^ohn 'Henr^^Joweit Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church. Fifth Ave. & Fifty Fifth Street New York. February 3^ 1915. My dear Mrs. Speer:- Most certain- ly you may use the pas'-^age frr>r>. my nevT "book in the Tvay you augrest. I am grateful to have the n.ir.iatry of the little book extended. 7?ith good wishes, Ycurs aincerely. H , rcnvC^ — - Mrs, Robert E. Speer, Clv,»,, ^ ^^« ^Xc-e- C^^* tibrarjo of t:he theological ^emmarjp PRINCETON . NEW JERSEY FROM THE LIBRARY OF ROBERT ELLIOTT SPEER BV 4832 .J66 1914 Jowett, John Henry, 1864- 1923. My daily meditation for the circling year DAILY MEDITATION The greatest living master of the homiletic art." —British Weekly. By J. H. JOWETT. P.P. Things That Matter Most Devotional Papers. 12mo, cloth, net $1.25 The Transfigured Church l2mo, cloth, - - - " net $1.25 The High Calling Meditations on St. Paul's Letter to the Phi- lippians. I2mo, cloth, - - - net $1.25 The Silver Lining A Message of Hope and Cheer. 12mo, cloth, net $1.00 Our Blessed Dead l6mo, boards, - - . . net 25c The Daily Altar Cloth, net 25c Leather, net 35c Yet Another Day 32mo, cloth, ----- net 25c Leather, net 35c A new large type edition. Cloth, net 75c Leather, - - - - - - net $1.00 The Passion for Souls 16mo, cloth, ----- net 50c The Folly of Unbelief 12mo, cloth, ----- net 50c ImSloiyC Chio iicaqo y{emnf}(^vefCCompaR^^ Copyright, 1914, by FLEMING H. REViiLL COMPANY New York: 158 Fifth Avenue Chicago: 125 N. Wabash Ave. Toronto: 25 Richmond St., W. London: 21 Paternoster Square Edinburgh: 100 Princes Street FOREWORD HE title of this book sufficiently in- terprets its purpose. I hope it may lead to such practical meditation upon the Word of God as will sup- ply vision to common tasks, and daily nourishment to the conscience and will. And I trust that it may so engage the thoughts upon the wonders of meditation, as will fortify the soul for its high calling in Jesus Christ our Lord. J. H. JOWETT. Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, New York. JAMUARY <7Ke First THE UNKNOWN JOURNEY " He went out not knowing whither he went." — Hebrews xi. 6-10. BRAM began his journey without any knowledge of his ultimate des- tination. He obeyed a noble impulse without any discernment of its con- sequences. He took " one step," and he did not " ask to see the distant scene.'' And that is faith, to do God's will here and now, quietly leaving the results to Him. Faith is not concerned with the entire chain ; its devoted attention is fixed upon the immediate link. Faith is not knowledge of a moral process ; it is fidelity in a moral act. Faith leaves something to the Lord ; it obeys His immediate commandment and leaves to Him direction and destiny. And so faith is accompanied by serenity. " He that believeth shall not make haste " — or, more literally, " shall not get into a fuss." He shall not get into a panic, neither fetching fears from his yesterdays nor from his to-morrows. Concerning his yesterdays faith says, " Thou hast beset me behind." Concerning his to-morrows faith says, " Thou hast beset me before." Concerning his to-day faith says, " Thou hast laid Thine hand upon me." That is enough, just to feel the pressure of the guiding hand. JANUARY )-first 21 THE VALUE OF ONE SOUL Matthew xviii. 7-14. HAT an infinite value the Lord at- taches to one soul ! " And one of them be gone astray ! " I thought He might never have missed the one ! And yet the Eastern shepherd says that out of his great flock he can miss the indi- vidual face. A face is missing, as though a child were absent from the family circle. When a soul is wandering in the far country there is an awful gap in the Father's house ! Is thy place empty? Is mine? And mark the pangs of the Shepherd's quest. He " goeth into the mountain and seeketh!" The Eastern shepherd goes out in tempest, and in rocky ravine, or in thorny scrub that tears the hands and feet, he seeks and finds his sheep. And my Lord sought me, in stony and thorny places, in the darkness of Gethsemane, and in the awful desolations of The Hill. And the Shepherd found His sheep, and He returns across the hills singing the song of the triumph of grace — " And up from the mountains, thunder-riven, And up from the rocky steep, A cry arose to the gates of heaven, ' Rejoice ! I have found My sheep ! ' And the angels echo around the throne, 'Rejoice! for the Lord brings back His own! JANUARY T^v'enty -second MY OWN SHEPHERD Psalm xxiii. OW shall we touch this lovely psalm and not bruise it ? It is exquisite as " a violet by a mossy stone ! " Ex- position is almost an impertinence, its grace is so simple and winsome. There is the ministry of rest. " He maketh me to lie down in green pastures." The Good Shepherd knows when my spirit needs relaxation. He will not have me always " on the stretch." The bow of the best violin sometimes requires to have its strings " let down." And so my Lord gives me rest. And there is the discipline of change. " He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness." Those strange roads in life, unknown roads, by which I pass into changed circumstances and surround- ings ! But the discipline of the change is only to bring me into new pastures, that I may gain fresh nutriment for my soul. " Because they have no changes they fear not God." And there is " the valley of the shadow," cold and bare ! What matter ? He is there ! " I will fear no evil." What if I see " no pastures green " ? " Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me ! " The Lord, who is leading, will see after my food. " Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies." I have a quiet feast while my foes are looking on! JAMUART ^e T^^>enty-tKird 23 THE GIVER'S HAND Genesis iv. 3-15. AIN and Abel both brought an offer- ing unto the Lord, but one was ac- cepted and the other rejected. It is the giver who determines the worth or the worthlessness of the gift. God looks not at the gift, but at the hand that brings it. " Your hands are full of blood ! " " Your hands are unclean ! " The Lord demands " clean hands." He will not have our compliments if there is defilement behind them. Our courtesies are rejected if iniquity attends them. The shin- ing gloss on the linen is an offence if the dirt looks through ! Who cares for food if presented by unclean hands ? " Be ye clean, ye that bear the vessels of the Lord ! " Every gift is welcome to the Lord if offered with clean hands. A mite, or a cup of cold water, or our daily labour, or the first-fruits of garden or field — all receive the blessing of our God if the hands that bring them are free from defilement. So is it with everything we offer to the Lord. A song of praise makes sweet music in the hearing of our God if it come from pure lips ! Purity, as Thomas a' Kempis says, gives the wings which carry everything into the Father's presence. JAMUARY OKe THE VOICE OF THE DEAD Hebrews xi. i-6. ITH what voice shall we speak when we are dead? What will men hear when they turn their thoughts to- ward us? What part of us will re- main alive, singing or jarring in men's remembrance? It is the biggest part of us that retains its voice. In some it is wealth, in others it is goodness ; some go on speaking in their cruelty, others in their gentleness. Cain still speaks in his jealous passion. Abel speaks in his faith. Dorcas speaks in her " good works and alms-deeds which she did " ; Judas Iscariot speaks in his betrayal. Yes, something goes on speaking. What shall it be? But these biggest things not only continue to speak in the ears of memory, they persist as actual forces in the common life of men. Our faith is not buried with our bones, nor is our avarice or pride. Our characters do not die when our hearts cease to beat. " The evil that men do lives after them," and so does the good. But deeper than our deeds, our dominant dis- positions persist and mingle as friends or enemies in the lives of others. By them we, being dead, still speak, and we speak in subtle forces which aid or hinder other pilgrims who are fighting their way to God and heaven. JANUARY OKe Tv;ent3)-fiftK 25 FIRST, MY BROTHER! Matthew v. 17-24. IRST be reconciled to thy brother." We are to put first things first. When we bring a gift unto the Lord He looks at the hand that brings it. If the hand is defiled the gift is re- jected. " Wash you, make you clean." " First be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and ofifer thy gift." All this tells us why some resplendent gifts are rejected, and why some commonplace gifts are received amid heavenly song. This is why the widow's mite goes shining through the years. The hand that offered it was hallowed and puri- fied with sacrifice. Shall we say that in that palm there was something akin to the pierced hands of the Lord ? The mite had intimate asso- ciations with the Cross. And it also tells me why so much of our public worship is offensive to our Lord. We come to the church from a broken friendship. Some holy thing has been broken on the way. Some- one's estate has been invaded, and his treasure spoiled. Someone has been wronged, and God will not touch our gift. "Leave there thy gift; first be reconciled to thy brother." JANUARY nixe Txventy-sixtK THE FIRE OF ENVY " Where envying and strife is, there is con- fusion and every evil work." — James iii. 13-18. N Milton's " Comus " we read of a certain potion which has the power to pervert all the senses of everyone who drinks it. Nothing is appre- hended truly. Sight and hearing and taste are all disordered, and the victim is all un- conscious of the confusion. The deadly draught is the minister of deceptive chaos. And envy is like that potion when it is drunk by the spirit. It perverts every moral and spirit- ual sense. The envious is more fatally stricken than the blind. He gazes upon untruth and thinks it true. He looks upon confusion and thinks it order. Envy is colour-blind. It is like jealousy, of which it is a blood-relation. It never sees anything in its natural hues. It mis- interprets everything. No one can quench the unholy fire of envy but the mighty God Himself. Itjs like a prairie fire : once kindled it is_beyond our power to stamp it out. But God's coolness is more than a match for all our feverish heat. His quenchings are transformations. He converts the perverted and changes envy into goodwill. The bitter pool is made sweet. For confusion He gives order, for ashes He gives beauty, and in the face of an old enemy we see the countenance of a friend. JANUARY ni^e Twenty-5e^)entK 27 THE CONFESSION OF SIN " I acknowledge my transgressions; and my sin is ever before me." — Psalm li. 1-12. IN that is unconfessed shuts out the energies of grace. Confession makes the soul receptive oX the bountiful waters of life. We open the door to God as soon as we name our sin. Guilt that is penitently confessed is already in the " consuming fire " of God's love. When I ** acknowledge my sin " I begin to enter into the knowledge of " pardon, joy, and peace." But if I hide my sin I also hide myself from " the un- searchable riches of Christ." *' If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." I must then make confession of sin in my daily exercises in the presence of the Lord. I am taking the way to recovered victory when I tell the Lord the story of my defeat. Satan strengthens his awful chains when he can induce me to keep silence concerning my sin. All his plans are thrown into confusion as soon as I " pour out my soul before the Lord." When I fall let me not add to my guilt the further sin of secrecy. Unconfessed sin breeds in its lurking- place and multiplies its hateful offspring. The soul that makes confession is washed through and through, and the seeds of iniquity are driven out of my soul. 28 JAKfUART OKe T^0ent3)-eigKtK CLEAN 'AND UNCLEAN ANGER Ephesians iv. 25-32. ET all anger be put away from you." And yet only a moment ago the Apostle had written the words, " Be ye angry and sin not." My power of anger is not to be destroyed, it is to be transformed and purified. Anger can be like an unclean bonfire ; it can also be like " a sea of glass mingled with fire." There can be more smoke than light in it, more selfish passion than holy purpose. The fuel that feeds it may be envy, and jealousy, and spite, and not a big desire for the good of men and the glory of God. Worldly anger " is set on fire of hell " ; holy anger borrows flame from the altar-fires of God. Our anger reveals our character. What is the quality of our anger? What kindles it? Is it incited by our own wrongs or by the wrongs of another? Is it set on fire by self-indulgence or by a noble sympathy ? Here is a sentence which describes the anger of the Apostle Paul : " Who is made to stumble and I burn not ? " Paul's holy anger was made to burn by oppression, by the cruelty inflicted upon his fellow-men. His fire had nothing unclean in it ; it was pure as the flame of oxygen. This is the anger we must cherish. We cannot " work ourselves up " into it. We must seek to be " baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire." JANUARY Olve T>wenty-nintK 29 NOBLE REVENGE "I have delivered him that without cause is mine enemy." — Psalm vii. 4. HAT is the noblest revenge, and in those moments David had intimate knowledge of the spirit of his Lord. "If thine enemy hunger, feed him ! " Evil for good is devil-like. To receive a fa- vour and to return a blow ! To obtain the gift of language, and then to use one's speech to curse the giver ! To use a sacred sword is un- holy warfare ! All this is devil-like. Evil for evil is beast-like. Yes, the dog bites back when it is bitten. The dog returns snarl for snarl, venom for venom. And if, when I have been injured, I " pay a man back in his own coin," if I " give him as good as he gave," I am living on the plane of the beast. Good for good is man-like. When I requite a man's kindness by kindness ! When I send presents to one who loads me with benefits ! This is a true and manly thing to do, and lifts us far above the beast. Good for evil is God-like. Yes, that lifts me into " the heavenly places in Christ Jesus." Then I have " the mind of Christ." Then do I unto others as my Saviour has done unto me. JANUARY OKe TKirtietK IRRESISTIBLE ARTILLERY " When I cry unto Thee, then shall mine ene- mies turn hack." — Psalm Ivi. UT it must be a real " cry " ! It must not be an idle recitation which sheds no blood. It must be a cry like the cry of the drowning, a cry which cleaves the air like a bullet. Said a man to me some while ago, " Assault the heavens with cries for me ! " That is the cry which takes the kingdom by storm. When such a cry rends the heavens, " my enemies turn back." A secret and irresistible artillery begins to play upon them, and their strength fails. Yes, believing prayer calls these invisible allies into the field. " The mountains are full of horses and chariots of fire round about ! " And the enemy flies ! " This I know." The psalmist is building upon experience. The miracle has happened a hundred times. Many a morning has he seen the enemy vaingloriously tramping the field, and he has cried unto the Lord, and before nightfall there has been a perfect rout. Blessed is the man who has had such heartening dealings with the Lord that he can now face a hostile host in unclouded faith and assurance ! JAKfUART TKirt9-first UNDER HIS WINGS "In the shadow of Thy wings will I make my refuge." — Psalm Ivii. OULD anything be more tenderly- gracious than this figure of hiding under the shadow of God's wings? It speaks of bosom-warmth, and bosom-shelter, and bosom-rest. " Let me to Thy bosom fly ! " And what strong wings they are ! Under those wings I am secure even from the lions. My;_ animal passions shall not hurt me when I am " hiding in God." The fiercest onslaughts of the devil are powerless to break those mighty wings. The tenderest little chick, " one of these little ones," nestling behind this soft and gentle shelter, shall be perfectly secure ; " none of its bones shall be broken." I do not wonder that this sheltering psalmist begins to sing! "/ will sing and give praise!" I have often listened to the sheltering chicks, hid- ing behind the mother's wings, and I have heard that quaint, comfortable, contented sound for which our language has no name. It is a sound of incipient song, the musical murmur of satis- faction. " I will sing unto Thee . . . for Thy mercy is great." 32 FEBRUARY ^e First THE SOUL IN PRISON Bring my soul out of prison!" — Psalm cxlii. TOO, have my prison-house, and only the Lord can deliver me. There is the prison-house of sin. It is a dark and suffocating hole, without friendly light or morning air. And it is haunted by such affrighting shapes, as though my iniquities had incarnated them- selves in ugly and repulsive forms. None but the Lord can bring me out. And there is the prison-house of sorrow. My griefs sometimes wrap me about like cold con- fining walls, which have neither windows nor doors. It seems as though a fluid sorrow can con- geal into a cold, hard temperament, and hold me in its icy embrace. And none but the Lord can bring me out. And there is the prison-house of death. I must perforce pass through the gate of death. Shall I find it a castle of gloom, or is there another gate through which I shall emerge into the fair, sweet paradise of God? My Master is Lord of the road ! And He tells me that death shall not be a castle of captivity, but only a thoroughfare through which I shall pass into the realm of eternal day. FEBRUARY ^e HOW TO APPROACH A CRISIS " It shall be given you in that same hour." — Matthew x. 16-28. ND so I am not to worry about the coming- crisis ! " God never is be- fore His time, and never is behind ! " When the hour is come, I shall find that the great Host hath made " all things ready." When the crisis comes He will tell me how to rest. ,It is a great matter to know just how to rest — how to be quiet when '' all without tumultu- ous seems." We irritate and excite our souls about the coming emergency, and we approach it with worn and feverish spirits, and so mar our Master's purpose and work. When the crisis comes He will tell me what to d o. The orders are not given until the ap- pomted day. Why should I fume and fret and worry as to what the sealed envelope contains? " It is enough that He knows all," and when the hour strikes the secrets shall be revealed. And when the crisis comes He will tell me what to say. I need not begin to prepare my retorts and my responses. What shall I say when death comes, to me or to my loved one? Never mind, He will tell thee. And what when sorrow or persecution comes? Never mind, He will tell thee. 34 FEBRUARY Hl^e TKird TRANSFORMING THE HARD HEART The Lord " turned the Hint into a fountain of waters." — Psalm cxiv. HAT a violent conjunction, the flint becoming the birthplace of a spring! And yet this is happening every day. Men who are as " hard as flint," whose hearts are " Hke the nether millstone," become springs of gentleness and fountains of exquisite compassion. Beautiful graces, like lovely ferns, grow in the home of severities, and transform the grim, stern soul into a garden of fragrant friendships. This is what Zacchaeus was like when his flint became a foun- tain. It is what Matthew the publican was like when the Lord changed his hard heart into a land of springs. No one is " too far gone." No hardness is beyond the love and pity of God. The well of eternal life can gush forth even in a desert waste, and " where sin abounds grace doth much more abound." Let us bring our hardness to the Lord. Let us see what He can make of oiir flint. When we are dry and " feelingless," and desire is dead, let us bring this Sahara to the great Restorer, and " the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the rose." FEBRUARY OTKe FourtK 35 SPIRITUAL BUOYANCY " When thou passeth through the waters they shall not overflow thee." — Isaiah xliii. 1-7. HEN Mrs. Booth, the mother of the Salvation Army, was dying, she quietly said, " The waters are rising but I am not sinking." But then she had been saying that all through her life. Other floods besides the waters of death had gathered about her soul. Often had the floods been out and the roads were defp in afflic- tion. But she had never sunk ! The good Lord made her buoyant, and she rode upon the storm ! This, then, is the promise of the Lord, not that the waters of trouble shall never gather about the believer, but that he shall never be overwhelmed. He shall *' keep his head above them." Yes, to him shall be given the grace of " aboveness." He shall never be under, always above ! It is the precious gift of spiritual buoyancy, sanctified good spirits, the power of the Christian hope. When we are in Christ Jesus circumstances shall never be our master. One is our Master, and " we are more than conquerors in Him that loved us. and washed us from our sins in His own blood." EVERYWHERE THE GATE OF HEAVEN " Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not." — Genesis xxviii. 10-22. HAT is the first time for many a day that Jacob had named the name of God. In all the dark story of his wicked intrigue the name of God is never mentioned. Jacob wanted to forget God ! God would be a disturbing pres- ence ! But here he encounters Him in a dream, and in the most unlikely place. " And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place ! " Jacob had yet to learn that there is everywhere " a ladder set up on the earth and the top of it reaches to heaven." There was a ladder from the very tent in which he wore his deceptive skin. There was a ladder from the secret place where he and his mother wove their mischievous plot. There is no corner of earth which is cut away from the Divine vigilance. God gets at us every- where. But there is a merciful side to all this. If the ladder be everywhere, and God can get at us, then also everywhere we can get at God. There are"^*^ ascending angels " who will carry our con- fessions, our prayers, our sighs and mournings, to the very heart of the eternally gracious God. FEBRUARY ^TKe Sixth 37 THE HOME-BIRD Psalm xci. 1-12. READ a sentence the other day in which a very powerful modern writer describes a certain woman as " hav- ing God on her visiting list." We may recoil from the phrase, but it very vitally describes a very awful commonplace. Countless thousands have God on their visiting lists. They pay Him courtesy-calls, and between the calls He is forgotten. Perhaps the call is paid once a week in the social function of wor- ship. Perhaps it is paid more rarely, like calls between comparative strangers. How great the contrast between a caller and one who dwells in the secret place ! It is the difference between a flirt and a " home-bird," between one who flits about on a score of fancies, and one who settles down in the solid satisfaction of a supreme affec- tion. " Shall abide under the shadow of the Al- mighty." Such is the reward of the " home- bird," the settled friend of the Lord. The shadow of the Lord shall rest upon him continually. I sometimes read of our monarchs being " shad- owed " by protective police. In an infinitely more real and intimate sense the soul that dwells in " the secret place " is shadowed by the sleepless grace and_love of God. LEAVING ITS MARK " Fear not, thou worm Jacob, I will make thee a threshing instniment with teeth." — Isaiah xli. 8-14. OULD any two things be in greater contrast than a worm and an instru- ment with teeth? The worm is deli- cate, bruised by a stone, crushed beneath a passing wheel ; an instru- ment with teeth can break and not be broken, it can grave its mark upon the rock. And the mighty God can convert the one into the other. He can take a man or a nation, who has all the impotence of the worm, and by the invigoration of His own Spirit He can endow them with strength by which they will leave a noble mark upon the history of their time. And so the " worm " may take heart. The mighty God can make us stronger than our cir- cumstances. We can bend them all to our good. In God's strength we can make them all pay tribute to our souls. We can even take hold of a black disappointment, break it open, and extract some jewel of grace. When God gives us wills like iron we can drive through difficulties as the iron share cuts through the toughest soil. " I will make thee," saith the Lord, " and shall He not do it ? " FEBRUARY Hlie EigKtK REVISITING OLD ALTARS "I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress." — Gene- sis XXXV. 1-7. T is a blessed thing to revisit our early- altars. It is good to return to the haunts of early vision. Places and things have their sanctifying influ- ences, and can recall us to lost experiences. I know a man to whom the scent of a white, wild rose is always a call to prayer. I know another to whom Grasmere is always the window of holy vision. Sometimes a particular pew in a particular church can throw the heavens open, and we see the Son of God. The old Sunday-school has sometimes taken an old man back to his childhood and back to his God. So I do not wonder that God led Jacob back to Bethel, and that in the old place of blessing he re- consecrated himself to the Lord. It is a revelation of the loving-kindness of God that we have all these helps to the recovery of past experiences. Let us use them with rever- ence. And in our early days let us make them. Let us build altars of communion which in later life we shall love to revisit. Let us make our early home " the house of God and the gate of heaven." Let us multiply deeds of service which will make countless places fragrant for all our after years. FEBRUARY OKe MintK, THE ROCK AND THE BOWING WALL Psalm Ixii. ERE are two symbols by which the psalmist describes the confidence of the righteous. "He only is my rock." Only yesterday I had the shelter of a great rock on a storm- swept mountain side. The wind tore along the heights, driving the rain like hail, but in the opening of the rock our shelter was complete. And the second symbol is this : " He is my high place." The high place is the home of the chamois, out of reach of the arrow. " Flee as a bird to your mountain ! " Get beyond the hunt- er's range ! Our security is found in loftiness.- It is our unutterable privilege to live in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Such is the con- fidence of the righteous. In this psalm there is also another pair of sym- bols describing the futility of the wicked. The wicked is " as a bowing wall." The wall is out of perpendicular, out of conformity with the truth of the plumb-line, and it will assuredly topple into ruin. So is it with the wicked : he is building awry, and he will fall into moral disaster. He is also "as a tottering fence." The wind and the rain dislodge the fence, it rots at its foundations, and one day it lies prone upon the ground. FEBRUARY ^e TentK 41 REGISTERING A VERDICT " The Lord our God will we serve, and His voice tvill we obey." — Joshua xxiv. 22-28. ERE was a definite decision. Our peril is that we spend oiir life in wavering and we never decide. We are like a jury which is always hear- ing evidence and never gives a ver- dict. We do much thinking, but we never make up our minds. We let our eyes wander over many things, but we make no choice. Life has no crisis, no culmination. Now people who never decide spend their days in hoping to do so. But this kind of life becomes a vagrancy and not a noble and illumined cru- sade. We drift through our days, we do not steer, and we never arrive at any rich and stately haven. It is therefore vitally wise to " make a vow unto the Lord." It is good to pull our loose thinkings together and to " gird up the loins of the mind." Let a man, at some definite place, and at some definite moment, make the supreme choice of his life. 42 FEBRUARY (Ike Eleventh i THE HILL COUNTRY OF THE SOUL Psalm cxxi. HERE should be a hill country in every life, some great up-towering peaks which dominate the common plain. There should be an upland district, where springs are born, and where rivers of inspiration have their birth. " I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills." The soul that knows no hills is sure to be oppressed with the monotony of the road. The inspiration to do little things comes from the presence of big things. It is amazing what dull trifles we can get through when a radiant love is near. A noble companionship glorifies the dingiest road. And what if that Companion be God ? Then, surely, " the common round and daily task " have a light thrown upon them from " the beauty of His countenance." The " heavenlies " are our salvation and our defence. " His righteousness is like the great mountains." " The mountains bring forth peace unto His people." FEBRUARY OKe Tv;elftK 4S THE BULB AND THE SOIL " He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me." — ^John xiv. 15-24. ES, but how can I keep them? Some one sent me a bulb which requires a certain kind of soil, but he also sent me the soil in which to grow it. He sent instructions, but he also sent power. And when I am bidden to keep a com- mandment I feel as though I have received the bulb but not the soil ! But is this God's way of dealing with His people ? I will read on if per- chance I may find the gift of the soil. " He that abideth in Me . . . the same bring- eth forth much fruit." That is the gift I seek. For the keeping of His commandments the Lord provides Himself. I am not called upon to raise fruits out of the soil of my own will, out of my own infirmity of aspiration or desire. I can rest everything in God ! I can " abide in Him," and I may have the holy energies of the Godhead to produce in me the fruits of a holy and obedient life. The good Lord provides both the bulb and the soil. It is the tragedy of life that we forget this, and seek to make a soil-bed of our own. And thus do we suffer the calamity of fruitless labour, the heavy drudgery of tasks beyond our strength, " Come unto Me. all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." FEBRUARY Olxe TKirteentK GRUDGES " Thou shall not hear any grudge." — Leviti- cus xix. 11-18. OW searching is that demand upon the soul ! My forgiveness of my brother is to be complete. No sul- lenness is to remain, no sulky temper which so easily gives birth to thunder and lightning. There is to be no painful aloof- ness, no assumption of a superiority which rains contempt upon the offender. When I forgive, I am not to carry any powder forward on the journey. I am to empty out all my explosives, all my ammunition of anger and revenge. I am not to " bear any grudge." I cannot meet this demand. It is altogether beyond me. I might utter words of forgiveness, but I cannot reveal a clear, bright, blue sky with- out a touch of storm brewing anywhere. But the Lord of grace can do it for me. He can change my weather. He can create a new climate. He can " renew a right spirit within me," and in that holy atmosphere nothing shall live which seeks to poison and destroy. Grudges shall die " like cloud-spots in the dawn." Re- venge, that awful creation of the unclean, fever- ish soul, shall give place to good-will, the strong genial presence which makes its home in the new heart. FEBRUARY Hlxe FourteentK 45 IMPERFECT CONSECRATION Matthew xix. 16-22. 'HE rich young ruler consecrated a part, but was unwilling to consecrate the whole. He hallowed the inch but not the mile. He would go part of the way, but not to the end. And the peril is upon us all. We give ourselves to the Lord, but we reserve some liberties. We offer Him our house, but we mark some rooms " Pri- vate." And that word " Private," denying the Lord admission, crucifies Him afresh. He has no joy in the house so long as any rooms are with- held. Dr. F. B. Meyer has told us how his early Christian life was marred and his ministry para- lyzed just because he had kept back one key from the bunch of keys he had given to the Lord. Every key save one ! The key of one room kept for personal use, and the Lord shut out. And the effects of the incomplete consecration were found in lack of power, lack of assurance, lack of joy and peace. The " joy of the Lord " begins when we hand over the last key. We sit with Christ on His throne as soon as we have surrendered all our crowns, and made Him sole and only ruler of our life and its possessions. FEBRUARY THE WITNESS OF YESTERDAY. Psalm Ixxviii. i-8. UR yesterdays are to be the teachers of our children. We are to take them over our road, and show them the pitfalls where we stumbled and the snares that lured us away. And we are to show them how we found the springs of grace, and how the Lord made Himself known to us in daily providence and care. We are to relate His exploits. " His wonderful dealings with the children of men." We must make our life witness of God to our children, and when their minds roam over our road they must see it radiant with the grace and mercy of the Lord. The best inheritance I can give my child is a steadfast witness of my knowledge of God. The testimony of a light that never failed may give him the needful wisdom when his own way be- comes troubled with clouds and darkness. And what a story it is. this story of the deeds of our gracious God. It is full of quickening for weary and desponding souls. It is a perfect reservoir of inspiration for those whose desire has failed, and in whose lives the wells of impulse have be- come dry. Let us bring forward yesterday's wealth to enrich the life of to-day. " Do ye not remember the miracle of the loaves ? " FEBRUARY HTie SixteentK 47 CROWDING OUT GOD Lest thou forget." — Deuteronomy iv. 5-13. HAT is surely the worst affront we can put upon anybody. We may oppose a man and hinder him in his work, or we may directly injure him, or we may ignore him, and treat him as nothing. Or we may forget him ! Opposition, injury, contempt, neglect, forgetfulness ! Surely this is a descending scale, and the last is the worst. And yet we can forget the Lord God. We can forget all His benefits. We can easily put Him out of mind. We can live as though He were dead. " My children have forgotten Me." What shall we do to escape this great dis- aster? "Take heed to thyself!" To take heed is to be at the helm and not asleep in the cabin. It is to steer and not to drift. It is to keep our eyes on the compass and our hands on the wheel. It is to know where we are going. We never deliberately forget our Lord ; we carelessly drift into it. " Take heed." " And keep thy soul diligently." Gardens run to seed, and ill weeds grow apace. The fair things are crowded out, and the weed reigns everywhere. It is ever so with my soul. If I neglect it, the flowers of holy desire and devo- tion will be choked by weeds of worldliness. God will be crowded out, and the garden of the soul will become a wilderness of neglect and sin. 48 FEBRUARY Olte Seventeenth BLESSINGS AND CURSINGS " He read all the words of the law, the bless- ings and the cursings." — Joshua viii. 30-35. E are inclined to read only what pleases us, to hug the blessings and to ignore the warnings. We bask in the light, we close our eyes to the lightning. We recount the promises, we shut our ears to the rebukes. We love the passages which speak of our Master's gentleness, we turn away from those which re- veal His severity. And all this is unwise, and therefore unhealthy. We become spiritually soft and anjemic. We lack moral stamina. We are incapable of noble hatred and of holy scorn. We are invertebrate, and on the evil day we are not able to stand. We must read " all the words of the law, the blessings and the cursings." We must let the Lord brace us with His severities. We must gaze steadily upon the appalling fearfulness of sin, and upon its terrific issues. At all costs we must get rid of the spurious gentleness that holds com- promise with uncleanness, that effeminate affec- tion which is destitute of holy fire. We must seek the love which burns everlastingly against all sin ; we must seek the gentleness w^hich can fiercely grip a poisonous growth and tear it out to its last hidden root. We must seek that holy love which is as a " consuming fire." FEBRUARY Hl^e THE SUBTLETY OE TEMPTATION James i. 12-20. VIL enticements always come to us in borrowed attire. In the Boer War ammunition was carried out in piano cases, and military advices were transmitted in the skins of melons. And that is the way of the enemy of our souls. He makes us think we are receiving music when he is sending explosives ; he promises life, but his gift is laden with the seeds of death. He ofifers us liberty, and he hides his chains in dazzling flowers. " Things are not what they seem." And so our enemy uses mirages, and will-o'- the-wisps and tinselled crowns. He lights friendly fires on perilous coasts to snare us to our ruin. And therefore we need clear, sure eyes. We need a refined moral sense which can dis- cfirninate between the true and the false, and which can discern the enemy even when he comes as " an angel of light." And we may have this wisdom from " the God of all wisdom." By His grace we may be kept morally sensitive, and we shall know our foe even when he is a long way off. $0 FEBRUARY OKe MineteentK THE THOUGHT AFAR OFF Psalm cxxxix. 1-12. HOU knowest my thought afar off." That fills me with awe. I cannot find a hiding-place where I can sin in secrecy. I cannot build an apparent sanctuary and conceal evil within its walls. I cannot with a sheep's skin hide the wolf. I cannot wrap my jealousy up in flattery and keep it unknown. " Thou God seest me." He knows the bottom thought that creeps in the basement of my being. Nothing surprises God ! He sees all my sin. So am I filled with awe. " Thou knowest my thought afar off." This fills me also with hope and joy. He sees the faintest, weakest desire, aspiring after goodness. He sees the smallest fire of affection burning un- certainly in my soul. He sees every movement of penitence which looks toward home. He sees every little triumph, and every altar I build along life's way. Nothing is overlooked. My God is not like a policeman, only looking for crimes ; He is the God of grace, looking for graces, searching for jewels to adorn His crown. So am I filled with hope and joy. FEBRUARY Hlte TwentietK 51 TAMPERING WITH THE LABEL I John iii. 4-10. IN is transgression. It is the deliber- ate climbing of the fence. We see the trespass-board, and in spite of the warning we stride into the for- bidden field. Sin is not ignorance, it is intention. We sin when we are wide-awake! There are teachers abroad who would soften words like these. They offer us terms which appear to lessen the harshness of our actions ; they give our sin an aspect of innocence. But to alter the label on the bottle does not change the character of the contents. Poison is poison give it what name we please. " Sin is the transgres- sion of the law." Let us be on our guard against the men whose pockets are filled with deceptive labels. Let us vigilantly resist all teachings which would chloro- form the conscience. Let us prefer true terms to merely nice ones. Let us call sin by its right name, and let us tolerate no moral conjuring either with ourselves or with others. The first essential in all moral reformation is to call sin " sin." " If we confess our sin He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin." 52 FEBRUARY OKe Twenty-first GRACE REIGNS! Romans v. 12-21. HEN old Mr. Honest came to the river, and he entered the cold waters of death, the last words he was heard to utter by those who stood on the shore were these : — " Grace reigns ! " All through his pilgrimage old Mr. Honest had been in Emmanuel's land where grace reigned night and day. It was through grace that he had found the way of life. It was through grace that he had been delivered from the beasts and pitfalls of the road. It was grace that had given him lilies of peace, and springs of refreshment, and the fine air that inspired him in difficult tasks. And in death he still found " grace abounding," and the Lord of the changing road was also Lord of the dark waters through which he passed into the radiant glories of the cloud- less day. In every yard of a faithful pilgrimage we shall find the decrees of sovereign love. We are never in alien country. " Grace reigns " in every hill and valley, through every green pasture and over every rugged road, in every moment of " the day of life," and in the last sharp passage through the transient night of death. FEBRUARY ^Ihe Twenty-second 53 THE THREE GARDENS Revelation xxii. 1-14. I HE Bible opens with a garden. It closes with a garden. The first is the Paradise that was lost. The last is Paradise regained. And between the two there is a third garden, the gar- den of Gethsemane. And it is through the un- speakable bitterness and desolation of Geth- semane that we find again the glorious garden through which flows " the river of water of life." Without Gethsemane no New Jerusalem ! With- out its mysterious and unfathomable night no blessed sunrise of eternal hope ! " We were reconciled to God by the death of His Son." We are always in dire peril of regarding our redemption lightly. We hold it cheaply. Privileges easily come to be esteemed as rights. And even grace itself can lose the strength of heavenly favour and can be received and used as our due. " Gethsemane can I forget? " Yes, I can ; and in the forgetf ulness I lose the sacred awe of my redemption, and I miss the real glory of " Paradise regained." " Ye are not your own ; ye are bought with a price." That is the remem- brance that keeps the spirit lowly, and that fills the heart with love for Him " whose I am," and whom I ought to serve. 54 FEBRUARY OKe Twenty-tKird THE PROCESS AND THE END " Ye have seen the end of the Lord: that the Lord is very pitifid, and of tender mercy." — James v. 7-1 i. ND so we are bidden to be patient. " We must wait to the end of the Lord.'' The Lord's ends are at- tained through very mysterious means. Sometimes the means are in contrast to the ends. He works toward the harvest through winter's frost and snow. The maker of chaste and deUcate porcelain reaches his lovely ends through an awful mortar, where the raw material of bone and clay is pounded into a cream. In^ that mortar-chamber we have no hint of the finished ware. But be patient, even in this chamber of affliction the ware is on the way to glory ! And so it is with the ministries of our Lord, He leads us through discords into harmonies, through opposition into union, through adversi- ties into peace. His means of grace are processes, sometimes gentle, sometimes severe ; and our folly is to assume that we have reached His ends when we are only on the way to them. " The end of the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy." " Be patient, therefore," until it shall be spoken of thee and me, " And God saw that it was good." FEBRUARY Olie Tx^^enty-fourtK 55 MOVING TOWARDS DAYBREAK "He hath brought me into darkness, hut not into light." — Lamentations iii. 1-9. UT a man may be in darkness, and yet in motion toward the light. I was in the darkness of the subway, and it was close and oppressive, but I was moving toward the light and fra- grance of the open country. I entered into a tun- nel in the Black Country in England, but the motion was continued, and we emerged amid fields of loveliness. And therefore the great thing to remember is that God's darknesses are not His goals ; His tunnels are means to get somewhere else. Yes. His darknesses are ap- pointed ways to His light. In God's keeping we are always moving, and we are moving to- wards Emmanuel's land, where the sun shines, and the birds sing night and day. There is no stagnancy for the God-directed soul. He is ever guiding us, sometimes with the delicacy of a glance, sometimes with the firmer ministry of a grip, and He moves with us al- ways, even through " the valley of the shadow of death." Therefore, be patient, my soul ! The darkness is not thy bourn, the tunnel is not thy abiding home ! He will bring thee out into a large place where thou shalt know " the liberty of the glory of the children of God." 56 FEBRUARY al^e Twenty-fftK, niornms- THE FRESH EYE " His compassions fail not: they are ne-jo every -Lamentations iii. 22-33. E have not to live on yesterday's manna ; we can gather it fresh to- day. Compassion becomes _stale when it becomes thoughtless. It is new thought that keeps our pity strong. If our perception of need can remain vivid, as vivid as though we had never seen it before, our sympathies will never fail. The fresh eye insures the sensitive heart. And our God's compassions are so new because He never becomes accustomed to our need. He always sees it with an eye that is never dulled by the common- place ; He never becomes blind with much seeing ! We can look at a thing so often that we cease to see it. God always sees a thing as though He were seeing it for the first time. " Thou, God, seest me," and " His compassions fail not." And if my compassions are to be like a river that never knows drought, I must cultivate a freshness of sight. The horrible can lose its hor- rors. The daily tragedy can become the daily commonplace. My neighbour's needs can become as familiar as my furniture, and I may never see either the one or the other. And therefore must I ask the Lord for the daily gift of discerning eyes. " Lord, that I may receive my sight." And with an always newly-awakened interest may I reveal " the compassions of the Lord ! " FEBRUARY OKe Txvent>)-sixtK 57 THE CELLARS OF AFFLICTION Psalm xxxiv. 9-22. AMUEL RUTHERFORD used to say that whenever he found him- self in the cellars of afflictions he used to look about for the King's wine. He would look for the wine-bottles of the promises and drink rich draughts of vital- izing grace. And surely that is the best deliver- ance in all affliction, to be made so spiritually exhilarant that we can rise above it. I might be taken out of affliction, and emerge a poor slave and weakling. I might remain in affliction, and yet be king in the seeming servitude, " more than conqueror " in Christ Jesus. It is a great thing to be led through green pastures and by still waters ; I think it is a greater thing to have a " table prepared before me in the presence of mine enemies." It is good to be able to sing in the sunny noon ; it is better still to be able to sing " songs in the night." And this deliverance may always be ours in Christ Jesus. The Lord may not smooth out our circumstances, but we may have the regal right of peace. He may not save us from the sorrows of a newly-cut grave, but we may have the glori- ous strength of the immortal hope. God will en- able us to be masters of all our circumstances, and none shall have a deadly hold upon us. 58 FEBRUARY OKe T^^)enty-se^entK THE MIGHT OF FRAILTY Psalm cv. 23-36. HAT is the wonder of wonders, that the Almighty God will use frail hu- manity as the vehicles of His power, and will make Moses and Aaron shine with reflected glory. Man can send an electric current into a fragile carbon film and make it incandescent. He can send his voice across a continent, and make it speak on a distant shore. And the Lord God can do won- ders compared with which these are only as the dimmest dreams. He can send His holy power into human speech, and the words can wake the dead. He can send His virtue into the human will, and its strength can shake the thrones of iniquity. He can send His love into the human heart, and the power of its affection can capture the bitterest foe. And so the word " impossible " becomes itself impossible when the soul of man is in fellowship with the Lord of Hosts. The pliant will becomes an iron pillar. The weak heart becomes " as a defended city " when it is the home of God. Dumb lips become the thrones of mysterious elo- quence when touched with divine inspiration. FEBRUARY Hlxe Tv?ent9-eigKtK 59 THE TEST OF FULNESS Deuteronomy viii. i-io. |ND thou shalt eat and be full, and thou shalt bless the Lord thy God." Fulness is surely a more searching test than want. Fulness induces sleep and forgetfulness. Many a man fights a good fight with Apollyon in the nar- row way, who lapses into sleepy indifference on the Enchanted Ground. Men often sit down to a full table without " grace." Pain cries out to God, while boisterous health strides along in heedlessness. Yes, it is our fulness that consti- tutes our direst peril. " This was the iniquity of Sodom, fulness of bread and abundance of idle- ness." And so our tests may come on the sunny day. A nation's supreme tests may come in its prosperity. The sunshine may do more damage than the lightning. The soul may falter even in Beulah land, where " the sun shines night and day." Prayer must not, therefore, tarry until sick- ness and adversity come. We must " pray with- out ceasing " in the cloudless noon, lest we are stricken with " the arrow that flieth by day." We must seek the eternal strength when no apparent enemy crouches at our gate, and when our easy road is lined with luxuriant flowers and fruit. INVINCIBLE RELIANCE Hebrews xi. 17-22. CCOUNTING that God was able." That is the faith that makes moral heroes. That is the faith that prompts mighty ventures and cru- sades. It is faith in God's willing- ness and ability to redeem His promises. It is faith that if I do my part He will most assuredly do His. It is faith that He cannot possibly fail. It is faith that when He makes a promise the money is already in the bank. It is faith that when He sends me into the wilderness the secret harvest is already ripe from which He will give me " daily bread." It is faith that " all things are now ready," and in that faith I will face the apparently impossible task. And thus the " impossible " leads me to the " prepared." The desert leads me to " fields white already." The hard call to sacrifice leads me to the " lamb in the thicket." " God is able," and He is never behind the time. The critical need unveils His grace. "" ' Faith goes out on this invincible reliance. It is " the assurance of things hoped for." And by faith it inherits these things and is rich and strong in their possession. MARCH