tihravy of the ^theological ^tminavy 
 
 PRINCETON • NEW JERSEY 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 The Estate of 
 Harold McAfee Robinson, D.D. 
 
 BV 4847 .H6 1879 
 Houghton, Louise Seymour, 
 
 1838-1920. 
 The Sabbath month 
 
THE 
 
 Sabbath Month: 
 
 DEVOTIONAL THOUGHTS 
 
 FOR 
 
 YOTjnsro- nynoTHiEi^s. 
 
 BY 
 
 LOUISE SEYMOUE HOUGHTON. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 PEESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLTCATIOX, 
 
 No. 1634: CHESTNUT STREET. 
 
Eutered according to Act of Congress, in the year IST'J, by 
 
 THE TRUSTEES OF THE 
 
 TRESBYTERIAN l?OARD OF PUBLICATION, 
 
 In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Wasliiiigton. 
 
 Wkstc-ott a Thomsov, 
 Stereotypers and J'Jlniroti/jters, I'hiiiidd. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The weeks of retirement which are ap- 
 lioiiited to those who have just become mothers 
 are, to many, a period of irksome restraint, 
 where hours of pain aUernate with hours of 
 weariness and of anxious " thought-taking '' 
 about duties from which God's providence has 
 sechided them. The writer, a joyful mother 
 of many children, has been graciously led to 
 find in this period a time in which the soul, 
 defrauded of her rights by many jealous cares, 
 has here enjoyed her Sabbaths. In this wilder- 
 ness the Lord has spoken comfortably unto 
 her ; in it her heart has sung as in the days 
 of her youth ; and from it she has come up 
 leaning upon her Beloved with renewed 
 strength for the duties of daily life. 
 
4 PREFACE. 
 
 Tliis tliouglit she offers as a cup of cold 
 water, in the name of Christ, to any expect- 
 ant mother whose spirit faints at the prospect 
 of the wearisome nights and days of darkness 
 which are appointed her. Tlie ark of the 
 covenant of the Lord goes before you, beloved, 
 to "search out a resting-place." "In the wil- 
 derness he will plead with you face to face. 
 His presence will make the outgoings of the 
 morning and of the evening to rejoice." So 
 shall these weary weeks prove to you "a time 
 of refreshing," a blessed "Sabbath of rest 
 to the Lord." 
 
 "Like a pearl left on the shore 
 When the ocean's rage is o'er, 
 So, from out tlie storm and strife 
 Almost ovcrwlielming life, 
 My dear waif, a little form, 
 Fragile, tender, soft and warm, 
 In my happy arms found rest, 
 Nestled to my loving breast. 
 
 "Oft :ind (ift upon my hed 
 lias my heart looked up, :uid said, 
 'Oh, my (Jo<l, to tiiee 1 eall ; 
 Thou, who only knowest all — 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 All the anguish of the night, 
 All the soft, serene delight 
 With which mothers wake to find 
 Day before them, night behind ; — 
 Knowest, too, how brief a part 
 In the lifetime of one heart 
 Are the moments in which press 
 All this flood of blessedness ; 
 How, through all the ages past. 
 And as long as time shall last. 
 Not an hour but, as it flies. 
 Holds such pain-bought ecstasies ; 
 Yet unmoved canst bear the sight 
 In thy silent, heavenly height. 
 Never, never, did my heart 
 Feel as now, how great thou art ! ' 
 
 "And yet once that One unseen 
 Left his hiding-place serene; 
 Once, half shone on human sight 
 The Divine and Infinite — 
 Not in passionless repose. 
 But as sharer of our woes. 
 
 'Born of woman;' — since that hour 
 Has her curse lost half its power; 
 Since he came its sphere Avithin, 
 Sorrow has joy's servant been. 
 Now, beneath its sheltering Aving, 
 Lo our SAveetest blessings spring- 
 All the loves and hopes Avhicli start 
 From the overflowing heart; 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 All familiar joys and ties 
 Gilded as with parting eyes ; 
 All the silent strength of faith 
 i4taiiding face to face with death ; 
 All the morning's sweet delight 
 Dawning on the stormy night, 
 And the glad return once more 
 To the half-relinquished shore, 
 Doubly beautiful to view 
 AVith its old joys and its new. 
 Oh, if such GotVs curses prove, 
 What must be his full-orbed love ? 
 
 " Ah, thou heaven-sweet, precious thing ! 
 Thou did'st need such heralding. 
 Lest, too satisfied, my heart 
 Dare forget from whence thou art — 
 Dare forget thy royal rights 
 In my fostering delights. 
 And how tenderly Gotl laid 
 His dear hand on me, and said, 
 
 * I have noble work for thee ; 
 Come aside, and learn of me I' 
 So I left tlie din and crowd 
 And the voices gay and loud, 
 And, like Mary, did repair, 
 Hasting to the hills for prayer; 
 And in sweet retirement then, 
 Near to God and far from men. 
 On my waiting soul <lid ope 
 All (he glory of its hop*,-, 
 
PEE FACE. 
 
 And my heart, once light and free, 
 Learned the Mother's mystery — • 
 Learned its holy cross to bear 
 Of sorest sorrow and dear care; 
 While each day, a heavenly voice 
 Made me tremble and rejoice : 
 'Lo, the Father sends to thee 
 A soul from out eternity; 
 Come thou to tlie border; — there 
 Its angel yields it to thy care!' 
 
 "Now, returned to all life's charms 
 With the treasure in my arms, 
 Oh, my God, from this full heart 
 Let the vision not depart ! " 
 
 {From Putnamh Monthly.) 
 
The Sabbath Month. 
 
 THE PEEPARATION-DAY. 
 
 " A woman, when she is in travail, hath sorrow, because her 
 hour is come; but as soon as she is delivered of the child, 
 she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is 
 born into the world." — John xvi. 21. 
 
 TTOW wonderful it is that even in this 
 -^^ mysterious trial, this union of sorrow and 
 joy, of sharpest pangs and holiest bliss — which 
 can never be comprehended but by one who 
 has experienced it — that even here our Lord 
 can sympathize with us most perfectly ! Who 
 else could so describe the sorrow and the 
 happiness, the shrinking fear and the glad 
 rejoicing, but He who has travailed in birth 
 for souls, and whose joy over each newly- 
 born spirit is unspeakable and full of glory ? 
 
10 THE SABBATH MONTH 
 
 It is wonderful to contemplate tliat as tlie 
 hour of his passion was approaching his 
 words were so much of joy. " If ye loved 
 me," he says, "ye would rejoice ;^^ "These 
 things have I spoken unto you, that your 
 joij might he full; " "Ye shall be sorrowful, 
 but your sorrow shall be turned into joy, and 
 your joy no man taketh from you.''^ For the 
 sake of " the joy set before him " he en- 
 dured the cross — not merely his own joy, 
 thoudi he looked forward to the time when 
 he should see of the travail of his soul and 
 should be satisfied, but he foresaw also the 
 joy of his redeemed ones, and this gave him 
 strength to endure. 
 
 Since he has himself likened the pangs 
 and sorrows of his hour to the hour of suf- 
 fering which now approaches us, there can 
 be no irreverence in our meekly apj^ropri- 
 ating the comfort which springs from liis 
 words. AVe too may be sustained ]jy the 
 joy set before us. AVe may take hold of liis 
 strength, which hasbeen made perfect tliruugh 
 
THE FBEPABATION-DAY. H 
 
 suffering ; nay more, by faith we may now 
 be admitted into the fellowship of his suffer- 
 ings, and gain a new, mysterious insight into 
 the depths of his love for us. 
 
 Patience worketh experience, and exjye- 
 rience hope. Our experience of his mercy, 
 multiplied beyond measure, may well teach 
 us to rejoice now in the hope of deliverance. 
 In this ordeal especially through which we 
 are now to pass does not experience tell us 
 to be oi good cheer f How many, many joy- 
 ful mothers of children are all around us! 
 How few, how very few in comparison, have 
 laid down their lives in this conflict! "I 
 will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me," 
 is especially the language of God at this time. 
 And have we not, for our support, a promise 
 which our infinitely tender Father, foreseeing 
 our faint-heartedness, has sent to us as an 
 especial message of grace ? — ** Notwithstand- 
 ing, she shall he saved in child-bearing, if 
 they continue in faith and charity and holi- 
 ness, with sobriety.'' She shall be saved! 
 
12 THE SABBATH MONTH. 
 
 Let US lay hold on this promise with a firm 
 grasp. The conditions need not frighten us, 
 for God, who searcheth the heart, knows 
 that, though perhaps in the midst of unbelief, 
 we do believe. And our faith is counted to 
 us for rigliteousness. And he givetli more 
 grace. 
 
 Let us, then, boldly say, " The Lord is my 
 helper." AVe may both hope and quietly 
 w^ait for the salvation of the Lord. Our 
 times are in his hands. God is our refuge 
 and strength, a very present help in trouble. 
 I^et us look, then, rather at the joy set before 
 us than at the sorrow which will precede it. 
 Weeping may endure for a night, but joy 
 coincth in the morning. 
 
THE APPROACHING HOUR 13 
 
 THE APPROACHING HOUK. 
 
 LORD, I am oppressed, undertake for 
 me. My flesh and my heart fail, but 
 God is the strength of my heart, and my poi'- 
 tion for ever. My soul is exceeding sorrowful, 
 even unto death. O my Father, if this cup 
 may not pass away from me, except I drink 
 it, thy will be done. Have mercy upon me, 
 O Lord, for I am in trouble. Oh keep my 
 soul and deliver me ; let me not be ashamed, 
 for I put my trust in- thee. O my God, my 
 soul is cast down within me; all thy waves 
 and thy billows are gone over me. Be 
 pleased, O Lord, to deliver me. Be not thou 
 far from me, O Lord. O my strength, haste 
 thee to help me.'' 
 
 *' Fear not, for I am with thee ; be not dis- 
 mayed, for I am thy God, I will strengthen 
 thee ; yea, I will help thee ; yea, I will uphold 
 thee with the right hand of my rigliteousness. 
 When thou passest through the waters I will 
 
14 THE SABBATH MONTH. 
 
 be with thee, and through the rivers, they 
 shall not overflow tliee ; when thou walkest 
 through the fire thou shalt not be burned, 
 neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. 
 For I, the Lord, will hold thy right hand. 
 Baying unto thee. Fear not, I will helj) thee. 
 
 " The eternal God is thy refuge, and un- 
 derneath are the everlasting arms. As one 
 whom his mother comforteth, so will I com- 
 fort yoLi. I will strengthen thee upon tlie 
 bed of languishing ; I will make all thy bed 
 in thy sickness. Be strong and of good cour- 
 age ; fear not, nor be afraid, for the Lord thy 
 God, he it is that doth go with thee ; he 
 will not fidl thee nor forsake thee." 
 
 " Yea, though I walk through the valley 
 of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil ; 
 fur even there shall thy hand lead me, and 
 tliy right hand uphold me. The Lord is 
 my light and my salvation; whom shall I 
 fear? The Lord is the strength of my lile; 
 of whom shall I be afraid? I souglit the 
 liord, and he heard me and delivered me 
 
FIRST DAY. 15 
 
 from all my fears. Thou clrewedst near me 
 in the day that I called upon thee; thou 
 saidst, Fear not. Thou art my hiding-place ; 
 thou slialt preserve me from trouble; thou 
 shalt compass me about with songs of deliv- 
 erance. Oh, how great is thy goodness, which 
 thou hast laid up for them that fear thee ! 
 I shall not die, but live and declare the works 
 of the Lord." 
 
 FIKST DAY. 
 
 " Notwithstanding, the Lord stood with me, and strengthened 
 me."— 2 Tim. iv. 17. 
 
 'Y soul doth magnify the Lord, and my 
 spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. 
 What shall I render unto God for all his ben- 
 efits toward me ? For the sorrows of death 
 compassed me, and the pains of hell got hold 
 upon me. But thou hast delivered my soul 
 from death and mine eyes from tears. In 
 the day of my calamity the I^ord was my 
 
16 THE SABBATH MONTH. 
 
 stay. Thou hast made me exceeding glad 
 with thy countenance. For this child I 
 prayed, and the Lord hath given me my 
 petition which I asked of him. Thy vows 
 are upon me, O Lord ; I will render praises 
 unto thee. 
 
 "Because thy loving-kindness is better 
 than life, my lips shall praise thee. Lord, I 
 have hoped in thee, and hope maketh not 
 ashamed, because the love of God is shed 
 abroad in my heart." 
 
 Grant, Lord Jesus, that my love to thee 
 may abound yet more and more ; may I feel 
 in my inmost heart that I am not my own, 
 having been bought by the sufferings of the 
 Son of God, and mav I endeavor throuo'h 
 my whole life to glorify thee in my body 
 and my sj)irit, which are thine ! 
 
SECOND DAY. 17 
 
 SECOND DAY. 
 
 "And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name, 
 receiveth me." — Matt, xviii. 5. 
 
 T\EAR Lord, can this be true? Dost 
 thou indeed so identify thyself with 
 the very least of all thy ransomed ones that 
 whoso shall receive one of them with glad 
 welcome for the sake of the Lord who bouo-ht 
 it, receiveth thee to be a guest who shall go 
 no more out? Oh, then, dear Saviour, so 
 sanctify the love which I now have for my 
 baby, so purify and elevate it, that I shall 
 see in the little one in my arms not merely 
 the child of my own love and suffering, but 
 thy child, ransomed with suffering infinitely 
 greater than my own. So this beloved one 
 becomes a thousand-fold more dear for thy 
 sake while I minister unto it as unto thee. 
 Come, then. Lord Jesus; be it unto me 
 according to thy word. Abide with me; 
 
 make of my heart thy temple. Fulfill unto 
 
 3 
 
.18 THE SABBATH MONTH. 
 
 me tliy promise; beliold, tlie tabernacle of 
 God is with men, and he will dwell with 
 them, and they shall be his people, and God 
 himself shall be with them, and be their God. 
 Amen. Even so come, Lord Jesus ! 
 
 H 
 
 THIRD DAY. 
 
 "Be gliid witli her, all ye that love her."— IsA. Ixiv. 10. 
 
 OW sweet a joy is that in w^hich we all 
 
 partake in welcoming the little new- 
 comer into the world ! How glad we are 
 with the dear mother ! How every tender 
 word of salutation comes rushing to our lips! 
 "Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lord 
 is with thee ; blessed art thou among women ! " 
 " Peace be to thee, our friends salute thee ! " 
 " The children of thine elect sister greet thee ! " 
 " All the saints salute you, chiefly they which 
 are of Ciesar's household " — of the family 
 of our great King. 
 
 We do not wonder, now, that when of old 
 
THIRD DAY. 19 
 
 he laid the foundations of the earth, the 
 habitation of the children whom he was to 
 create, the morning stars sang together and 
 all the sons of God shouted for joy. We 
 realize something of the intense sympathy 
 without which even the infinite joy of the 
 heavenly Father was not complete. And 
 when he bringeth the First-Begotten into 
 tiie world he saith, And let all the angels of 
 God worship him. Then it was that the 
 glory of the Lord appeared on earth, and the 
 skies were filled with a multitude of the 
 heavenly host, praising God and saying, Glory 
 to God in the highest, and on earth peace, 
 good- will to men. 
 
 " Unto us a son is born, unto us a child is 
 given." Oh, this mystery of babyhood ! who 
 can fathom it ? " His name shall be called 
 wonderful ; " not the divine Infant alone, but 
 every baby born into the world. In what 
 respect is the little one other than wonderful, 
 not only to the mother, but to us all, who 
 love her? How wonderful to us are the tiny 
 
20 THE SABBATH MONTH. 
 
 hands, tlie lialf-fonned features, the sleejiings 
 and Avakhigs of the mysterious little one! 
 AVith what absorbing interest have we watched 
 every phase of its three-day life, laying up 
 every indication of development in our hearts, 
 saying, ''What manner of child shall this be?" 
 He of whom the whole family in heaven 
 and on earth is named has given us, wdtli 
 this little one, another link in the golden 
 chain of fellowship — a new bond of union 
 with each other and with the family above. 
 The Lord hath done great things for us, 
 whereof we are glad. The voice of rejoicing 
 and salvation is in our tabernacles, and with 
 full hearts we i)ray, "The blessing of the 
 Ijord be upon you ; we bless you in the name 
 of the Lord." 
 
FOURTH DAY. 
 
 rOUKTH DAY. 
 
 21 
 
 "He shall feed his flock like a sliepherd: he shall gather the 
 lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall 
 gently lead those that are with young." (Margin, give suck.)^ 
 IsA. xl. 11. 
 
 THE margin shows tliat this verse brings 
 an especial word of comfort to the 
 mothers of infant children — to those who by 
 reason of the peculiar demands upon their 
 strength, the new and tender anxieties and 
 cares which devolve upon them, are in es- 
 pecial need of " gentle leading." Already, 
 perhaps, after our great joy at deliverance 
 from suffering and from the fear of death, our 
 glad acceptance of the new-born gift, already 
 has come the weariness and faintness of new 
 responsibility ; our souls are discouraged be- 
 cause of the way; our weak hands hang 
 down and our feeble knees refuse to support 
 us. " Who is sufficient for these things?" is 
 our anxious cry. And the answer comes 
 speedily — yes, even before we have called — 
 
22 THE SABBATH MONTH. 
 
 *' Behold, the Lord our God will come with 
 a strong liandr He shall gather our little 
 lambs with his arm aud carry them in his 
 bosom, and he will gently lead the weary, 
 fainting mother. 
 
 Oh how surely, how unfailingly, he comes 
 to our help! — not one of us is forgotten be- 
 fore God. "Behold I, even I, will both 
 search my sheep and seek them out." He 
 knoweth our frame ; he rememberetli that 
 we are dust. " I will feed my flock, and I 
 will cause them to lie down,'^ saitli the Lord. 
 Yes, to lie down in green j^astures and be- 
 side the still waters. Oh, what a restoring 
 of tlie soul is this ! 
 
 So, no^VJ we may rest in his love. And 
 when he calls us to resume our journey, he 
 leads us again by the hand. For he calleth 
 his own sheep by name, and leadcth them 
 out; and when lie putteth forth his own 
 sheep into contact with the world, when he 
 ))ids them leave the secure fold where, for a 
 season, he has shut them up from harm, he 
 
FIFTH DAY, 23 
 
 goeth before them, '^o evil can reach tlieiii 
 till it has overcome him ; and of that there 
 is no fear. *' Be of good cheer, I have over- 
 come the workl.'' 
 
 Dear Saviour, we will not fear. When 
 thou wilt lead us out we will follow thee, for 
 we know thy voice. Our lambs to thy ten- 
 der arms, ourselves to thy gracious leading, 
 we now gladly surrender, reposing peacefully 
 upon thy word: "The Lord knoweth them 
 that are his." 
 
 FIFTH DAY, 
 
 " Take this child away and nurse it for me, and I will give 
 thee thy wages." — Ex. ii. 9. 
 
 rrillE princess of Egypt, having redeemed 
 the little chikl from the decree of death 
 impending over him, returned him to his 
 own mother, saying, " Take this child away 
 and nurse it for me." How striking a par- 
 allel we find in this to God's dealings with 
 us and our chikhen ! 
 
24 THE SABBATH M OS TIL 
 
 Tliey, too, are doomed to death. We are 
 powerless to save tliem ; our only hope is to 
 cast them entirely upon his mercy, praying 
 him to adopt them into his own family, and 
 so redeem them from the power of sin and 
 death. And he hears our prayer, and an- 
 swers it — not by taking them at once to be 
 with him, and so removing them from all 
 danger. That would, indeed, be surprising 
 mercy. But in his infinite love he has better 
 things in store for us than this ; he accepts 
 the trust our weakness and almost despairing 
 faith imposes on him ; he enters into cove- 
 nant with us for our children, and then, in 
 tender mercy to our longing mother-hearts, 
 he recommits each child to our hands, saying, 
 " Nurse it for mer 
 
 May I never neglect this solemn trust! 
 May I never forget that it is for God that I 
 am nursing my little one ! May this child be 
 an offering wholly dedicnted unto God ! IMay 
 "Holiness to the Lord" be inscribed upon 
 everything which has reference to it, and no 
 
FIFTH DAY. 25 
 
 taint of self-seeking mar this service, no 
 lower aim be mine than to keep it unspotted 
 from the worki ! 
 
 *^And I will give thee thy wages." It 
 had been bliss sufficient for that Hebrew 
 mother to receive her baby into her arms, 
 with permission to nurse and tend it for the 
 gracious princess who had saved its life. But 
 she is, beyond this, to receive wages for her 
 labor of love. So with us ; even in this life, 
 for all our prayers and tears, our struggles 
 with Satan — who desires to have our precious 
 ones — and with the sin which so nearly has 
 dominion over them, — for all this we shall 
 receive " manifold more " even in this pres- 
 ent life, and in the world to come, for us 
 and for them, life everlasting. 
 
26 THE SABBATH MONTH. 
 
 SIXTH DAY. 
 
 " And all thj children shall be taught of the Lord." — IsA. 
 liv. 13. 
 
 T)LESSED is the mau whom thou teach est, 
 O Lord ! and thrice blessed the children 
 whom thou dost in infancy adopt into thy 
 school ! I ask not with Salome, " Grant that 
 my children may sit at thy right hand and 
 at thy left in thy kingdom," but, dear Lord, 
 I pray. Take my baby into thine arms and 
 bless it, and so give it a knowledge of 
 thyself. 
 
 And yet, like Salome, I know not what I 
 ask. Can my child drink of the cup which 
 thine infinite wisdom ordains for it? I know 
 not what pain and sorrow, what suffering, 
 want or woe, thy love may provide for this 
 precious little one, whom I would fain defend 
 from all ill. How shall I bear to see the 
 evil that may come upon my beloved in 
 answer to my prayer? Only by thy grace, 
 O God. Yet keep my lamb irom sinning 
 
SIXTH DAY, 27 
 
 against tliee, Lord, and I will leave all else 
 to thee. Mould it in tliine image, and then, 
 come sorrow, come suffering, come death, all 
 shall be well with the child. 
 
 " And great shall be the peace of thy 
 children." Lord, what a rock of strength 
 is thy word of promise ! Great peace have 
 they who love thy law ; yea, great peace even 
 in sorrow and under the chastening of the 
 Lord. Have I not known this in my own 
 life, and shall I not believe that my child 
 shall find it true? I will be anxious no 
 more, dear Saviour. Into thy loving hands 
 do I commit this child of my sorrows and 
 my joyful hopes. Keep my little one in the 
 secret of thy presence. I will both lay me 
 down in peace and sleep, for in the day when 
 I cried thou answeredst me and strength- 
 enedst me with strength in my soul. 
 
28 THE SABBATH MONTH. 
 
 SEVENTH DAY. 
 
 "Even the very hairs of your head are all numbered." — 
 Luke xii. 7. 
 
 rilPIE little head, with its scanty adornment 
 ^ of silken hair, lies cradled on my arm. 
 I pass my hand over tlie shining down, 
 smoothing and parting it; the soft, satin 
 touch thrills to my very heart ; I count each 
 bright thread a priceless treasure, while my 
 Saviour, never so near to me as in these holy 
 days, draws closer and whisi^ers, " Even tlie 
 very hairs of your head are all numbered." 
 ** You who love your baby so," he says to 
 me, " do you ncnv believe ? Can you now 
 realize something of my tender care of my 
 * little ones'? He that toucheth you toucheth 
 the apple of my eye. Do you see a beauty 
 in your baby, hidden, you know, from others, 
 but revealed none the less evidently to you ? 
 Behold, iliou art fair, my love, bchohl tliou 
 art fair; tliou liast doves' eyes witliin thy 
 locks. Can you now understand my j)leasure 
 
SEVENTH DAY. 29 
 
 in that utter helplessness which is your baby's 
 dearest claim upon your love and your own 
 strongest tie to mine ? Thou canst not make 
 one hair white or black ; what can you do to 
 shield yourself from harm? yet am not I 
 with thee ? There shall not a hair of your 
 head j^erish. Not in infancy alone, but even 
 to your old age, I am He, and even to hoar 
 hairs I will carry you. I have made and I 
 will bear; even I will carry and will deliver 
 you." 
 
 O God, thou hast taught me from my 
 youth ; and hitherto have I declared thy 
 wondrous works ; now, also, unto old age and 
 gray hairs (margin), O God, forsake me not. 
 The Lord hath been mindful of us ; he will 
 bless us. Yes, thou Lord, art a shield for 
 me, my glory and the lifter up of my head. 
 Thou anointest my head with oil ; my cup 
 runneth over; surely, goodness and mercy 
 shall follow me all the days of my life, and 
 I will dw^ll in the house of the Lord for 
 ever. For this God is our God for ever and 
 
30 THE SABBATH MONTH. 
 
 ever; he Avill be our guide eveu unto deatli. 
 Therefore, the redeemed of tlie Lord shall 
 return, and come with singing unto Zion ; 
 and everlasting joy shall be upon their head; 
 they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sor- 
 row and mourning shall flee away. 
 
 EIGHTH DAY. 
 
 "Then Manoali entreated tlie Lord, and said, O my Lord, 
 let the man of God which tliou didst send come again unto 
 us, and teach us what we sliall do unto the child that shall 
 be born." — Judg. xiii. 8. 
 
 ITTE have the aid of angels in our work. 
 * ' Are they not all ministering spirits, sent 
 forth to minister to them who shall be Jieirs 
 of salvation? Our children are heirs, for 
 tlie children of promise are counted for the 
 seed, and in heaven their angels do always 
 behold the Father's face. 
 
 In their ignorance as to the right manner 
 of training the i)romi8ed child, ]\ranoali 
 and his wife prayed that the angel might 
 
EIGIITR DAY. 31 
 
 come again and teach them. And He who 
 ever hath compassion on the ignorant sent 
 the heavenly messenger for their instruction. 
 
 In this history lies a twofold encourage- 
 ment for us : First, in showing that the 
 ignorance which is through the weakness of 
 our nature need in no way harm our chikh*en, 
 since God is able to supply all our need ; and 
 again in the contemplation of the bright and 
 glorious company who are his messengei-s 
 of grace to us. We are come unto an innu- 
 merable company of angels, who all, with 
 holy delight, rejoice to watch over the train- 
 ing of immortal souls which shall shine in 
 the kingdom of their God. 
 
 Oh, the wonderful contrast between our 
 weakness and those ministers of his which 
 excel in strength ! How glorious the thought 
 that we are constantly accompanied by them, 
 and that they have received a charge con- 
 cerning us ! So Daniel, the man greatly 
 beloved, was strengthened by an angel. So 
 Isaiah, wlien overwhelmed by a sense of sin. 
 
32 THE SABBATH MONTH 
 
 was purified througli the medium of an angel. 
 So John, the beloved disciple, was led by an 
 angel in his visions of the New Jerusalem 
 even to the very throne of God. 
 
 AVe need not fear that this ministration of 
 angels will intervene between our souls and 
 Christ. They are no hindrance to the free 
 and unceasing communion of the faithful 
 soul with her Lord. Yet even as he delights 
 to do the will of God, so his servants delight 
 in ministering to his redeemed ones, his 
 special treasure (Mai. iii. 17, margin). Oh, 
 the glorious assembly to which this minis- 
 tration introduces us ! 
 
 NINTH DAY. 
 
 "We are the cliihlren of God, . . . and if (liildrtii tlieii, 
 lieirs."— Rom. viii. 1(5, 17. 
 
 A II, what a new meaning these blessed 
 "^^ words bear to me now as I hold my o\Yn 
 child ill my arms! To be the child of Gotl! 
 
NTNTIT BAY. 33 
 
 to belong to liim in this dearest, closest of 
 relations ! Can it be possible tliat I can be 
 to God what my child is to me? that he 
 can so delight in me as I now delight in my 
 baby ? " The Lord thy God will rejoice over 
 thee with joy : he will rest in his love : he 
 will joy over thee with singing/' even as I 
 now do over thee, my little one, with a joy 
 which is but a shadow of the joy of our 
 Father over his redeemed ones. 
 
 Oh, let me take this love of mine for my 
 child for a lesson ; and daily, as it grows 
 stronger and deeper, may my apprehension 
 of God's love for me become deeper and 
 truer, and a more living power in my heart. 
 Do I delight in providing for thy wants, my 
 baby? "How much more shall your Father 
 which is in heaven give good things to them 
 that ask him !" Do I shrink from pain for 
 ray darling and hush all its little sorrows upon 
 my bosom? "As one whom his mother com- 
 forteth, so will I comfort you." Do I bear 
 with loving patience the cares which my 
 
34 THE SABBATH MONTH. 
 
 baby's infirmities bring upon me ? " Ilis 
 compassions fail not," and " like as a father 
 ])itieth Lis cliiklren, so the Lord pitieth them 
 that fear him." Would I keep all harm and 
 danger from my little one, and guard it even 
 ^vith my own life? " God so loved the world 
 that he gave his only-begotten Son " for its 
 salvation. His Son — liis only Son ! Oh the 
 depths of love which could conceive of such 
 a sacrifice! — love of which I, clasping my 
 baby to my heart, now first begin to have a 
 o-limmerinof sense. Oh for such love wdiat 
 devotion can be an adequate return ? Who 
 can even begin to comprehend this love of 
 God to us? 
 
 Where, then, is doubt or distrust or 
 anxiety of mind ? What place can it find 
 in the presence of this wondrous love? 
 " He that spared not his own Son, but deliv- 
 ered him up for us all, liow shall he not, with 
 liim, freely give us all things?" IIow, in- 
 deed ! What could he withh(»M after such 
 an infinite sacrifice? All things are indeed 
 
TENTH DAY. 35 
 
 mine while I call God my Father, for "if 
 children, then heirs.'' 
 
 Lord Jesus, help me daily, as I feel my love 
 for my child growing and strengthening m 
 my heart, to gain deeper insight into the love 
 of God for me. Behold, ivhat manner of 
 love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that 
 we should be called the sons of God / 
 
 TENTH DAY. 
 
 "Neither shall any man desire thy land, when thou shalt go 
 up to appear before the Lord thy God thrice in the year." — Ex. 
 xxxiv. 24. 
 
 " QEE, for that the Lord hath given you 
 ^ the Sabbath, therefore he giveth you 
 on the sixth day the bread of two days." 
 
 " I know whom I have believed, and am 
 persuaded that he is able to keep that which 
 I have committed unto him." 
 
 There is no danger in the way of the 
 Lord's commandments. The children of 
 
36 THE SABBATH MONTH. 
 
 Israel could safely leave their wives aiul 
 their little ones, their flocks and herds, while 
 they went up to appear before the Lord ; 
 no man should desire their land, and all 
 would be safe in the keeping of their heav- 
 enly Father. When God gives a command 
 he provides the way for its keeping. If he 
 gives the Sabbath, and ordains that in it no 
 work shall be done, he also gives on the sixth 
 day the bread of two days ; if he sends all 
 the men-children up to his holy feast, he 
 makes even their enemies to be at peace with 
 them during their absence. He is able to 
 keep that which is committed to him. 
 
 () my soul! stny thou thyself upon this 
 word of the Lord ; his hand is not shortened, 
 and evei-y word of the Lord is sure. Hast 
 thou not in thine own providence laid me 
 aside from my usual duties, dear Lord, and 
 may I not trust thee that no harm shall 
 ensue from my absence? Loi'd, I am prone 
 to anxiety about those whose comfort and 
 well-being seemed to me to depend upon my 
 
TENTH DAY. 37 
 
 presence among them. I picture to myself 
 the dreariness of the place which I have left 
 to go up and appear before thee ; the solitude 
 of those to whom my society is dear; the 
 dangers to which they are exposed who need 
 my care ; the neglected duties of those who 
 miss my supervision ; the little corner of thy 
 vineyard, where I have been wont to labor, 
 neglected. Lord, help me to roll all this 
 burden upon thee. I have thine assurance, 
 the wolf shall not be permitted to creep into 
 the fold during my absence. No hireling 
 shall lead any of the flock astray. Thou art 
 able to keep that wdiich I have committed to 
 thee. Keep me too, dear Saviour, under the 
 shelter of thy wings, safe from all evil and 
 from the fear of evil. " I will say of the 
 Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress : my 
 God ; in him will I trust." 
 
 *' Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror 
 by night, nor for the arrow that flieth by 
 day, nor for the pestilence that walketh in 
 darkness, nor for the destruction that w^astetli 
 
38 THE SABBATH MONTH. 
 
 at noonday. Because tliou hast made the 
 Lord, which is my refuge, even the Most 
 High, tliy hahitation, there shall no evil be- 
 fall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh 
 thy dwelling. For he shall give his angels 
 charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy 
 ways." 
 
 ELEVENTH DAY. 
 
 "And -white robes Avere given unto every one of them." — • 
 Rev. vi. 11. 
 
 A S my baby is brought to me so pure and 
 ■^ spotless in the white robes my own love 
 and forethought have provided for it, a new 
 lesson in holiness, a fresh sense of my heavenly 
 Father's love, is brought home to my heai't. 
 I am reminded of the tender joy with 
 wdiich I prepared not only things useful 
 and necessary, but all manner of beautiful 
 and dainty garments, for my baby. And so 
 I learn to trust my Saviour, not alone for 
 things needful to my existence, but for what- 
 
ELEVENTH DAY. 39 
 
 ever of beauty and of luxury my nature 
 craves, as far as he sees them to be good for 
 me. With wliat glory and loveliness he has 
 clothed the earth ! how he has delighted to 
 make all things beautiful in their season ! 
 and " if God so clothe the grass of the 
 field," shall he not much more clothe me — 
 with more delight, more forethought provide 
 for me ? " Your heavenly Father knoiveth 
 that ye have need of all these things," and 
 anticipates every want as gladly as I, with 
 loving heart, provided for my baby's coming. 
 *' Bring forth the best rohe^'' he commands, 
 " and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on 
 his feet" — ornament and luxury for whom 
 provided? Not for one innocent of actual 
 offence, as is my baby, but for one who, like 
 me, has broken his law and wounded his 
 love ; even for such a one as this. " I will 
 greatly rejoice in the Lord ; my soul shall 
 be joyful in my God ; for he hath clothed 
 me in the garments of salvation ; he hath 
 covered me with the robe of righteousness," 
 
40 THE SABBATH 3I0NTIL 
 
 So, " because he delights in me," as I in my 
 little one, he delivers me from sin and wills 
 my perfect holiness. "Behold, I have caused 
 thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I 
 have clothed thee with chanoje of raiment." 
 " Awake, jDut on thy beautiful garments, for 
 from henceforth there shall no more come 
 unto thee the uncircumcised and unclean." 
 No stain of sin may be cherished in my soul, 
 for "the King's daughter is all glorious with- 
 in," "and unto her it Avas granted that she 
 should be arrayed in fine linen, pure and 
 white, for the fine linen is the righteousness 
 of the saints." 
 
 So, when I look upon my baby's white 
 robes and recall the bright anticipations of 
 future loveliness, the prayers for my little one's 
 constant growth toward perfection, which I 
 stitched into every seam and fold of the 
 delicate white raiment, I am reminded tliat 
 not yet is the "perfection of beauty" which 
 my Father has designed for me. That great 
 multitude which no man could iHim])cr, 
 
ELEVENTH DAY. 41 
 
 wliicli stood before the throne of God and of 
 the Lamb, is of them which have come out of 
 great tribulation and have washed their robes 
 and made them white in the blood of the 
 Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne 
 of God. May I be numbered with that holy 
 throng! Grant me grace, O my Saviour, 
 no lonojer to shrink from the trials which 
 thy love ordains for my perfecting. Bestow 
 upon me that absolute confidence in thee 
 which will enable me to receive sorrow from 
 thy hand with cheerfulness, " not accepting 
 deliverance " from aught which thou sendest 
 as a preparation for the glorious day of thine 
 aj)pearing. 
 
 And yet, as I receive my white-robed baby 
 into my arms fresh and pure from its morn- 
 ing bath, I feel that great rushing tide of 
 tenderness which tells me that in no future 
 development of strength and beauty can my 
 child be more precious to me than now in 
 utter weakness and dependence. So may I 
 realize the infinite tenderness of our Father 
 
42 THE SABBATH MONTH. 
 
 for those who cast themselves, helpless and 
 humble, upon his love, and may I seek to 
 receive the kingdom of heaven " as a little 
 child " ! 
 
 TWELFTH DAY. 
 
 "For I know liini, that lie Avill command his chihhcn 
 and liis household after him, and they shall keep the way 
 of the Lord." — Gen. xviii. 19. 
 
 riUIE literal rendering of the Hebrew would 
 -^ be, " I have known (/. e. foreknown, 
 elected) him, to the end that he sliould com- 
 mand his children," etc. We learn, then, 
 that Abraham was distinctly selected by God 
 in order that he might train up a chosen seed, 
 an elect people, to keep the way of the Lord. 
 " For this cause I have raised thee up." 
 Tliere is no such thing as a happening with 
 our God. *' Ye have not chosen me, hut I 
 have chosen you." And for what? "That 
 ye should jjrinsr forth fi'uil." ]t is jilwavs for 
 some pui'pu6c. ''Elect unto good works" — 
 
TWELFTH DAY. 43 
 
 " called to be saints "— *^ whom he did fore- 
 know, them he did predestinate to he con- 
 formed to the image of his Son.'' 
 
 Abraham was elected to command his 
 children and his household that tliev should 
 keep the way of the Lord ; and this is also 
 our calling. To his descendants were to be 
 committed the oracles of God and the sacred 
 trust of jDreserving a pure worship. Who 
 shall say what is the service to which God 
 has destined our children ? Yet that they 
 shall be fitted for it depends, under God, 
 upon us. Oh to be faithful in all our house — 
 to set the Lord always before us! Our relig- 
 ious teachings not confined to stated hours 
 and days, but to proceed spontaneously from 
 a heart filled with all the fullness of God! 
 '•And these words — thou shalt teach them 
 diligently to thy children, and shalt talk of 
 them when thou sittest in thine house and 
 when thou walkest by the way." 
 
 God established his covenant with Abra- 
 ham, saying, ''Walk before me, and be thou 
 
44 THE SABBATH MONTH. 
 
 perfect, and I will give unto thy seed all tlie 
 land of Canaan, and I will be their God." 
 If the blessings of the covenant depended 
 upon our walking within our house in a per- 
 fect way, unaided, we might indeed tremble 
 for our children. But God has made a new 
 covenant with his people — " an everlasting 
 covenant, that I will put my fear in their 
 hearts, that they shall not depart from me." 
 Here, indeed, is safety. 
 
 Abraham believed God, and it was counted 
 to him for righteousness, and he was called 
 the friend of God. Oh for Abraham's faith ! 
 for Abraham's unquestioning obedience ! for 
 Abraham's high honor in the frlcndsliip of 
 God! 
 
TITIRTEENTII DAY. 45 
 
 THIRTEENTH DAY. 
 
 " As new-born babes, desire the sincere milk of the word." — 
 1 Pet. ii. 2. 
 
 A NOTHER lesson I may learn in tins 
 •^^ school in which God has placed me, and 
 again my baby is the teaclier. And that is 
 the theme of the lesson, which most perfectly 
 shows its entire dependence upon me. How 
 entirely the one desire for the mother's breast 
 absorbs and comprehends this little life ! Al- 
 ready it has come to know this all-sufficient 
 satisflxction for every want of its existence — 
 to find unutterable content in the provision 
 which has been made to meet its w^ants. 
 
 So with my hungering and thirsting soul, 
 which was created for the enjoyment of God, 
 and can never be satisfied with any lesser 
 good. But how often, unlike my baby, I 
 seek to satisfy its hunger with that which 
 satisfieth not ! Although I have so often 
 tasted that the Lord is gracious, how often 
 do I suffer from hunger while yet he is ever 
 
46 THE SABBATH MONTH. 
 
 willing to satisfy all my need. Oli let me 
 lay this to heart ! As my baby's voice cry- 
 ing for food awakes me early from my sleep, 
 so '' my voice thou shalt hear in the moi-n- 
 ing, O Lord ;" " oh, satisfy us early with thy 
 mercy." May I desire no other refreshment 
 than the rivers of thy pleasure, of which 
 thou makest thy people to drink ! May the 
 one hunger and thirst after righteousness so 
 absorb me that no other aim may seem 
 worthy of my pursuit ! And as my baby, in 
 the weakness of its new-born life, needs to 
 be frequently nourished, that it may grow 
 and become strong, so may I come frequently 
 to thee, O thou who art the Bread of Life, 
 that I may grow in gi'ace and in the know- 
 ledge of God! And as every pain and sorrow 
 this dear baby experiences is forgotten at 
 this " cup of his life and couch of his rest," so 
 may I in every sorrow turn to thee who wilt 
 satiate the weary soul and re[)lenish every 
 sorrowful soul, until, in the newness of life, 
 I and the children which thou hast given 
 
FOURTEENTH DAY. 47 
 
 me come to dwell where we shall huiisier no 
 more, neither thh'st any more; for the Lamb 
 which is in the midst of the throne sliall 
 feed us, and shall lead us unto living foun- 
 tains of waters, and God shall wipe away all 
 tears from our eyes ! 
 
 FOUETEENTH DAY. 
 
 "Thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee 
 by name." — Ex. xxxiii. 17. 
 
 rjlHE baby's name ! How important a mat- 
 ter is its selection ! How many consider- 
 ations go toward determining it ! And what 
 a new and complete satisfliction the mother 
 feels in her little one when she knows it by 
 name I What sweet associations gather around 
 the baby's name — of a dear j)arent, or of a 
 loved brother or sister, or of some most pre- 
 cious friend, perhaps already gathered into 
 the eternal home, and whose most hallowed 
 remembrance will henceforth be in the dear 
 child who bears the name ! 
 
48 THE SABBATn 3WNTn. 
 
 Bat to be known bv name of God! To 
 
 ft/ 
 
 be personally recognized by him, singled out 
 by him from all the world to be the recipient 
 of his grace ! Shall this w^ondrous blessing be 
 indeed the portion of our darling? For thus 
 saith the Lord unto his chosen : " Fear not, 
 for I have redeemed thee ; I have called thee 
 by name ; thou art mine." " Behold, I have 
 graven thee upon the palms of my hands." 
 " For thus saith the Lord unto those who 
 choose the things that please him, and who 
 take hold of his covenant. Even to them 
 ■will I give a ^^lace and a name better than 
 that of sons and of daughters, even an ever- 
 lasting name." Then we need not fear what- 
 ever of trial or of discipline the world may 
 bring to our j^recious ones, for they will ever 
 be under the guidance of the Good Shepherd, 
 "who calleth his sheep by name," who will 
 make them more than conquerors, and will 
 give to each one who overcometh "a white 
 stone, nnd in the stone a ncic name written, 
 which no one knoweth save him that rcceiv- 
 
FOURTEENTH DAY. 49 
 
 etli it." Blessed secret, known only to tlie 
 soul and its Kedeemer ! 
 
 But thou dost not only know us by name, 
 O Lord — thou dost even reveal thyself to us 
 by thine own name of Emmanuel, God with 
 us. Thy name is no more secret, for "be- 
 hold, the tabernacle of the Lord is with men, 
 and he wdll dwell with them, and they shall 
 see his face, and his name shall be in their 
 foreheads." " Him that overcometh thou 
 wilt make a pillar in the house of thy God, 
 and wilt write upon him the name of God, 
 and wilt write upon him thy new name." 
 "O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy 
 name in all the earth ! Out of the mouth 
 of babes and sucklings hast thou perfected 
 praise." 
 
 4 
 
60 THE SABBATH MONTH. 
 
 FIFTEENTH DAY. 
 
 "I thank God when I call to remembrance the fjiith that is 
 in thee, which dwelt first in tliy grandmother Lois, and in thy 
 mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also."— 
 2 Tim. i. 3, 5. 
 
 117 E learn from these words what a cause 
 ^* of thankfuhiess we have who can look 
 back upon a long line of pious ancestry. 
 There were those who asked, when they 
 learned that the redemption purchased by 
 Christ was not to be confined to the chosen 
 race, "What advantage, then, hath the Jew?'' 
 And Paul's answer was emphatic: '' 3Iuch 
 every icay ; chiefly because to them were 
 committed the oracles of God." This was 
 their inheritance from " faithful Abraham," 
 for it was his faith which led to his family 
 becoming the recipients and conservators of 
 the word of God. 
 
 How often, too, in the midst of unbelief 
 and idolatry was the rebellious nation saved 
 from destruction for the fathers' sakes ! Many 
 
FIFTEENTH DAY. 61 
 
 a time would tliey have been cut off in their 
 sins but that God remembered that they were 
 ^' the seed of Israel, my chosen," " the seed 
 of Abraham, my friend." How God seems 
 to delight in calling this people by these 
 names, and in identifying them thus with 
 their faithful ancestors ! The pious Israelite 
 had no stronger plea with which to approach 
 his God. "Art not thou our God?" prayed 
 Jehoshaphat when in fear from "a great mul- 
 titude " which threatened him — " our God, 
 who didst drive out the inhabitants of this 
 hind before thy people Israel, and gavest it 
 to the seed oi Abraham, thy friend? '' What 
 depths of consolation lay hidden for him in 
 that remembrance of his ancestor, the friend 
 of God ! 
 
 The benefits which to the children of 
 Abraham according to the flesh were chiefly 
 temporal are to the spiritual Israel spiritual 
 and eternal. And they are real. As the 
 sinning Israelites could never fairly estimate 
 to what extent they owed their deliverance 
 
52 THE SABBATH MONTH 
 
 from tlicir enemies and from otlier clinstise- 
 ment to tlieir faithful ancestors, so in all 
 probability we liave a very inadequate con- 
 ception of what we owe to ours in the sub- 
 duing of evil tendencies, in the elevation of 
 the moral nature, in an early bent of tlie 
 mind toward God and holiness. A simple 
 contrast between the children of heathen and 
 of Cliristian lands thows us Bomethino' of this. 
 While our children are born into the world 
 pnrtakers of a perverted nature, on how 
 much higher a })lane do they stand as to 
 their moral perceptions, their capacity for 
 religous training, than those whose })arent3 
 liave never known God ! The heritage of 
 faith is no empty word. It is something to 
 liave the heritage of "them that fear thy 
 name." "A goodly heritage" indeed is 
 that acquaintance witii God which has been 
 handed down from parent to child through 
 many generations. For Timothy the inihi- 
 ence of a pious mother and graiidmotlier 
 availed to counteract the iiilhience of a 
 
FIFTEENTH DAY. 53 
 
 heatlien flitlier, of tlie heathen community 
 in which he was born. It made of him in 
 early youth a vahiecl servant of the Lord, 
 enablins; him to overcome the hindrance of 
 a delicate constitution and to become the 
 workfellow of Paul, the companion of his 
 bonds, the bishop of a church of which the 
 Lord could say, ''I know thy works, and 
 thy labor and thy patience, and how thou 
 hast borne, and hast patience, and for my 
 name's sake hast labored and hast not 
 fainted." Was not this indeed a goodly 
 heritage? To our children an equal bless- 
 in «: will ensue if we transmit to them un- 
 spotted the holy legacy of faith v>diich we 
 ourselves have inherited. And to us what 
 greater joy can there be than to see our 
 children walking in tlie truth? 
 
 Oh, does not the thought of all we have 
 on our side, of all our encouragements, stir 
 us up to be very faithful, *^ knoiving that 
 our labor shall not be in vain in the Ijord," 
 and that our experience through life and in 
 
54 THE SABBATH MONTH. 
 
 death will be, " There lias not failed one 
 word of all his good promise " ? *' The Lord 
 our God be with us, as lie was with our 
 fathers! •' Amen. 
 
 SIXTEENTH DAY. 
 
 "I will contei)(l witli ))i)n that contciidetli with ihce, and 
 I will suvc thy children." — IsA. xlix. 25. 
 
 rilllEIvE is one who contendeth w^ith us. 
 -^ Your adversary, the devil, goeth about 
 as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may 
 devour. Therefore, it especially behooves 
 lis to be sober, be vigilant, for we wrestle not 
 with flesh and blood. This is a real warfare 
 in whic'li we shall engage for the souls of 
 our children. Let us earnestly take heed, 
 then, that our hearts be not overcome with 
 the ('((rc.^ of (his life, wliich nre so inipenilive 
 in theii- (Iciunnds upon us, lest we tlius grnd- 
 nally fill into a condition where the enemy 
 jnay snatch away the souls entrusted to us. 
 
SIXTEENTH DA Y. 55 
 
 For be is vigilant and terribly in earnest, 
 and Ls not afraid to seek to lay bis band even 
 upon tlie Lord's own cbildren. *' Simon, 
 Simon, bebold, Satan batb desired to bave 
 you, tbat be may sift you as wbeat." All ! 
 blessed for Simon tbat bis Lord added, ^'But 
 I bave prayed for tbee, tbat tby faitb fail 
 not '' ! 
 
 Here is an encouragement : '^ I have prayed 
 for theer " I will contend with him tbat 
 contendetb witb tbee." "I will save thy 
 children^ Wbat a precious promise is tliis ! 
 How we may stay ourselves ujdou it ! Yes, 
 Christ has indeed contended, and witb sore 
 wounds has achieved the salvation of our 
 children. It pleased the Lord to bruise 
 him — for the transgression of his people was 
 he stricken. The Prince of this world came 
 to him, and in deadly conflict persecuted 
 bis soul. In that anguish in which he sweat 
 great drops of blood he wrestled with the 
 enemy of souls. The terrible cry, " My God, 
 my God, why bast thou forsaken me ? " bore 
 
66 THE SABBATH MONTH. 
 
 witness to liis mortal sorrow. Bat he con- 
 quered. In that bitter moment it teas fin- 
 ished. Through death he destroyed him 
 that had the power of death, and delivered 
 them whom he came to save. 
 
 *' I will save thy children." Tliis word is 
 our security. But never, never, while we 
 remember the price he has paid for their 
 ransom, can we weary in our struggles against 
 his enemy and ours. 
 
 liCt us fight on,- then, for the souls of our 
 children. Greater is He that is in us than 
 he that is in the world. The God of peace 
 shall bruise Satan under our feet shortly, 
 and " to him that overcometh will I grant 
 to sit with me in my throne, even as I also 
 overcame, and am set down with my Father 
 in his throne." 
 
SEVENTEENTH DAY. 67 
 
 SEVENTEENTH DAY. 
 
 " He pitched his tent toward Sodom." — Gen. xiii. 12. 
 
 nnHERE is a very solemn lesson to parents 
 -^ in the example of Lot, and especially to 
 mothers, who are, apparently, more liable to 
 flill into the snare in which he was taken. 
 For years Lot had been a sharer in all the 
 blessings of Abraham — in his protection from 
 danger, in his worldly prosperity, and in the 
 personal guidance of God. That he was a 
 righteous man we have the testimony of St. 
 Peter to supplement the somewhat doubtful 
 witness of his life. But his riches were a 
 snare to him. When it became necessary, 
 from his increasing wealth, to remove from 
 the near neighborhood of Abraham, behold- 
 ing the plain of Jordan, that it was well 
 watered everywhere like the garden of the 
 Lord, he chose the whole plain of Jordan, 
 but ^' he pitched his tent toward Sodonij^ 
 although he knew that ** the men of Sodom 
 were wicked and sinners before the Lord 
 
58 THE SABBATH MONTH. 
 
 exceedingly." That was tlie first step. A 
 gecoiid finds him diveUing in Sodom ; and a 
 third, sitting in the place of honor at the 
 gate of the city. 
 
 And what a hitter harvest of his worldli- 
 iiess did he reap! Saved, indeed, himself, 
 " the Lord being merciful to him," but saved 
 so as by fire, his wife overtaken by a fearful 
 doom, his children lost, if not in the destruc- 
 tion of Sodom, yet in being left to fall into 
 the blackest crimes, their moral nature ut- 
 terly corrupted by the ungodly associations 
 of their youth. 
 
 What a fearful warning to any of us who 
 are tempted to believe that conformity to the 
 world will in any way benefit our children! 
 To lose them through our very efforts for 
 their prosperity ! Do not our hearts tell us 
 that salvation itself for us could be no sal- 
 vation if they wei'e lost? Yet are wu not 
 sometimes inclined to run this risk fi)r the 
 sake of certain adv:mt:iges which may be 
 iTiiincd for oui* chihhcn bv the companion- 
 
SEVENTEENTH DAY. 59 
 
 ship of workllj people, and trusting that we 
 may still, by our prayers and teachings, keep 
 their garments unspotted even while bring- 
 ing them into contact with the pollution of 
 nin ? O Lord, save us from this delusion ! 
 Hide us, in the secret of thy 'presence^ from 
 the pride of man. When the Prince of this 
 world Cometh with all his flattering repre- 
 sentations of the benefits of a worldly life, 
 may he find "nothing in us" which responds 
 to his allurements ! 
 
 Let us beware of setting an undue esti- 
 mate on the attractions and the usefulness 
 of the friendship of the world. While we 
 may use this world, let us do it tremblingly, 
 as not abusing it. Demas, once the fellow- 
 laborer of Paul, forsook him, having loved 
 this 2^^'esent world. How many times have 
 the cares of this world so choked the word 
 in the heart of a believing mother that it 
 has becDme unfruitful ! Oh, let us not be 
 conformed to the world! Though we live in 
 it, let us remember that we are not of it ; and 
 
60 THE SABBATH MONTH. 
 
 as the lily-bulb, planted in the dark and 
 corrupting earth of a forest-bog, draws from 
 thence onlv that which will nourish its fair 
 growth and cause it to blossom forth into 
 the perfect form of loveliness its Maker de- 
 signed for it, so may we absorb from our 
 earthly contact only that which shall cause 
 ns to grow into the likeness of our Lord ! 
 For " even in Sardis " he has those who have 
 not defded their garments, and " they shall 
 walk v.'ith him in white.'' 
 
 EIGHTEEXTII DAY. 
 
 "Oat of tlie moutli of babes and sucklings hast thou or- 
 dainud strength." — Ps. viii. 2. 
 
 r\^, rather, as the Hebrew words signify, 
 ^ " hast thou founded a tower of streiujth,^^ 
 The mother soon learns the meanins; of the 
 text. A\ ords are inadequate to express the 
 "strono; consolation" which the bal)v brinus 
 its mother in moments oi' p('i'j)K'xity or of 
 
EIGHTEENTH DAY. 61 
 
 weariness or of temptation. To turn from tlie 
 cares which burden, or the sad thoughts 
 which depress, to take the little one in her 
 arms, to feel the soft pressure of baby lips 
 upon her breast, the clinging of baby fingers 
 around her own, is an unspeakable refresh- 
 ment, a joy in which a stranger internied- 
 dleth not. In those moments, too, which 
 come to even the happiest wife, of longing for 
 the dear ones of the early home from which 
 distance or death has parted her, the baby is 
 her best consoler. *' Instead of thy fathers 
 shall be thy children, whom thou mayest 
 make princes in all the earth." 
 
 How sweet is the thouo;ht that our Sa- 
 viour in the days of his life on earth found 
 strength and comfort to flow to his soul from 
 the lips of babes ! When little chikh-en 
 joined the worshiping throng in crying 
 hosanna to the Son of David — when, after 
 the multitude had been silenced, their eager 
 enthusiasm urged them to follow him even 
 into the temple-court with their shouts of 
 
G2 THE SABBATH MONTH. 
 
 praise — can we doubt that his soul was 
 strengthened by the sound? He who was 
 in all points tempted like as we are, yet 
 without sin, shared also, we love to think, 
 our consolations. And so his soul in that 
 trying hour, sorrowing over Jerusalem, 
 wounded by her sins, torn by tlie know- 
 ledge that these acclamations and hosannas 
 of tlie nudtitude should in a few davs be 
 changed to the ferocious clamor of an angry 
 mob, — his soul found soothins; and strength 
 in the voices of little children. He would 
 not have them stilled. '' Yea, have ye never 
 read," he says, " out of the mouth of babes 
 and sucklings hast thou perfected praise ? '' 
 How surely do both parents find a " tower 
 of strength " in their little one in respect of 
 their own plans and aspirations! Few as 
 their years may have been, they have suf- 
 ficed to convince them of the inadequacy of 
 life for tlie work they had set themselves to 
 do. As the "celestial lidit" of voutli be- 
 gins to fade into the light of common day, 
 
ETGIITEENTII DAY. 63 
 
 glorious visions lose their brightness, golden 
 hopes grow dim, all labor seems wearisome 
 and profitless. Bat the baby comes, and all 
 is changed. The rosy light of a second dawn 
 glows upon the parents' path ; a vista as of 
 eternity opens before it ; life is no longer 
 bounded by one short existence ; hopes and 
 plans are no more dwarfed by the narrow 
 conditions of mortality, but spring up, broad- 
 enins; and widenins: over all time, while 
 chiklren and chiklren's children shall carry 
 on the work and bring that to grand com- 
 pletion of which the parents but laid the 
 foundation. 
 
 Has not the Lord ordained that from these 
 babes the Church on earth should draw new 
 strength ? When that happy day arrives of 
 which we now discern the dawnins: — when 
 every child upon whom the Excellent Xame 
 has been named shall be acknowledged 
 among the people of God — when the heart 
 of the fathers being turned to the children, 
 and the heart of the children to their fathers, 
 
64 THE SABBATH MONTH. 
 
 there shall be no longer schism in the mem- 
 bers of Christ's boely,-^ — then will the Church 
 awake and put on her strength as never be- 
 fore. Then Satan, being routed from his 
 strongest hold, the hearts of the children, 
 will be robbed of his greatest power over the 
 Lord's people ; then the hopefulness and the 
 humility of the little child will alike infuse 
 new life into our churches, and often and 
 often will the Saviour's thankss-ivins: find an 
 echo in the hearts of his people : '^ I thank 
 thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, 
 because thou hast hid these thino-s from the 
 wise and prudent, and hast revealed them 
 unto babes." 
 
 NINETEENTH DAY. 
 
 "Thou wilt keep liiin in perfect i>f:ice whose mind is 
 staved on tliec." — IsA. xxvi. 3. 
 
 rpilE marginal reading for mind is imag- 
 ■^ inallon, and in that word lies a very 
 precious lesson for mothers, who are apt to 
 
NINETEENTH DAY. 65 
 
 indulge in anxious fears and apprehensions 
 of future evil to their loved ones. How 
 many mothers have been robbed of half 
 their joy in their infant children by dwell- 
 ing upon the cares and sorrows, the tempta- 
 tions and sufferings, to which they are born ! 
 From all these vain imaginations let us turn, 
 and stay ourselves upon the Lord. How 
 rapidly, when some slight ailment affects the 
 little one, do our thoughts spring forward to 
 greater suffering in store for it, to possible 
 bereavement in ourselves ! — how often do we 
 taste of the bitterness of death and of part- 
 ing while as yet God has prepared no such 
 sorrow for us ! From this trial and from 
 how many heavy forebodings we should be 
 saved if our imagination were stayed on 
 God ! '' Thoii wilt keep him in peace, 
 peace " — is the emphatic Hebrew idiom ; and 
 our Lord repeats it: ^^ Peace I leave with 
 you, my peace I give you, let not your heart 
 be troubled, neither let it be afraid." 
 
 We have little idea how much these "vain 
 
6(5 THE SABBATH MONTH. 
 
 [i. e. useless] thoughts" paralyze our hearts 
 and unfit us for dutv, and still less how 
 they intervene between us and our God. It 
 is no lio-ht thino; that we thus disturb and 
 frighten away the blessed Spirit of Peace 
 which waits to take up its abode with us. 
 "Casting down imaginations and bringing 
 into captivity every thought to the obedience 
 of Christ." Herein lies a deep mystery. For 
 "he learned obedience through the things that 
 he suffered i'' and our thoughts and imagi- 
 nations will only be brought into captivity 
 to his obedience when we too are ivilling to 
 suffer his righteous will. Then we shall in- 
 deed not be afraid — not because no ill shall 
 befall us, but because we are confident that 
 all our aflliction, being sent by him, shall 
 work out a "far more exceeding and eternal 
 weight of glory." So shall we attain to tlie 
 peace of him whose heart is jixid, trusting 
 in the Ijord. 
 
 But there is blessed occupation for thought 
 and imagination. The remembrance of past 
 
NINETEENTH DAY. 67 
 
 mercy, the hope of future and eternal glory, 
 are blessed themes of contemplation. We 
 do not sufficiently give ourselves to this bu- 
 siness of heavenly meditation or of talking 
 Avith God of his mercies. These quiet days 
 of retirement are well fitted for forming the 
 habit of such meditation. •' O Lord God of 
 Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel our fathers," 
 prayed David, ^' keep this for ever in the 
 imagination of the thoughts of the heart of 
 thy people, and prepare their heart unto 
 thee." God's glory and greatness, his won- 
 derful goodness to his people, and his con- 
 descension in permitting them to dedicate 
 their wealth to his service, were the themes 
 wdiich David prayed might occupy the imag- 
 ination of the people; and they are glorious 
 occupation indeed for the thoughts of any 
 of God's creatures. In such a habit of mind 
 we would find our cares and anxieties more 
 than half done away ; our '^ peace would 
 then be as a river, and our righteousness as 
 the waves of the sea." 
 
68 THE SABBATH MONTH. 
 
 TWENTIETH DAY. 
 
 " I will be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee."^ 
 Gex. xvii. 7. 
 
 ri^rilS was the promise of God to Abra- 
 -^ liam ill the day that he (made, i. e.) 
 gave his covenant to liim — a covenant not 
 made with conditions, as the first covenant 
 with Adam ; not even concerted between 
 two consenting parties, as in the day when 
 God promised the land of Canaan to Abra- 
 ham's seed ; l)iit now a free gift, of wliich 
 the sign and seal was fonnd in the rite of 
 circnmcision. And this covenant we, the 
 children of Abraham by faith, claim for onr 
 children whom we offer to God in the sacred 
 ordinance of baptism. They are the chil- 
 dren of God. Buried with Christ in baptism, 
 they are to rise with him to newness of lite. 
 There is, thereibre, noic no eondemnalion to 
 them which are in Christ Jesus. We hope 
 not merely for their fiitnr(^; w(^ believe in 
 
TWENTIETH DAY. 69 
 
 tlieir present salvation. JVoiv are they the 
 sons of God. 
 
 Not for any regenerating grace in the or- 
 dinance. From the moment when we first 
 bear them on our hearts to God and conse- 
 crate them to his service — a consecration of 
 which the rite of baptism is the public token — 
 from that moment God accepts them. " Fear 
 not," he says to them ; " I have called thee 
 by tliy name ; thou art mine ;" and in that 
 pledge may we rest, giving our precious ones 
 wholly into the hands of the Lord their 
 Kedeemer. 
 
 Rest, but not in inaction. How can we, 
 to whom is committed the training of the 
 children of a King, be ever unmindful of 
 our high vocation ? We are now co-workers 
 w^ith God in the education of his consecrated 
 ones. How carefully shall we, partakers of 
 this heavenly calling, be faithful in all our 
 house ! How confidently may we pray for a 
 blessing on our labors, knowing tliat for his 
 own name's sake he will do it! Our children 
 
70 THE SABBATH MONTH. 
 
 will not grow up in ignorance of their great 
 privilege. From tlie earliest chuvn of reason 
 we will teach them the blessedness of their 
 situation as being the little ones whom the 
 Lord Jesus gathered in his arms and blessed. 
 Not as Esau, who despised his birthright, 
 but as the redeemed of the Lord, called unto 
 holiness, they will grow up in the nurture 
 and admonition of the Lord. So, recogniz- 
 ing their peculiar responsibilities and con- 
 fiding in their parents' God, whom they have 
 early learned to know, we shall see them, as 
 they arrive at a fit age to make a conscious 
 choice, taking upon themselves the vows of 
 the Lord. " Our sons will be as plants grown 
 up in their youth," "our daughters as cor- 
 ner-stones, polished after the similitude of a 
 palace;" "and they shall be mine," saith 
 the Lord of hosts, " in the day that I make 
 up my jewels." For this is the heritage of 
 the servants of the Lord, and such hunur 
 have all his saints. Praise ye the Lord ! 
 
TWENTY-FIRST DAY. 71 
 
 TWENTY-FIRST DAY. 
 
 "Feed the flock of God which are umong you." — 1 Pet. 
 V. 2. 
 
 A S Peter j3enned tlie words of this exlior- 
 "^ tation he can hardly have failed to 
 recall to mind his Saviour's twice-repeated 
 charge, ^* Feed my lambs." The lambs of 
 the flock are very precious to our Lord. 
 
 There is a sense in which this exhortation 
 is addressed especially to each mother, inas- 
 much as she stands at the head of one house- 
 hold in the Lord's Zion : " Feed the flock 
 of God which is among you^ 
 
 Every living Christian strongly desires to 
 labor actively for his Lord. Each one of us, 
 when we first became conscious of his love, 
 asked, " Lord, what wilt thou have me to 
 do?" And to many of us the way seemed 
 quite hedged up. Our circumstances, our 
 youth, our sex, made it appear wise to our 
 j)arents to circumscribe our field in a way 
 which disappointed and tried our new-born 
 
72 THE SABBATH MONTH. 
 
 zeal. Or there seemed to be literally notliing 
 for us to do. Many and many a beloved 
 servant of the Lord has gone mourning all 
 her days because her Master seemed to deny 
 her the privilege of working for him — not 
 realizing that her prayers and her patience 
 were more potent service than any other. 
 If we have belonged to this class before, our 
 prayer is now answered. In the little child 
 now given us we have one of Christ's flock, 
 and the most j^recious, thankful task that 
 heart could desire in nourishing its spirit- 
 ual life. 
 
 There are others of us to whom the Lord 
 has opened wide avenues of usefulness, whose 
 time and strength have been gladly devoted 
 to his active service. To such the injunction 
 comes with double force : " Feed the flock of 
 God wliich is among you. Beware how any 
 foreign interest, however important, lead to 
 the neglect of one duty to this precious soul 
 which I have intrusted to tliee." **As thy 
 servant was busy here and there, lie was 
 
TWENTY-FIRST DAY. 73 
 
 gone." Oh, can it be possible that that 
 shall ever be the excuse we shall bring to 
 God when at his appearing he shall ask, 
 "Whei-e is the flock that was given thee — 
 thy beautiful flock ? " The thought is too 
 terrible. We shrink in horror from the 
 idea of such a sequence to our busy labors 
 in God's service. 
 
 Oh, let us never yield to this temptation. 
 There is more danger of it than we now 
 realize, shut up to the Sabbath rest of the 
 sick-room, with eternity so near to us as it 
 has been but now. Let us be very watchful 
 in this matter who have wide-reaching sym- 
 pathies in the field of the Lord. How bitter 
 would be our cry, ^' Mine own vineyard have 
 I not kept," if later in life we should see one 
 of our children's souls dwarfed and stunted 
 for want of the culture we should have <>:iven 
 it years before ! 
 
 Let "This one thing I do" be our motto. 
 Let us be ensamples to our little flock in all 
 holy living. Let us draw them with our 
 
74 THE SABBATH MONTH. 
 
 sweet influences till they run after us up 
 the heavenly road. So may we appear be- 
 fore him w^ith joy at last, saying, "Thine 
 they were, and thou gavest them me, and 
 they have kept thy word.^^ 
 
 TWENTY-SECOND DAY. 
 
 "But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to ever- 
 lasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto 
 children's children." — Ps. ciii. 17. 
 
 TJOW God delights in reminding us of 
 ^ his mercy! Thirty-seven times in the 
 Bible he tells us that his mercy endureth 
 for ever. When Moses prayed, " I beseech 
 thee, show me thy glory," he said, " I will 
 make all my goodness pass before thee," and 
 proclaimed his name — " The Lord, the Lord 
 God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering 
 and abundant in goodness and truth ; keep- 
 ing mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity 
 and transgression and sin." And how in- 
 finitely his delight in mercy transcends his 
 
TWENTY-SECOND DAY. 75 
 
 pleasure in his justice- — looking at it from 
 the earthward side — is shown where he says, 
 "Visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon 
 the children unto the thb^d a?id fourth gen- 
 eration," and " Know, therefore, that the 
 Lord thy God is the faithful God which 
 keepeth covenant and mercy with them that 
 love him and keep his commandments to a 
 thousand (/enerat ions J' This is indeed ''keeji- 
 ing covenant with children's children." If 
 they depart from his ways, he " will chasten 
 them " indeed, but his " mercy shall not 
 depart away from them." Prone to wander 
 as we are, he does not leave us to ourselves. 
 " Wherefore, I will yet plead with you, saith 
 the Lord, and with vour children's children 
 will I plead." His covenant is an everlast- 
 ing covenant. 
 
 There is somethins; verv noticeable in the 
 expression, " his righteousness to children's 
 children." It is as if he considered it a debt 
 that he owed his servants — that they had a 
 right to claim his mercy to their descend- 
 
76 THE SABBATH MONTH. 
 
 ants. "God is not unrighteous, to forget your 
 work and labor of love ;" no, " the righteous 
 shall be in everlasting remembrance/' 
 
 What an incentive is this to growth in 
 grace ! Plow earnestly shall I seek to be 
 accounted as righteous in his sight if such 
 benefits are to accrue therefrom not only to 
 my children, but to children's children as 
 long as the world shall endure. And oh 
 the joy of knowing that righteousness may 
 be mine through faith in our Lord Jesus ! 
 His robe of righteousness not only covers our 
 sins and iniquities and makes us outwardly 
 pure, hiding our sins from God's sight; 
 such is its blessed and wondrous efficacy that 
 it works within, and actually does purify the 
 hearts of those over whom it is cast. We 
 "are complete in him." Then let me (piickly 
 throw away the rags and tatters of my own 
 righteousness, with which I may be seeking 
 to adorn myself, and accept of " the right- 
 eousness which is by faith " so freely offered 
 to me. 
 
TWENTY-SECOND DAY. 77 
 
 But the promise is to those who "keep 
 his covenant and who remember his com- 
 mandments, to do them." Then must I 
 carefully train my children to know the 
 duties as well as the j)vivileges of the cove- 
 nant. Its blessings are freely theirs ; how 
 awful, then, the penalty of a deliberate re- 
 jection of them ! The thought that this 
 depends, under God, upon mothers, must 
 make us watchful indeed. But let us not 
 be overwhelmed with this responsibility. It 
 is a blessed thing if it keeps us instant in 
 prayer, ever clinging to Jesus, who alone 
 and who so freely gives grace to us and ours ; 
 and with what confidence we may ask him 
 that he will put such a heart in them when 
 we can say, '' We do not present our suppli- 
 cations to thee for our righteousness, but for 
 thy great mercies ".^ We shall never be 
 ashamed who trust in the mercy of God that 
 he will keep his covenant — still less we who 
 trust in his rigJdeousness. 
 
78 THE SABBATH MONTH. 
 
 TWENTY-THIRD DAY. 
 
 "And it was so, when tlie days of their feasting were gone 
 about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in 
 the morning, and offered burnt-offerings according to the 
 number of them all; for Job said, It may be that my sons 
 liave sinned and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job 
 continually." — Job i. 15. 
 
 "WHATSOEVER things Avcre written 
 ' ' aforetime were written for our learn- 
 ing, that we, through patience and comfort 
 of the Scriptures, miglit liave hope." Let 
 us, then, consider tlie conduct of Joh as an 
 exam])le for ourselves. 
 
 We find him offering intercessory prayer 
 for his children. And how gladly do we 
 accept this teaching that we men/ pray for 
 ours! "And my servant Job shall pray for 
 you, for him will I accept," God himself says 
 later to Job's three friends, showing that he 
 delights in such i)i'aver. What wins^s does 
 this assui-ance lend to every mother's }>rayer 
 as she ])leads with God for her beloved chil- 
 dren ! "The effectual, fervent prayer of a 
 
TWENTY-THIRD DAY. 79 
 
 righteous man availeth much." Oh, then, let 
 us never wearj in praying for our children, 
 since our prayers will avail much for them. 
 But Job not only prays for them in seci*et ; 
 he calls them to prayer, and cultivates in 
 them, even after they have passed the age of 
 infancy, a tender conscience and a readiness 
 to confess their sins. We have no reason to 
 suppose that the series of festivities which 
 these sons and dau2:hters held were other 
 than innocent. As God could challenge 
 Satan to show a sin ode flaw in Job's charac- 
 ter, it is not likely that he had neglected the 
 traininoj of his children, and the readiness 
 with which they obey his call is an evidence 
 of their right feeling. But Job knows the 
 peculiar dangers of prosperity and the 
 temptations to which the youthful and 
 light-hearted are especially exposed, and 
 he teaches his children to examine them- 
 selves and see if, even inadvertently, they 
 had sinned. Let us learn froui his example 
 to be very careful how we retain a holy 
 
80 THE SABBATH MONTH. 
 
 influence over our eliildren at the age ^vlle^ 
 they are being gradually weaned from home 
 and assuming individual responsibility, for 
 tlie responsibility of a j)arent never wholly 
 ceases. 
 
 There is a thought hidden in this history 
 which we may perhaps ponder with benefit. 
 Job offered sacrifices for his children. It is 
 true he did it as the priest of his household, 
 and our great Sacrifice having been slain 
 for us, there remaineth now no more offering 
 for sin. But we do still brins; our thank- 
 offerinofs and our free-will offerino's into the 
 temple of the Lord, and there seems to be a 
 peculiar blessedness in doing this, not only 
 for ourselves, but for our children. This is 
 a thought especially for the mothers of little 
 children. Who can tell how the offerins: 
 brought in the name and stead of this little 
 one may be blessed by God to its own soul ! 
 liow the infant heart thus associated in the 
 W(ji"k of the Lord thromih its mother's failh 
 
 o 
 
 and ])rayer may be especially softened by 
 
TWENTY-FOURTH DAY, 81 
 
 the dews of tlie lieavenly grace, and made 
 more tender, more loving, more self-denying, 
 more earnest in the service of the Lord, even 
 unconsciously to itself, as by the Spirit of 
 the Lord ! We love to offer gifts to God in 
 memory of our lost loved ones ; why should 
 we not " let love antedate the work of death " 
 in consecrating a portion to him in anticipa- 
 tion of the time when our beloved may join 
 us in the work of the Lord ? 
 
 And let us remember that our prayers and 
 efforts for our children are not to cease while 
 life lasts, for " thus did Job continually." 
 
 TAYENTY-FOURTH DAY. 
 
 " I will lead on softly, according as the children be able 
 to endure." — Gen. xxxiii. 14. 
 
 TN our pilgrimage toward the heavenly 
 -*- Canaan we do not travel alone. "No 
 man livetli to himself," and our progress in 
 the divine life is not to be without reference 
 
 6 
 
>^2 THE SABBATH MONTH. 
 
 to onr eliildren. They are membei's of the 
 liousehold of faith equally with us, but they 
 are still babes in Christ. If we ourselves 
 often stumble, how much more are they in 
 danger of falling ! " Let us be very gentle 
 among them ; as a nurse cherisheth her chil- 
 dren " let us cherish this little life which 
 has but now begun. 
 
 The piety of our children will be infant 
 piety — no more fitted to encounter rude con- 
 flict than they themselves are fitted to go out 
 into the world alone. And God has given 
 them a mother not more to nourish and care 
 for their bodies than their souls. ** Thou 
 hast seen how the Lord thy God did bear 
 thee as a man beareth his son ; " we have still 
 need that the Lord should be ^' long-suffer- 
 ing to US-ward." As we stand in the place 
 of God to our children in matters of author- 
 ity and of duty, so let us see that we repre- 
 sent him in his care for souls. " I tauirht 
 Ephraim also to go, taking them by their 
 arms;" as a n^other supports the first tottei^ 
 
TWENTY-FOURTH DAY. 83 
 
 iiig steps of her baby, so in their first feeble 
 steps on the highway of holiness let them 
 be constantly aware of our guiding and 
 supporting hands. How carefully we shall 
 remove every little stumbling-block from 
 the way of our baby's first steps! How 
 jealously, too, should we " make straight 
 paths for their feet," lest they stumble in 
 their heavenlv walk ! 
 
 Above all, ou?' own advance is to be no 
 impediment to theirs. " To the weak I 
 became as the weak." Our own day's march 
 is to be only " according as the children be 
 able to endure." Is it an unheard-of thing 
 that the strictness of a mother's piety has 
 alienated her children from God ? Have 
 not the stern observances, the strict limita- 
 tions, of her religious life sometimes been a 
 burden heavier than they could bear ? Why 
 should we condemn what the Lord hath not 
 condemned ? Why should we put a yoke 
 upon the children's necks which we ourselves 
 have not been able to endure? The yoke 
 
84 THE SABBATH MONTH. 
 
 of tlie Lord is easy; let us not make it heavy. 
 Let us beware how we make tliose hearts sad 
 which the Lord hath not made sad. AVe 
 know^ that ^' forasmuch as the children were 
 partakers of flesh and blood, lie also took 
 part in the same;" so let us partake of our 
 children's frailty, becoming one with them 
 by sympathy, entering into all their hin- 
 drances and drawbacks. The children are 
 tender ; if we overdrive them one day they 
 will die. Let us lead on softhj '^ until we come 
 unto our Lord unto his place" (margin). 
 
 TWENTY-FIFTH DAY. 
 
 "For lliis child T prayed, and tlie Lord lialli given me 
 my petition Avliicli 1 asked of liini." — 1 Sam. i. '11. 
 
 f\Y all the mothers whose stories are rc- 
 corded in the Bible, Hannah is the near- 
 est to our hearts. And of all the children, 
 none, excei)t the holy child Jesus, is so 
 lovely as ISanuiel, the typical child in whom 
 
TWENTY-FIFTH DAY. 85 
 
 every mother sees her fairest visions person- 
 ified. He is indeed the most perfect type 
 of the Child Jesus which we have. Even 
 Joseph, in later youth a most beautiful 
 type of Christ, does not equal Samuel in 
 childish character, marred as his was by the 
 natural self-satisfaction of a "good child." 
 We never read of Samuel falling into sin ; 
 his guileless heart is never lifted up by his 
 visions ; he has none of the self-importance 
 of one to whom a terrible secret has been 
 entrusted. We never learn that he regretted 
 the choice his mother had made for him of 
 a Nazarite's life with its peculiar restraints, 
 nor that he ever for a moment questioned 
 his duty as to accepting that choice. 
 
 May we not seek for the causes of this 
 remarkable perfection of character, endeav- 
 oring: humblv to learn if in aught we may 
 so imitate this mother's example as to hope 
 for a like blessing in our own children? 
 
 We notice especially Hannah's great long- 
 in <i for a child. Her defrauded mother-in- 
 
86 THE SABBATH MONTH. 
 
 stiiict cries out for the blessing, and will not 
 be denied. Here is none of that reluctance 
 to take up the duties and burdens of mother- 
 hood which we so often see. How can we 
 doubt that the child which has drawn its life 
 from that longing, loving heart, w^ill develop 
 a more perfect nature, a larger soul, expand- 
 ing into greater beauty of character, than the 
 one which has been anticipated with disfavor, 
 its limitations of the expectant mother's plea- 
 sures reluctantly submitted to, its demands 
 upon her time grudgingly complied with ? 
 
 In the bitterness of her soul, in the hunger 
 of her heart, Hannah prayed unto the Lord. 
 kSIic had learned the comfort of pouring out 
 hei' soul before God. That this was a ti'uc 
 rolling of her burden on the Lord is evident, 
 because after she had prayed her prayer aiul 
 vowed her vow her countenance was no more 
 sad. She knew the blessedness of the one 
 w I lose hoj»c (he Lord is. C\)ul(l the child 
 of such faith and prayer be other than a 
 child oi' irrace? 
 
TWENTY-FIFTH DAY. 87 
 
 Her vow was no superstitious impulse, in 
 which she sought to propitiate the clemency 
 of God, but a deliberate choosing of the best 
 lot for this so longed-for child. This is seen 
 from her alacrity in redeeming her vow. At 
 the earliest possible age she brings him up to 
 the house of the Lord : "I have lent him to 
 the Lord ; as long as he liveth he shall be 
 lent to the Lord." What the extent of this 
 sacrifice was only our hearts can understand 
 who, like Hannah, have longed for a son, 
 and have received him from the Lord for 
 the 23etition which we asked of him. It was 
 no light thing, this lending her child to the 
 Lord. 
 
 But she had her reward. First, when she 
 knew that (like the Blessed Child of whom 
 he was a type) " the child grew on, and was 
 in favor both with the Lord and also with 
 men." And yet more when *'all Israel 
 knew that Samuel was established to be a 
 prophet of the Lord." And oh the joy of 
 knowing that, after many years of with- 
 
88 THE SABBATH MONTH. 
 
 drawal, "the Lord appeared again to his 
 people" by the means of her son! 
 
 May such great blessedness be ours ! 
 There is much for us to ponder over in 
 this subject. 
 
 TWENTY-SIXTH DAY. 
 
 "And Jabez was more hononible than liis brethren; and his 
 mother called his name Jabez [Sorrowful], saying, Because I 
 bare him with sorrow. And Jabez called on the God of Is- 
 rael, saying, Oh that thou wouldst bless me indeed, and en- 
 large ray coast, and that tliine hand might be with me, and 
 that thou wouldst keep me from evil, that it may not grieve 
 me! And God granted him that which he requested." — 1 
 Chron. iv. 9, 10. 
 
 T)ESIDES the happy mothers who have 
 ■^ received their little ones with joyful 
 thanksgiving and amid glad congratulations, 
 we find those whose children are ushered into 
 the world with sorrow. Not with reluctance 
 — we should not so receive the gift of God — 
 but who can say wluit darkness of bereave- 
 
TWENTY-SIXTH DAY. 89 
 
 ment, what anguish of soul over erring loved 
 ones, what pinching of penury, may rend the 
 heart which broods over the little new-born 
 one in an agony of love and grief? To such 
 comes a word of good cheer in the verses be- 
 fore us. Were they written expressly for 
 sorrowing mothers throughout all time, we 
 wonder? Why else are they here, stand- 
 ing alone in the midst of the dry geneal- 
 ogies, having no hint of connection with the 
 names which precede and follow ? Who was 
 this sorrowful mother, or who her honored 
 son, we know not. There is no word of 
 tribe or family, birthplace or brethren. His 
 mother bare him with sorrow. That is all, 
 but it brings her near to many a heart to- 
 day. 
 
 *'And Jabez was more honorable than his 
 brethren." This son of his mother's sorrow 
 becomes the son of her right hand. Take 
 courage, sorrowful mother, and look forward 
 in hope. Not always will the night of weep- 
 ing darken over you and your child. The 
 
90 THE SABBATH MONTH. 
 
 Lord is leading you by a way that you know 
 not. " Thy light shall rise in obscurity, and 
 thy darkness be as the noonday/' Will you 
 regret the trials which lead to such honor as 
 this f " The Lord granted him the things 
 which he requested." Earthly honor you 
 may not covet for your child, but would not 
 such as this far outweigh a multitude of woes ? 
 For what were " the thini::s which he re- 
 quested"? "That thine hand might be 
 with me, and that thou wouldst keep me 
 from evil, that it may not grieve me." Can 
 you ask more ? You pray not that your be- 
 loved " be taken out of the world," but that 
 it may be kept from evil. " That it may not 
 grieve me." You have known grief, sor- 
 rowing mother ; what better do you ask 
 but that the Lord will keep it from your 
 child? Only "let not your hetu't be trou- 
 bled." llejoice even in the mid.^t of afllic- 
 tion over this blest gift of God. You may 
 live to see this chihl of sorrow become 
 "more honorable" oven than its brethren 
 
TWENTY-SEVENTH DAY. 91 
 
 sent to you in happier clays. "For the 
 Lord will again rejoice over thee for good." 
 "Eefrain thy voice from weeping and 
 thine eyes from tears, for thy work shall be 
 rewarded, saith the Lord. . . . And there is 
 hope in thine end, saith the Lord, that thy 
 children shall come again to their own bor- 
 der." 
 
 TWENTY-SEVENTH DAY. 
 
 " For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, 
 but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither sliall 
 the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that 
 liatli mercy on thee." — IsA. liv. 10. 
 
 TTOW firm a foundation we have who rest 
 -^-^ our hopes of salvation upon the work of 
 Christ! For who is a rock like our God? 
 Let us consider the terms of our covenant 
 of peace J that our souls may be refreshed. 
 In times of bodilv weakness we are in 
 
 t/ 
 
 especial danger of losing our peace. We 
 examine our own selves to see if we be in 
 the faith, and too often our faith fails us in 
 
92 THE SABBATH MONTH. 
 
 that very exercise. But this is owing to our 
 inadequate views of Christ's work. Finished 
 as it was upon the cross as to our redemp- 
 tion, it yet never ceases as to our sanctilica- 
 tion and as to our final perseverance. He 
 ever liveth to make intercession for us. It 
 is his love, not ours, which secures us. He 
 holds us^ not w^e him. Our clinging hands, 
 grown weak wdth long self-nerving, m.ay lose 
 their hold upon our Saviour, yet we are in 
 his arms. He sought us out and ransomed 
 ns ; shall he let us fall ? " Can a woman 
 forget her sucking child, that she should not 
 have compassion on the son of her womh? 
 Yea, she may forget, yet will I not forget 
 thee." Ah, to me does not this say enough, 
 and more than enough? It is imjwssible that 
 any should pluck me out of his hand. Does 
 my baby's safety depend upon its clinging 
 to me or to the protecting arms about it? 
 "Therefore will we not fear, thoudi tlie 
 earth be removed and thouuli the mountains 
 be carried into the midst of the sea." Fear! 
 
TWENTY-SEVENTH DAY. 93 
 
 How can I fear when once I have relin- 
 quished all dependence upon my oiv)i stead- 
 fastness and depend upon the faithfulness of 
 Him that called me, " who also will do it " ? 
 Oh let me take the comfort of this covenant 
 of peace ! Peter w^alked on the water to go 
 to Jesus. Did his faith save him ? Did it 
 not rather fail him ? Yet he did not perish. 
 For Jesus caught him by the hand, saying, 
 " O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou 
 doubt ? '^ And shall he not ever hold me by 
 the hand ? 
 
 Take courage, then, timid heart. He who 
 chose thee before the foundation of the world 
 will still keep thee after the mountains de- 
 part. The covenant of his peace shall never 
 be removed, for his love is its surety. Many 
 waters cannot quench that love, neither can 
 floods drown it; thine unworthiness shall 
 not tire it; thy faithlessness shall not dis- 
 courage it. " Thou hast delivered my 
 soul from death ; wilt thou not deliver my 
 feet from falling ? " Yes, a thousand times 
 
94 THE SABBATH MONTH. 
 
 yes. '' They shall never perish ; my Father 
 which gave them to me is greater than I, 
 and no man is able to pluck them out of my 
 Father's hand." ^' Who shall separate us 
 from the love of Christ?" Shall tribula- 
 tion, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or 
 nakedness, or peril, or sword? Nay, in all 
 these things we are more than conquerors 
 through Him that loved us, for " the Lord of 
 peace can give us peace by all means," even 
 by these sore afflictions. They all are means 
 of peace to them who are embraced in the 
 covenant of peace. '' The Lord is able to do 
 for us exceeding abundantly above all we 
 can ask or think, according to the power [his 
 2^0 wer, not ours] that worketh in us." And 
 we are persuaded that ^'neither death, nor life, 
 nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, 
 nor things present, nor things to come, nor 
 height, nor depth, nor any other creature 
 shall be able to separate us from the love of 
 God, whicli is in Christ Jesus our Lord." 
 " Tlie Lord bless thee and keep tliee ; the 
 
TWENTY-EIGHTH BAT 95 
 
 Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be 
 gracious unto thee ; the Lord lift up his coun- 
 tenance upon thee and ^ive thee peace I " 
 
 " Now unto Him that is able to keep you 
 from falling, and to present you faultless 
 before the presence of his glory with ex- 
 ceeding joy, to the only wise God, our Sa- 
 viour, be glory, majesty, dominion and power, 
 both now and ever." Amen. 
 
 TWENTY-EIGHTH DAY. 
 
 " Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet 
 appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall 
 appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." — 
 1 John iii. 2. 
 
 rpHE contemplation of our future glory, 
 -^ when " he shall change our vile body, 
 that it may be fashioned like unto his glo- 
 rious body, not having spot, or wrinkle, or 
 any such thing," is a rapturous employment. 
 That we shall receive the crown of righteous- 
 ness which he shall give to all them that love 
 his appearing — the robe of fine linen, clean 
 
96 THE SABBATH MONTH. 
 
 and \Yliite, Avliicli is tlie righteousness of tlie 
 saints — is not all ; but we ourselves shall be 
 like him. Oh the joy unspeakable and full 
 of glory which this thought imparts ! 
 
 We know not what we shall be. Our 
 limited understandings cannot grasp the 
 wondrous thought. Noiu are we the sons of 
 God, but the little child upon our knees, 
 with its tiny growth, its unformed features, 
 its undeveloped intellect, its unconsciousness 
 of the great, yearning mother-love which 
 enfolds it, is far liker to the noble Christian 
 manhood, the sweet, gracious womanhood, 
 which w^e foresee in it than we, in our best 
 days, in the fullest vigor of our intellects, in 
 the most ripened graces of our Christianhood, 
 in the highest flight of our aspirations, are 
 like to the glorious beings which we shall be. 
 To be like him ! We should not have dared 
 to ask it. None but the beloved discij)le 
 could have written the word. Oh, what to 
 him who had leaned on the bosom of the 
 Lord, what in his exile and sufferings in the 
 
TWENTY-EIGHTH DAY. 97 
 
 long weary life wliicli made him " the com- 
 panion" of every suffering one "in tribulation 
 and in the kingdom and j)atience of Christ," 
 what must have been the bliss of this assu- 
 rance ! He who had seen him in the days 
 of his flesh, to whom, even with the veil of 
 humanity upon his Godhead, he had been 
 the chiefest among ten thousand, the one 
 altogether lovely — "he should be like him, 
 for he should see him as he is I " 
 
 But we too shall be like him. Such know- 
 ledge is too wonderful for us, we cannot at- 
 tain to it. Yet " every one that hath this 
 hope in him purifieth himself, even as He 
 is pure." How can sin remain in a heart 
 which is fully possessed with such a hope as 
 this. " Beholding, with open faces as in a 
 glass, the glory of the Lord," we are being 
 " changed into the same image, from glory 
 to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord." But 
 not till he appears shall the full consum- 
 mation of the glorious change take place. 
 " When Christ, oiiv life, shall appear, we also 
 
98 THE SABBATH MONTH. 
 
 sliall appear with liim in glory. To us, then, 
 even now to live is Christ. " I live, yet not 
 I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life which 
 I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of 
 the Son of God, who loved me and gave him- 
 self for me." Oh, to see him as he is ! Even 
 now a vivid apprehension of him by faith, a 
 sense of his immediate presence, though but 
 transient, lifts us above all the cares and 
 sorrows, obliterates the pains, of this life, 
 but what will it be to see his face ? O joy 
 unspeakable and full of glory ! " As for me, 
 I shall behold thy face in righteousness. / 
 sitdll he satisfied when I awake with thy 
 likeness." 
 
TWENTY-NINTH DAY. 99 
 
 ,!-.. TWENTY-NINTH DAY. 
 
 " "f* Rejoice in the Lord always : and again I say, Rejoice." — 
 Phil., iv. 4. 
 
 TT is strange that any who have obtained 
 ^ - Our precious hope should require such 
 an admonition. But perhaps to none is it 
 more appropriate than to mothers, both from 
 the many causes which they seem to have for 
 despondency and from the immediate influ- 
 ence which their state of mind has upon 
 their chiklren. Do we feel, as the time ap- 
 proaches for us to resume life's duties with 
 its doubled responsibilities, that we are not 
 sufficient for these things? "The joy of 
 the Lord is your strength^\is no merely 
 j)oetical phrase, but a living truth. Let us 
 prove it, and learn, as thousands have learned 
 before us, that rejoicing in God does really 
 double our ability to perform our duty. 
 Not that our duties are not grave, our re- 
 sponsibilities infinitely solemn. To us is 
 committed the welfare of immortal souls. 
 
100 THE SABBATH MONTH. 
 
 How much depends upon us we probably- 
 only glimmeringly perceive. But just in 
 proportion as the desires of our heart are for 
 the salvation of our children and the glory 
 of God by them, so much the more should 
 we " delight oui^selves in the Lord." Oh, let 
 us draw our children to him by the warm 
 influence of a cheerful service. Let them 
 not, by seeing in their mother a woman of 
 a sorrowful countenance, learn to misappre- 
 hend the character of her Master and of his 
 service. In dwelling upon this subject I 
 cannot refrain from here rendering a tribute 
 to a beloved mother, now glorified, who, in 
 the midst of a life of unusual and heavy sor- 
 rows, so exemplified the grace of God that 
 to her children the words " as sorrowful, yet 
 always rejoicing," read in the light of her 
 life, were no mystery, but the clearest truth. 
 So let it be with us all. IN lay we never need 
 the rebuke of Christ, " Forbid not these little 
 ones to come to mc " ! For it is possible, even 
 while we are praying, agonizing, for their sal- 
 
TWENTY-NINTH DAY. 101 
 
 vation, tliat we may not suffer them to come 
 to him, frightening them away from the ser- 
 vice which they see casts a gloom upon our 
 lives. Oh, let us willingly offer unto the 
 Lord our lives and our constant service. 
 Let us commit our way unto the Lord, 
 and our countenance be no more sad. Our 
 strength shall be as our day; we have the 
 word of God and a happy experience of past 
 mercy to confirm the promise, and he is able 
 to m.ake us to rejoice even in tribulation. 
 Yes, to rejoice and be exceeding glad, fbr 
 great is our reward in heaven. Let us have 
 more respect unto the recompense of reward, 
 and we shall no longer go mourning because 
 of the oppression of the enemy. " For I will 
 strengthen the house of Judah; I am the 
 Lord their God, and will hear them, and 
 their heart shall rejoice as through wine, 
 yea, their children shall see it and be glad, 
 and their heart shall rejoice in the Lord." 
 
102 THE SABBATH MONTH 
 
 THIRTIETH DAY. 
 
 "And Jesus being full of the Holy Gliost returned from 
 Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being 
 forty days tempted of the devil." — Luke iv. 1, 2. 
 
 A FTER having received the baptism of 
 •^^ the Holy Spirit, and having been pub- 
 licly acknowledged by a voice from heaven 
 as the Son of God, the devil comes to him. 
 From the highest heights to the deepest 
 depths. Ecstatic communion with God — 
 fierce conflict with the Prince of darkness. 
 So Elijah after his triumphant vindication 
 of the honor of God and the fiery exaltation 
 of spirit in which he slew the prophets of 
 Baal, descends almost to the depth of despair. 
 He too spends forty days in the wilderness 
 in a conflict with the tempter. So Moses, 
 after having talked Avilh God as a man 
 talketh with his friend, is suddenly exposed 
 to the fiercest temptation on beholding the 
 sin of the children of Israel, To each the 
 
THIRTIETH DAY, 103 
 
 period of highest privilege is succeeded by 
 a time of stern conflict. 
 
 This experience is in a degree repeated in 
 the lives of many of God's children. And 
 I, who for four blessed weeks have been se- 
 cluded from the tumults of the world, lying 
 in the light of God's countenance under the 
 special influence of the Holy Spirit, am now 
 called to go down from the mount of priv- 
 ilege and enter upon a struggle with the 
 Prince of this world. Now, first, from the 
 demands upon my strength, shall I be sen- 
 sible of ray weakness, and find in each re- 
 curring duty a fresh temptation to irritabil- 
 ity, to discouragement, to self-indulgence, to 
 repining at the weariness of my lot. The 
 sweet joys of maternity, which thus far have 
 been devoid of responsibility, will them- 
 selves henceforth be mingled with heavy 
 cares, with weary nights and anxious days. 
 Many a time I shall cry in sorrow, " Oh that 
 it were with me as in times past ! " " the 
 journey is too great for me." Then let me 
 
104 THE SABBATH MONTH. 
 
 take courage from the example of Christ. 
 "Beloved, think it not strange concerning 
 the fiery trial which is to try you, as though 
 some strange thing happened unto you, but 
 rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of 
 Christ's sufferings." Yes, Christ has known 
 the desert and the tempter's wiles. Christ 
 lias suffered, being tempted ; he knows every 
 fiery dart of the devil. And shall he not 
 succor us who are tempted? Shall he leave 
 our soul among lions? Ah no; he knows 
 how to deliver the godly out of temptation. 
 He will keep *' his darling " from the power 
 of Satan. He suffered for us, leaving us an 
 example, that we should follow in his steps. 
 Driven by the Spirit into the wilderness, I 
 there shall find the prints of his feet. AValk- 
 ing in them, I am safe, for though tempted 
 lie did not fall. The devil left him, and 
 angels came and ministered unto him. And 
 to me " the wilderness and the solitary place 
 shall be glad for them, and the desert shall 
 rejoice and blossom as the rose." I shall 
 
THIRTY-FIRST DAY. 105 
 
 find waters " break out in the wilderness and 
 streams in the desert, and a highway shall 
 be there ; it shall be called the way of holi- 
 ness." " Therefore, behold, I will allure her 
 and bring her into the wilderness, and speak 
 comfortably unto her, and I will give her 
 vineyards from thence, and the valley of 
 Achor \i. e. trouble] for a door of hope'' 
 He himself is the Way, and he hath said, 
 "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee." 
 
 THIKTY-FIEST DAY. 
 
 " Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for thee." 
 — 1 Kings xix. 7. 
 
 ELIJAH was sleeping for sorrow. That 
 mighty, courageous heart, so " very jeal- 
 ous for the Lord of hosts," had feinted. 
 " Take away my life," he prayed, and the 
 Lord answered; an angel touched him and 
 said unto him, "Arise and eat." He sus- 
 tains, instead of taking away, the weary life. 
 
106 THE SABBATH MONTH. 
 
 "Tlie journey is too great for thee," says the 
 messenger of the God of all consolation, and 
 supplies him with that which shall strength- 
 en him for the work before him. 
 
 At the threshold of our return to ordinary 
 life we take into account the duties before us, 
 and our spirits faint within us. When we 
 consider that not merely former duties, in 
 which we have so often failed, but new re- 
 sponsibilities, are to be assumed, we shrink 
 in dismay from the task. To train a soul 
 for God, to grapple with the inherent evil 
 of its nature and subdue it, to nourish gra- 
 cious tendencies, to discern what sins most 
 easily beset it, to guard it from the allure- 
 ments of the world, to guide the little feet 
 in the way of peace, to ^' be instant in season 
 and out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort 
 with all long-suffering y^ — tliis is the work 
 of an angel, and not of a weak, erring mor- 
 tal wlio has herself need of iruidance and 
 of support. All, here is our strength. A\"e 
 have need indeed, and our God supplies all 
 
TIIIRTY-FmST DAY. 107 
 
 our need. "Arise and eat," he says unto us. 
 I, who in my tender sympathy know full well 
 that the journey is too great for thee, have 
 made provision for all thy wants. " In me 
 all fullness dwells." " Eat, O friends, drink, 
 yea, drink abundantly, O beloved," " for my 
 flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink 
 indeed." 
 
 So, as long as we feel our own insufficiency, 
 we are safe ; as long as we feel our weakness, 
 we are strong, for then we depend entirely 
 upon Christ. He gives us day by day our 
 daily bread, and the journey need never be 
 too great for us. Only let us never fail to 
 accept the provision he makes. The daily 
 study of his word, daily communion with 
 him in prayer, the hourly lifting up of our 
 hearts to him, the bringing every care and 
 perplexity to his feet, as well as the assem- 
 bling of ourselves together, and the sacred 
 eucharistic feast, — all are our meal-times, and 
 shall each supply us with a portion of strength. 
 So, feeding by faith on the Son of God, we 
 
108 THE SABBATH MONTH. 
 
 shall not find the clifiiculties of the way too 
 great for us, but in the strength of that meat 
 we shall go through all our pilgrimage until 
 we come even unto Horeb, the mount of God. 
 
 THE END.