tells us that there is in
creatures a " regenerative capacity " by which any
injury they may receive is repaired; but in creatures
high up in the scale of being the regenerative capacity
is usually very slight. The regenerative moral
capacity in the creature highest up in the scale of
being is certainly pathetically inadequate to his
restoration to purity and happiness.
Unto us the long-expected Saviour has been re-
vealed. His shining form walks in the gulf of despair.
Let me be sure that I prove His saving virtue.
360
THE GATES OF DAWN
December 26
Scripture Reading — Dan. vi. 16-23'
Thought for the Day
"He shall cover thee with His feathers, and under His wings
shalt thou trust." — Ps. xci. 4
LIONS are not cannibalistic, they will not devour
their own species, lion respects lion ; and so
they saw in Daniel the features of their own royal
breed, and left him unscathed.
How majestic is courage combined with innocence !
This is the main lesson of Daniel in the lions' den.
He had faith in God, was absolutely loyal to the
truth, and with a pure heart dared everything and
triumphed.
Our defence from the powers of darkness is in the
heroism of faith and purity. " He goeth about as a
roaring lion seeking whom he may devour," but he
has to keep a painfully long fast among the pure.
The wicked one toucheth them not. Noah had a
good many uncomfortable beasts in his cabin, but he
lived to see the rainbow : and in the Ark of God I am
safe until I greet the bow around the throne.
361
THE GATES OF DAWN
December 27
Scripture Reading — Ephes. iv. 1-16
Thought for the Day
"Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with
God and man. " — Luke ii. 52
COLERIDGE defined genius as " a capacity for
growth." The real genius is he who is always
transcending himself, always becoming more wonder-
ful in vision, expression, execution.
" And the child grew." Is not the distinctive
feature of everything connected with Christ's " capacity
for growth"? Nothing pertaining to Him ever
exhausts itself. The dew is ever on its branches, it is
ever extending its shade, it is ever bringing forth
fruits of life and beauty.
Do I grow as my Master did? The test of the
Christian spirit is " capacity for growth." Ever
becoming clearer-eyed, wider in knowledge, stronger
in holy will, with a richer overflowing joyousness, and
a larger passion for service and sacrifice. May the
grace of God rest on me, making me liberally to share
my Master's strength and glory !
362
THE GATES OF DAWN
December 28
Scripture Reading — Ps. IL
Thought for the Day
"Create in me a clean heart, God." — Ps. H. lo
MEN who realise the subtlety, tyranny, and
destructiveness of sin, know well that all
amelioration, reformation is unavailing. Nothing
short of a new heart and a right spirit will suffice.
Creation is absolutely the work of God, The ablest
man is helpless until certain material is furnished him ;
it may be very little, but he must have it to start with,
he cannot create the initial thing. Erasmus Darwin
once wrote : " Give me a fibre susceptible of irritation,
and 1 will make a tree, a dog, a horse, a man." Yes,
granted the fibre we may do much ; but the original
fibre is the essential thing, without this we can do
nothing, and thus we cannot create. After God
creates within us a clean heart, much depends upon
our personal culture; but the original implantation
of right dispositions and principles is purely the pre-
rogative of the Creator Spirit.
O that I may be " a new creation in Christ Jesus ! "
3^3
THE GATES OF DAWN
December 29
Scripture Reading — 2 Chron. xxxiv. 1-7
Thought for the Day
" While he was yet young he began to seek after the God of
David his father." — 2 Chron. xxxiv. 3
THE fact of pious Josiah springing from a father
like Amon, and a grandfather like Manasseh,
reminds us of a work on science entitled T/ie Survival
of the Unlike.
However heredity may prevail in the realms of
physics and mentality, it is evident that it does not
determine moral and religious character. The best of
fathers have bad sons ; the best of children may arise
in godless and immoral households.
The principal of a large philanthropic Home told
the writer, that many of the best children were the
offspring of abandoned parents, lilies grown in the
mud. The principle of individuality is mysteriously
protected, the germ of freedom in the child sacredly
preserved. Modern science discerns the originality
and isolation of the individual. My ancestors do not
determine my moral character, my spiritual affinity.
Bodily succession does not imply a tyranny coercing
the soul. I am independent and responsible. There-
fore I give an account of myself unto God.
364
THE GATES OF DAWN
December 30
Scripture Reading — i Pet. iv, i-ii
Thought for the Day
"The end of all things is at hand : be ye therefore sober, and
watch unto prayer." — i Pet. iv. 7
IS not the whole philosophy of safety from the
allurements of the animal life in this injunc-
tion?
Wholesomeness of mind is the true preservative.
Says Alfred Wallace, *' Health of body and of mind
are the only natural safeguards against disease." And,
again, "A condition of health is the one and only
protection we require against all kinds of disease."
Yes, it is the one and only protection we require
against moral disease.
Keep the imagination undefiled, the thought sober,
the heart pure. Hence Emerson justly warns us,
" There is no greater peril than a voluptuous book."
Shun the literature that will coarsen the brain, that
will familiarise the mind with the gross and incon-
tinent ; and not only shun such literature, but also what-
ever else defileth and maketh a lie. A mind, sound,
sober, spiritual, is a garrison that hell can neither
surprise nor force.
365
THE GATES OF DAWN
December 31
Scripture Reading — Ps. xc
Thought for the Day
" We glory in tribulations also : knowing that tribulation
worketh patience." — Rom. v. 3
WRITING concerning the severe cyclones
which occasionally visit North Queensland,
a traveller observes, " Nature is rational even in her
most passionate moments. Vegetation, rank and
gross as in an un weeded garden, requires vigorous
lopping. These storms comb out superfluous
branches, cut out dead wood, destroy decayed shoots,
and cleanse trunks and branches of parasitic growths.
All is done boldly, yet with such skill that in a few
weeks losses are hidden under masses of clean, healthy,
bright foliage. The soil has received a luxurious
top-dressing. Trees and plants respond to the
stimulus with magical vigour, for lazy, slumbering
forces have been roused into efforts so splendid that
the realism of tropical vegetation is to be appreciated
only after Nature has swept and sweetened her
garden." What a vivid parable of the blessing
brought by the tempests which sweep the soul !
He enriches us through suffering. " The ripest
fruit grows against the roughest wall." He completes
us through loss. As the sculptor perfects the statue
by striking off one marble flake after another, so
Heaven perfects the soul by a succession of blows
and deprivations.
" Praise to the Holiest in the height.
And in the depth be praise ;
In all His words most wonderful,
Most sure in all His ways."
366
THE
GATES OF PRAYER
BY
LAUCHLAN MACLEAN WATT
AUTHOR OF "the TRYST " " BY STILL WATERS*'
"the communion table" ETC.
Minister of St, Stephen's, Edinburgh
THE GATES OF PRAYER
Bew l^ear Ufme
OGOD of the years that are past, and the years that are
coming — through whose hand run the fleeting sands
of the present, pardon us for the errors and sins of the days
that are dead; help us in all our thinking and doing in the
days that are to be.
Let us not remember too much the sorrows that have been.
Lift up our hearts and our hopes to the dreams and ideals
that are before us, that we may rise above the weaknesses,
meannesses, and sinfulness which do so often dog us to our
fall. Give us gladness in Thine own time, leading us, by Thy
pity, nearer Christ; comforting us when we grow weary, by
Thy love, and saving us at last through Thine unending mercy.
Father, take not the veil from the future. If only Thou be
with us in the day that is coming, full of the unknown, it is
well. Uphold us in whatsoever sorrows it may bring with it.
Pity us in the trials that await us. Consecrate our gladnesses
and our griefs together, and hold our hands when we walk
through the darkness. Whatsoever Thou give to us or take
from us let Thy blessing be above and about us, and keep us
true men and women till we go home to Thee.
There are graves behind us all, O Father, and silence and
darkness where there were voices beloved and faces that we
knew in days gone by. Only let us not forget that Thou art
ever before us and Thy love beside us, and we will still be
brave enough to dare all that the dying days can hold. Guide
us aright, O God.
Thou hast given us all the world and its beauty, O our
God — all the friendships and the loves, the successes and the
joys that we have known. We can offer Thee only our failures,
our weaknesses, our sorrows, and our sins. Have mercy upon
us, and pity us in our confessions, O our Father. Help us
to find again the way we have lost, to see the light that we
turned from, and to acknowledge the mastery of Thy holy will.
For Jesu's sake.
THE GATES OF PRAYER
Sunba^ /Iftornfng
OGOD our Father, Who hast brought us to the threshold
of another day, we bring into Thy presence the
remembrance of the days that have died, — the sorrows and the
joys which they have held, the sweet hopes and promises with
which they began, and the pain of heart for the unrealised
and the unfulfilled with which we drew the curtain over their
completion.
We meant to be loving and faithful, tender to those Thou
hast given us, and true to Thee ; but we have not remembered
how feeble we are, and how easy it is for us to fail and fall.
We have not been watchful against our weakness ; and little
things of slight account have put our souls to shame. We
have forgotten our duties to one another, and to our fellow-
men ; and have lost sight, too often, of human charity, and
the kindly graces of ordinary daily life. We have not been
helpful to those whose needs we have encountered, nor humble
in our claims upon others, nor unselfish in our relationships.
And we confess, with sadness, opportunities unused and
chances lost.
With this sense of the incomplete and the insufficient in
our hearts, we pray Thee to have pity upon us. Let us feel
within us the assurance of pardon. Give us new strength for
the new days lying before us.
Make this day, for all Thy children, a day of glad promise
in worship of Thee, whether with those who seek Thee in
Thy house, or who, in the quiet of lonely rooms, bend in
prayer before Thee. Let us rise from our knees to higher
thoughts, fairer hopes, and nobler efforts after the beautiful, the
loving, and the true. Open unto our knocking, O our Father,
we implore Thee, and lead us in to whatsoever Thou wilt.
Put into the mouths of Thy teachers this day everywhere,
words of renewal, inspiration, and quickening. Let Thy glory
burn above Thy holy page, till its truth become lit with flame
unquenchable. Keep us near Thee, O God, lest, like poor
children, we miss Thy voice amidst our many distractions, and
be lost for ever in the darkness. For Jesu's sake.
3 A 369
THE GATES OF TRAYER
Sun&a^ iBx>cninQ
LET all the world be brought nearer to Thee, O God,
this quiet night. Let Christ lay His Cross over all
hearts and all life's varied and fluctuating interests, claiming
them for Thee ; and may all roads everywhere be highways of
Thine angels, till darkness and sin be driven far away. Be
Thy light our guide, for evermore.
Heavenly Father, bless the place we live in. Guide its
trade, and bless all whose enterprise has helped to make it
what it is. Let its leaders always be men of noblest integrity
and worth. Bless our native land, in all its interests. Watch
over our soldiers and sailors, and all our colonists, scattered
abroad across the world. Let Thy light be on the sea and on
the land, guiding all for the best. Be with the weary, the sad,
and the dying, giving them the rest, the consolation, and the
strength they most require.
Comfort all mourners. Hush all angry passions. Let Thy
peace steal over all the world's distresses. Calm the distracted,
and lead the dying home. Bless all we love, and make and
keep us worthy of the affection of our own dear ones, and the
esteem of our fellow-men. Set Thy star above our darkness,
and keep it shining till it guide us to Thy day.
O God, be near to those whose worship-hour brings no
gladness of communion with Thy spirit, because their hearts
are cold and forsaken. Soften and subdue unto Thyself all
the world's children, O our God, and let Thy love, this night,
enfold them with a blessing which shall make them truly
Thine, full of a sense of Thy presence, Thy pardon, and Thy
grace. For Jesu's sake.
370
THE GATES OF PRAYER
OTHOU Who art the God and Guide, alike of our rest
and our labour, we thank Thee for the peace of the
past night, — that Thou hast watched over us when we slept,
and saved us from all harm. We thank Thee for quiet sleep,
and for the restoration which comes thereby to our bodies and
our souls. And, ere we go out to face the world's hard week
again, we would kneel for Thy blessing, which is life itself
to us.
Protect us, in the day that lies before us, from all that is
mean, unworthy, and untrue. In the business of life, help us
to keep our hands and hearts honest and clean. Let no gain
lure us from the upright way, or tempt us to be unkind or
unfair to those with whom we have our daily dealings. Keep
us ever mindful that Thou beholdest all things, even our most
secret thought. Suffer us not, O God, to darken or disgrace
the joy of our beloved, or the trust they have in us ; but may
our Uves, alike in their relation to those beside us and the
world without, be evidences that we are Thine, or that we are
seeking Thee.
We do not ask Thee to take the veil from the future. If
only Thou be with us in the day that is coming, full of the
unknown, it will be well. Uphold us in whatsoever sorrows
it may bring with it. Pity us in what trials may await us.
Consecrate our gladnesses and our griefs together, and hold
us firm when we walk through darkened places. Whatsoever
Thou wilt give us or take from us, let Thy blessing be always
above us ; and keep us true men and women till we go home
to Thee.
Strengthen all who are shrinking from this day's duties.
Breathe Thy grace over all who tremble before this day's pain.
And give perseverance, steadfastness, and growth in grace to
every brave heart which is trying to do its best. For Jesu's
sake.
371
THE GATES OF PRAYER
/II^on^a^ Evening
HEAVENLY FATHER, as we began the day on our
knees before Thee, so must we end it ; and as we
sought Thy help and guidance in the morning hour, so would
we beg Thy mercy and Thy pardon for all that has made our
work a thing of feeble effort, wavering, fickle, and incomplete.
We have tried, but not so bravely as we ought, to do our best,
and we wonder at Thy patience with us, when we see how
poor is the result of all we have attempted. We are ashamed
to think how far apart our day's work stands from the hope
of our morning prayer. It is a poor instrument on which we
praise Thee, a thing of broken strings, jarring and out of tune.
Be Thou the Master-musician, and set aright once more our
souls' discordancies.
We confess our shortcomings, our errors of pride and
obstinate self-will, our frequent halting in our quest of good,
because it wearied us, or because it did not pay. Father, our
wage is a sorrowing heart and unavailing pain over neglected
duty and unfinished labours. Let the irresistible passing of
the days that die be warning to us. Let us be up and doing, if
Thou dost give us another day of grace, clutching opportunity
as it runs by, and getting our doors and windows ready for
our going.
We are ashamed, O God, to think how vainly with our words
we beat at heaven's door of prayer, till, like dead leaves that
one night's frost has nipped, they He along the pathway of the
angels. Help us to live our prayers. Help us to answer some
of them ourselves through the grace Thou givest.
Seal this day with Thy blessing and pardon, we beseech
Thee. Shut its door fast against the return of evil. Let no
unavailing grief over the unrealised linger with us ; but give
our souls true repentance, which will turn us from the old that
is unworthy and lift us to the new that has Christ's consecra-
tion upon it. Deepen the blessing of all that has been good
in the day which we now leave behind us. Give us sweet
sleep until to-morrow's light shall wake us. Feed our souls
upon the bread of life, and give us the promise of the heavenly
vision. For Jesu's sake.
372
THE GATES OF PRAYER
OGOD, whose love makes every morning sweet and fair,
full of new hopes and dreams, we thank Thee for the
fresh opportunities that are about our feet on this new day
which Thou hast given us. All Nature praises Thee; give
our hearts, too, the utterance of our thanks for all Thy
goodness, and for Thy beauty on the water and the land.
We thank Thee that Thou hast given us grace to be patient
with life's worries and sufferings, for the daily task, keeping
us brave enough to face what irks us oftentimes. We dare
not meet the darkness or the day unless Thy love be with
us ; and sleeping and waking would alike be full of pain and
fear, but for Thy pity which moves beside us as we go about
our business, and watches near us till the morning's dawn.
Sweet is Thy love, O Father. It takes away the bitterness
from every cup of duty, and we see, through it, sunlight
where we thought that all was dark, and far-stretching ways
where all seemed trackless waste.
Deepen our lives, that we may understand more clearly
what we are, and learn more clearly what we may yet become.
Loosen some music within us, that we may serve Thee
gladly, and be enabled to cheer and encourage others. Give
us honourable prosperity. We ask not gain from godliness;
but grant us the treasure of golden deeds, and words of shining
worth, wherewith to help the suffering and the poor, and guide
the weary into calm.
Make us, day by day, more worthy of Thy mercy, of the
love of those around us, and of our own esteem.
Remember all from whose life the light has faded, through
sorrow, sickness, sin or shame, or by death's passing ; and
bless with Thy pity the forgotten, the poor, and the dying.
For Jesu's sake.
373
THE GATES OF PRAYER
OGOD, who hast brought us again safely through the
day's varied difficulties and perplexities to the time
of rest, we thank Thee for Thy care and guidance, and for
all hopes and joys which Thou hast given us amidst the
work and trials of its varying hours. Help us now to leave
our worries outside these walls. Let sweet peace be at our
firesides with our beloved whom Thou hast brought into
our lives.
Wherein we have been deficient, pardon us ; where we have
been misled through frailty of our nature, give us Thy pity ;
and be merciful unto us in Thy judgment upon us here
and hereafter.
It is hard for us to rise out of our temptations and imper-
fections to a life which can satisfy even ourselves, to preserve
our garments white in an unclean world, to walk sure among
so many pitfalls, and keep our words free from the taint of
earthly conversations. But we know that Thy justice weighs
all things aright, and that Thy love remembers with equalising
mercy the failures and the wrecks whom bitter storms and
adverse seas drive back from the course they aimed at, as
well as the prosperous voyagers, and those whom success
makes glad at heart. Help us, therefore, to turn away from
what has saddened us, and to learn the lesson which they
teach us. Be Thou our Saviour, and our Guide.
Especially be with the friendless, the forsaken, and the
bereaved, this night, and all nights. Comfort all those to
whom love's going forth has been as the setting of the sun ;
speak to them of daybreak on the other side.
Walk among our dreams, O Christ, and keep them fair.
Let no dark shadows stain our lives in sleep or waking.
Unite the efforts of Thy Son's Church, and bless all who
are doing their best for Thee, our Father. Give also even
unto us the blessing of Thy grace which we ask for all the
world. For Jesu's sake.
374
THE GATES OF PRAYER
FOR whatsoever measure of gladness and of health that
may be ours this morning, we give Thee thanks, O
God ; for the friends that will be beside us, and the love that
will speak to us, and any prosperity or success which may
crown our work. We praise Thee for Thy goodness, and Thy
remembrance of us through the dark hours when we were
laid asleep, folded in forgetful peace. We thank Thee for
that protecting care which made the darkness safe, and kept
us till the dawn.
Fountain of love, from whom all beauty flows, fill our
hearts with trustfulness, that we may ever feel Thee near us
as we walk through life. Source of all light, be over all our
darkness, and let our narrow vistas expand into the fulness
of Thy day. Consecrate the way in which our feet should
go, and let us behold it sometimes shining clearly, in the
mists and perplexities of our querulous doubtings and blinded
gropings about the gate of life. Let us trust, even where we
cannot see ; and stretch forth our uncertain hands until we
feel Thy kind hands near us, and be led, where we fear to
venture. It is enough if Thou be in the darkness with us,
if the music of Thy pleadings and Thy promises be kept
moving in our hearts. Believing, we shall walk whithersoever
Thy Spirit calls us, trusting always in our Father's saving love.
Pardon us our pride in what is so often unworthy of Thy
redeemed, our seeking after low ideals and mean desires ;
and do Thou lift us nearer the noble life of service, aspiration,
and achievement, for which we long.
Let the meaning of this day, unknown as yet, fall apart
before us as we move through it; and keep and save us,
with all dear to us, from everything whereby we may grieve
Thy Holy Spirit, or prove unworthy of our Saviour Christ.
Bless the trade of our country. Prosper all her enterprise,
so far as it conforms to honesty and truth ; and let the fear
of being false to Thee be the only fear within our hearts.
For Jesu's sake.
375
THE GATES OF PRAYER
Met)nes&a^ JEvcnim
OUR Father, we leave behind us the ache of the day
that has ended ; and, in the shadows of the deepening
night, we come to Thee. Where the scars of the day are,
let Thy healing love be laid. When our work has wearied
us, and been distressful to our spirits, comfort us, O God,
Here we would lay down our cross for a Httle while, and ask
Thee, for the sake of Christ, who carried His, to make it a
blessing to us. Remember all cross-bearers. Remember all
who have burdens to carry, especially those whose crosses
have been fashioned by fingers dear to them, and whose
burdens are the heavier for the love that is in them.
We make sorrows often for ourselves, and we weary our
spirits in the quest of joys that elude us, and satisfactions
that slip from our grasp. Little disappointments make us
forget Thy great promises; and shadows of things of small
account bar our path with fears we cannot face. Give us a
braver outlook on life's unequal demands. And when the
thought of our own sin weighs us low, awaken within us the
memory of Christ's love and sacrifice for us ; and give to
our souls the sense of pitying companionship and pain-
upUfting pardon. Make us more ready to respond to Thy
pleading, and fit us to be living instruments of Thy grace.
Remember all who are in danger or distress. Remember
all who are in deeper darkness than the night itself can bring
them. Remember the dying, and all who are watching by
those dear to them. Give peace to the suffering and rest
to the weary ; and watch by the lonely till the dawn. Where
the sleepless are mourning, where Sin sits wide-eyed and
Pride will not repent, be Thou, this night, O Father.
Enfold all the world in Thy love, and let no heart ever
cease to hope in Thee. Prepare us all more and more for
Thy coming, and keep us watchful, and ready against Thy
judgment day.
Bless us and our beloved, young and old together, with
pardon for all that has been wrong, or weak, or imperfect in
our day's work done; and grant that we may do better if
To-morrow's chance comes to us. For Jesu's sake.
376
THE GATES OF PRAYER
XTbursbas /iDornino
OGOD Who hast flooded the sleeping world with sweet
light, and awakened humanity to labour anew for
daily bread, let Thy grace be unto us as the dawn of a new
life, and do Thou open our hearts to knowledge of Thee.
As we ask Thee to be always with us, so would we pray
that Thou be with men and women everywhere. Comfort
those who have risen to face this day with old sorrows clinging
to them, and strengthen any to whom grief is coming, that
they may be able to bear what To-day is bringing. Be
especially near the sick, whose eyes greet the dawn with
weariness, out of a night of pain and unrest. Let this day
be unto such as a time when Christ may be beside them
with healing and love.
Make the whole world a temple of Thy truth, O God.
Let the Christ of the knotted cords cleanse its places of
traffic, driving out false dealings from trade, hypocrisies from
religion, and unrighteousness from politics and statecraft.
Make this day a day of honour everywhere.
Keep our own homes and our own hearts clean, O Father.
Withhold us from all that would displease Thee, or hurt our
fellows, or be unworthy of ourselves. Help us to maintain
our name esteemed^ or to lift it to the place of respect amongst
upright men. For what Thou givest, make us grateful ; what
Thou takest from us let us resign with patience. Amid the
flickering shadows and uncertainties of life let us often see
Thy certain light guiding us in the way we ought to follow.
Remember every soul that shall this day be tempted into
error, or weakness, or sin. Give them strength to resist unto
victory.
Bless all workers everywhere, especially the poor, who have
hardships and distresses every day to bear for themselves
and those dependent on them. Bless all schools and teachers,
and all who are seeking knowledge. Let the morning light
have promise in it, as it enters asylums, prisons, hospitals, and
darkened places. Bless little children, and keep them in
Thy way, till, through brave manhood and fair womanhood,
they reach Thy presence. Make us all children of Christ
Jesus, in whose name we ever ask these things from Thee.
377
THE GATES OF PRAYER
FATHER, we thank Thee that Thou hast brought us, by
a way untrodden heretofore, unto the close of another
day. We are conscious of our weaknesses in all that we have
done. What we prayed for with the morning's light, we have
not followed till the evening hour. The truth which we knew,
we have betrayed, and the faith with which we faced the world,
we have denied, through selfishness and unrighteousness of
thought and deed. Forgetfulness of simplest duties has made
us, ere we knew it, enemies of Thine. Yet, Thou knowest,
for Thou beholdest all our hidden heart, that even our failure
and our weakness have been the best we could do to-day.
Pity us in this, O Father, and make us fit to answer our own
confessions on the morrow, by better resolves and truer deeds
sprung from them. Be Thou the nearer us, O Christ, our
Saviour, and help us to be worthier of our own prayers.
For what Thou hast been to us, no words can ever speak
our thanks ; for what ourselves have been, no speech can ever
cover half our shame. Remember us when we are tried
beyond our strength by the feeble things that do so often
master us, and let not either joy or sorrow turn our thoughts
from Thee.
Father, we hear, sometimes, through the dark, the foot-
steps of our loved ones going from us. Let us always feel
Thee near to us and them. Let our loved ones, in their
passing, leave a door open between us and Thee, that its light
may lead us nearer to where Thou art, even in their going.
Make all our days here, days wherein we may seek and find
Thee. Let no earthly shadow perplex us, and no vain voices
delude us. Suffer us not, O God, to follow any light but Thine.
And whatsoever Thou give or take, give us always the strength
we need, with patient love to help us through each day's trial,
and every daily duty.
Give us, and all dear to us. Thy grace with soft refreshing
slumber, free from pain. Remember all Thy children, every-
where, and especially those who are sad, or suffering, or sick ;
and give all the world, this night, Thy peace. For Jesu's sake.
378
THE GATES OF PRAYER
3frf&a^ /TOorninG
OTHOU that art our Saviour and our Friend, giving us
strength to labour, hope to sustain us, and rest when
the time of sleep comes to the world, we thank Thee for all
Thy blessings which are past, and for the promises of Thy
love as yet unrealised. Let not the days pass silent and
meaningless. Give us renewed appreciation of Thy mercies ;
and, with the sure sense of Thy pardon in Christ Jesus, make
our responsibilities become quickening realities. Make every
day a new day for us, that we may shake off the bondage of
evil which has been growing upon us, and stretch forward to
thoughts and actions more worthy of the children of Thy
saving grace.
Let the wretched have fresh inspirations toward the better
life. Let the mean and the false see Christ's way waiting at
their foot. Let them see themselves, and be ashamed in
presence of the beautiful and true which they have been
betraying and denying. Let the wounds of Christ grow in us
and upon us, till our hearts break for the sorrows of others,
and our hands rejoice to be pierced for the world's pain. Let
men and women learn, through us, something about Thy love,
and the life which has the Cross for its guide to peace and
gladness here.
Thou hast been beside us when the way was lonely, when
poverty made our doorstep unfrequented, and sorrow made us
poor companions ; and we thank Thee for the power Thou
didst give unto us then, to be strong and to endure. Be with
us also when success may make us forgetful of the constant
need we have for Thy help ; and when the crowd distracts us
so that we do not hear Thy voice.
Give us, in the stress of our day, sweet breathing spaces
where we may remember Thee. Let the miisic of the still
waters, and the quiet of the green pastures be sometimes with
us even in the streets and stairs and busy strife of towns.
With the sorrows and the disappointments, the forgetfulness
and failures, the weakness and the sin, give us the pity of
Christ, and we shall hope again and strive once more, with
new hearts, for the mastery. For Jesu's sake.
379
Printed in the United States of America.
THE GATES OF TRAVER
WE have said goodbye to another day, with all it has held
for us ; and, as we turn from it, we seek peace with
Thee, our God. We would shut the door on every shadow which
can come between us and Thee, or between us and those we
love. The selfishness which we confess, the unrealised desires
after perfection, all effort which we have left unfinished, all
wherein our life this day has fallen short, we would thrust be-
hind us, out of our hearts, into the night. Come, Thou holy
Spirit of the Father, and let Thy peace sink over our dissatis-
faction and unrest. We are tired children, weary from our
joys and sorrows alike ; and we cannot lie down to sleep unless
we feel our Father near us in the dark. Stand by us in the
shadows, we beseech Thee, till the dawn shall wake the world
once again.
Pardon our sinfulness, and all wherein, through mortal
weakness, we have done amiss. Pity us for our shifting wills,
our tangled and confusing passions. We acknowledge our
faults. We are ashamed. Save us from the things that
perplex us, O our God. Where we have erred, direct us
aright ; where we are weak, strengthen and support us ; where
we fall, do Thou uplift us.
Remember all who are dear to us ; and hear their prayer
wherever they may be. Remember all the world's children,
, alike those whom the world remembers, and whom the
world forgets. Soothe the sorrows of the poor ; and u[:)hold
the faith of the dying and bereaved. Let the solitary know
Thou art beside them in their hour of loneliness.
Bless our native land, and the children of our Empire
scattered everywhere. Keep them worthy of the faith and
conflict of their fathers. Let not the anguish of war come near
our borders ; yet suffer us not ever to betray, through coward
fears, the liberty men wrote upon our flag in days of old.
Remember all who are oppressed, all who are fighting just
battles, all who are sick and aflflicted everywhere. Guide all
physicians and nurses. Keep politics and religion honest.
Bless those who are over us in authority, and surround them
with the brave and the true. Pillow the world on Thy love
this night and bless ourselves with the blessing which we ask
for all men now. For Jesu's sake.
380
THE GATES OF PRAYER
SatuiDa^ /[Dornino
OTHOU Whose days are deathless, keep us near Thy
love in our brief dying days.
For Thy guidance in the week that now is closing, for the
continued grace that has kept ways open for our stumbling feet,
for the pardon which Thou offerest unto us through Christ, we
give Thee thanks, O God. Our lips can never frame, and our
words can never utter, the fulness of our sense of all Thy good-
ness. We can but kneel before Christ's Cross, and let our
deepest silence be our strongest prayer. We know how
empty are our lives, how weak our best endeavour, how poor
our noblest thought.
Fill us with what we need, O bountiful Creator, and let us
not be dark and shameful in the world which Thou hast made
so fair. Let us not be voiceless when all creation praises
Thee ; and void of good when all except ourselves are fraught
with blessing. Use us, our Father, for Thy purpose, even as
water-bearers and love-bringers to those whose souls are
parched and desolate here. Let us go forth upon our daily
journey, knowing that Thou wilt help us to discern and to
bring beauty and sweetness to those who know it not. Above
all, touch our lives, we beseech Thee, with the love of Jesus
Christ. Make us lowly and kind as He was, following His
example in word and thought and deed. Guard us against all
that embitters our relations with others. Fill our souls with
true charity in judgment and in utterance. Let us seek good
rather than ill in the lives of those around us, that we may
help to sweeten the world for the day of the coming of
Christ.
Let us find no rest in sin. Harden the path of our forget-
fulness till we turn out of it into the way of life and earnest
duty. Enable us to do good wheresoever the chance may
meet us. If a word of helpful cheer be needed, grant that it
may be given unto us to speak it ; and let us see the hands
that are outstretched, and the hearts that are darkened, as we
go through the world. Gather the good of the week together
for us, and bind it with Thy blessing. Help us to fling the
evil for ever behind us. So keep us and all men busy in good
work until the long rest claims us, out of which we shall awake
to be with Thee. For Jesu's sake.
381
THE GATES OF PRAYER
Now hast Thou brought us safely, our Father, through
another week ; and, in the shadow of the deepening
night, we look back over the way we have passed hitherto, and
wonder to remember how poor a thing we are making of our
life. What will the unknown days hold for us, O God, that
can render it easier to be good and true than in the days that
we have known and used ?
Make our hearts, this night, open to Thy Spirit. Silence
the passions and distracting thoughts that have their dwelling
there ; and keep our souls calm and faithful for Thy service
on the morrow. Take away separating things from the worship
of Thy people everywhere. Let not human pride drive human
love from the brotherhood of Christ. Make men strong
enough to subdue themselves, that they may learn the more of
Thee. Give Thy guidance to all who seek, through darkness
and through sorrow, for the illumination and the comfort of
the Cross.
For all that Thou hast given to us, and ever art bestowing,
our silence must be slill our deepest thanks. Shame for our
neglect of our opportunities puts a finger on our lips. But
Thou knowest what our confessions should be, and our regrets
cannot be hid from Thy pity. If we were strong, no heights
should be beyond us ; but the steps give way beneath us,
sometimes ; our hearts faint and fail us, and the victory passes
from our reach. Deepen our faith, O Thou Redeemer of men ;
and let us never forget how near Thou always art. Keep us
more worthy of Thy remembrance, and the love of those we
love.
Fold us about this night with Thy protecting care.
Remember all who have not what Thou hast given to us, of
comfort, of gladness, of love, and the means of life. Watch
over all who are far from home, dwelling among strangers, or
travelling by land or sea. Pity the homeless, and those that
have no friends. Remember the empty-hearted, and all those
whose Hves have become dark and joyless through their own
faults, or through the sins of others. For Jesu's sake.
382
THE GATES OF PRAYER
OLORD our God, Who with a Father's love preservest
and guidest all Thy children day by day, we thank thee
that, amidst sorrow, sin, and weakness, 'j'hcu hast still been by
our side, and hast called us now to Thy feet on another day of
hope. Be very near to us, O God, and teach us to worship
Thee aright.
Purify our thoughts, that they may be fit to rise into Thy
presence. Deepen and intensify our faith, that we may stand
fast in the certainty of Thy love. Let not our hope pass from
us, among the uncertain things of time.
We confess our unworthiness, our selfishness, and our sins,
that sadden us when we remember Thee. Take them from us,
O Father ; pardon us for our foolishness and forgetfulness ;
and quicken us that we may learn to walk with those who,
having followed Thee, have entered, passed the shadow, into
Thine abiding rest.
Give us higher aims than we have known, and better resolves
after a better life in Thee. Teach us how to walk through love
to Thee. Help us by the hand, O Thou that art ever in the
darkness, waiting for the weary, to guide them home. Forget
us not, as we stumble, for without Thee we are all forlorn.
Teach us to think of others when we recall Thy love.
Remember those who are with us in the house of prayer, and
all who are hindered through care or sickness, sadness, poverty
or dying. Remember the unremembered, the helpless, and the
friendless, we beseech Thee ; and help us to live our own
prayers as we go through life's pilgrimage. Let us find wells
by the way, and leave guiding marks for those who are coming
after us.
Especially remove far from us all grudge against others, all
petty anger over fancied slights, and all false estimates of our
own worth in the world. And let each morning be truly a gate
to sweeter thoughts, leading us nearer the realising of our hopes
in Christ. For His name's sake.
383
THE GATES OF PRAYER
Sun&ai? iBvcninQ
WE thank Thee, O God, for the day that now is closing,
for its worship and its teaching, for the comfort and
the peace it has given to our souls. Grant that Thy word may
abide upon us, that we may carry with us into our week's
labour and strife the influence of its power. When we are
cast down, let the remembrance of it cheer us. When we are
tempted and tried, let its promises strengthen us, and may
Thy Sabbaths be to our spirits as times and seasons when
Thou didst walk with us, receiving us into Thy love, as Thy
children reconciled to Thee. May such a thought prove to us
a never-failing help, when we recall it in our times of weakness
and distress.
Grant, O God, that our hard hearts may have been broken
unto Christ ; that the pleading for His sake may not have
passed over us entirely, like water on a stone, but may have
sunk into our being, and revived the dreams of a better life,
and hopes of higher things, which have been languishing
there. Grip us and hold us fast. Steady us in our reeling
world, O Father. Let Thy Spirit guide us, through all ways,
unto the living Way.
May souls that were seeking Thee, this day have found
Thee ; and hearts that were weary away from Thee, feel
refreshed by the dew of Thy love.
Let not the abandoned and the outcast abide afar from Thy
presence ; but, in Thy mercy, save and heal them all. In
Thine own time, O Father, make us all Thine own ; and lift
the sorrowing world to a home of peace upon Thy bosom.
Of Thy grace obliterate the transgressions of us, poor men and
women everywhere, seeking Thee in our needs, our sorrows,
and our sins.
Close Thou the day with Thy blessing, and let sweet rest
be given to us all this night.
Remember those especially for whom the darkness shall be
full of pain, in hospitals, asylums, and prisons ; and let Thine
angels be in all places, comforting, upholding, and restoring.
For Jesu's sake.
384
THE GATES OF FRAYER
5n Darftticss
WHEN the days of darkness come, O Lord, remember
us. Time bears us swiftly onward to the finish. O
let the end of earthly things be the beginning of the perfect
life in Thee.
Make us thankful for all Thy blessings, known or unknown
to us, wherewith our lives have been helped, and our hearts
comforted. Let thy pity enfold us because we have been
blind, but now we see ; and led away into pain through sin, but
now we know, and long for the true highway of light. Let
the sorrows of sight and knowledge be changed into gladness
and peace, through Thy love abiding with us.
Especially remember the poor and homeless, the suffering
and the dying, and let Thy love comfort earth's mourners, and
all sad at heart everywhere.
Remember us always, O Father of Mercies, and make us
worthier of Thy blessing.
O God, with Whom do dwell eternally the spirits of the
faithful and the true, consecrate our remembrance of them, now
and for evermore. We thank Thee for all the brave. We
thank Thee that their influence abides ; and that in every
onward movement of the world, their souls go marching along.
Let their names stand amongst us, a rebuke in degenerate
days, an incentive to duty when the times shall call us, and
a memorial of what true men have done. Bless those upon
whose hearts their names are written deathlessly. Comfort
and strengthen all such, everywhere. Bless our native land,
our King and Queen, all who are over us — our soldiers and
sailors, the children of our empire, in all the wide world.
Keep war and distress far from us ; yet farther from us keep
all cowardly fears, that we may be more worthy of the race that
bore us, and of the brave gone on before. Guide us for ever,
O Thou King of kings, until the world and our day be done,
and we go home to Thee. For Jesu's sake.
3B 385
THE GATES OF PKAYEll
Sacramental
HEAVENLY FATHER, as we are drawing near the
time of the remembrance of the Holy Supper of the
Lord Christ, prepare our hearts for His table. Cleanse us
from all that hinders the fulfilling of His will within us. Give
us true lowliness of life, deep earnestness of faith, and, above
all, the spirit of true brotherhood, that in charity and peace we
may gather in Thy house, ready and fitted to know the Lord.
We acknowledge our unworthiness to come into His
presence, for we have been impure, untrue, and unkind ; we
have worshipped our own will, and our own pride of heart,
and have not been so loving, so pure, and true, as those who
profess to be His children should have been. Have pity on
us, O Thou God of grace, for Thou knowest how frail and
easily persuaded we are by nature, and how soon our best
resolves are broken down. Grant that this season may verily
be the door of entrance to a higher life ; and as Thou callest
us to nobler effort after righteousness, uphold us, we beseech
Thee, when we try to do Thy will.
Remember all who are sin-pursued and grief-oppressed at
this time. Be with the selfish, and the wilful, and the sinning;
and let Thy saving love, like an angel of light, meet them
in the way, turning them again to Thee. Be with the
sick everywhere, and especially those known and dear to us.
Mingle Thy pity and comfort with the cup of their sorrow and
pain, and speak to the whole wide world of Thine always-
abiding peace. Give us also, O our Father, the blessedness we
ask for others — the earnest grace of seeking Thee, the joy of
finding Thee, and the bliss of ever resting in Thy presence.
Seal with Thy blessing, O Heavenly Father, our services at
this time. Go forward with Thy people who are seeking
contact with Christ, and grant that at His table they may find
Him. Remember in Thy mercy the poor, the weak, the
sad, and the suffering, the lonely, the friendless, the forsaken,
and the forgotten. Be a shelter to the homeless, and a friend
to those who have none to help them. Guide the ship across
the waters, and hear the prayers of those whose loved ones
are sailing on the sea. Remember all who are far from
home. Bless all widows and orphans, and fill the world with
Thine unmasterable love, bringing us all in Thine own time
closer to Thee. For Jesu's sake,
386
THE GATES OF PKAYER
Sacramental
TT' NOCK Thou on the door of our hearts, O King of
Jj^^^ Glory ; and grant that we may open unto Thee, that
Thou mayest enter in and make the poor house of our soul
sweet and beautiful again. Come, Thou Lord Jesus, who of
old hadst human comradeships, and be to-day our Saviour and
our Friend. O Holy Spirit, that didst move of old on the face
of the dark waters, be Thou in the midst of our shadowed
lives, and quicken us Godwards. Speak to each heart here,
O Trinity of Love and Power, and make our tangled dreams
and hopes, our failures and defeats, our joys and sorrows,
straight and fair and lovely once again, that we may approach
this table worthily, seeking and joyfully finding communion
with the Saviour who died for us.
We praise and bless Thee for Thine undying remembrance
and Thy goodness to us ; for the love of comrade and of
friend ; for the love of husband and wife and child ; for the
light that is on the water and the land ; for the shadow that
folds us about in quiet sleep ; for the joy that fills our hearts
with music, and the sorrow that brings Thee near us and
turns our souls to Thee ; for the hope and strength and the
consolation of this world, and the earnest expectation of the
world beyond the shadows ; for human help that we have
known, human sympathy, human charity; and for the con-
tinued remembrance of what His life, His love, and His death
upon the Cross mean for the ages of humanity.
Bless Thou unto us these holy symbols of our Saviour's
sacrifice, and grant that to our souls, through faith, this bread
broken, and this wine poured forth may become fit symbols of
the body and the blood of Him who died for us on Calvary,
to our spiritual nourishment and growth in grace. For His
name's sake.
387
Printed in the United States of America.
DATE DUE
j_,,„„„r-
GAYLORD
PSINTED IN U.S.A.