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^iiM^JUx^ 
 
Dr. Miller's Year Book 
 
 A YEAR'S DAILY READINGS 
 
 / BY 
 J. R. MILLER, D.D. 
 
 AUTHOR OF "SILENT TIMES," "MAKING THE MOST OF LIFE," " THE 
 
 EVERYDAY OF LIFE," " GLIMPSES THRO' LIFE'S 
 
 WINDOWS," ETC. 
 
 Why cannot we, slipping our hand into His each day, walk trustingly 
 over the day's appointed path, thorny or flowery, crooked or straight, 
 knowing that evening will bring us sleep, peace, and home ? 
 
 Phillips Brooks. 
 
 NEW YORK: 46 East i 4 th Street V\0 fcC (TO A 0^ 
 
 THOMAS Y. CROWELL & COMPANY 
 
 BOSTON : 100 Purchase Street 
 
THE LIBRARY 
 OF CONGRESS 
 
 WASHINGTON 
 
 y\* 
 
 Copyright, 1895, 
 By Thomas Y. Crowell & Co. 
 
 TYPOGRAPHY BY C. J. PETERS & 
 BOSTON, 
 
 SON, 
 
A verse of Scripture in the morning may become 
 a benediction for all the day. It may sing in the 
 heart as a snatch of sweet song from morning till 
 evening. It may become a liturgy of prayer in which 
 the soul shall voice its deepest wants and hungers, 
 amid toils, struggles, and cares. It may be a guide 
 through perplexing tangles, an angel whispering 
 cheer, a comforter breathing peace in sorrow. 
 
 In these pages a Bible text — oft-times only a 
 fragment — stands at the head, with some words 
 which may illustrate and emphasize the thought 
 of the Scripture, and frequently with some quoted 
 lines which may have a message to the reader. 
 
 No effort has been made to follow any chrono- 
 logical or other order, save that in a few cases 
 fragments of the same story are . kept together. 
 
 If there seem to be fewer texts from the Gospels 
 than one would expect, the reason is that in an- 
 other volume — Come Ye Apart, published by Ward 
 and Drummond, New York — the author has taken 
 all the year's readings from the Gospels, following 
 the course of our Lord's earthly life from beginning 
 to close. 
 
 For the title of the book, my good friends the 
 publishers are responsible. I would have preferred 
 something more impersonal, but I have let them 
 have their way. j R M 
 
 Philadelphia. 
 
January 1. 
 
 The Lord bless thee and keep thee : 
 
 The Lord make his face to shine upon thee, and be 
 gracious unto thee : 
 
 The Lord lift tp his countenance ipon thee, and give 
 thee peace. — Numbers vi. 24-26. 
 
 IN the first days of a new year we all say to our 
 friends and neighbors, " Happy New Year ! " 
 Our hearts are full of generous feelings and wishes 
 for all we meet. But what can we do to give them 
 a happy new year ? We cannot compel their cir- 
 cumstances into fortunate adjustments, so as to pro- 
 duce happiness. Besides, we cannot know what 
 would be the truest and best blessings for our 
 friends. 
 
 After all, the only really safe thing is to pray 
 that God may be with them through the year, and 
 may bless them in his own best and truest way. 
 He knows better than we do what is the best bless- 
 ing. Mrs. Browning puts it well : — 
 
 " God be with thee, my beloved — God be with thee ! 
 
 Else alone thou goest forth 
 
 With thy face unto the north, 
 Moor and pleasance all around thee and beneath thee, 
 
 Looking equal in one snow ! 
 
 While I, who try to reach thee, 
 
 Vainly follow, vainly follow, 
 
 With the farewell and the hallo, 
 
 And cannot reach thee so. 
 
 Alas ! I can but teach thee — 
 God be with thee, my beloved — God be with thee ! " 
 
 00 
 
January 2. 
 
 Ye have compassed this mountain lo?ig enough : turn 
 you northward. — Deuteronomy ii. 3. 
 
 WE ought never to be willing to live any year 
 just as we lived the last one. No one is 
 striving after the best things who is not intent on an 
 upward and a forward movement continually. The 
 circular movement is essential too, — the going 
 around and around in the old grooves, — routine 
 work, daily tasks ; yet, even in this treadmill round, 
 there should be constant progress. We ought to 
 do the same things better each day. Then in the 
 midst of the outward routine our inner life ought 
 to be growing in earnestness, in force, in strength, 
 in depth. 
 
 Yet there are some people whose life year by year 
 is only a going around and around in the old beaten 
 paths, with no onward movement. They are like 
 men who walk in a circular course for a prize, cov- 
 ering a thousand miles, perhaps, but ending just 
 where they began. Rather, our daily walk should 
 be like one whose path goes about a mountain, but 
 climbs a little higher with each circuit, until at last 
 he gains the clear summit, and looks into the face of 
 God. While we must do in a measure the same 
 things every day, we should do them a little better 
 with each repetition. One writes : — 
 
 " Speak a shade more kindly than the year before; 
 Pray a little oftener; love a little more; 
 Cling a little closer to the Father's love; 
 Thus life below shall liker grow to life above." 
 
 (2) 
 
January 3. 
 
 The barrel of meal wasted ?iot, neither did the cruse 
 of oil fail — i Kings xvii. 16. 
 
 THERE was always just a little meal and a little 
 oil, but the supply never grew any less. After 
 each day's food had been taken out, there was an- 
 other day's left. There was never a month's supply 
 ahead, nor even two days' supply. The added pro- 
 vision came only as there was need. Thus there 
 was in that household a continuous lesson in faith. 
 But the food of no day failed. 
 
 The lesson is, that God wants us to live by the 
 day. The same truth is taught us in the prayer 
 Christ gave : " Give us this day our daily bread." 
 Enough for the day is all we are to ask. God does 
 not promise supplies in advance. If we have only 
 bread for to-day, and are doing our duty faithfully, 
 we may trust him till to-morrow for to-morrow's food. 
 And it will surely come, for God's word fails not. 
 
 " Charge not thyself with the weight of a year, 
 Child of the Master, faithful and dear; 
 Choose not the cross for the coming week, 
 For that is more than he bids thee seek. 
 Bend not thine arms for to-morrow's load; 
 Thou mayest leave that to thy gracious God. 
 8 Daily,' only, he saith to thee, 
 * Take up thy cross and follow me.' " 
 
 It is well that we get this lesson fixed in our 
 heart at the beginning of the year. As the days 
 come, each one will bring with it its own little 
 basket, carrying a day's supplies, but no more. 
 (3) ' 
 
January 4. 
 
 If ye abide in my word, then are ye truly my 
 disciples. — St. John viii. 3 1 . 
 
 IT is not enough to begin ; continuance is necessary. 
 Mere enrolment will not make one a scholar ; 
 the pupil must continue in the school through all the 
 long course, until he has mastered every branch. 
 One who has observed the course of men for many 
 years says that success in life depends upon staying 
 power. The reason for failure in most cases is lack 
 of perseverance. Men get tired and give up. There 
 are thousands who begin to follow Christ, but who, 
 when discouragements come, faint and drop out. 
 
 To abide in Christ's word is to obey him. We 
 must do it continuously too ; not to-day only, but 
 to-morrow as well, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, 
 unto the end. 
 
 There is another way of abiding in the word of 
 Christ. Many of his words are promises. The for- 
 ests in summer days are full of birds'-nests. They 
 are hidden among the leaves. The little birds know 
 where they are ; and when a storm arises, or when 
 night draws on, they fly each to his own nest. So 
 the promises of God are hidden in the Bible, like 
 nests in the great forests ; and thither we should fly 
 in any danger or alarm, hiding there in our soul's 
 nest until the storm be overpast. There are no 
 castles in this world so impregnable as the words 
 of Christ. 
 
 (4) 
 
January 5. 
 
 We must work the works of him that sent me, while 
 it is day : the night cometh, when no ma7i can work. — 
 St. John ix. 4. 
 
 w 
 
 all sent from God to take some specific part 
 in blessing the world. To do this we have just a 
 day of time. A day is a brief time. It is a fixed 
 time. When the sun comes to his going down, no 
 power in the universe can prolong his stay for one 
 minute. 
 
 Yet the day is long enough for God's plan. The 
 sun never sets too soon for his purpose. Each life 
 is long enough for the little part of the world's work 
 allotted to it. This is true even of the infant that 
 lives only an hour, merely coming into this world, 
 smiling its benediction, and flying away. It is true 
 of the child, of the young man or young woman, of 
 him who dies in the maturity of his powers with his 
 hands yet full of unfinished tasks. No one can ever 
 offer as an excuse for an unfinished life-work that 
 the time given to him was too short. It is always 
 long enough, if only every moment of it be filled with 
 simple faithfulness. 
 
 To have our work completed at the end, we must 
 do it while the day lasts, for there will be no oppor- 
 tunity afterward. If we are living earnestly, we shall 
 live all the time under the pressure of the conscious- 
 ness that the time is short. We must not waste 
 nor lose a moment. Soon it will be night, when we 
 cannot work. 
 
 (s) 
 
January 6. 
 
 The pillar of cloud removed from before them, and 
 stood behind them. — Exodus xiv. 19. 
 
 IT is not always guidance that we most need. 
 Sometimes we must stand still, with danger 
 all around us, and then God goes behind us to 
 shelter us. He always suits himself to our need. 
 When we require guidance, he leads us. But when 
 we need protection, he puts himself between us and 
 the danger. 
 
 There is something very striking in this picture 
 
 — the* divine presence moving from before, and 
 becoming a wall between Israel and their enemies. 
 There are some mother-birds — storks, for instance 
 
 — which cover their young with their own body in 
 time of peril, to shield them, receiving the dart 
 themselves. Human love often interposes itself as 
 a shield to protect its own. On the cross, Jesus 
 bared his bosom to receive the storm of wrath, that 
 on his people no blast of the awful tempest might 
 strike. 
 
 But not only does Christ put himself between us 
 and our sins ; he puts himself also between us and 
 danger. The Lord God is our shield. Many of 
 our dangers come upon us from behind. They are 
 stealthy, insidious, assaulting us when we are un- 
 aware of their nearness. The tempter is cunning 
 and shrewd. He does not meet us full-front. It 
 is a comfort to know that Christ comes behind us 
 when it is there we need the protection. 
 
 (6) 
 
January 7. 
 
 Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where 
 neither moth nor rust doth consume. — St. Matt. vi. 20. 
 
 SELF-DENYING economy in order to "lay up 
 for a rainy day " is universally commended. 
 By just so much more as the object is higher, is it 
 commendable to economize in order to " lay up 
 treasures in heaven." We really have only what 
 we have used well for Christ. When one has 
 learned this secret of banking in heaven, one has 
 the true philosopher's stone which turns everything 
 to gold. The simplest possessions are transformed 
 into eternal things. A threadbare coat becomes a 
 robe of righteousness, a last year's bonnet a crown 
 of glory, when worn in self-denying economy for 
 Christ's sake. We should live always for the high- 
 est and best things. 
 
 Look high, O soul ! for what is earth but dust, 
 The fleeting shadow of the better things? 
 The heavens are thine, if thou wilt use thy wings, 
 
 And sighs are songs, if thou wilt only trust. 
 
 Aim high, O soul ! for on the higher forms 
 Is always room, while lower ranks are filled; 
 Who climbs the heights finds all earth's noises stilled, 
 
 And a sweet calm and light above the storms. 
 
 Be high, O soul ! scorn what is low and base; 
 "Child of a King " they call thee; be a king, 
 And troops of vassals will their tribute bring, 
 
 To crown thee heir of glory, child of grace. 
 
 Henry Burton. 
 
 (7) 
 
January 8. 
 
 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command 
 you. — St. John xv. 14. 
 
 THERE is something very sweet in the thought 
 that we may be Christ's friends, and that he 
 opens all his heart .to us. " The secret of the Lord 
 is with them that fear him." This means that if 
 we are Christ's friends, he takes us into the closest 
 intimacy. Not many of us realize all that is possi- 
 ble in the way of companionship with Christ. If 
 we are on terms of unhindered friendship with him, 
 we can indeed talk with him freely, intimately, as 
 friend with friend. 
 
 " How does he talk with us ? " some one asks. 
 A heathen convert said, " When I pray, I talk to 
 Christ ; when I read my Bible, Christ speaks to 
 me." If we live close to Christ, the words of Scrip- 
 ture are very plain to us ; Christ himself indeed 
 speaks to us in them. 
 
 There was a godly man in Germany, named Ben- 
 gel, who was noted for his intimacy with Christ. A 
 friend desired to watch the saintly man at his de- ' 
 votions. So he concealed himself one night in his 
 room. Bengel sat long at his table reading his 
 New Testament. The hours passed. At length the 
 clock struck midnight, and the old man spread out 
 his hands, and said with great joy, " Dear Lord 
 Jesus, we are on the same old terms." Then clos- 
 ing his book he was soon in bed and asleep. He 
 had learned the secret of friendship with Christ. 
 
 (8) 
 
January 9. 
 
 Trade ye herewith till I come, — St. Luke xix. 13. 
 
 WE are doing business in this world for Christ. 
 Each one of us has something of his, a 
 pound which he has intrusted to us to trade with 
 as his agent. Our life itself, with all its powers, its 
 endowments, its opportunities, its privileges, its 
 blessings, its possibilities, is our pound. Our life is 
 not our own. We are not in this world merely to 
 have a good time for a few years. Life is a trust. 
 We are not done with it either when we have lived 
 it through to its last day. We must render an ac- 
 count of it to him who gave it to us. Our business 
 is to gather gains through our trading with our 
 Lord's money. We are required to make the most 
 that is possible of our life. 
 
 People often speak of the solemnity of dying. 
 It is a grave and serious matter, but it is a great 
 deal more solemn thing to live. Dying is but 
 giving back into God's hand his own gift, — life ; 
 and if we have lived well, -dying is victory, glory, 
 the trampling of life's opaque dome to fragments, 
 as our soul bursts into real and full life and blessed- 
 ness. It is living that is serious and solemn. Life 
 to its last particle is our Lord's property, intrusted 
 to us to be used so that it shall grow. Then comes 
 the judgment. We shall have to look up into our 
 Lord's face, and tell him what we have done with 
 his pound. We shall be expected to return our 
 trust, not only kept safe, but enhanced in value. 
 
 (9) 
 
January 10. 
 
 llie first came before him, saying, Lord, thy pound 
 hath made ten pounds more. — St. Luke xix. 16. 
 
 WE always find these ten-pound servants among 
 the followers of Christ. They are those 
 Christians who, from the very beginning, strive to 
 reach the best things attainable in life through 
 divine grace. They are not content with being 
 merely saved from sin's guilt, with being mere mem- 
 bers of the church. They make their consecration 
 to Christ complete, keeping nothing back. They set 
 their ideal of obedience to their Lord at the mark 
 of perfectness, and slack not in their striving till 
 they reach the mark in heaven. They seek to follow 
 Christ wholly, fully, with their whole heart. They 
 accept every duty without regard to its cost. They 
 seek to be like Christ, imitating him in all the 
 elements of his character. They give their whole 
 energy to the work and service of Christ. They lie, 
 like John, on the Master's bosom, and their souls 
 are struck through, as .it were, with the Master's 
 loving spirit. 
 
 So these men and women grow at last into a 
 saintliness, a spiritual beauty, and a power of use- 
 fulness and influence, by which they are set apart 
 among Christians, shining with brighter lustre than 
 other stars in the galaxy of the church. Their one 
 pound has made ten pounds more. Their high 
 spiritual attainment has been won by their diligent 
 and wise use of the pound with which they began. 
 
 (10) 
 
January 11. 
 
 Lord, thy pound, Lord, hath made five pounds. — 
 St. Luke xix. 18. 
 
 CHRIST gives into no man's hand at the begin- 
 ning of his life a finely trained, fully developed 
 mind. The great poets and writers of the world 
 began with only one pound. There was capacity 
 for growth, but that was all Christ gives to no 
 one at the start a noble, full-statured, rich, trans- 
 figured Christian character, with spiritual graces 
 all blossoming out. The most saintly Christians 
 began with very little saintliness, very little spiritual 
 power. The most useful men in the church began 
 with a very small and imperfect sort of usefulness. 
 
 Those whose influence for good now touches 
 thousands of lives, and extends over whole com- 
 munities, or fills an entire country, had nothing to 
 begin with but one little pound of capacity which 
 the Master intrusted to them. This is the principle 
 on which all our Lord's gifts are distributed. He 
 puts into our hands a little at first ; and as we use 
 what we have, and gain experience, and show ability, 
 and prove faithful to our trust, he adds more and 
 more, giving us all we can use well, and as fast as 
 we can use it. 
 
 " By thine own soul's law learn to live ; 
 And, if men thwart thee, take no heed; 
 And, if men hate thee, have no care; — 
 Sing thou thy song, and do thy deed ; 
 Hope thou thy hope, and pray thy prayer, 
 And claim no crown they will not give," 
 
 («) 
 
January 12. 
 
 They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their 
 strength ; they shall mount up with wings as eagles ; 
 they shall run, and not be weary ; they shall walk, and 
 not faint. — Isaiah xl. 31. 
 
 THE source of strength in any life must be God. 
 It is only when we are co-workers with him 
 that we are unconquerable. If we would be strong, 
 therefore, able to resist sin, able to do valiant battle 
 for the truth, able to touch other lives with healing, 
 uplifting influences, we must abide in Christ. Then 
 his strength shall be in our heart and in our arm. 
 
 It is told of General Gordon, that each morning, 
 during his journey in the Soudan country, for half 
 an hour there lay outside his tent a white handker- 
 chief. The whole camp knew well what it meant, 
 and looked upon the little signal with the utmost 
 respect ; no foot dared cross the threshold of that 
 tent while the little guard lay there. No message, 
 however pressing, was to be delivered. Matters of 
 life and death must wait until the white signal was 
 taken away. Everybody in the camp knew that 
 God and Gordon were communing together. Sweet 
 is the communion of the spirit that obtains near- 
 ness to its God. Powerful is the influence of the 
 soul that hourly longs to draw near to its God and 
 drink in the inspiring draughts of his presence. 
 
 " Behind the dim unknown 
 Standeth God within the shadow, 
 Keeping watch above his own." 
 
 (12) 
 
January 13. 
 
 Whosoever is fearful and trembling let him return. — 
 Judges vii. 3. 
 
 THOUGH God wanted only a few men, he 
 wanted the best. So the first thing was to 
 weed out the incompetent. The army would be 
 stronger with all these sent home than with them 
 all hanging on. There were twenty thousand cow- 
 ards ; and the ten thousand brave men would be 
 stronger alone than the thirty thousand, having 
 the timid thousands among them. 
 
 Timidity is infectious. Many a church would be 
 stronger if it were weeded out just as Gideon's 
 army was. Its weakness lies in its great numbers, 
 not because numbers necessarily weaken, but be- 
 cause there are so many half-hearted people on the 
 roll. They have lost their interest, if they ever had 
 any, and are indifferent, without thorough conse- 
 cration. They add no strength, but only hinder 
 the other members and dampen their zeal. 
 
 "This sword and shield were surely never given 
 To save my life alone in sin's fierce fight; 
 I dare not stand and see my comrades driven 
 Back in defeat, their columns rudely riven, 
 
 And strike no blow for God, their souls and right. 
 
 I dare not come to Jesus with my sighing, 
 
 To find in him eternal peace and rest, 
 And, unmoved, witness brothers round me dying, 
 
 And timid souls before sin's arrows flying, 
 And place no shield of faith above their breast." 
 
 (13) 
 
January 14. 
 
 And with every living creature that is with you. — 
 Genesis ix. 10. 
 
 IT is strange how God's care extends even to 
 beasts. This covenant was not with man only, 
 but with all the animal creation as well. Think of 
 God making a covenant with the cattle that roam in 
 the valleys, the sheep that graze in the meadows, 
 the birds that fly in the air, and even with the in- 
 sects that chirp in the fields. Yet that is what he 
 did. We know, too, that this divine care is real. 
 There are other promises which contain the same 
 assurances. 
 
 " He givelh to the beast his food, 
 And to the young ravens which cry." 
 
 Then our Lord said, " Consider the ravens, that 
 they sow not, neither reap ; which have no store- 
 chamber nor barn ; and God feedeth them." God 
 cares for birds. There is a promise, too, for the 
 flowers. " Consider the lilies how they grow ; they 
 toil not, neither do they spin." Yet God clothes 
 therm Jesus says. 
 
 " In the thickest wild, in woodland bowers, 
 By the wayside everywhere, 
 The plainest flower of all the flowers 
 Is shining with thy care." 
 
 Of course the lesson for us from all this is the 
 one which Jesus taught. If God cares for the birds 
 and flowers, how much more will he care for his 
 own children ! Therefore we ought to trust him 
 without fear. 
 
January i5. 
 
 / do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a 
 token of a covenant between me and the earth. — Gen- 
 esis ix. 13. 
 
 THERE can be no rainbow unless it is raining. 
 So we cannot see the brightest glory of God's 
 grace without entering into the experiences of trial. 
 We can learn the full preciousness of the divine 
 promises only in the circumstances of need for 
 which they were given. 
 
 A young friend told me that she had seen richer 
 revealings of the love of Christ in the weeks she 
 had been in her sick-room than in all the former 
 years of her life. Words of God which she had 
 known from childhood had flashed out then for 
 the first time in the rich splendor of their meaning. 
 There had been no clouds in her life before — all 
 was health and happiness, and she had not seen 
 the rainbow hues. 
 
 The same is true of all the divine comforts ; we 
 never can know the best of their meaning until the 
 sorrow comes in which they are meant to give 
 strength. A beatitude reads : " Blessed are they 
 that mourn : for they shall be comforted." We 
 cannot receive the comfort until we mourn. Every 
 Christian who has passed through sorrow under- 
 stands this. In the deepening darkness the lights 
 in the heavenly promises flashed out bright and 
 clear, showing him for the first time the fulness of 
 their blessed comfort. 
 
 (*s) 
 
January 16. 
 Be thou perfect. — Genesis xvii. i. 
 
 " T)ERFECTION is impossible." we are in the 
 
 X habit of saying : and therefore we do not try 
 to reach perfection. It is better for us always to 
 keep our aim high, although we cannot hope to 
 reach it. If we have low ideals, our attainments 
 will be low. We cannot look with approval upon 
 anything lower than the perfect beauty of God him- 
 self, and not have the beauty of our own life dimmed 
 thereby. We should always keep perfection before 
 us as our aim. We should keep our eyes ever fixed 
 upon the perfect model. Jesus said, " Be ye there- 
 fore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven 
 is perfect." We are always to seek to model our 
 life upon the divine pattern. 
 
 Of course we cannot reach this lofty standard in 
 a day. but the way to gain perfection is to strive 
 toward it. When a child begins to write, his scrawl- 
 ing lines fall far short of the beauty of the copy at 
 the top of the page. Book after book he fills with 
 his uncouth chirography ; but if he is diligent, each 
 new page shows a little improvement, and by and 
 by his writing rivals the copy. We can learn to 
 live sweetly only in the same way. Begin where 
 you can. no matter how imperfect or faulty your 
 life, but strive ever toward perfection, and at last 
 you shall be like Christ. That is the hope which 
 shines before us — we shall see him as he is. and 
 shall be like him. 
 
 (16) 
 
January 17. 
 
 Who forgiveth all thine iniquities ; who healeth all 
 thy diseases ; who redeemeth thy life from destruction ; 
 who crowneth thee with lovingkifidness and tender 
 mercies ; who satisfieth thy mouth with good things, — 
 Psalm ciii. 3-5. 
 
 WHAT an enumeration of divine blessings this 
 is ! Any one of them is worth more than 
 all earth's treasures combined. If we are not for- 
 given, we must rest forever under the burden of 
 sin, a weight greater than all the Alps ; but God 
 forgives, forgives all our sins, and forgives fully 
 and forever. If we are not healed, we must be 
 sick forever, sick with the plague and leprosy of 
 sin ; but God heals, and heals all our diseases, 
 heals completely. If we are not saved from the 
 dangers of this world, we never can reach heaven ; 
 but God keeps, rescues, redeems, our life from all 
 impending destructions. 
 
 Earth's crowns are made of thorns, and at the 
 best are only what the children call play-crowns, 
 for they are but of leaves that wither, or of gold 
 and gems that will not last ; but God crowns his 
 people with crowns of lovingkindness and tender 
 mercies, which are real and radiant, which shall 
 never fade, but shall shine forever, becoming 
 crowns of eternal life and glory in heaven. This 
 world cannot satisfy a heart's cravings. Its pos- 
 sessions only make the hunger more intense ; but 
 God satisfies the souls of his people, meets all 
 their cravings and hungers. 
 
 (^7) 
 
January 18. 
 
 Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain 
 thee. — Psalm lv. 22. 
 
 THERE are some mistaken notions current con- 
 cerning the ways in which God would help 
 us. People think that whenever they have a little 
 trouble, a bit of hard path to go over, a load to 
 carry, a sorrow to endure, all they have to do is 
 to call upon God, and he will at once take away 
 their sorrow, or free them from the trouble. But 
 this is not the way God helps us. His purpose of 
 love concerning us is, not to make all things easy 
 for us, but to make something of us. 
 
 When we pray God to save us from our care, to 
 take the struggles out of our life, to make the paths 
 mossy, to lift off every load, he will not do it. It 
 would be most unloving in him to do so. We must 
 carry the burden ourselves ; all God promises is to 
 sustain us as we carry it. He wants us to learn 
 life's lessons, and to do this we must be left to 
 work out the problems for ourselves. There are 
 rich blessings which can be gotten only in sorrow. 
 It would be short-sighted love indeed that would 
 heed our cries, and spare us from sorrow, and thus 
 deprive us of the wonderful blessings which can be 
 gotten only in sorrow. God is too good to us to 
 answer our prayers, which would save us from pain, 
 cost, and sacrifice to-day, at the price of larger, 
 better, truer life in the end. He would not rob us 
 of the blessing that is in the burden, which we can 
 get only by carrying it. 
 
 (18) 
 
January 19. 
 
 He knoweth our frame ; he remembereth that we are 
 dust, — Psalm ciii. 14. 
 
 GOD does not treat us as if we were strong, holy, 
 and unfallen. He does not forget that we are 
 weak, that it is hard for us to live right, that we are 
 easily tempted and overcome. He is very patient 
 and gentle with us when we have sinned, binding 
 up our wounds, restoring our soul. He does not 
 lay upon us loads too great for us, for he knows 
 how weak we are. He gives us help, too, with our 
 burdens, that we need not faint under them. 
 
 We ought to get a great deal of comfort out of 
 these words. You say you are so weak that you 
 cannot resist temptation. Does not God know it ? 
 Will he not help you to overcome ? You are weary 
 through trouble or burden-bearing, but Gods knows 
 all about it. You find your work hard, and cannot 
 see how you are ever to get through with it ; but 
 God understands. He knows how frail you are ; 
 he remembers that you are only dust. He is pitiful, 
 and gives always needed help. 
 
 Yet keep me ever in thy love, 
 Dear Father, watching from above, 
 And let me still thy mercy prove, 
 And care for me. 
 
 Oh, still in summer's golden glow, 
 Cast me not off from all my sin, 
 But make me pure and true within, 
 And teach me how thy smile to win, 
 Thy care for me. 
 
 Marianne Farningham. 
 
 (19) 
 
January 20. 
 
 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me ; for I am 
 meek and lowly in heart : and ye shall find rest u?ito 
 your souls. — St. Matthew xi. 29. 
 
 WE have to learn to live, if ever we live worthily. 
 No one becomes a fine player on the piano 
 without learning. No one can take a piece of can- 
 vas, with palette, paints, and brushes, and at once 
 make a great picture. 
 
 Life itself is not easier than music or painting. 
 We must learn to live ; and the lessons are hard, re- 
 quiring long years of patience and practice. But we 
 ought to learn the lesson, whatever the cost may be. 
 
 Life is a sacred trust. We are accountable for it 
 to God who gave it to us. We are required to 
 make the most of our powers, training them to 
 their best capacity ; by self-discipline getting the 
 perfect mastery of our being, then doing the things 
 which we were made to do. Yet many people never 
 seriously try to learn to live. This is unworthy a 
 being endowed with immortality and sent forth 
 on a divine errand. We should live in a way which 
 will not shame us when we come to the end. 
 
 Man's life is but a working day, 
 
 Whose tasks are set aright : 
 A time to work, a time to pray, 
 
 And then a quiet night. 
 
 And then, please God, a quiet night, 
 
 Where palms are green and robes are white, 
 A long-drawn breath, a balm for sorrow, — 
 And all things lovely on the morrow. 
 
 Christina G. Rossetti. 
 (20) 
 
January 21. 
 
 Whosoever would become great among you, shall be 
 your minister ; and whosoever would be first among you, 
 shall be your servant. — St. Matthew xx. 26, 27. 
 
 THERE are some people with a little measure 
 of " position " who seem to accept all favors 
 shown to them, and all services rendered to them 
 by others, as due to them because of their exalted 
 rank or their exceeding importance among men. 
 They stand upon their dignity, and in effect demand 
 attention and a degree of subserviency from their 
 plain, ordinary fellow-men. They complain if by 
 any accident they appear not to receive their due 
 meed of honor. They seem to feel that their high 
 place among men entitles them to a great deal of 
 consideration, and they are hurt if they do not get it. 
 It would seem, however, in the light of our Lord's 
 teaching, that the truly greatest among men are 
 those who are most ready to serve. The spirit just 
 described is scarcely, therefore, a mark of real 
 greatness in Christ's eye, but a mark of littleness. 
 All self-seeking is littleness. The law of service is 
 taken from the very heart of God ; nothing else 
 
 is great. 
 
 The secret of life — it is giving; 
 
 To minister and to serve; 
 Love's law binds the man to the angel, 
 
 And ruin befalls if we swerve. 
 There are breadths of celestial horizons 
 
 Overhanging the commonest way; 
 The clod and the star share the glory, 
 
 And to breathe is an ecstasy. 
 
 Lucy Larcom. 
 
 (21) 
 
January 22. 
 
 Not to be ministered unto, but to minister. — St. 
 Matthew xx. 28. 
 
 THE art of photography is now so perfect that 
 the whole side of a great newspaper can be 
 taken in miniature so small as to be carried in a 
 little pin or button, and yet every letter and point 
 be perfect. So the whole life of Christ is photo- 
 graphed in one little phrase — " not to be ministered 
 unto, but to minister." He came not to be served 
 — if this had been his aim he would never have 
 left heaven's glory, where he wanted nothing, where 
 angels praised him and ministered unto him. He 
 came to serve. He went about doing good. He 
 altogether forgot himself. He served all he met who 
 would receive his service. At last he gave his life 
 in uttermost service — giving it a ransom for others. 
 He came not to be ministered unto, but to minister. 
 You say you want to be like Christ. You pray 
 him to print his own image on your heart. Here, 
 then is the image. It is no vague dream of perfec- 
 tion that we are to think of when we ask to be made 
 like Christ. The old monks thought that they were 
 in the way to become like Christ when they went 
 into the wilderness, away from men, to live in cold 
 cells or on tall columns. But that is not the thought 
 which this picture suggests. " To minister " — that 
 is the Christlike thing. Instead of fleeing away 
 from the world we are to live among men, to serve 
 them, to seek to bless them, to do them good, to 
 give our life for them. 
 
 (22) 
 
January 23. 
 
 No longer do I call you servants . . . I have called 
 you friends. — St. John xv. 15. 
 
 IF we ask, " What is the best that Christ's friend- 
 ship can be to any soul ? " we may answer, 
 "It is shelter, comfort, rest, inmost refreshment, 
 guidance, and far more. Christ is an atmosphere 
 about us, an atmosphere of love, warm with all 
 tender influences, all healthful inspirations, all holy 
 impulses. Christ as our friend comes into all our 
 life, so really, so fully, that he becomes " an uncon- 
 scious part of every true beat of our heart." As 
 the summer sunbeams enter into the flowers, and 
 reappear in their lovely hues and sweet fragrance, 
 so does the very life of Christ enter into the lives 
 of his friends, and permeate and transform them, 
 until they become like him in spirit, in character, 
 in disposition, in every feature. 
 
 We know what Christ's friendship was to his 
 disciples. He found them rude, and left them re- 
 fined. He found Matthew a publican, unjust, grasp- 
 ing, an outcast, and made him an apostle, then a 
 writer of a Gospel. He found Peter profane, rough 
 in manner, impetuous, and made him an eloquent 
 preacher, a man of marvellous power, whose influ- 
 ence lives to-day wherever the Christian church has 
 gone. He found John a son of thunder, with strong, 
 fiery resentments, and made him the apostle of love, 
 the human embodiment of all the sweet, gentle, 
 tender graces of his own life. The same the friend- 
 ship of Christ can do for us. 
 
 (23) 
 
January 24. 
 
 Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt 
 live. — St. Luke x. 28. 
 
 THAT is just the trouble with a great many 
 people. They can answer right. They know 
 all about their duty. They can repeat with glib 
 tongue text after text of Scripture. They can recite 
 catechism and creed without missing a word, and 
 like to boast of their thorough familiarity with these 
 sacred formularies. But it is the doing that troubles 
 them. They know the commandments, but they fail 
 to keep them. They can quote any number of texts 
 about honesty and truthfulness, yet they are neither 
 honest nor truthful. They like to talk about the 
 love of Christ, which is meek, gentle, patient, and 
 compassionate, but they do not think of getting any 
 of this spirit into their own life. They recite texts 
 about sending the gospel to the heathen, and make 
 addresses about saving the lost, but neither give 
 money nor make any personal effort to save others. 
 If doing were as easy as knowing, how good we 
 should all be ! Would it not be a beautiful thing 
 for us to try to live all the duty we know ? 
 
 Be what thou seemest ; live thy creed ; 
 
 Hold up to earth the torch divine; 
 Be what thou prayest to be made; 
 
 Let the great Master's step be thine. 
 
 Sow love, and taste its fruitage pure; 
 
 Sow peace, and reap its harvest bright; 
 Sow sunbeams on the rock and moor, 
 
 And find a harvest-home of light. 
 
 Bonar, 
 
 (24) 
 
January 25. 
 
 I have called you friends ; for all things that I heard 
 from my Father I have made known unto you. — St. 
 John xv. 15. 
 
 ONE of the marks of a noble nature is open- 
 heartedness. Jesus gave it as the chief privi- 
 lege of friendship with him that he would make 
 known to his friends all that his Father had told 
 him. That is, full, trusting confidence is the deep- 
 est, truest thing in the highest and best possible 
 friendship. Soul and soul should be thoroughly- 
 united in two friends. 
 
 Two gentlemen lived in houses adjoining each 
 other. Their back yards were separated by a fence. 
 A warm friendship grew up between the two fami- 
 lies ; and soon that fence came down, and the chil- 
 dren played together alike in both yards. True 
 friendship pulls down the fences between lives. 
 
 Therefore a secretive man can never be a friend, 
 nor have a friend at more than a few points. He is 
 afraid to let his friend know what he knows, what 
 he has been doing, what he is intending to do. 
 Secretiveness is narrow, hindering, cramping. It 
 is like living in a cell. It robs one's own life of 
 sweet blessings which it might get from others, and 
 it robs others of pleasures and benefits which it 
 might give to them. The secretive man has not yet 
 learned the meaning of the sweet word about the 
 open-heartedness of the Master toward his friends, 
 which he would have them repeat toward other 
 Christians. 
 
 (25) 
 
January 26. 
 
 Unto him that is able to do exceeding abunda?itly 
 above all that we ask or think. — Ephesians iii. 20. 
 
 GOD often does better for us than we ask. We 
 go to him with our little requests. We are 
 in want, and ask for temporal relief. We are suffer- 
 ing, and ask that our pain may cease. We are 
 poor, and ask him for more money. We are just 
 like the beggar, holding out our hands for paltry 
 alms to eke out the day's need. Then God looks 
 down upon us and says, " My child, are these little 
 trifles all you want me to give to you, — daily bread, 
 raiment, fuel for your fire, medicine for your sick- 
 ness, comfort for your grief, the small things to 
 supply your common needs, — are these the only 
 gifts and blessings you want and ask from the hand 
 of your heavenly Father, who has infinite treasures 
 to give to you ? " 
 
 Yet thousands never get beyond just such re- 
 quests in their praying. Bowing daily before a God 
 of infinite power and love, in whose hands are un- 
 searchable riches, they never ask for anything but 
 passing earthly comforts and good things. They 
 ask only for things for their bodies, or to beautify 
 their homes, making no requests for the heavenly 
 and spiritual gifts God has for their souls. We 
 should learn to ask for the best things in all God's 
 power to give. We should not be content to seek 
 even what we ourselves can choose, but should ask 
 God to choose for us, and to give us his best things. 
 
 (26) 
 
January 27. 
 
 Happy is the man that fi?ideth wisdom. — Prov- 
 erbs iii. 13. 
 
 IT is worth our while to study what the Bible says 
 about happiness and how to get it. Most 
 people want to be happy, but there are many who 
 miss the mark. 
 
 Yet those who follow the Bible rules for happi- 
 ness will never be disappointed. " Happy is the 
 man that findeth wisdom." Wisdom is a large 
 word. It is not merely knowledge. A man may 
 know so much that he is a walking encyclopaedia, 
 and yet not be happy. He may pursue knowledge 
 into all its nooks and hiding-places, dig it out of the 
 rocks, extract it from the minerals, gather it from 
 flower and plant, draw it down from among the 
 stars, and yet not find happiness. Knowing a great 
 many things does not make one wise. 
 
 Wisdom is knowledge applied to life. He has 
 found wisdom who has learned to live well. To 
 live well is to live according to God's laws, which 
 are summed up in one word love — love to God 
 and love to man. No one is happy who does not 
 recognize God and do his will. " The fear of the 
 Lord is the beginning of wisdom." No one can 
 be really happy who does not love his fellow-men. 
 Happiness never is found in selfishness. Those 
 who seek it in thinking, toiling, and striving only 
 for themselves will have a vain quest. It never lies 
 that way. He only has found wisdom who has 
 found rest in Christ. 
 
 (27) 
 
January 28. 
 
 The a?igel of God . . . went before the camp of 
 Israel. — Exodus xiv. 19. 
 
 THIS angel was revealed in the form of cloud 
 and fire. It was wonderful guidance which 
 God gave to his people in their marches. By day 
 the pillar of cloud sheltered them, and then by 
 night the same cloud was light. By day it was 
 shelter, by night it was light. And always it was 
 guidance. When they were to move, it lifted and 
 went in advance, to lead them. When they were to 
 halt and rest, it settled down, thus giving them the 
 signal to pitch their tents. 
 
 This was miraculous guidance ; but we have God's 
 presence just as really, though without a visible 
 pillar to lead us. God guides his people by his 
 word, by his providence, by his Spirit. If we are 
 willing to follow unquestioningly, we shall never be 
 left long in perplexity as to the way we should take. 
 Our guidance is given to us only as we will accept 
 it and shape our course by it. 
 
 Nor is the guidance given in maps and charts, 
 showing us miles and miles of the road ; it is given 
 only step by step as we go on. " Order my steps " 
 is a Bible prayer, and we sing : — 
 
 " Lead, kindly Light ! amid the encircling gloom, 
 
 Lead thou me on; 
 The night is dark, and I am far from home; 
 
 Lead thou me on; 
 Keep thou my feet; I do not ask to see 
 The distant scene; one step enough for me." 
 
 ( 2 8) 
 
January 29. 
 
 When the soles of the feet of the priests . . . shall 
 rest in the waters . . . the waters . . . shall be cut 
 off. — Joshua iii. 13. 
 
 THERE must be faith first. The priests must 
 take up the ark and walk with it down into 
 the flowing stream before the waters would be cut 
 off. They did not see a path across the river before 
 they started. They broke up their camps and began 
 their march while there was no sign of any crossing- 
 place. If they had walked down to the edge, and 
 then stopped to wait for the path to be opened, it 
 would not have been opened. If they had lifted 
 their feet and held them over the water, waiting for 
 its flow to cease, they would have waited in vain. 
 They must take one step into the water before the 
 current would be cut off. They must move on as if 
 the way were open, believing that it would be open. 
 We must learn to take God at his word and go 
 forward in duty, though we see no way by which 
 we can go forward. The reason we are so often 
 balked by difficulties is because we expect to see 
 them removed before we venture to pass through 
 them. If we would move right on in faith, as soon 
 as our feet touch the brim the waters would flow 
 away and leave a path. A great many people stand 
 on the edge of the Christian life, waiting for feelings, 
 before they will begin to follow Christ. If they 
 would but begin to follow him, the way would open 
 before them. 
 
 (29) 
 
January 30, 
 
 All things were made by him ; and without him was 
 not anything made that hath been made. — St. John i. 3. 
 
 WE like to look at a beautiful piece of workman- 
 ship, and remember that some loved friend 
 of ours fashioned it. This makes it more precious 
 and sacred. 
 
 Some orphan children had been received into an 
 institution, and were exchanging their old garments 
 for new ones. One poor boy was seen picking up 
 the wretched cap he had been wearing, and tearing 
 out of it a piece of faded silk that had been sewed 
 into it. He was asked why he wanted to keep the 
 patch ; and he said, his eyes full of tears, that his 
 mother had sewed it into his old cap with her thin 
 white fingers when she was on her death-bed, and 
 he wanted to keep it in remembrance of her. 
 
 Men prize old paintings, and pay large prices for 
 them, because they were painted by some famous 
 master. All the works of nature would be sacred 
 to us, if we but remembered that our Saviour made 
 them. The sweet flowers in the field would be all 
 the sweeter, if we only thought as we look upon 
 them, " The hands of Christ painted them. ,, 
 
 The Lord is in his holy place 
 In all things near and far; 
 Shekinah of the snowflake he, 
 And glory of the star; 
 And secret of the April-land 
 That stirs the field to flowers, 
 Whose little tabernacles rise 
 To hold him through the hours. 
 
 William C. Gannett. 
 
 (30) 
 
January 31. 
 
 In him was life ; a?id the life was the light of men. 
 — St. John i. 4. 
 
 LIFE is a mystery. We can note its manifesta- 
 tions, but we cannot find its source. We see 
 that a man lives — we see it in his actions ; but we 
 cannot tell what it is that keeps the heart beating, 
 beating, beating, without pause, for sixty, seventy, 
 years. We can read the poet's lines, and look at 
 the artist's pictures, and hear the musician's songs; 
 but what do we know of the inner mental life that 
 produced the poem, the pictures, the songs ? It is 
 hidden life. 
 
 So spiritual life is hidden. We see one supported 
 in quiet peace, amid great trial ; another comforted 
 into sweet acquiescence in a bitter sorrow ; another 
 living purely and nobly amid sore temptations ; an- 
 other lifted up out of degradation, and transformed. 
 We cannot understand the processes ; we see only 
 the effects. So all life is mysterious. 
 
 But we know that it all comes from Christ. He 
 is the fountain of all life. No human genius, skill, 
 or power has ever been able to produce life of any 
 kind, even a living blade of grass or a little violet. 
 Still less can any human power give new life to a 
 dead soul. Only Christ can do this. We must get 
 our life from him. 
 
 " Teach me to live and find my life in thee, 
 
 Looking from earth and earthly things away; 
 Let me not falter, but untiringly 
 
 Press on, and gain new strength and power each day." 
 
 (31) 
 
February 1. 
 
 And 7 will establish my covenant with you ; neither 
 shall all flesh be cut off a?iy more by the waters of 
 the flood. — Genesis ix. n. 
 
 SCIENCE now explains so many things which 
 devout people in the past loved to look upon 
 as the very acts of God, that some have begun 
 to wonder whether after all our Father really has 
 anything to do with nature. But what is nature ? 
 It is God's handiwork. The powers that work so 
 mightily in earth and air, God put there. Can 
 these powers be greater than he who lodged them 
 in his works ? We need never fear that any scien- 
 tific discovery .shall show us a universe without 
 a God. We know, too, that the God who controls 
 all the forces and energies of nature, holding all in 
 his hands, is our Father. 
 
 During a great freshet, when houses, barns, out- 
 buildings, and fences were swept away in the wild 
 current, some men in a skiff saw a baby's cradle 
 borne along in the stream. Rowing to it, they 
 found in it, sleeping as quietly and sweetly as it 
 had ever slept in its mother's bosom, a little baby. 
 So, in the wildest floods of earth, God cares for his 
 little ones. He is Lord of all the forces of nature. 
 Not a drop of water, even in angriest billows, ever 
 breaks away from the control of God. Natural 
 law ! — Yes, but natural law is only the leash of 
 divine control which is held firmly in the hand of 
 God. No wild tempest ever sweeps beyond the 
 " Hitherto " of our Father. 
 
 (32) 
 
February 2. 
 
 When I bring a cloud over the earth . . .• the bow 
 shall be seen in the cloud, — Genesis ix. 14. 
 
 SO always, too, in spiritual life, whenever a cloud 
 is in the sky the rainbow appears on the cloud, 
 the rainbow of divine promise, of God's love and 
 grace. We are accustomed to say that every cloud 
 has a silver lining, and the saying is true. In other 
 words, every dark providence has a bright, shining 
 side. As God sees it, there is a blessing in it. It 
 is not always true that we can see the rainbow on 
 the cloud ; sometimes we can see only gloom and 
 shadow. But faith can always be sure of good in 
 every trial, in every sorrow, in every loss, even 
 when the natural eye cannot see it. " We know 
 that all things work together for good to them that 
 love God." 
 
 Some day we shall know that many of our best 
 blessings have come to us out of our sorrows. In 
 the Book of Revelation we are told that there is 
 a rainbow about the throne of God and the Lamb 
 in heaven, which would seem to be a suggestion 
 that God's covenant is not for earth only, but also 
 reaches forward into the blessed life beyond. Per- 
 haps our richest blessings in heaven will be from 
 earth's sorrows. 
 
 Lord, I had chosen another lot, 
 But then I had not chosen well ; 
 Thy choice and only thine is good; 
 No different lot, search heaven and hell, 
 Had blessed me, fully understood ; 
 None other which thou orderest not. 
 
 Christina G. Rossetti. 
 
 (33) 
 
February 3. 
 
 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the 
 knowledge of God ! how unsearchable are his judgme?its, 
 and his ways past traci?ig out ! — Romans xi. 33. 
 
 OUR knowledge is limited. We see only little 
 fragments of truth. We are like children on 
 the shore of the sea, gathering a few pebbles and 
 shells, while the ocean's depths are hidden from us. 
 Says Zophar : — 
 
 Canst thou by searching find out God? 
 Canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? 
 It is high as heaven ; what canst thou do? 
 Deeper than Sheol ; what canst thou know? 
 
 Job himself, speaking of God's works in nature 
 and in providence, adds : — 
 
 Lo, these are but the outskirts of his ways : 
 
 And how small a whisper do we hear of him? 
 
 But the thunder of his power who can understand? 
 
 We ought to learn the lesson. God is not a man 
 — one of ourselves. If we could understand him, 
 he would not be God. His greatness puts him 
 beyond our comprehension. We cannot hope to 
 know the reasons for his acts. Some of his ways 
 with us are strange ways. We are perplexed ; we 
 say, " God cannot love me or he would not do these 
 things." We should learn to trust God even in the 
 deepest mysteries, not expecting to understand, but 
 sure of his love and goodness even when it is dark- 
 est and when his face is veiled in most impenetra- 
 ble mists. We should be silent unto God when we 
 cannot understand. That is the truest faith. 
 
 (34) 
 
February 4. 
 
 He answered, Fear not : for they that be with us 
 are more than they that be with them. — 2 Kings 
 vi. 16. 
 
 IT is not enough just to put on a bold face and 
 compel ourselves to be brave or appear brave. 
 It will not do merely to try to make ourselves think 
 there is no danger, when we know very well that 
 there is danger. We cannot play tricks on our- 
 selves. The true secret of confidence and fearless- 
 ness in danger is faith in the divine keeping, not 
 in thinking there is no peril. " In the world ye 
 have tribulation : but be of good cheer ; I have 
 overcome the world.'' 
 
 The great truth to be learned by all who would 
 acquire true moral courage is. the reality of God's 
 care for his people in all their dangers. The nine- 
 tieth and the one hundred and twenty-first psalms 
 describe this care. " The Lord is thy keeper." 
 " The Lord shall keep thee from all evil." " He 
 that keepeth thee will not slumber." I have slept 
 in a camp with armed enemies on all sides ; but I 
 was not afraid, for I knew that waking sentinels 
 formed a complete circle all around the camp. So 
 in any danger we may feel safe because God wakes 
 and watches. 
 
 Then shall thy tossing soul find anchorage 
 
 And steadfast peace; 
 Thy love shall rest on his; thy weary doubts 
 
 Forever cease; 
 Thy Keart shall find in him, and in his grace, 
 
 Its rest and bliss. 
 
 Bonar. 
 
 (35) 
 
February 6. 
 
 Go now, see whether it be well with thy brethren. 
 . — Genesis xxxvii. 14. 
 
 JOSEPH left his home in good spirits. We can 
 imagine his good-by as he set out. The fam- 
 ily would see him off, expecting him to fare well 
 and to return again in good time. Not one of them 
 dreamed that it would be twenty years before they 
 should see his face again. If they had imagined 
 this, then their parting that morning would have 
 been very tender. 
 
 We never know when we say farewell at our door 
 to the friends we love, as they or we go out for a 
 time, that we shall ever see them again. We should 
 always say good-by, even for the briefest parting, 
 with thoughtfulness and with love's warmth, for we 
 may never clasp hands with them any more. Cov- 
 entry Patmore writes : — 
 
 If thou dost bid thy friend farewell, 
 
 But for one night though that farewell may be, 
 
 Press thou his hand in thine. 
 
 How canst thou tell how far from thee 
 
 Fate or caprice may lead his steps ere that to-morrow comes? 
 
 Men have been known lightly to turn the corner of a street, 
 
 And days have grown to months, 
 
 And months to lagging years, ere they 
 
 Have looked in loving eyes again. 
 
 Parting at best is underlaid 
 
 With tears and pain ; 
 
 Therefore, lest sudden death should come between, 
 
 Or time, or distance, clasp with pressure firm the hand 
 
 Of him who goeth forth : 
 
 Unseen, fate goeth too. 
 
 (36) 
 
February 6. 
 
 He that humbleth hi??iself shall be exalted. St. 
 Luke xiv. n. 
 
 HUMILITY is an excellent grace. It is the 
 empty hand which God fills. Self-conceit is 
 weakness. We are strongest when we distrust our- 
 selves, and are thus led to lean upon God. Empti- 
 ness is the cup into which God puts blessing. 
 Faith is simply letting God work in us and with 
 us. Pride leaves no room for the divine strength. 
 But there is a danger also in self-distrust. It 
 sometimes makes a person shrink from duty. It 
 almost wrecked the mission of Moses. A little 
 more excusing of himself, and God probably would 
 have left him with his sheep in the wilderness, seek- 
 ing some other man to bring. Israel out of Egypt. 
 No doubt many persons have failed altogether of 
 the mission for which they were sent into this world 
 through a like feeling of unfitness for the work. 
 When God clearly calls us to undertake any task, 
 we should never raise the question of ability. He 
 would not call us to it if we could not do it. 
 
 If we bravely resolve to do our part, 
 And bear our griefs with a patient heart 
 
 And free from all repining, 
 We shall be led to a higher way, 
 To a better work than we do to-day, 
 
 And find love's sunlight shining; 
 For truth of spirit and strength of soul 
 Will make the darkest cloud unroll, 
 
 And show its silver lining. 
 
 Helen Keith. 
 
 (37) 
 
February 7. 
 
 In the world ye have tribulation : but be of good 
 cheer ; I have overcome the world. — St. John xvi. $Z- 
 
 THE word tribulation is very suggestive. It 
 comes from a root which means a flail. The 
 thresher uses the flail to beat the wheat sheaves 
 that he may separate the golden wheat from the 
 chaff and straw. 
 
 Tribulation is God's threshing — not to destroy 
 us, but to get what is good, heavenly, and spiritual 
 in us separated from what is wrong, earthly, and 
 fleshly. Nothing less than blows of pain will do 
 this. The evil clings so to the good, the golden 
 wheat of goodness in us is so wrapped up in the 
 strong chaff of the old life, that only the heavy 
 flail of suffering can produce the separation. 
 
 Suffering is like John Baptist, wearing grim gar- 
 ments, with stern visage and rough hands and a 
 baptism of bitter tears, uttering sharp, harsh words, 
 going before Christ to prepare us for his gentle 
 coming and his message of love. Many of us would 
 never enter the gates of pearl were it not for this 
 unwelcome messenger, pain. 
 
 Though the rain may fall and the wind be blowing, 
 
 And cold and chill is the wintry blast; 
 Though the cloudy sky is still cloudier growing, 
 
 And the dead leaves tell that summer has passed ; 
 My face I hold to the stormy heaven, 
 
 My heart is as calm as the summer sea, 
 Glad to receive what my God has given, 
 
 Whate'er it be. 
 
 E. N. Taylor. 
 
 (38) 
 
February 8. 
 
 Which is your reasonable service. — Romans xii. i. 
 
 A CHRISTIAN man had quoted this verse, ur- 
 ging those whom he had addressed to present 
 their bodies to God as a living sacrifice. When 
 he closed, a good Friend who sat beside him said, 
 " Friend John, the next time thee quotes that verse, 
 thee would better quote all of it." 
 
 " Didn't I quote it all ? " 
 
 " No ; thee left off the last words — ' which is your 
 reasonable service/ That is very important." 
 
 The old Quaker was right. We would better 
 quote the whole verse. It is not an unreasonable 
 thing that God asks us to do when he beseeches 
 us to present ourselves to him as a living sacrifice. 
 He is our Father, and we are his children ; is it 
 unreasonable that a child shall be asked to do a 
 father's will ? We may think of our redemption, 
 and remember at what tremendous cost Christ 
 bought us, and then of all the blessings and hopes 
 that are ours through his sacrifice for us. Is it 
 unreasonable that we should be asked to conse- 
 crate our lives to God when he has done such 
 things for us ? We may think, too, of what will 
 be the result if we do not yield ourselves to God 
 — that our lives will be lost in sin's darkness; and 
 of the good that will come to us through devoting 
 ourselves to him — eternal life and blessedness. 
 Is it, then, unreasonable that we should be called 
 to make this presentation of ourselves to God ? 
 
 (39) 
 
February 9. 
 
 Would that we had died by the ha?id of the Lord 
 in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, — 
 Exodus xvi. 3. 
 
 IT is a sad thing when we allow life's disappoint- 
 ments to make us despondent. The problem 
 of Christian living in this world is not to escape 
 experiences of hardship, but to retain sweetness 
 of spirit in all such experiences. When the snows 
 melted away after the long winter, a little plant 
 was seen looking up into the warm, blue sky, as 
 fresh, tender, and full of life, as if it had passed 
 the cold months in a conservatory. Under the 
 great drifts it had hidden, cosey and warm, and 
 was ready at the first coming of spring to burst 
 into the full vigor of fragrant life. 
 
 That is a picture of the way every Christian life 
 should pass through the sorest winter of adversity. 
 That is not the way many people do endure. You 
 must sometimes go from "the cool shade and gur- 
 gling waters of Elim out into the hot desert. You 
 must have hardships, losses, sorrows. But see to 
 it that you retain* through all these a heart gentle 
 as a little child's, and full of trust and hope. Then 
 when the winter is past and the spring comes, as 
 spring always does come after the longest winter, 
 you will emerge unharmed, with even richer life, 
 tenderer beauty, and deeper joy. The secret of 
 such victorious living is a trust in God that never 
 fails. 
 
 (40) 
 
February 10 
 
 She hath done what she could. — St. Mark xiv. 8. 
 
 A CHILD offered a teacher a handful of weeds 
 and grasses, wilted and soiled, and said, " Here 
 is a bouquet for you." The teacher saw the love in 
 the child's eyes, and accepted the gift with sincere 
 gratitude. So it is that Christ accepts our home- 
 liest gifts or services, if he sees love in our heart. 
 
 There is a story of a poor Arab, who came to a 
 spring of pure water in the desert, and filled his 
 leather bottle to carry it to the caliph. The caliph 
 received the gift, and, pouring some of the water 
 into a cup, drank it, thanking the Arab and reward- 
 ing him. The courtiers pressed forward, eager to 
 taste the water, but the caliph forbade them. When 
 the Arab had departed, the caliph told his courtiers 
 why he had forbidden them to taste the water. In 
 the long journey it had become distasteful. He 
 knew that if any of the men should taste it they 
 would show their disgust, and thus hurt the poor 
 man's feelings. The Arab had brought his present 
 all the long journey, with great toil and care, and 
 because he loved the caliph. He did not know the 
 water had become unwholesome, and the caliph 
 wished him to have his pleasure unmarred. 
 
 This illustrates the spirit with which Christ re- 
 ceives the gifts and services of those who love him. 
 The gifts may be worthless, and the services may 
 avail nothing, but for the love that prompts them, 
 he accepts them with real gladness, and richly re- 
 wards them, 
 
 (40 
 
February 11. 
 
 And brought that which they had spun. — Exodus 
 xxxv. 25. 
 
 MANY young ladies make beautiful things, but 
 do not bring them to Christ. They keep 
 them for their own adornment. But these women 
 brought their fine handiwork to the Lord. They 
 spun beautiful threads to be woven into the curtains 
 and embroideries of the tabernacle. Christian girls 
 and women may help in many ways in preparing 
 dwelling-places for God. They can make a place 
 for him in their own heart. They can put touches 
 of beauty into the lives of others. It needs not 
 great things, but only service of truth filled with 
 love, to please God. The threads may be coarse, 
 but in God's eye they will be beautiful if love spins 
 them. 
 
 It is not the deed we do, 
 
 Though the deed be never so fair, 
 But the love that the dear Lord looketh for, 
 
 Hidden with lowly care 
 
 In the heart of the deed so fair. 
 
 The love is the priceless thing, 
 
 The treasure our treasures must hold, 
 
 Or ever the Lord will take the gift, 
 Or tell the worth of the gold 
 By the love that cannot be told. 
 
 Behold us, the rich and the poor, 
 
 Dear Lord, in thy service draw near; 
 
 One consecrateth a precious coin, 
 One droppeth only a tear; 
 Look, Master, the love is here ! 
 
 Christina G. Rossetti. 
 
 (42) 
 
February 12. 
 
 That I may prove them, wJwther they will walk in 
 my law, or no, — Exodus xvi. 4. 
 
 EVERYTHING God gives or sends to us proves 
 us in some way. Trials prove us, whether we 
 will submit with humility and patience to the ex- 
 periences that are sore and painful, and learn the 
 lesson set for us in them. But none the less do the 
 favors of life prove us. They test our gratitude. 
 Do we remember God all the time as the Giver of 
 each new blessing ? They test our faith. Do we 
 still lean on him while we have plenty ? Often- 
 times the trust that turns to him when help is 
 needed, fails to look to him when the hand is full. 
 They also test our obedience. Sometimes when 
 our wants are all supplied we forget our obligation 
 to serve God. Thus every day is a probation. We 
 are always on trial. 
 
 " We are weaving every day, as we pass along our way, 
 Intent upon our busy work, or just as busy play, 
 Beneath the casual gaze of men, the angels' steady eyes, 
 The robes of resurrection in which we shall arise. 
 
 Then the threads we sadly spun, and in darkness one by one 
 Wove in the fabric, wishing that the long, hard task was done, 
 Shall gleam and glimmer as a mist of lovely rose and blue, 
 And the blacker threads of sorrow shall be made lovely too. 
 
 The glimmering glints of gold from a patience manifold 
 Shall make a pattern sweet and strange, and beauteous to 
 
 behold; 
 And the white of purity shall shine, the tear spots fade away, 
 As we don our resurrection robes upon that last great day." 
 
 (43) 
 
February 13. 
 
 Stand still, that I may plead with you before the 
 Lord concerning all the righteous acts of the Lord. — 
 i Samuel xii. 7. 
 
 IT is good to stand still sometimes, and look back 
 over the way by which God has led us. Of 
 one thing we may always be sure — all God's deal- 
 ings with us are right. Some of them may seem 
 hard. We all have our trials, disappointments, sor- 
 rows, sufferings, our cups of bitterness. There is 
 no way in which we can see goodness in all these 
 experiences, save by faith in the unfailing righteous- 
 ness of God. Yet a firm conviction of this truth 
 brings peace in the darkest hour. God cannot be 
 unloving. He is our Father. 
 
 " I see the wrong that round me lies, 
 
 I feel the guilt within; 
 I hear with groans and travail-cries 
 
 The world confess its sin. 
 Yet, in the maddening maze of things, 
 
 And tossed by storm and flood, 
 To one fixed truth my spirit clings — 
 
 I know that God is good.'' 
 
 It does us good to stand before God at times, and 
 look back over our life, and see all our experiences 
 in the light of the love that streams from his face. 
 We cannot understand — all seems strange and dark; 
 yet we know God is righteous, and righteousness is 
 goodness. If we firmly believe this all through life, 
 whatever may come, faith will live, and its light will 
 shine as a bright star in the blackest midnight. 
 
 (44) 
 
February 14. 
 
 Thou art my hiding place. — Psalm xxxii. 7. 
 
 GOD is a hiding-place from all sorts of dangers. 
 He is a hiding-place from sin. His mercy 
 is an eternal refuge. "There is therefore now no 
 condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus." 
 
 God is a refuge from trouble. " God had one 
 Son without sin, but he has none without sorrow." 
 Where shall we go to get away from sorrow ? There 
 is no place on earth into which it never enters, no 
 Eden bower, no Paradise, where grief never comes. 
 But there is a hiding-place to which sorrowing ones 
 can flee, and where they will find comfort that shall 
 give them peace. " In the world ye shall have trib- 
 ulations ; " " in me ye shall have peace," said Jesus. 
 The sorrow may not be shut out, but the divine 
 peace comes into the heart and calms it. Sorrow 
 is seen then as God's messenger of love, sent by him 
 on some good errand, and is accepted in faith. So 
 in the pain and loss there is no more fear. The 
 sufferer has found a hiding-place in God. 
 
 God is a hiding-place from danger. In the wildest 
 terrors and alarms we can run to him, and, lying down 
 in his bosom, be safe. A Christian sailor said that 
 even if his ship went down into the sea he would 
 be safe ; for God holds the waters in the hollow of 
 his hand, and he would only fall into his Father's 
 
 hand. 
 
 " Death's cold wave need not affright us 
 When we know that he has died, 
 When we see the face of Jesus 
 Smiling on the other side." 
 
 (45) 
 
February 15. 
 
 His compassions fail not. They are new every morn- 
 ing ; great is thy faithfulness. — Lamentations iii. 
 
 22, 23. 
 
 IT is the glory of God's love that it is always fresh 
 and new. It is never the same in its expression 
 any two days. We have to patch up our old things 
 and keep them, using them again and again ; but 
 God never does. He never gives us the old leaves 
 a second time ; each spring every tree gets new 
 foliage, new garments of beauty. He does not 
 revive last year's withered flowers, and give them 
 to us again for this year ; he gives us new flowers 
 for each summer. 
 
 So he does with his messages of love — they are 
 not repeated over and over again, always the same 
 old ones. Every time the reverent heart reads the 
 Bible, its words come fresh from the lips of God, 
 always new. They never get old. They are like 
 the water that bubbles up in living streams from 
 the depths in the wayside spring, always fresh, 
 sweet, and new. 
 
 So it is with the blessings of prayer. Morning 
 by morning we kneel before God, seeking his bene- 
 diction and favor. He does not give us always the 
 same blessing, but has a new one ready for each 
 new day. Our needs are not the same any two 
 mornings when we bow before him, and he always 
 suits the blessing to the need. We are taught to 
 live day by day. God's goodness comes to us new 
 every morning. 
 
 (46) 
 
February 16. 
 
 The ki?ig and nis men went to Jerusalem against the 
 Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land. — 2 Samuel 
 v. 6. 
 
 THE Jebusites still held a hill-top in the heart 
 of the country, never having been dislodged. 
 There are Jebusites in every Christian community, 
 and also in every Christian heart. For example, 
 there is worldliness, which has its Jebusites every- 
 where. In the midst of a community containing its 
 beautiful Christian homes, sanctuaries, and refine- 
 ments, one finds a licensed drinking-saloon. It is 
 so intrenched there, too, that it seems impossible 
 to dislodge it. There are many other such citadels 
 of evil, which rear their proud towers and defy 
 conquest. 
 
 In every heart, too, there are little Jebusite hills, 
 which it long seems impossible for good to conquer. 
 Sometimes it is a secret sin which lives on amid the 
 general holiness of a life, refusing to submit to the 
 sway of the grace of God. Sometimes it is a rem- 
 nant of the old nature, — pride, wilfulness, weakness, 
 selfishness, or bitterness. " We all have our faults," 
 we confess with penitence, and under this veil we 
 manage to tuck away a large number of dear idols 
 that we do not want to give up. We ought to give 
 attention to these unsubdued parts of our life, that 
 every thought, feeling, and temper may be brought 
 into subjection to Christ. It is perilous to leave 
 even one such unconquered stronghold in our heart. 
 It may cost us dearly in the end. 
 
 (47) 
 
February 17. 
 
 This he said to prove him : for he himself knew 
 what he would do. — St. John vi. 6. 
 
 JESUS is continually proving his disciples, putting 
 them to the test to draw out their faith. He 
 is constantly bringing before us cases of need, 
 sorrow, and trial, to prove us. He wants to draw 
 out our love, our sympathy, our tenderness, and 
 train us to do the works of love which he leaves 
 us in this world to do. 
 
 The disciples thought they could not feed the 
 multitude before them, yet Jesus meant that they 
 should do it. Their little, blessed and then used, 
 proved quite enough. We think we cannot answer 
 the needs, sorrows, and hungers that appeal to us ; 
 but we can if we will. Christ wants us to go forth 
 to minister in his name to all whom he sends to us. 
 We do not appear to be able to do much. But even 
 our few words spoken kindly, our tears of sympathy, 
 our expressions of love, Christ can use to do great 
 good to the faint and the weary hearts before us. 
 We must never say of any appeals that come to us, 
 "We cannot do anything." To our word of power- 
 lessness, when we have a bidding of duty, Jesus 
 only answers, " Give ye them to eat ; " and we must 
 go out to feed them though we seem to have only 
 a crumb or a crust to give. 
 
 Then arise, and seek to follow 
 
 Where the voice of duty leads; 
 Give thyself to works of mercy, 
 
 Loving thoughts, and kindly deeds. 
 
 C. A. Means. 
 
 (48) 
 
February 18. 
 
 Gather up the broken pieces which 7'emain over, that 
 nothing be lost. — St. John vi. 12. 
 
 "TT 7ASTE not, want not," says the proverb. It 
 VV seems remarkable that he who so easily 
 could multiply the five loaves into an abundant meal 
 for thousands should be so particular about saving 
 the fragments. But he would teach us economy. 
 No matter how great our abundance, we should take 
 care of the fragments. After we have fed at our 
 tables, there are hungry people who would be glad 
 of the pieces that are left. 
 
 This applies also to the fragments of time. Many 
 busy people waste whole years of time in their life, 
 in the minutes which they lose every day. If at the 
 end of a year they could gather up all these frag- 
 ments, they would have many basketfuls of golden 
 time in which they might do much good. 
 
 So of our strength : many persons waste their 
 bodily energy, using it in sport, or play, or useless 
 exercise, when it belongs to God, and ought to be 
 employed to its last particle for his glory. We 
 should not waste our affections by allowing them to 
 be given to unworthy objects or persons. There is 
 no limit to the application of this principle. We 
 must give account of everything we have, even 
 the minutes of time, the little fractions of strength, 
 and the smallest bits of bread on our tables. 
 
 " A single word is a little thing, 
 
 But a soul may be dying before your eyes 
 For the lack of the comfort a word may bring, 
 With its welcome help and its sweet surprise.'' 
 
 (49) 
 
February 19. 
 
 Jesus took the loaves ; and . . . distributed to the dis- 
 ciples, and the disciples to them that were set down. — 
 St. John vi. n. 
 
 •/^HRIST himself wrought the miracle, but he 
 V_y did it through his disciples. That is his 
 usual way. When he wants to take care of a lit- 
 tle baby, and train it for a worthy mission, he puts 
 a portion of his own love and gentleness into a 
 mother's heart, and commissions her to train the 
 child for him. 
 
 When he wanted to give his word to the world, 
 he did not speak directly from heaven, but put the 
 thoughts into the lips of holy men to speak them 
 for him. When he wants now to send his grace to 
 a sinner, he does not command an angel from his 
 throne, nor come himself in form of majesty, but 
 sends the message through a saved one. 
 
 The disciples that day stood between Christ and 
 the multitude, and so Christ's disciples always do. 
 If they had merely eaten of the bread themselves, 
 and had not passed it to the hungry multitude, the 
 people would have starved, though provision was in 
 the disciples' hands, enough to feed them all. If 
 we who have the gospel bread only feed ourselves 
 with it, and do not carry it to perishing sinners, 
 they will die in their sins — not because there is 
 no salvation for them, but because we have not 
 taken the salvation to them. 
 
 "Then only we live, 
 When we feed one another, as we have been fed." 
 
 (50) 
 
February 20. 
 
 Lord, evermore give us this bread. — St. John 
 vi. 34. 
 
 THAT was a good prayer. It is just the prayer 
 for each one of us, every day. But the people 
 who made it first did not know what they were 
 asking. 
 
 It is often so in our praying. We have a dim, 
 glimmering vision of something very beautiful, but 
 it is only a shadowy vision to us. The thing we 
 think we want is not the thing at all that God had 
 in mind in his promise. He meant something most 
 worthy, but we have in our mind the thought of 
 something material and earthly. It is well that we 
 have an Intercessor into whose hands all our re- 
 quests must pass, who will take our poor, mistaken 
 prayers and interpret them aright for us, giving us, 
 not what we thought we would get, but something 
 better, diviner. 
 
 Abraham sought all his life for a country which 
 he never received. But he got something better 
 in his unavailing search — his faith was growing all 
 the while ; his thoughts and hopes were turned to 
 spiritual things, of which the earthly possessions he 
 sought were only shadows. So it is in the disap- 
 pointments of our praying : what we seek we find not, 
 but meanwhile we are getting blessings a thousand 
 times better. On weary paths of earth where we toil 
 in search of supposed blessings, we are really rising 
 step by step on invisible stairs, and reaching blessings 
 of which the earthly illusions were only pictures. 
 
 (51) 
 
February 21. 
 
 He still holdeth fast his integrity, although thou 
 movedst 7?ie against hi?n, to destroy him without cause. 
 — Job ii. 3. 
 
 IT is a noble thing when a man stands steadfast 
 and faithful to God in the midst of trials and 
 adversities. Such a man is like a mighty rock 
 under the beatings of the angry waves of the sea. 
 
 Thus Job stood. Trial after trial came. His 
 property was swept away by marauders and by 
 fire, and his children were crushed by falling walls, 
 until in a little while he was stripped of all he had, 
 and left a childless man. His heart was broken with 
 sorrow, but his faith failed not. The Lord kept his 
 eye upon his servant, and was pleased to see how 
 trustingly he endured his losses and sorrows. 
 
 The affliction of Job, as described here from the 
 divine side, suggests to us what may ofttimes be 
 the reason for trouble in the lives of God's chil- 
 dren. Job suffered in order to prove to a scoffing 
 adversary the genuineness of his religion. Job did 
 not know why these sore losses came upon him. 
 We do not know, when we are in trouble, why God 
 sends or permits the affliction. But we should 
 always bear ourselves so as to honor God, and 
 prove the reality and sincerity of our faith. We are 
 set to witness to the power of divine grace in trial, 
 and should not fail God nor disappoint him. Xo 
 duty of ours is more sacred than being true to God 
 in pain and trouble. To murmur or complain is to 
 sin. 
 
 (52) 
 
February 22. 
 
 What ? shall we receive good at the hand of God, 
 and shall we not receive evil ? — Job ii. 10. 
 
 TOO often weak faith is moved from its stead- 
 fastness by trials. People say, " God cannot 
 love me, or he would not send this affliction upon 
 me." Job's answer, however, shows nobler faith. 
 We take good, earthly good, from God's hands. 
 We believe that God loves us so long as he showers 
 upon us favors, and gives us pleasant things, joys 
 and prosperities. Very well ; when he changes the 
 form of his providence, and gives us troubles instead 
 of favors, should we conclude that he no longer 
 loves us ? 
 
 In the case of the change in his treatment of 
 Job, we are permitted to look within the heart 
 of God, to learn what his feelings were, and we 
 see that he had never loved his servant more 
 than when he was allowing him to suffer so sorely. 
 At the close of the first trial, Job said, " The Lord 
 gave, and the Lord hath taken away." The same 
 Lord that gave, took away ; yes, and the same love. 
 God knows best what we need any particular day, 
 and what will most advance the kingdom of Christ ; 
 and we ought to trust him so implicitly, so unques- 
 tioningly, that whether he gives a new favor or 
 takes one away ; whether he grants us our request 
 or withholds it ; whether he bestows upon us earthly 
 good or causes us to suffer loss and adversity — we 
 shall still believe and say, " God loves me, and he is 
 blessing me." 
 
 (53) 
 
February 23. 
 
 Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth. — 
 Job v. 17. 
 
 HE is not happy at the time. No one enjoys 
 having troubles, sufferings, sorrows. There- 
 fore this word appears very strange to some people. 
 They cannot understand it. It is contrary to all 
 their thoughts of happiness. Of course, the word 
 happy is not used here in the world's sense. Hap- 
 piness is the pleasure that comes from the things 
 that happen. It depends on personal comfort, 
 on prosperous circumstances, on kindly and con- 
 genial conditions. When these are taken away the 
 happiness is destroyed. 
 
 But the word here means blessed ; and the state- 
 ment is, that blessing comes to him who receives 
 God's correction. To correct is to set right that 
 which has been wrong. Surely if a man is going 
 in the wrong way, and God turns his feet back and 
 sets him in the right way, a blessing has come to 
 him. Afflictions are God's corrections. They come 
 with a purpose of love in them. They are hard to 
 accept, but afterward the blessing is revealed. 
 
 For life seems so little when life is past, 
 
 And the memories of sorrow fleet so fast, 
 
 And the woes which were bitter to you and to me 
 
 Shall vanish as raindrops which fall in the sea ; 
 
 And all that has hurt us shall be made good, 
 
 And the puzzles which hindered be understood, 
 
 And the long, hard march through the wilderness bare 
 
 Seem but a day's journey when once we are there. 
 
 Susan Coolidgk. 
 
 (54) 
 
February 24. 
 
 / know that thou canst do all things, 
 And that no purpose of thine can be restrained. 
 
 Job xlii. 2. 
 
 WE cannot do what we would. Many of our 
 purposes are restrained. We desire to 
 do good and beautiful things, and we try, but our 
 achievements fall far below our thought. Our clumsy 
 hands cannot fashion the loveliness our hearts dream. 
 Our faltering weakness cannot do the brave things 
 our souls aspire to do. No artist ever paints on his 
 canvas all the beauty of his ideal. No singer ever 
 expresses all the music that burns within him as he 
 sings. No eloquent orator ever utters all that he 
 feels as he pleads for truth or for justice. 
 
 So in all our life we do only a little of what we 
 strive to do. We set out in the morning with pur- 
 poses of usefulness, of true living, of gentle-heart- 
 edness, of patience, of victoriousness ; but in the 
 evening we find only little fragments of these good 
 intentions wrought out. 
 
 But God's intentions are all carried out. No 
 power can withstand him or balk his will. It was 
 in this thought that Job found peace in his long, 
 sore trial. All things were in God's hands, and 
 nothing could hinder his designs of love. Our 
 God is infinitely strong. In all earthly confusions, 
 strifes, and troubles, his hand moves, bringing good 
 out of evil for those who trust in him. He can 
 execute all his purposes of good. He is never 
 hindered in blessing his children. 
 
 (55) 
 
February 25. 
 
 / would order my cause before him. — Job xxiii. 4. 
 
 JOB had confidence that God was his Friend, and 
 that if he could stand before him and tell him 
 all about his life, it would be well with him. Every 
 Christian may have the same confidence. This 
 does not mean that we have no sins, and that we 
 can appear in God's presence and explain our acts 
 to him and show him that we have done nothing 
 wrong. We are sinners, and we can come before 
 him only with penitence and confession. But when 
 we come thus, and cast ourselves on his love and 
 mercy, we may order our cause before him without 
 fear, not pleading innocence, but pleading the grace 
 of Christ. We know that God is pitiful toward our 
 infirmities. Knowing all about us, he yet loves us 
 with a love that is infinitely gracious. 
 
 "Like as a father pitieth his children, 
 So the Lord pitieth them that fear him. 
 For he knoweth our frame; 
 He remembereth that we are dust." 
 
 A still sweeter truth than that which is uttered 
 here is that we have One who can order our cause 
 before God, and who will always find acceptance for 
 us. " If any one sin," said the beloved disciple, 
 " we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus 
 Christ, the righteous." We may go to God always 
 in his name, sure that in his hands all our interests 
 will be safe, for he ever liveth to make intercession. 
 Our cause will never suffer in the hands of him 
 who died for us. 
 
 (56) 
 
February 26. 
 
 Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power ? 
 Nay ; but he would give heed unto me, — Job xxiii. 6. 
 
 JOB was sure that if he could only get to God he 
 would find in him a friend. He had been 
 learning more and more of God's real nature, and 
 had at least some thought of the true character of 
 the mighty God. Especially does he seem to have 
 gotten some glimpses of the divine Redeemer who 
 was his Friend. Thus a few chapters back he 
 says : — 
 
 " I know that my Redeemer liveth: 
 That he shall stand, survivor over the dust; 
 And after rriy skin is gone, they will rend this body, 
 And I, from my flesh, shall see God: 
 Whom I shall see, I, for myself, 
 And mine eyes shall behold, a stranger no more." 
 
 Just how much Job really did know of the charac- 
 ter of God we cannot tell. He certainly believed 
 now that if he could come before God he would 
 meet a friend. We live in full gospel light, and we 
 know that God is our truest and best friend; that 
 he is our Father ; that we need never fear to make 
 an appeal to him. He is not against us. His al- 
 mighty power is not used to oppose us, to break us 
 and crush us. He gives heed unto our cry. He 
 loves us. All his omnipotence is on our side. No 
 mother's heart was ever so full of love for her 
 child as is the heart of God for us, his children. 
 We know that God's thoughts toward us are kindly 
 — thoughts of peace. 
 
 (57) 
 
February 27. 
 
 He hideth himself . . . that I cannot see him. But 
 he knoweth the way that I take. — Job xxiii. 9, 10. 
 
 GOD is invisible, and we cannot see him. We 
 know that he is working here and there, and 
 we turn quickly to find him, but our eyes get no 
 glimpse of him. We cannot lay our hand upon 
 him. We cannot see his face. Yet we know that 
 while he is not visible to our sight he sees us al- 
 ways and knows our way — where we are, what we 
 are doing, what our circumstances and experiences 
 are. 
 
 "He knoweth." One evening Jesus sent his dis- 
 ciples out upon the sea in the boat, to go to the 
 other side, but he did not go with them. In the 
 night a great storm arose, and the disciples were 
 alone. They were in sore distress. We can ima- 
 gine them looking to the right and to the left, for- 
 ward and back, but they could not find their Master. 
 Meanwhile, however, though unseen by them, he 
 was looking down upon them in tender love from 
 the mountain-top. He knew the way that they took 
 in the darkness on the sea. 
 
 In our experience it may often be that we cannot 
 find God ; that we cannot see him ; that he shall 
 elude our search, not answer to our cry, and not 
 come when we call for him. Yet it is a precious 
 comfort that in all such cases he knows the way 
 that we take, where we are, and what we are suf- 
 fering. We are never out of his sight. Always 
 "he knows/' and that is enough. 
 
 (58) 
 

 February 28. 
 
 The Lord turned the captivity of Job, 7vhen he prayed 
 for his friends. — Job xlii. 10. 
 
 A GREAT many people who try to be com- 
 forters only lay thorns under aching heads. 
 No art needs a more delicate touch than the com- 
 forter's. The hands of most of us are too rough to 
 be laid on throbbing hearts. No wonder Job felt 
 that his friends were miserable comforters, or that 
 he was not at first in a mood to pray for them. 
 But until he could pray for them, blessing could 
 not come to him. 
 
 The lesson is for us. Others may have injured 
 or grieved us in some way, and we may not be 
 ready to forgive them. But while we feel so, we 
 are shutting divine blessing away from ourselves. 
 Job's praying at length for his friends showed that 
 his heart was now softened toward them, that he 
 had forgiven them. Then blessing came to him. 
 When we can pray for one who has wronged us, 
 misjudged us, or said unkind things of us or to us, 
 hurting us in some way, we are in a condition to 
 receive blessing from God. 
 
 Job was also ready now to come out of his own 
 sorrow to try to help others. We do not find com- 
 fort by staying in the darkness of our own grief, by 
 thinking only of it; we must forget ourselves, and 
 begin to serve others and seek their good, before we 
 can find the light of God's comfort. Selfishness in 
 sorrow is — selfishness, and selfishness in any form 
 misses God's blessing. 
 
 (59) 
 
February 29, 
 
 This I confess imto thee, that after the Way which 
 they call a sect, so serve I the God of our fathers. — 
 Acts xxiv. 14. 
 
 IT is easy enough when we are in meetings of 
 Christians to be known as one of them. But 
 Christ wants us to confess him just as distinctly 
 when we are among his enemies. If any one sneers 
 at us as Christians, we should not blush and hang 
 our head, and stammer out an apology, or, far worse, 
 a denial. We should be ready, without bravado, 
 modestly and humbly, yet boldly, to admit that we 
 are Christians, and to do it in such a way as to 
 show that we rejoice in our relation to Christ, and 
 in confessing it. 
 
 Miss Havergal tells of going into a boarding- 
 school as a pupil just after she had united with the 
 church. She was startled to find that in a school 
 family of a hundred she was the only Christian. 
 Her first feeling was that she could not avow her 
 love for Christ with all that company of worldly 
 girls around her. But her second thought was that 
 she could not but avow it, since she was the only 
 one Christ had there to represent him. This 
 thought was most strengthening, and from that 
 hour she quietly took her place as a friend of 
 Christ. It ought to help us, whenever we stand 
 amid enemies of Christ, to remember that he has 
 put us there to represent him, and that if we are 
 ashamed or afraid, we shall be sadly failing and 
 disappointing him. 
 
 (60) 
 
March 1. 
 
 Quit you like men, be strong. — i Corinthians 
 xvi. 13. 
 
 GENTLENESS and good temper are not all. 
 One may have these qualities and yet be 
 lacking in the completeness of well-rounded char- 
 acter. There must be strength as well as beauty. 
 Love is the fulfilling of the law ; all the command- 
 ments being summed up in one, "Thou shalt love." 
 But love is a large word. It is like one of those 
 composite pictures into which many pictures are 
 blended. All the elements of duty to God and to 
 our fellows are wrapped up in the divine conception 
 of loving. It will not do, therefore, for us to take 
 merely the things that belong to the gentle side, and 
 think of these as the whole of Christian character. 
 Christ was infinitely gentle. The warmth of his 
 heart made a tropical summer all about him. But 
 back of the gentleness was also infinite strength. 
 We must be like him, not only in gentle warmth, 
 but also in truth and all righteousness. We must 
 be to others, not only tenderness, but also strength 
 to lean upon, and stability in which they may find 
 refuge. 
 
 They whose hearts are whole and strong, 
 Loving holiness, 
 
 Living clean from soil of wrong, 
 Wearing truth's white dress, — 
 
 They unto no far-off height 
 Wearily need climb, 
 
 Heaven to them is close in sight 
 
 From these shores of time. 
 
 Lucy Larcom. 
 
 (61) 
 
March 2. 
 
 Ye . . . are now light in the Lord : walk as chil- 
 dren of light. — Ephesians v. 8. 
 
 THE tendency to morbidness which shows itself 
 in some people is most unhealthy. In some 
 it is habitual ; a disposition to gloom has been per- 
 mitted to have its way so long that now the feel- 
 ings run, even unimpelled, in melancholy grooves. 
 In others it is temporary, caused by loss or trial, 
 the life requiring some time to react after its shock 
 of grief, and rebound to its wonted cheerfulness. 
 The latter experience is not so unwholesome, be- 
 cause it is transient ; but the former, wherever it 
 exists, should be treated as a mental disease, and 
 subjected to the wisest processes of cure. It is 
 destructive of the life's beauty. It mars one's use- 
 fulness. It grieves God, for it is practical unbe- 
 lief. 
 
 Why should one persist in refusing the blessing 
 of God's bounteous sunshine, and walk only in 
 gloomy paths ? Why should one close windows 
 and doors and live in darkness when God's glory 
 of light flows everywhere ? The morbid person 
 should heroically set himself the task of getting rid 
 of his miserable gloom. It may take time ; for 
 when darkness has become ingrained in the soul 
 it can yield but slowly to the influence of light. 
 Yet the task should be achieved. To stay in the 
 shades of melancholy is most unchristian. 
 
 " What can it help us to bewail 
 Each painful moment as it flies ? 
 
 (62; 
 
March 3. 
 
 And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, 
 and into the patience of Christ. — 2 Thessalonians 
 iii. 5. 
 
 WE need the patience of Christ to keep us 
 from over-helping others. No peril is 
 greater than this too eager love, when brought close 
 to those who are in need. We would help too much 
 or too soon. We would lift away burdens that God 
 would have the person carry longer for his own 
 good. We would make the way easy that would 
 better be left hard. We would hasten the learning 
 of the lesson that could far better be learnt slowly. 
 We would force the bursting of the flower before 
 the time God has appointed, thus spoiling his per- 
 fect work. 
 
 We want to hurry the spiritual development of 
 lives, not content to wait till the development comes 
 naturally. There are hundreds of lives hurt by the 
 impatience of good people to do them good. One 
 writes, and we would do well to mark the lesson : — 
 
 " Nerve his arm and cheer his heart; 
 Then stand aside, and say, ' God speed ! ' " 
 
 If we would be truly helpful to others, we must 
 never try too hard to help. It is hard for us, in our 
 eagerness to help, just to do our little, and then 
 stand aside and let God work. We feel we ought 
 to be doing something ; but in truth our doing is 
 only hurtful intermeddling, and we would far better 
 keep our hands off. 
 
 (63) 
 
March 4. 
 
 He answered her ?iot a word. — St. Matthew 
 xv. 23. 
 
 WHO has not come to Christ with a burden, 
 crying out for help or for relief, only to 
 find him silent ? To many of our earnest supplica- 
 tions he seems to answer not a word. We are told 
 to ask and we shall receive, to seek and we shall 
 find, to knock and it shall be opened unto us. Yet 
 there come times when we ask imploringly, and do 
 not seem to receive ; when, though we seek with 
 intense eagerness, we do not seem to find what we 
 seek ; when we knock at the door of prayer till our 
 hands are bruised and bleeding, and there is no 
 opening of the door. 
 
 Sometimes the heavens seem to be brass above 
 us ; and we ask, " Is there anywhere an ear to hear 
 our pleadings ? Is there anywhere a heart to feel 
 sympathy with us in our overwhelming need ? " 
 Sometimes God seems to be far off, so far that our 
 cries cannot reach him. Nothing is so awful as this 
 silence of God — the feeling that communication 
 is cut off. Few prayers in the Bible are more 
 pathetic than that in the psalm : " Be not silent 
 to me, lest I become like them that go down into 
 the pit." Anything from God, any punishment, is 
 better than his silence. 
 
 Oh, it would be a dreary world, if the atheist's 
 creed were true, — that there is no God, no ear to 
 hear prayer ; that no voice of answering help, or 
 love, or comfort, ever comes out of the heavens. 
 
 (64) 
 
March 5. 
 
 A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax 
 shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto 
 victory, — St. Matthew xii. 20. 
 
 IT is a high honor that is conferred upon us when 
 God sends to us human hearts to be comforted 
 or human souls to be helped. Yet every thoughtful 
 person must tremble as he accepts the responsibil- 
 ity of such delicate and holy work. It is a serious 
 moment when there is brought to a surgeon a case 
 on the skilful treatment of which a life depends, or 
 when a physician stands by a bedside to administer 
 remedies at the crisis of a fever. But it is a far 
 more serious moment when a human life is put into 
 one's hands to be cured of its faults or comforted 
 in its sorrow, or to have its heart's wounds healed. 
 We need divine skill and wisdom, and great delicacy, 
 for such sacred work. Only Christ can teach us how 
 to deal with human lives in their need and sorrow. 
 He has a most gentle touch. He binds up with 
 infinite skill the wounds that sin or grief has made. 
 He never breaks a bruised reed. He will give us 
 skill in dealing with hurt lives. 
 
 Ask God to give thee skill 
 
 In comfort's art, 
 That thou mayst consecrated be 
 
 And set apart 
 Unto a life of sympathy. 
 For heavy is the weight of ill 
 
 In every heart; 
 
 And comforters are needed much 
 
 Of Christlike touch. 
 
 A. E. Hamilton. 
 
 (65) 
 
March 6. 
 
 / long to see you, that I may impart unto yoii some 
 spiritual gift. — Romans i. ii. 
 
 TT ^E ought always to desire to be a blessing to 
 \ \ those we love. God sends many of his 
 best spiritual gifts through human hearts and hands. 
 There could be no litter morning prayer, as we go 
 out for the day, than that we may be permitted to 
 carry some help, comfort, instruction, inspiration, 
 courage, or cheer to every life that our life touches. 
 There are always those who need such help. Xo 
 aim in life is nobler than to be a help to others in 
 all gentle, quiet ways. 
 
 We should make sure, too, that it is the best we 
 have that we impart to others. There are times 
 when the best thing we can do for a man is to make 
 him laugh. But there are other gifts which we 
 should seek to impart. Sometimes it is cheer to 
 a disheartened spirit. Sometimes it is comfort for 
 sorrow. Sometimes it is the inspiration of a fresh 
 thought which we have found. We should make 
 sure at least that to every one we meet we are 
 ready to impart some gift which will do him good. 
 
 " As we meet and touch each day 
 The many travellers on our way, 
 Let every such brief contact be 
 A glorious, helpful ministry: 
 The contact of the soil and seed, 
 Each giving to the other's need, 
 Each helping on the other's best, 
 And blessing, each, as well as blest." 
 
 (66) 
 
March 7. 
 
 A stranger will they not follow, but will' flee from 
 him : for they know not the voice of strangers, — St. 
 John x. 5. 
 
 IT is true of sheep in the East, that while they 
 quickly respond to their names when their own 
 shepherd calls them, because they know his voice, 
 yet if a stranger comes to the door of the fold and 
 calls them by the same names, they will be alarmed 
 and will turn and run. It ought to be so with 
 Christ's sheep. They should be quick to hear and 
 know their own Shepherd's voice whenever he calls. 
 They should never be afraid when they recognize 
 his call, though it be in the darkness of sorrow 
 or of trial. But they should also be quick to detect 
 any voice that is not their own Shepherd's. 
 
 Such voices do fall continually upon the ears 
 of Christ's friends. There are temptations which 
 would lure them away from the truth into paths of 
 wandering, which lead to sin and end in death. 
 There are false guides who profess to be true, and 
 to be very much wiser than the old-fashioned, true 
 guides whom Christ has set to be under shepherds ; 
 and they want the young to turn away with them 
 from the old ways. Everywhere the " voice of 
 strangers " is heard. The sheep flee from the 
 voice of strangers, knowing it is not their shep- 
 herd's ; every voice which is not known to be 
 Christ's should alarm the Christian, causing him 
 to run quickly to his own Shepherd for shelter 
 and protection. 
 
 (67) 
 
March S. 
 
 So Abram ivcnt* as the Lord had spoken unto him. 
 — Genesis xii. 4. 
 
 THAT was faith. Obedience proved it. Abram 
 did not know where he was going : he had 
 simply the call of God and a promise. But he 
 asked no questions. He did not insist on know- 
 ing how his journey would come out. how profit- 
 able it would be. just what he would get in 
 exchange for the land he was leaving and the 
 sacrifice he was making. Quietly, without ques- 
 tion or hesitation, he rose, cut the ties that bound 
 him to his old home, and was off. 
 
 That is the kind of faith all of us should have 
 whenever God gives us a call and a promise. Some 
 people want to see where they are going before they 
 will begin to follow Christ : but that is not walking 
 by faith at all. 
 
 " I do not ask I 
 The distant scene ; one ste| . r me." 
 
 We should not trouble ourselves to know where we 
 are to be led. if only we know that God is leading 
 us. His guidance is safe : and we should be willing 
 to trust him. do precisely what he says, and go just 
 where he leads, without asking any questions. Abra- 
 ham's life is a picture of a true " walk with God." 
 
 I think I could go forward with brave and joyful he 
 
 Though every step should pierce me with unknown hery smart, 
 
 If only I might see thee, if I might j:.ze above 
 
 On all the cloudless glory of the sunshine of thy love. 
 
 :es R. Havergal* 
 
 ^6S) 
 
March 9. 
 
 Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask, 
 
 — St. Matthew xx. 22. 
 
 IT was an ignorant prayer which the brothers had 
 offered. They did not know what they were 
 asking for. We know that one dark day two male- 
 factors had the places on the Lord's right and 
 left hand. We all ask many a time for things 
 which we would not dare seek if we knew what 
 they would cost. 
 
 There is a heathen story which tells us that once 
 a man asked for this gift — not to die ; and it was 
 granted him by the Fates. He was to live on for- 
 ever. But he had forgotten to ask that his youth 
 and health and strength also might last forever-, and 
 so he lived on till age and its infirmities and weak- 
 nesses were weighing him down, and his life grew 
 to be a weariness and a burden to him. Existence 
 
 — for it could hardly be called life — was one long 
 torment to him ; and then he wished to die — wished 
 to die and could not. He had asked for a thing 
 which he was totally unfit to enjoy, but he had to 
 take the consequences of it when it was once given. 
 
 In our prayers we seek things which we might 
 shrink from seeking, if we knew that they must 
 come to us through pain, tears, and loss. The 
 better way to' pray, however, is to let God choose 
 for us, and to give what he sees best for us, and 
 in the way that he knows to be the best. 
 
 " Lead me by thy own hand; 
 Choose out the path for me." 
 
 (69) 
 
March 10. 
 
 His heart was not perfect with the Lord his God. — 
 i Kings xi. 4. 
 
 THE Arabs have a tradition that for a long time 
 a little worm was gnawing in the staff on 
 which Solomon leaned, until at last the staff broke 
 and the great king fell. It was at the king's heart 
 that the worm was really gnawing. 
 
 A perfect heart does not mean a sinless heart, 
 but a heart wholly devoted in its aim and motive 
 to God. Solomon had a corner in his heart for 
 the Lord, and then other corners for the gods of all 
 the other nations. The Saviour's words come in 
 here : " Ye cannot serve God and mammon." 
 
 We need to be on our guard against this Solo- 
 monian religion. There is plenty of it. It is very 
 broad church. It abhors the preaching of the stern 
 truths of God's word about sin and holiness. It 
 sends well-nigh everybody to heaven, and regards 
 hell as a mediaeval fable. It calls strict Christians 
 puritanic or strait-laced. It calls great sins es- 
 capades, and finds no use for such psalms as the 
 fifty-first. It is not hard to see in the story of 
 David and Solomon, however, which of the two 
 kinds of religion pleases God the better, and which 
 leads to the nobler end. If what his religion did 
 for Solomon is a fair sample of the outcome of that 
 sort, it does not appear to be quite satisfactory. 
 
 " Renew a right spirit within me. 
 Cast me not away from thy presence : 
 And take not thy Holy Spirit from me." 
 
 (70) 
 
March 11. 
 
 The rest of the acts of Solomon . . . are they not 
 written ? — i Kings xi. 41. 
 
 THEY are all written. They are not all written 
 in the Bible, but they all went down in the 
 chronicles of the kings. Nor was that all. When 
 manifolding paper is used, the impression of the 
 writing goes through and is traced on underlying 
 sheets. Our life makes its records in the chronicles 
 of the times ; but the writing also goes through, and 
 every line and word goes down on pages invisible 
 to our eyes — the pages of God's book. We read in 
 the Bible that the books will be opened for final judg- 
 ment ; and Solomon himself tells us that " God shall 
 bring every work into judgment, with every hidden 
 thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil." 
 
 Solomon is gone, and his record cannot now be 
 changed ; but we are concerned with our own lives. 
 The young have the chief portion of their life yet 
 before them. It is important that they remember 
 that all their acts are written ; that things which 
 are hidden from the eyes of the world are yet 
 written down on the book within the veil ; and that 
 some day all secret things shall be manifested, 
 brought fully to the light, before all the universe. 
 It is important, therefore, that they do, along the 
 common days, only the things which they will be 
 glad to see revealed when all secret things shall 
 be uncovered. "When the day of judgment comes, 
 we shall be asked . . . how holy were our lives, 
 and not how fine our words." 
 
 (71) 
 
March 12. 
 
 The sweet psalmist of Israel. — 2 Samuel xxiii. 1. 
 
 THINK of the influence of David's psalms. 
 Take one for example — the twenty-third. 
 Who can count up the blessings it has left in its 
 wanderings through the world ? How many chil- 
 dren have learned to say it almost with their first 
 efforts at speech ! How many sick people have 
 listened to its sweet, musical accents, as it has 
 been read in softened tones in the hushed 
 chamber ! How many dying ones have murmured 
 the beautiful sentences as the gloom gathered 
 about them, especially lingering on the words : 
 " Yea, though I walk through the valley of the 
 shadow of death, I will fear no evil : for thou art 
 with me ; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." 
 This precious psalm has been like a beautiful 
 angel, flying up and down through the world, bear- 
 ing its joy and gladness to hearts of young and 
 old, of rich and poor. 
 
 I would rather have written the twenty-third 
 psalm than have been the greatest emperor this 
 world ever saw. Yet this is only one of many. 
 The psalms contain the records of men's heart-life, 
 and heart-life is the same in all ages ; hence people 
 will always find here words which will interpret 
 their own feelings. There never can be another 
 such Book of Common Prayer as the Psalms. 
 
 " He leadeth me beside the still waters. 
 He restoreth my soul; 
 He guideth me in the paths of righteousness." 
 
 (72) 
 
March 13. 
 
 For she said within herself, If I do but touch his 
 garment, I shall be made whole. — St. Matthew 
 ix. 21. 
 
 ALL about us evermore the garment of Christ 
 floats. It is by us when we open the Bible 
 and read his words. It is by us when we feel the 
 presence of the Holy Spirit with us. It is by our 
 beds of pain when we are sick. It is by us when it 
 grows dark around us with the gloom of sorrow. It 
 is by us in our busiest days, amid the tasks and 
 toils and cares of our life. We never get anywhere 
 but that mystic garment trails close to us, so that 
 we can reach out and touch it with our hand, and 
 have the thrill of our heart's cry flash to the very 
 soul of Christ. If there be in us only a sense of 
 need, and a turning, with even feeblest faith, to 
 Christ, our touch is instantly felt in heaven, and 
 a voice of love calls, " Who touched me ? " 
 
 Immortal love, forever full, 
 
 Forever flowing free, 
 Forever shared, forever whole, 
 
 A never-ebbing sea. 
 
 We may not climb the heavenly steeps 
 
 To bring the Lord Christ down; 
 In vain we search the lowest deeps, 
 
 For him no depths can drown. 
 
 The healing of his seamless dress 
 
 Is by our beds of pain; 
 We touch him in life's throng and press, 
 
 And we are whole again. 
 
 John G. Whittier. 
 
 (73) 
 
March 14. 
 
 He that judgeth me is the Lord. — i Corinthians 
 iv. 4. 
 
 THERE is a story of a young composer whose 
 music was being performed. The audience 
 was enthusiastic, applauding wildly as the compo- 
 sition was played. But the young man seemed ut- 
 terly indifferent to all this applause. He kept his 
 eye fixed intently on one man in the audience, 
 watching every expression that played upon his 
 features. It was his teacher. He cared more for 
 the slightest mark of favor on his face than for all 
 the applause of the great company. So in all our 
 life we should watch the face of Christ, caring only 
 that he should be pleased. It matters far more 
 what he thinks of our performance than what all 
 the world besides thinks. If we live to win his 
 approval, we shall not be afraid to have all our 
 deeds laid bare at the last before the judgment 
 throne. 
 
 Thou who seest my soul within, 
 
 Thou who knowest my unknown sin, 
 
 Through thy holy eyes let me 
 
 Learn what sin is unto thee. 
 
 If there be in me a thought 
 That thy dear name honoreth not, 
 Pierce it with thy pitying gaze 
 Till its silence turns to praise. 
 
 Make me, Pure One, as thou art, 
 Pure in mind and soul and heart; 
 Never satisfied with less 
 Than thy perfect holiness. 
 
 Lucy Larcom, 
 
 (74) 
 
March 15. 
 
 Let not the sun go down upon your wrath. — Ephe- 
 sians iv. 26. 
 
 THE only way to make our life continuously 
 beautiful, and to keep it ever sweet with love, 
 is to insist on judging ourselves day by day. Old 
 accounts are hard to settle. Each setting of the 
 sun should be a signal to us to apply the law of 
 Christ to all our life for the day. The hour of 
 evening prayer should always be a time for getting 
 right all that may have gone wrong in us during 
 the day. Then every feeling of bitterness against 
 another should be cast out of our heart. Life is 
 too critical for us to venture into any night's dark- 
 ness, cherishing anger or envy. " Let not the sun 
 go down upon your wrath " is a wise counsel. 
 
 The wrath left in the heart to-night will be harder 
 to overcome to-morrow than it is to-day; for bit- 
 ter feelings grow more bitter as they are cherished 
 and nursed, and who knows what the end may be ? 
 They may grow into crimes unless quickly put out 
 of the heart. Evening prayer should bring love's 
 flood into all the life. 
 
 " Life is too short for hate, — 
 We mingle here but one brief day; 
 Too brief for what we meant to say, 
 When it is all too late. 
 
 Life is too short for hate; 
 The tree is green that soon shall wave 
 Its leafy plumes above the grave 
 
 In that relentless state." 
 
 (75) 
 
March 16. 
 
 I glorified thee on the earth, having accomplished the 
 work which thou hast given me to do, — St. John 
 xvii. 4. 
 
 JESUS is the only man who has ever lived so as 
 to be able to say this. The best lives are but 
 fragments, leaving many things unfinished. Yet 
 we ought to take a lesson from Christ's finishing 
 of his work. He did it, simply by doing each day 
 the will of his Father for the day. 
 
 He was a young man when he died — only three 
 and thirty. We think of those who die young as 
 dying before their work is completed. We learn, 
 however, that even a young man, dying, may leave 
 a finished work. The truth is, every one's life is 
 a plan of God. Years enough are given in which 
 to do the work allotted. Even a baby that lives 
 only a day, merely looking into the mother's eyes 
 and then going away, does the work that was given 
 it to do. The young man who dies at three and 
 thirty, with his hands full of tasks, if only he has 
 lived faithfully, has finished the work which God 
 gave him to do. Not years, but faithfulness, counts 
 with God. 
 
 " I lay me down to sleep, 
 
 With little thought or care 
 Whether my waking find 
 Me here or there. 
 
 My half-day's work is done, 
 
 And this is all my part, 
 To give a patient God 
 
 My patient heart. " 
 
 (76) 
 
March 17. 
 
 Moses was keeping the flock of Jethro his father in 
 law. — Exodus iii. i . 
 
 FOR forty years Moses had been looking after 
 sheep in the wilderness. It appears to us as 
 if all those years were lost. We can see how profit- 
 ably the first forty were spent. Those earlier years 
 under his mother's influence — he carried their 
 lessons and impress to the end. Then those years 
 in the schools of Egypt and in the palace — he 
 learned much there that was essential to his mis- 
 sion. But what did that long period in the desert 
 do toward fitting him to be a leader, a lawgiver, the 
 builder of a nation ? Far more, no doubt, than we 
 can tell. All that while his character was knitting 
 itself into strength. He was learning self-discipline. 
 In the desert he was taught many a lesson which 
 made him more fit for his work — lessons he could 
 never have learned in the busy life of Pharaoh's 
 palace. 
 
 Nowadays, boys can scarcely wait till they are 
 out of their teens to begin their life-work. Some 
 of them think it a waste of time to take a regular 
 college course before they enter a profession. They 
 think they must get at once into the ministry, or 
 into the medical or legal profession. They cannot 
 afford the time to study through all the long course. 
 No wonder such boys fail as men. When God trains 
 a man for any great work he always takes plenty of 
 time. No boy acts wisely who is in such a hurry to 
 get to work that he cannot wait to prepare well. 
 
 (77) 
 
March 18. 
 
 The Lord said to Aaron, Go i?ito the wilderness to 
 meet Moses. — Exodus iv. 27. 
 
 GOD always knows where to find the man he 
 wants. Indeed, he trains men while they 
 know it not for the work he means them to do by 
 and by. For eighty years Moses had been in special 
 preparation for his great mission as leader. Aaron 
 also had been in training for the particular part of 
 the work he was to do. He did not know what he 
 was being prepared for, but God knew. Probably 
 Aaron had naturally a fine voice. Then we may 
 suppose that while in Egypt he was led to give 
 much attention to elocution and oratory. He did 
 not know what special use was to be made of his 
 power, but God knew. Then when the time came 
 for him to enter upon his work, he was ready. 
 
 The young man does not know what work God 
 may have waiting for him to do. But he possesses 
 certain gifts. These he should train to the very 
 highest degree of efficiency. Then when God wants 
 him he will be ready. It was the daily prayer of 
 a young Christian girl, that God would prepare her 
 for whatever he was preparing for her. Many lives 
 are failures because when God wants them they are 
 not ready. Many a young man enters a profession 
 without qualification, having squandered his oppor- 
 tunities. Is it any wonder he makes a failure ? 
 We should train ourselves to proficiency in some- 
 thing, and God will want us by and by, and we 
 shall be ready. 
 
 (78) 
 
March 19. 
 
 A?id Aaron spake all the words which the Lord had 
 spoken unto Moses, — Exodus iv. 30. 
 
 ONE of the excuses Moses offered when God bade 
 him go to be the deliverer of his people was 
 that he was not a good speaker. God met his dif- 
 ficulty by telling him that he would provide a speaker. 
 Aaron should be his mouthpiece. So all along the 
 history, Moses is a silent man, and Aaron's is the 
 voice we hear. Each did his own part. 
 
 It is just in this way that God's work is always to 
 be done. No one person has universal gifts. One 
 man is a poor talker, but has brains and heart, and 
 can make plans, and impart energy and inspiration. 
 Another is an eloquent speaker, but lacks in the 
 very points in which the first excels. Put the two 
 together, and they can achieve great results. In a 
 church, some can sing well ; some cannot sing, but 
 can teach ; some can do neither, but can carry com- 
 fort to the sick ; some can manage business affairs ; 
 some can make money and give it. There is a di- 
 versity of gifts, no two having the same ; but if all 
 work together, each doing his own part, the church 
 is not only a power, but there is no necessary work 
 which is not done. Never worry because you have 
 not the gift some other one has ; you have some 
 gift, and that is the one God wants you to use. 
 
 " Yet do thy work: it shall succeed 
 
 In thine or another's day, 
 
 And if denied the victor's meed, 
 
 Thou shalt not lack the toiler's pay." 
 
 (79) 
 
March 20. 
 
 Moses made an end of speaking. — Deuteronomy 
 
 xxxii. 45. 
 
 SO we all shall do some day. Moses knew it was 
 the end for him : we may not know when our 
 end is at hand. Any word of ours, spoken amid 
 glee and merriment, may be our last. If we always 
 thought of this, would it not make us more careful ? 
 Would we ever say an unkind word to a friend, if 
 we felt that we may never have an opportunity to 
 unsay it or atone for it ? Would we ever utter an 
 angry, untrue or unclean word, if we only remem- 
 bered that it may be the last utterance our lips 
 shall give forth ? We want to have beautiful end- 
 ings to our life, to leave sweet memories behind 
 us in the hearts of those who love us. We want 
 our names to be fragrant in the homes on whose 
 thresholds our footfalls are wont to be heard. 
 We want the memory of our last words in our 
 friends' ears to live as a tender joy with them as 
 the days pass away. We can be sure of all this 
 only by making every word we speak beautiful 
 enough to be a last word. For with any sentence 
 we may come to the end of our speaking. 
 
 We should waste no moments in weak regret 
 
 If the day were but one: 
 If what we remember and what we forget 
 
 Went out with the sun : 
 We should be from our clamorous selves set free 
 
 To work or to pray. 
 And to be what the Father would have us be, 
 
 If we had but a day. Marv Um r , :J .... 
 
 C So) 
 
March 21. 
 
 The Lord spake unto Moses . . . Get thee up into 
 this mountain . . . and die. — Deuteronomy xxxii. 
 48, 49> S°- 
 
 TO each of us the summons will sometime come : 
 " Get thee away from thy farm, thy store, thy 
 desk, thy books, thy pleasure, into the silence of 
 thine own chamber, and die." We may not hear 
 the voice nor be conscious, when we lay down our 
 work at nightfall, that we are going away to die ; 
 but this will not alter the fact. We will come to 
 our last hour, when the voice none can resist will 
 call us from earth. 
 
 Moses was to die alone. None of the people 
 accompanied him. Every one of us really has to 
 die alone. Our friends may gather around us ; they 
 may hold our hand ; they may sing or pray with 
 us ; they may drop their tears on our cold cheek, 
 and print hot kisses of farewell on our lips ; yet 
 we must die alone. No one can accompany us 
 beyond the foot of the mountain. This is a point 
 at which the tenderest affection can give no help. 
 It is like one going out on the sea in a ship. 
 Friends come to the shore and wave their fare- 
 wells as we go out, but not one of them goes 
 with us. We must die alone ; 
 
 " Not sweeping up together, 
 
 In whirlwind or in cloud; 
 In the hush of the summer weather, 
 
 Or when storms are thundering loud; 
 But one by one we go, 
 In the sweetness none may know." 
 
 (81) 
 
March 22. 
 
 Now it came to pass, after the death of Moses the ser- 
 vant of the Lord, that the Lord spake unto Joshua the 
 son of Nun, Moses' minister, saying, Moses my servant 
 is dead ; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, 
 and all this people. — Joshua i. i, 2. 
 
 SORROW came to you yesterday and emptied 
 your home. Your first impulse now is to give 
 up and sit down in despair amid the wrecks of your 
 hopes. But you dare not do it. You are in the 
 line of battle, and the crisis is at hand. To falter 
 a moment would be to imperil some holy interest. 
 Other lives would be harmed by your pausing. Holy 
 interests would suffer, should your hands be folded. 
 You must not linger even to indulge your grief. 
 Sorrows are but incidents in life, and must not in- 
 terrupt us. We must leave them behind, while we 
 press on to the things that are before. 
 
 Then God has so ordered, too, that in pressing 
 on in duty we shall find the truest, richest comfort 
 for ourselves. Sitting down to brood over our sor- 
 rows, the darkness deepens about us and creeps 
 into our heart, and our strength changes to weak- 
 ness. But if we turn away from the gloom, and 
 take up the tasks and duties to which God calls us, 
 the light will come again and we shall grow stronger. 
 
 " When all our hopes are gone, 
 'Tis well our hands must still keep toiling on 
 
 For others' sake; 
 For strength to bear is found in duty done; 
 And he is blest indeed who learns to make 
 The joy of others cure his own heart-ache." 
 
 (82) 
 
March 23. 
 
 / pray not that thou shoulrfest take them from the 
 world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil 
 one. — St. John xvii. 15. 
 
 CHRIST does not wish that we shall be kept 
 from suffering, but that in our suffering we 
 shall not sin. He does not wish that we may never 
 have sickness, but that in our sickness we may not 
 fail of patience, sweetness, and trust. He does not 
 wish that we may have no trials or struggles, but 
 that in our trials and struggles we may not be over- 
 come and our lives hurt or marred. 
 
 There is only one evil in the world, but it lurks 
 everywhere. It comes even in our purest joys ; we 
 may forget God in them. The happiest home may 
 become a place of peril to us, leading us to self- 
 indulgence, love of ease, forgetfulness of the world's 
 need and sorrow, neglect of duties, even to forget- 
 fulness of God. 
 
 There is no sin in our being hated by the world, 
 in our being wronged or injured by others ; but if 
 we endure the hatred and the wrong resentfully, 
 if we grow angry and seek to avenge ourselves, we 
 have sinned. There is no sin in our being assailed 
 by temptations, — we cannot live a day without 
 being tempted, — but the moment we yield to the 
 temptation, we have sinned. There is no sin in 
 our suffering adversity, disappointment, loss, want ; 
 but the moment that in any such experience we 
 repine, doubt God, or rebel against his will, we have 
 been hurt. 
 
 (83) 
 
March 24. 
 
 // is not yet made ma?iifest what we shall be. We 
 know that, if he shall be manifested, we shall be like 
 him; for we shall see him even as he is. — i John 
 iii. 2. 
 
 THINK of the possibilities of man in the light 
 of the revealings of Christianity. You know 
 what the Christ says of the future of every one who 
 believes in him, but have you ever thought deeply 
 about it ? 
 
 Have you ever thought seriously about the word 
 eternity, as a definition of the duration of your own 
 life ? Jesus tells us we shall have eternal life, and 
 that means not endless existence only, but endless 
 growth, development, progress. The New Testa- 
 ment tells us that we know now only in part, only 
 little fragments of any knowledge, but that some 
 day we shall know perfectly. It tells us also that 
 there will be the most wondrous moral development 
 in these lives of ours. 
 
 There is a glory in the Christian's soul not yet 
 revealed. The Bible lifts the veil, and shows us a 
 glimpse of Christ. " We shall be like him." I 
 cannot explain that. It is too high for any human 
 thought to comprehend it. But surely it tells of mar- 
 vellous possibilities in men. That is the future of 
 every one who will link his life to the life of Christ. 
 
 " Awake, my soul, stretch every nerve, 
 And press with vigor on ; 
 A heavenly race demands thy zeal, 
 And an immortal crown." 
 
 (8 4 ) 
 
March 25. 
 
 Ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. — 2 Cor- 
 inthians iv. 5. 
 
 ITls said of a great artist, that when painting his 
 immortal pictures on the ceiling of one of the 
 chapels in St. Peter's, he carried a little lamp fastened 
 to his cap on his forehead, so that no shadow of 
 himself should fall on his work. It would be well 
 if we should learn always so to carry the light by 
 which we work, that self shall never in any way 
 come between our lamp and our work. We should 
 so relate our own personality to our serving that 
 it shall never cast a shadow on the things we are 
 doing for Christ. 
 
 It is not easy so to move through life that no mood 
 or feeling of our own shall ever affect our spirit or 
 temper as we go on with our duty. Ofttimes the 
 temptation is strong. Things do not go altogether 
 to our mind. Other people do not accord to us the 
 honor or respect we think we deserve. The ten- 
 dency is to feel hurt, and then to allow our hurt 
 consciousness to affect our interest in the work or 
 our relations with our fellow-workers. But this is 
 not the Christian way — not the way Jesus would 
 act. No apparent or real slighting of us by any 
 other should make us less faithful. Touchiness is 
 not among the fruits of the Spirit. 
 
 And wouldst thou hasten in another soul 
 
 God's kingdom on the earth, of love and peace? 
 
 Learn first thyself, thy spirit, to control; 
 From all that's false and evil in thee cease. 
 
 Jones Very. 
 
 (85) 
 
March 26. 
 
 I forgave thee all that debt . . . Shouldest not thou 
 also have had mercy on thy fellow- servant ? — St. 
 Matthew xviii. 32, 33. 
 
 THOUGH the servant had been forgiven all his 
 vast debt, he had not been willing to forgive 
 a fellow servant a mere trifle of debt. 
 
 No Christian precept is urged more repeatedly 
 and more earnestly than this. In the form of prayer 
 which our Lord taught his disciples he linked to- 
 gether divine and human forgiveness : " Forgive us 
 our debts as we forgive our debtors." Then he 
 added a clear and unmistakable word, emphasizing 
 the lesson : " For if ye forgive men their trespasses, 
 your heavenly Father will also forgive you ; but 
 if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will 
 your Father forgive your trespasses." 
 
 St. Paul enjoins, " Be ye kind one to another, 
 tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God 
 for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." This is but 
 one of many repetitions of the solemn lesson. If 
 we are not ready to forgive those who do us little 
 injuries, it is proof that we are not forgiven of God. 
 That is, before we can receive divine forgiveness 
 we must have the spirit of forgiveness in our own 
 heart. If there be not in the heart the spirit of 
 forgiveness, evidently it has not yet experienced the 
 mercy of God. 
 
 It was said of one : " His heart was as great as 
 the world, but there was no room in it to hold the 
 memory of a wrong." 
 
 (36) 
 
March 27. 
 
 / am the light of the world : he that followeth me 
 shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light 
 of life. — St. John viii. 12. 
 
 WE are always coming to points we have never 
 passed before. Every new temptation is 
 such a point. We cannot get through it unless we 
 have a guide. Some of you know how dark and 
 strange it seemed to you the first time you had 
 to enter the valley of sorrow. A godly man says : 
 "I shall never forget, while memory lasts, the 
 strangeness of the experience through which 
 I passed when first the reaper whose name is 
 Death came into my home, and with his sickle 
 keen cut down at one thrust two of my children. 
 The stroke blinded me for the moment ; but when 
 at length I opened my eyes, I saw the ark in the 
 river, and that instantly steadied me. I knew then 
 where I was." 
 
 Every new duty brings us also to a way we know 
 not. Every fresh responsibility calls us to walk 
 in an unfamiliar road. All life is strange, and we 
 cannot find the way ourselves. 
 
 Then there is that last walk on earth — into the 
 valley of shadows. We never can get any expe- 
 rience in dying ; for no feet ever walk twice on that 
 way, nor has any friend ever come back to tell 
 us what it is like. W 7 hen we come to die, we shall 
 find ourselves in an experience we have never 
 known before. If we have not Christ in the 
 strange, unfamiliar path, we shall not find the way. 
 
 (87) 
 
March 28. 
 
 Who did sin, this mail, or his parents, that he 
 should be born blind ? . . . Neither did this man sin, 
 nor his parents : but that the works of God should be 
 made manifest in him. — St. John ix. 2, 3. 
 
 ARE troubles sent to punish us for our sins ? 
 The people in Christ's day thought so. But 
 Jesus gave a different explanation. He said the 
 man was blind that the works of God should be 
 made manifest in him. His blindness led him into 
 contact with Jesus and thus brought him a double 
 blessing, — the opening of his natural eyes, and the 
 opening of his soul's eyes. Probably he would 
 never have met Jesus but for his misfortune of 
 blindness. If he had not been blind, this miracle 
 of his healing would never have been wrought. 
 
 A great many revealings and blessings come 
 through troubles. Jesus said the sickness of Laza- 
 rus was for the glory of God, that the Son of God 
 might be glorified thereby. No doubt every sick- 
 ness is a chance for a blessing of some kind, both 
 to the person who is sick and to his friends. 
 Every loss we have is meant to be the revealing 
 to us of a gain which would more than make com- 
 pensation. Every disappointment in our life is 
 intended to give us a better thing than that which 
 we have failed to get. Wordsworth writes : — 
 
 When a damp 
 Fell round the path of Milton, in his hand 
 The thing became a trumpet; whence he blew 
 Soul-animating strains — alas, too few ! 
 
 (88) 
 
March 29. 
 
 Be ye imitators of me, even as I also am of Christ. 
 — i Corinthians xi. i. 
 
 YOU may think you have no influence over any 
 other lives, but you have. There are those 
 who will do what you do, and be what you are. If 
 you are reverent, they will be reverent ; if you are 
 false, they are false. Your influence touches many 
 other lives, and leaves either blessing or curse. 
 
 A gentleman told the story of his conversion 
 to Christ : " If I had been going to ruin alone," 
 he said, " I should have gone on. But one night 
 1 came in from the wine-table, and looked at my 
 sleeping babes as they lay in their holy innocence 
 amid the snowy pillows. I held the lamp so that 
 its beams fell full upon their sweet faces. As I 
 stood there in the awful silence, unbroken, save by 
 the ticking of the clock on the mantel, and the soft 
 breathing of my little ones, there arose a terrifying 
 vision before my eyes. I saw myself sweeping 
 down toward perdition, and these, my precious 
 children, clinging to my garments. I could not 
 stand that. I could go to ruin myself, but to drag 
 my angel babes there with me — oh, I could not 
 do that ! So right there beside the crib, I fell on 
 my knees before God, and asked him to save me 
 for my children's sake." Few motives in life could 
 be stronger than the consciousness that the career 
 and destiny of other lives will depend on what we 
 do with our own life. We should be able always 
 to say, " Imitate me and you will live nobly." 
 
 (89) 
 
March 30. 
 
 Whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little 
 ones a cup of cold water only, in the name of a disciple^ 
 
 verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his re- 
 ward. — St. Matthew x. 42. 
 
 TT T E never can know what the full outcome of 
 \ \ our simplest kindnesses will be. We speak 
 a cheerful word to one who is discouraged. We 
 pass on, scarcely giving another thought to the 
 matter. Yet perhaps our word has saved a life 
 from despair, helped a fainting robin back unto its 
 nest again, or changed a destiny from darkness to 
 light. 
 
 Nor can we know how far the influence of our 
 word shall extend. A pebble dropped into the sea 
 starts wavelets which go around and around the 
 world. A word spoken into the air goes pulsating 
 in the atmosphere forever. So it is with the things 
 we do for Christ. We cannot follow them, to trace 
 their storv ; but their blessing shall never cease from 
 the world's life. There will be many surprises in 
 heaven when we learn the effects of our words and 
 deeds of love. 
 
 He who plants a tree 
 
 He plants love; 
 
 Tents of coolness spreading out above 
 Wayfarers he may not live to see. 
 
 Gifts that grow are best; 
 
 Hands that bless are blest. 
 
 Plant; life does the rest. 
 Heaven and earth help him who plants a tree, 
 And his work its own reward shall be. 
 
 Lucy Lakcom. 
 
 (9°) 
 
March 31. 
 
 Having loved his ow?i which were in the world, he 
 loved them unto the e?td. — St. John xiii. i. 
 
 YOU may write your own name into this verse, 
 and it will be as true as it was of the company 
 at the table that night. Having loved you, he loves 
 you unto the end. 
 
 It was the night before Jesus died. He was with 
 his disciples at the passover. Holy memories filled 
 his mind. But amid these, his love for his own lost 
 none of its warmth. His " hour " of sorrow and 
 shame was come. But with all this before him, he 
 did not forget " his own." He gathered them about 
 him, and spent the last evening with them. He had 
 no thought of himself; he thought only of "his 
 own." His personal grief and bitterness were kept 
 in his own heart while he gave them joy. His love 
 over-mastered his sorrow. 
 
 Then there was something else. The words 
 read : " His hour was come that he should depart 
 out of this world unto the Father." So there was 
 glory for him beyond his cross. There were a few 
 hours of darkness, woe, and anguish, and then he 
 should leave this world and be at home again. His 
 heart must have been full of rapture and expectancy 
 as he looked forward, knowing that before to-mor- 
 row's sun should set, he would be with his Father. 
 Yet even this blessed consciousness did not make 
 him forget his friends. " Having loved his own 
 which were in the world, he loved them unto the 
 end." 
 
 (90 
 
April 1. 
 
 She hath a?ioi?ited my body aforehand for the bury- 
 ing. — St. Mark xiv. 8. 
 
 MANY people would have kept the jar till Jesus 
 was dead, and would then have broken it 
 to anoint his cold body. At least, that is the way 
 too many of us do in these days. We wait till our 
 friend dies, and then send our flowers and speak our 
 words of appreciation. Should we not learn a lesson 
 from Mary ? The kind words we mean to speak 
 when our friends are dead, let us speak while they 
 can hear them. The flowers we mean to send for 
 their coffin, let us send to brighten the rough paths 
 for their feet. The epitaphs we mean to put upon 
 white marble, let us carve in deeds of gentle love 
 while our friends are with us. Words of cheer 
 to-day are what people crave. 
 
 " Withhold all eulogies when I am dead, 
 
 All noisy sorrow; 
 Give me the tender word to-day 
 
 Instead of tears to-morrow. 
 Speak not my name, when I am passed from earth, 
 
 In tones of sadness ; 
 At thought of me repress no note of mirth, 
 
 No burst of gladness. 
 Regard me not as altered when removed 
 
 To the hereafter; 
 Think of me still as loving and as loved 
 
 With joy and laughter. 
 Delay not trjou when I have wounded sore, 
 
 Till thou outlive me, 
 To grant the pardon that I here implore ; 
 
 But now forgive me." 
 
 (92) 
 
April 2. 
 
 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our 
 sorrows. — Isaiah liii. 4. 
 
 WHATEVER the cause of grief may be, there 
 is rich comfort in the remembrance of the 
 sorrows of Christ. It assures us that Christ under- 
 stands our pain. In the garden he went a stone's 
 cast farther than any of his disciples went. The 
 picture is a parable to us. It is always so. Wher- 
 ever you bow in the deep shadows of grief, you 
 have but to lift up your eyes, and you will see Jesus 
 in still deeper shadows, a stone's cast beyond you. 
 His sorrow was sorer than yours. 
 
 There is comfort also in the remembrance that 
 blessing comes out of suffering patiently endured. 
 All the world's peace and hope, and all heaven's 
 joy and glory, are fruits of a great sorrow — the 
 sorrow of Christ. Blessing will come always out of 
 sorrow, if we but accept it submissively and rev- 
 erently. 
 
 While we think of the sufferings of Christ, we 
 must remember also that he came from them all 
 unharmed, his life shining in divine radiance, lifted 
 to glory, too, as a fruit of his suffering. This re- 
 minds sorrowing believers that they too shall pass 
 through their time of tribulation, that no scars and 
 no manner of hurt shall be upon their souls because 
 of their sufferings, but that they shall shine in fairer 
 beauty and diviner glory, and shall be lifted up to 
 higher honor, because of what they have suffered 
 with Christ. 
 
 (93) 
 
April 3. 
 
 Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures. 
 — i Corinthians xv. 3. 
 
 THERE have been great days in the history of 
 the human race, — days of triumph whose 
 victories have enriched the world ; days of honor 
 whose brightness has made the world lighter; days 
 of great deeds which have lifted man to loftier, 
 diviner heights ; days of heroic, self-forgetful love 
 which has made the air sweeter with its odorous 
 perfumes. But the day of all days in fruit of bless- 
 ing and good in the world's story, was that Good 
 Friday when the Son of man gave his life on the 
 cross to save men. 
 
 " From thy blessed gloom 
 The hope of all the world does rise and sing; 
 By thy sweet pain, immortal joy is won; 
 And in the happy shadow of thy tomb 
 Is hid the root of Easter's blossoming." 
 
 There could have been no Easter without a Good 
 Friday; no rising again without the dying on the 
 cross. Christ must taste death for every man be- 
 fore he could offer deathless life to every man. The 
 touch of the cross is on every hope of Christian 
 faith. The light that shines in soft lustre through- 
 out rail the world streams from the cross. The 
 sorrow of Calvary is that which is softening all 
 human hearts, and making all life gentler and 
 sweeter. The power that is drawing all men up- 
 ward is the Christ lifted up. 
 
 (94) 
 
April 4. 
 
 My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me 1 — 
 St. Matthew xxvii. 46. 
 
 THERE is a picture which represents the after 
 scenes on that day of the crucifixion. It is 
 all over. The crowds have gone away. The evening 
 sun is shining out again on Calvary. The body of 
 the Saviour has been borne to the sepulchre. The 
 cross has been taken down, and lies on the ground. 
 A company of little children, bright with the glow of 
 childhood's innocence, led to the place by accident 
 or curiosity, are seen bending over the signs of the 
 day's terrible work. One of the children holds in 
 his hand a nail which a little time before had 
 pierced a hand or a foot of the patient Sufferer, and 
 stands spellbound with horror as he gazes at it. 
 His gentle heart is shocked at sin's dreadful work. 
 On all the children's faces the same expression of 
 amazement is depicted. 
 
 No one with pure and gentle heart can ever look 
 at the death of Christ on the cross with any but 
 feelings of amazement and horror at sin's awfulness. 
 Tt was sin that nailed Jesus on the cross. It was 
 sin that wreathed the circlet of thorns for his brow. 
 We say the Jews crucified Christ; yes, but we 
 helped to do it. Our sins drove the nails. Would 
 you see what sin is? Stand by the cross and 
 ponder its terrible work there in the death of the 
 Redeemer. See what it cost the Lamb of God to 
 take away the sin of the world. 
 
 (95) 
 
April 5. 
 
 That he hath been raised on the third day according 
 to the scriptures. — i Corinthians xv. 4. 
 
 IF our faith stops at the cross, it misses the bless- 
 ing of the fullest revealing of Christ. You need 
 a Saviour who not merely two thousand years ago 
 went to death to redeem you, but one who also 
 is alive to walk by your side in loving compan- 
 ionship. You want a Saviour who can hear your 
 prayers, to whose feet you can creep in penitence 
 when you have sinned, to whom you can call for 
 help when the battle is going against you. You 
 want a Saviour who is interested in all the affairs 
 of your common life, and who can assist you in 
 every time of need. 
 
 You want a Christ who can be a real friend, 
 loving you, keeping close beside you, " closer than 
 breathing, nearer than hands and feet." You want 
 a Saviour who will come into your life, and will save 
 you, not by one great act of centuries past, but 
 by a life warm and throbbing with love to-day, and 
 living again in you. 
 
 It is for love that our hearts hunger. The bread 
 that will satisfy us is not the bread of memorial 
 merely, the memory of a great devotion of love 
 Ions;, long; since, but the bread of love living, 
 present, warm, and throbbing. Nothing less than 
 a living Christ will do for us. 
 
 And that is the Christ the gospel brings to 
 us — one who was dead, and is now alive for 
 evermore. 
 
 (96) 
 
April 6. 
 
 Why seek ye the living among the dead 1 — Luke 
 xxiv. 5. 
 
 A DYING Christ alone will not satisfy your heart. 
 While you praise the love that was crucified 
 for you, you crave love from a Saviour who lives. 
 Memories of a friend who is gone may be very sweet. 
 They fill our life with fragrance. The odors of love 
 departed stay in a home like the perfume of sweet 
 flowers when the flowers have been borne away. 
 But how unsatisfying are the mere memories of your 
 friend when your heart hungers for love's real pres- 
 ence, and touch and tenderness ! No more will the 
 mere memories of the Love that died on the cross 
 for you satisfy your cravings for Christ. You must 
 have the living One for your friend. 
 
 " My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God," 
 cried the Hebrew psalmist, and cries every human 
 soul. It is only as we realize the truth of a living 
 Christ that our hearts are satisfied. We crave love 
 — a bosom to lean upon, a hand to touch ours, 
 a heart whose beatings we can feel, a personal 
 friendship that will come into our life with its 
 sympathy, its inspiration, its companionship, its 
 shelter, its life, its comfort. All this the living 
 Christ is to us, if we but learn the blessed truth 
 of his resurrection. 
 
 " For warm, sweet, tender, even yet 
 A present help is he ; 
 And faith has still its Olivet, 
 And love its Galilee." 
 
 (97) 
 
April 7. 
 
 And very early o?i the first day of the week, they 
 co7tie to the tomb when the swi was risen. - — St. Mark 
 xvi. 2. 
 
 THE women did not find the body of Jesus in 
 the grave. Suppose they had found it there, 
 still held in the power of death ; suppose that Jesus 
 had never risen ; what would have been the con- 
 sequences ? It would have been as if the sun 
 and moon and stars were all to be blotted from 
 the sky, or as if they had all set one day and never 
 risen again. 
 
 St. Paul tells us in his immortal chapter on the 
 resurrection, what our loss would be should it be 
 found that Christ did not rise. " If Christ hath 
 not been raised, then is our preaching vain ; your 
 faith also is vain. . . . Ye are yet in your sins." 
 Paul had preached of a Saviour who died for men's 
 sins and then rose for their justification ; but if 
 Christ yet lay in the power of death, his sacrifice 
 for sin had not availed. 
 
 If you were imprisoned in some great fortress, 
 and one who loved you went forth to try to rescue 
 you, and fell and died fighting upon the walls, you 
 would cherish the memory of your friend's valiant 
 effort on your behalf, but you would still remain 
 undelivered. So would it have been with those 
 whom Christ came to save, if he had perished in 
 death and had not risen. He would have been 
 defeated in his great effort, and those for whom he 
 died would have remained without deliverance. 
 
 (98) 
 
April 8. 
 
 But go, tell his disciples and Peter, He goeth before 
 yoic into Galilee, — St. Mark xvi. 7. 
 
 THE joyful news must not be kept, but must 
 be carried to the other sorrowing friends of 
 Jesus, and must be carried quickly. There must 
 not be a moment lost. The happy women must 
 not sit down together in mere personal enjoyment 
 of the blessed news ; there were others in the dark- 
 ness of sorrow, and to these they must hasten with 
 the gladness. We must not forget in our joy of 
 Christian faith that there are others who have none 
 of this joy; our mission is to carry the 1 news, and 
 to rejoice as we go on our way. 
 
 " Tell his disciples and Peter." Why was Peter 
 specially named? It was because he was the sad- 
 dest of all, the one who most needed the comfort. 
 He had sinned, and was weeping in penitence. This 
 showed the tenderness of the heart of Christ toward 
 all penitents. It must have given Peter unspeakable 
 joy to get this message. Jesus then had not cast 
 him off. He would now have an opportunity to 
 weep on his Lord's bosom, confess his sin, and 
 crave and obtain pardon. 
 
 " And Peter *' has its gracious message for every 
 penitent soul. Have you grieved Christ by sin, by 
 denial, by any unfaithfulness, and are you weeping 
 in sorrow over your sin ? Those who have fallen 
 are the very ones that lie most heavily on the heart 
 of Jesus, just because they have fallen. He came 
 to be a physician to the sick. 
 
 (99) 
 
April 9 
 
 And their eyes were opened, and they knew him ; and 
 he vanished out of their sight. — St. Luke xxiv. 31. 
 
 ANNIVERSARY days always bring back the 
 memories of those who have gone. Out of 
 what home has not some loved face vanished ? You 
 are thinking of these departed ones. They died in 
 Christ. The gospel of these Easter days lifts the 
 veil, and shows them to you away beyond death, 
 unhurt by death, living still, the same gentle friends 
 they were when you knew them here and clasped 
 them in your arms. 
 
 I had a letter the other day from Rome, written 
 by a dear friend who is journeying abroad in search 
 of health. The letter was full of bright words which 
 reminded me of my friend's beautiful life. There 
 was the same old warmth, the same eager interest 
 in things and persons, the same kindly thoughtful- 
 ness. Just like my friend. I said, as I read the 
 letter. Being in Rome has made no change in the 
 gentle spirit. 
 
 It is just so with our friends in heaven. My father 
 and mother are there. If I were to go home to-day. 
 I know I should see them unchanged. Of course 
 the marks of care are gone, or have become trans- 
 figured, and are now marks of beauty. They have 
 not their earthly bodies, but then those worn and 
 weary bodies were not my father and mother. Death 
 ended nothing beautiful in them. I should see them 
 living in new and richer life, engaged, as they used 
 to be on earth, in loving ministries. 
 (100) 
 
April 10. 
 
 Mary . . . seeth the stone taken away from the tomb. 
 — St. John xx. i. 
 
 THIS stone had worried the women as they 
 hurried toward the grave. They knew it 
 was there, that it was too heavy for them with 
 their frail hands to roll away, and they wondered 
 how they could get it removed. But now, when 
 they came in sight of the tomb, Mary looked up 
 and saw that the stone was rolled aside. 
 
 This incident illustrates many experiences in our 
 common life. We worry about difficulties and ob- 
 stacles that lie in our path and seem to block our 
 progress. But when we move on obediently, and 
 come to the place of the supposed hindrance or 
 obstacle, it is gone, or it was never there save 
 in our imagination. We all know that very many 
 of our anxieties prove in the end to be really 
 groundless. 
 
 We ought to learn here once for all the les- 
 son, that when God sends us anywhere he intends 
 to make it possible for us to go. Duty's path 
 always opens for us as we go on — not before we 
 start, but as we obey and move forward. Yet we 
 must not expect there will never be any difficulties 
 to meet or obstacles to surmount. God never has 
 promised that. Too easy a path is often a bane in 
 life, not a blessing. The difficulties and obstacles 
 that remain may be made stepping-stones by which 
 we shall rise to higher things. 
 
 (101) 
 
April 11. 
 
 The eleven disciples 'went into Galilee, unto the 
 mountain where Jesus had appointed them. — St. Mat- 
 thew xxviii. 1 6. 
 
 TT ^E should always keep the appointments Jesus 
 V \ makes with us. If we fail we shall surely 
 be the losers. Suppose some of our Lord's dis- 
 ciples had stayed away, for some cause, from this 
 meeting in Galilee. Think what they would have 
 missed ! They might have said : "It is a long dis- 
 tance to the place fixed upon: " or. " The mountain 
 is steep, and I do not like to climb it: " or. " I fear 
 it will rain or be stormy : " or, " Perhaps he will not 
 be there : I cannot understand how he can be risen 
 from the dead." 
 
 For any of these, or for other similar reasons. 
 some might have been absent that wonderful day. 
 But they would have missed a glorious sight of the 
 risen Jesus, and would not have heard his words of 
 commission and promise. To the end of their life 
 they would have regretted that they had not kept 
 their Lord's appointment that day. 
 
 Christ makes many appointments for us. Some- 
 times we do not think them very important, and are 
 easily hindered from keeping them. But we never 
 can know what we lose bv these neglects. Jesus 
 always comes where he asks us to meet him. and 
 gives b'essings there to those who have been faith- 
 ful in gathering to wait for him. We do not know 
 what we may miss any common Sabbath by stay- 
 ing away from the services appointed by Christ. 
 
 (lQ2 | 
 
April 12. 
 
 Having hope toward God . . . that there shall be a res- 
 urrection both of the just and unjust. — Acts xxiv. 15. 
 
 THE hope of resurrection to a believer in Christ 
 ought to be a wonderful inspiration in the 
 earthly life. The grave is not the end ; we shall 
 come again from it in new beauty, and shall live on 
 forever. Not only did Christ teach that the dead 
 shall rise again, but he himself went down into the 
 grave and then came again, after three days, alive. 
 Thus he showed the possibility of resurrection ; one 
 man died and rose again, and may not all ? But his 
 resurrection meant more than that. He was the 
 head of his people, and as such his victory was for 
 them. He met and conquered death for them. 
 
 Now death is a vanquished foe. St. Paul puts it 
 very strongly, and says that Christ abolished death. 
 Jesus himself put it no less strongly when he said, 
 " I am the resurrection and the life . . . whosoever 
 liveth and believeth in me shall never die." There 
 is no break, no interruption, in a Christian's life in 
 what we call dying. The spirit lives more really, 
 fully, gloriously, a moment after death, than ever 
 it lived before. Then the body which goes down 
 into the grave, sleeps — that is the Christian word 
 — sleeps in Jesus, until the resurrection, when 
 Christ will come and call it up ; not the old 
 earthly, worn-out, sin-corrupted, and mortal flesh 
 and blood, but a new, strong, glorious, incorrupti- 
 ble, immortal, spiritual body, to live with Christ 
 forever. 
 
 ( io 3) 
 
April 13. 
 
 / am the first a?id the last, and the Living one. — 
 Revelation i. 18. 
 
 THINK of the brokenness, the incompleteness, 
 the littleness, of these lives of ours. We get 
 glimpses of beauty in character which we are not 
 able to attain. We have longings which seem to us 
 too great ever to come true. W r e dream of things 
 we want to do ; but when we try to work them out, 
 our clumsy hands cannot put them into realizations. 
 We have glimmerings of a love that is very rich and 
 tender, without trace of selfishness, without envy or 
 jealousy, without resentment — a love that seeketh 
 not its own, is not provoked, beareth all things. 
 We get the vision from the life of Christ himself. 
 We say, " I will learn that lesson of love ; I will 
 be like that." But we fail. 
 
 We strive to be sweet-spirited, unselfish, thought- 
 ful, to keep good temper ; but we must wet our 
 pillow with tears at the close of our marred days, 
 because we cannot be what we strive to be. We 
 have glimpses of a peace which is very beautiful. 
 We strive after it — strive with intense effort, but 
 do not reach it. 
 
 So it is in all our living. Life is ever something 
 too large for us. We attain only fragments of living. 
 Yet all this incompleteness, this unsatisfactoriness, 
 this poor unattainment, finds its realization in the 
 risen Christ. His is the perfect life, and in him 
 we shall find fulness of life. 
 
 (104) 
 
April 14. 
 
 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, 
 immoveable, always abounding i?i the work of the 
 Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not 
 vain in the Lord, — i Corinthians xv. 58. 
 
 JESUS walks no more among men, doing his 
 deeds of love, but he sends his followers forth 
 to do the works in his name. We ought to abound 
 in all loving ministry just as he did. It is not 
 enough to be good, gentle, sweet, amiable, kindly, 
 patient. It is beautiful to live such a life ; and 
 its influence is far-reaching, like the fragrance of 
 Mary's ointment. 
 
 But we must also be full of good works. We 
 must be winners of souls. We must live to do good 
 to men, to comfort sorrow, to feed hunger, to relieve 
 distress, to cheer the disheartened, to break chains 
 and liberate sin's captives, to stand up for the 
 trulh, to do battle for the right. We are to be like 
 Christ, and we begin to be like Christ only when 
 we begin to be useful. 
 
 It ought to be a wondrous inspiration to us, in 
 our work for Christ, to read that our labor for God 
 is not in vain. No word of truth spoken in this 
 world is ever lost. On the rocks we find the im- 
 pressions left ages since by leaves that fell on the 
 soft clay and seemed to perish. So somewhere 
 every word we speak for God, and every smallest 
 deed we do for the love of Christ, leave their im- 
 mortal record. 
 
 (105) 
 
April 15, 
 
 That disciple therefore whom Jesus cove^ saith unto 
 Peter, It is the Lord. — St. John xxi. 7. 
 
 DR. CULROSS compares the character of John, 
 in its mellow ripeness, to an ancient, extinct 
 volcano. Where once the crater yawned, there is 
 now a verdurous, cup-like hollow on the mountain 
 summit. Where once the fierce fires burned, lies a 
 still, clear pool of water, looking up like an eye to 
 the beautiful heavens above, its banks covered with 
 sweet flowers. " It is an apt parable," he says, " of 
 this man. Naturally and originally volcanic, capa- 
 ble of profoundest passion and daring, he is new- 
 made by grace, till in his old age he stands out in 
 calm grandeur of character, and depth and large- 
 ness of soul, with all the gentlenesses and graces 
 of Christ adorning him — a man, as I imagine him 
 to myself, with a face so noble that kings might do 
 him homage, and so sweet that little children would 
 run to him for his blessing." This is a true and 
 striking portrait of this disciple of love. 
 
 What was it that wrought this transformation in 
 John, that changed the " son of thunder " into the 
 apostle of Christly affectionateness ? It was lean- 
 ing upon the Master's bosom that did it. The lump 
 of common clay lay upon the perfumed rose, and 
 the sweetness of the rose entered into it. John lay 
 on Jesus' bosom, on the bosom of the all-loving, 
 and the love of Jesus passed into John's soul and 
 transformed it. That was the secret of John's sane- 
 tinxation. 
 
 (106) 
 
April 16. 
 
 Simon, son of John, lovest thou me ? . . . Yea, 
 Lord ; thou knowest that I love thee. — St. John 
 xxi. 1 6. 
 
 WE are striving to follow Christ, but we are 
 weak. We intend to be loving, but we 
 mar our days with unhappy tempers and selfish 
 strivings. We intend to be strong in faith, but 
 many times our trust fails us. We bow our heads 
 to take the Master's benediction, " Peace be unto 
 you ; " but again and again the peace is broken. 
 We intend to show the world a pattern of Christ- 
 likeness, but the temptations about us are so sore 
 that every day we are conscious of having failed to 
 be true. We set out in the morning brave and con- 
 fident; but alas ! how often does the evening find us 
 defeated! 
 
 What shall we do ? There stands the Master, 
 patient, unwearied in his loving, asking, " Lovest 
 thou me ? " Dare we say, " Yes, Lord ? " If he 
 were but a man like ourselves, we could not; for 
 our failures would seem to disprove our word, and 
 he could not read the love in our secret heart under 
 all the inconsistency. But he knows all the truth 
 about us. He knows we are sincere and loyal 
 in heart, though so unworthy. He sees the love 
 amid the broken vows and the failures. Therefore, 
 we can look up out of our deep humiliation, and 
 say with inexpressible comfort, " Yea, Lord ; thou 
 knowest that I love thee." 
 
 (107) 
 
April 17. 
 
 Lovest thou me ? . . . Lord, thou knowest all things ; 
 thou knowest that I love thee. — St. John xxi. 17. 
 
 YOU look into your life to-day and what do you 
 see there ? Failures, broken purposes, promises 
 not kept, commandments violated, purity stained, 
 everything sullied. Jesus comes and looks into your 
 face, with that calm, holy, searching gaze of his, and 
 says, "Lovest thou me ? " As you are about to an- 
 swer, you think of all you have done that has been 
 dishonorable and sinful. You are dumb before him. 
 Yet you are conscious that you do love him ; that in 
 your heart, beneath all your sins, failures, and faults, 
 there is love for him. What a comfort it is to cast 
 yourself on his knowledge of what is in you ! Per- 
 haps men sneer, and say that one who has stumbled as 
 you have done surely cannot love Christ. But Christ 
 knows the love, even amid the sins and failures. 
 
 I am glad that perfection is not the test of dis- 
 cipleship. We may be full of faults. We go on 
 stumbling every day. We do nothing beautifully. 
 We misrepresent the Christ whose name we bear. 
 We hurt the friends we want to help. One came to 
 me full of grief because her heart had been so re- 
 bellious in time of sorrow. Another came broken 
 down because in a tim£ of great temptation he had 
 dishonored Christ. Christ knows all these sad 
 failures. He looks at the stained scroll we fold 
 up at the close of the day with the blots on it. 
 But while he sees the worst, he sees also the best ; 
 and he loves on — loves unto the uttermost 
 
 (108) 
 
April 18. 
 
 Jesus saith unto her. Thy brother shall rise again. — 
 St. John xi. 23. 
 
 THERE is wondrous music in these words as 
 they are spoken in the ears of sorrowing ones 
 beside the coffin and by the new-made grave. It 
 was a dim teaching in Martha's time, but soon after- 
 ward that occurred which made it bright and clear 
 as day. Jesus himself lay in the grave, and then 
 rose from death, walking forth in the light and radi- 
 ancy of immortal youth. 
 
 Christ was the first-fruits of resurrection ; that is, 
 his resurrection was an earnest or pledge as well as 
 an example of the coming resurrection of all who 
 believe on him. 
 
 We have a right to lay flowers on the coffins of 
 our Christian dead. They will come forth in the 
 beauty of new life. We open our New Testament 
 and see Jesus, after he had risen, away beyond 
 death. He has not been harmed by dying. No 
 beam of the beauty of his life is quenched. The 
 threads of the earthly life are not severed. He 
 has not forgotten his friends, but takes up again 
 the old companionships and friendships. So will it 
 be with our beloved ones who sleep in Jesus. They 
 will rise ; and they will be the same persons we have 
 known here, only they will be cleansed of their 
 earthliness and their mortality. And they will not 
 have forgotten us. Love never faileth. We shall 
 resume friendship's story on the other side. 
 
 (109) 
 
April 19. 
 
 Jesus sait/i, Take ye away the stone. — St. John 
 xi. 39. 
 
 WE find in all our Lord's life an economy of mir- 
 acle. He never put forth supernatural power 
 unless it was necessary. Could not Jesus have taken 
 away the stone himself ? Certainly he could. The 
 power that could call the dead to life could easily 
 have lifted back the piece of rock from the door 
 of the tomb. But there is alwavs something: left 
 for human hands to do. 
 
 God honors us by making us co-workers with 
 himself, both in providence and grace. He feeds 
 us, but ordinarily we must toil to earn and gather 
 our own food. He saves people's souls ; but he 
 uses men to speak the message, and then to help in 
 winning the lost. He makes his work dependent, 
 too, upon our fidelity in doing our part. He still 
 wants us to take away the stones that shut our 
 friends in their prison. 
 
 This command also exercised the faith of the 
 friends. If they had refused to do what he bade 
 them do, the miracle could not have been wrought. 
 " Said I not unto thee, that, if thou believedst, thou 
 shouldest see the glory of God ? " Had not the 
 unbelief given away to faith, Lazarus would not 
 have been raised. May it not be that many times, 
 in our own days, and in the experiences of our own 
 lives, great works of divine power which Christ 
 stands ready to perform, are not wrought — because 
 we do not believe ? 
 
April 20. 
 
 As the Father hath sent me, even so send I you, — 
 St. John xx. 21. 
 
 THE Son of God came down and lived in human 
 form on the earth, that men might see God in 
 the flesh. He said, " He that hath seen me, hath 
 seen the Father." All the love, the gentleness, the 
 patience, the compassion, the purity, the truth, the 
 righteousness, which people saw in the life of Jesus, 
 was simply a revealing of God. That is what God 
 is like. 
 
 Now the Christ sends us out to reveal God to 
 men. We are to show to them in our character, 
 disposition, spirit, and temper, the qualities of God. 
 If any one asks us to tell him what God is like, we 
 ought to be able to say humbly and yet truthfully, 
 " I am trying to be like God. He lives in me, and 
 his qualities shine out in my life. Look at me, 
 and you will see what God is like." 
 
 I know how dimly the beauty of God does shine 
 in us even at the best ; but we cannot get away from 
 the truth that if we are indeed Christ's, he lives in 
 us. St. Paul said more than once : " Be ye imita- 
 tors of me, even as I am of Christ." We must be 
 able to say the same. 
 
 " The dear Christ dwells not afar, 
 The king of some remoter star, 
 But here, amidst the poor and blind, 
 The bowed and suffering of our kind; 
 In works we do, in prayers we pray, 
 Life of our life, he lives to-day." 
 
 (in) 
 
April 21. 
 
 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, 
 saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give 
 you hope i?i your latter end. — Jeremiah xxix. n. 
 
 IT is better we should not know our future. If 
 we did, we should often spoil God's plan for 
 our life. If we could see into to-morrow, and know 
 the troubles it will bring, we might be tempted to 
 seek some way of avoiding them, while really they 
 are God's way to new honor and blessing. God's 
 thoughts for us are always thoughts of love, good, 
 promotion ; but sometimes the path to the hilltop 
 lies through dark valleys or up rough paths. Yet 
 to miss the hard bit of road is to fail of gaining 
 the lofty height. It is better, therefore, to walk, 
 not knowing, with God, than it would be to see 
 the way and choose for ourselves. God's way for 
 us is always better than our own. 
 
 " Through pastures fair, 
 By sea-girt paths all wild with rock and foam, 
 O'er velvet sward, and desert stern and bare, 
 The flock comes home. 
 
 Yet safe at last, 
 Within the fold they gather, and are still; 
 Sheltered from driving shower and stormy blast, 
 
 They fear no ill. 
 
 Through life's dark ways, 
 Through flowery paths where evil angels roam, 
 Through restless nights, and long, wasting days, 
 
 Christ's flock comes home." 
 
 (ll 2 ) 
 
April 22. 
 
 I will bring the blind by a path that they knew 
 not; in paths that they know not will I lead them : 
 I will make . . . crooked places straight. — Isaiah 
 xlii. 1 6. 
 
 GOD leads often to good ends through ways 
 which to us seem dark. He can make 
 crooked things straight for us. Perhaps we shall 
 find at the last that many of the best things of 
 our life are things over which w r e grieve now as 
 blunders. We do the best we can, and yet we fail, 
 or seem to fail ; but in God's eyes the effort tells 
 of love and of desire to please him, and thus wins 
 from him warmer commendation than does many 
 a piece of elaborate work, wrought in most deli- 
 cate way. 
 
 God can use our poorest efforts ofttimes to greater 
 purpose than our finest and most finished endeav- 
 ors, because they are less spoiled by human pride. 
 Self-consciousness always mars human work. The 
 things we do which satisfy us are not likely to sat- 
 isfy our Master. Many times the piece of work 
 which we think very fine, which pleases us well, 
 turns out to be of little use. God cannot use it be- 
 cause we have left no place in it for him. Then, 
 ofttimes something which we think of no account 
 God uses to accomplish great results. The less of 
 self there is in our service the more is the service 
 worth. There is room then in it for more of God, 
 and it is the divine in what we do that alone gives 
 it efficiency and value. 
 
 ("3) 
 
April 23. 
 
 For as the rain cometh dow?i and the snow from 
 heave?i, and returneth not thither, but watereth the 
 earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, and giveth 
 seed to the sower and bread to the eater ; so shall 
 my word be that goeth forth out of ??iy viouth. — 
 Isaiah lv. 10, n. 
 
 EVERY one knows the effect of the rain, espe- 
 cially when it falls on a field that has been 
 parched and withered. Its drops go down to the 
 roots of the dying grass, the fading flowers, and the 
 drooping trees, and soon new life appears every- 
 where. The grass is greener. The flowers revive 
 and pour out fragrance. All vegetation is renewed. 
 So it is when God's word comes to a fainting, fail- 
 ing human life. 
 
 Sometimes rain comes in storms, with black clouds 
 and fierce lightnings and thunders. People tremble 
 and are afraid as they look on. But the storm 
 passes, pouring out rich blessings of rain, which 
 make all the fields rejoice. God sometimes sends 
 his word to us in dark, portentous forms, — sickness, 
 loss, disappointment, sorrow, trial. At first we are 
 terrified ; but in the end, when the storms have 
 cleared away, we find that the dark clouds we so 
 dreaded were but God's messengers to bring to us 
 rich blessings of grace. 
 
 God bends from out the deep, and says, 
 " I gave thee of my seed to sow ; 
 
 Bringest thou me my hundred-fold? " 
 Can I look up with face aglow, 
 
 And answer, " Father, here is gold "? 
 
 J. R. Lowell. 
 
 ("4) 
 
April 24. 
 
 Some seeds fell by the wayside . . . others fell upon 
 the rocky places . . . others fell upon the thorns. — 
 St. Matthew xiii. 4, 5, 7. 
 
 FROM the heart trodden by passing feet of pleas- 
 ure, business, or care, the birds carry off the 
 seeds the moment they are cast from the sower's 
 hand. On the heart with a thin, emotional stratum 
 on its surface, the seed seems for a time to make a 
 deep impression. The hearer weeps under the ser- 
 mon. He is amazed at the coldness of ordinary 
 Christians. But in a little time it is all over. He 
 has no depth of conviction, and the quick growths of 
 his first faith are soon withered in the heat of life's 
 trials. 
 
 In the heart filled with the briers and thorns of 
 earthly care, ambition, and pleasure, the seed has 
 little chance to grow. All around the feeble stalks 
 grow the hardier briers and thorns, whose hungry 
 roots and stems absorb the soil's nourishment, leav- 
 ing the wheat robbed and starved. There is much 
 of such Christian life as this. Its possibilities are 
 withered, stunted, choked to death by worldliness 
 or by care. No fruit comes to anything beautiful 
 in such lives. 
 
 It is discouraging to think that so much of the 
 good seed sown comes to naught, fails through 
 unfavorable conditions. Yet we should never falter 
 in our sowing, praying God to watch over his own 
 holy seed. 
 
 ("5) 
 
April 25. 
 
 Take heed therefore how ye hear — St. Luke viii. 18. 
 
 TT "TE hear a great deal about the " fearful respon- 
 V V sibility " of those who preach and teach the 
 word of God. No doubt it is a solemn thing to speak 
 for God to men. Those who are called to this duty 
 should be very faithful. But there is also a " fear- 
 ful responsibility " attached to hearing the word. 
 One of our Lord's most earnest words was : " Take 
 heed how ye hear." 
 
 When the preacher's work is done in the right 
 way, his responsibility ceases, and that of the hearer 
 begins. He has heard the truth ; what will he do 
 with it ? Will he believe it and accept it ? Or will 
 he reject it? He cannot be again as if he had 
 never heard it. It must be either a savor of life or 
 a savor of death to him. Not only must he account 
 for the opportunity of hearing, but he is also af- 
 fected in his own spirit by the hearing. If he 
 listens and yields to the influences of the truth, his 
 heart grows softer ; but if he rejects it, he is hard- 
 ened by it. 
 
 No sermon or other message of truth, heard or 
 read, leaves a man as it finds him. It makes 
 some impression — what, is determined by what 
 the hearer does with it. We need to think a little 
 of this side of the responsibility. We are hearing 
 much that is good these passing days ; it would be 
 sad if nothing came of it all. 
 
 (116) 
 
April 26. 
 
 There was the cloud and the darkness, yet gave it 
 light by night. — Exodus xiv. 20. 
 
 GOD appears different to his friends and to his 
 enemies. To his own people he is light* 
 comfort, joy, protection, and gladness ; but to those 
 who reject him he is darkness, awful terror, and 
 stern judgment. The thought of God's presence 
 fills the Christian with confidence and peace, with 
 the warmth of love ; but the same thought makes 
 the unreconciled sinner tremble. " I thought upon 
 God, and was troubled." 
 
 The providence of God, too, has this same double 
 aspect. The Christian sees love everywhere. He 
 sees his Father's hand ordering all things with lov- 
 ing wisdom. When he cannot understand he can 
 trust and wait in confidence. But to the unrecon- 
 ciled man the same providence is a dark mystery, 
 full of dread and alarm. He has no sense of safety 
 anywhere he may go. There is no assurance of 
 protection, no consciousness of love, anywhere in 
 the universe for him. 
 
 Death to the ungodly is a heavy cloud, charged 
 with lightnings and thunders ; but to the Christian 
 it is a glorious blaze of divine love pouring bright- 
 ness and peace all about his bed. It will be the 
 same on the day of judgment. To his own people 
 Christ on his throne will be all glorious, and his 
 appearance will give unspeakable joy ; but to the 
 ungodly his presence will be an appearance of the 
 most appalling terror. 
 
 ("7) 
 
April 27. 
 
 Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right ? 
 — Genesis xviii. 25. 
 
 SOME people worry about the fate of the heathen, 
 and ask if God can be just and do so and so. 
 A great deal better solution of such perplexities is 
 Abraham's : " Shall not the Judge of all the earth 
 do right ? " Surely we can trust him with all such 
 things, and leave them in his hands. 
 
 Others have perplexity concerning the apparent 
 want of justness in the allotments of earth. Some 
 good people have little but trouble here, and some 
 wicked people have very much worldly favor. We 
 have the same truth on which to rest all such seem- 
 ing inequities. God will surely do right. What we 
 call trouble may have more real blessing in it than 
 what we call prosperity. Then, the end of life is 
 not here. God has eternity in which to adjust 
 the equities. 
 
 There are other people who think that their own 
 lot is very hard. They complain about their trials 
 and disappointments, and are discontented with 
 what God does for them and gives them. They 
 say God is good ; yet they imply by their queru- 
 lousness that he is not good. This word of Abra- 
 ham's should rebuke all such complaints. Sooner 
 might the heavens fall than that in any smallest 
 thing God could do aught but what is absolutely 
 right and just. 
 
 " Commit thy way unto the Lord; 
 
 Trust also in him, and he shall bring it to pass." 
 (11S) 
 
April 28. 
 
 When . . . the feet of the priests . . . were dipped 
 in the bri?ik of the water . . . the waters . . . stood, 
 and rose up in one heap, a great way off . . . and the 
 people passed over, — Joshu a iii. 15, 16. 
 
 GOD does not open paths for us in advance 
 of our coming. He does not promise to 
 help before help is needed. He does not remove 
 obstacles out of our way before we reach them. 
 Yet when we are on the edge of our need, God's 
 hand is stretched out. 
 
 Many people forget this, and are forever worry- 
 ing about difficulties which they foresee in the 
 future. They expect that God is going to make the 
 way plain and open before them, miles and miles 
 ahead, whereas he has promised to do it only step 
 by step as they move on. There is a promise which 
 reads : " When thou passeth through the waters, I 
 will be with thee." You must get to the waters 
 and into their floods before you can claim this 
 promise. 
 
 Many people dread death, and lament that they 
 have not "dying grace." Of course they will not 
 have dying grace when they are in good health, 
 in the midst of life's duties, with death far in 
 advance. Why should they have it then ? Grace 
 for duty is what they need then, living grace ; then 
 dying grace when they come to die. When their 
 feet are dipped in the brim of Jordan, the torrent 
 will sink away. 
 
 ("9) 
 
April 29. 
 
 And Joshua said unto them, If thou be a great peo- 
 ple, get thee up to the forest, and cut down for thyself 
 there i?i the land of the Perizzites and of the Rephaim ; 
 since the hill cou?itry of Ephraim is too narrow for 
 thee. — Joshua xvii. 15. 
 
 IT is the part of true wisdom to live our life in 
 its actual conditions, not calculating what we 
 could do or could be if we had certain other cir- 
 cumstances, but rather accepting the conditions in 
 which we must live, and making them serve us with 
 opportunities for being noble and doing worthy 
 things. Says Robert Browning, — 
 
 The common problem, yours, mine, every one's, 
 Is, not to fancy what were fair in life 
 Provided it could be — but, finding first 
 What may be, then find how to make it fair 
 Up to our means. A very different thing. 
 
 The learning of this bit of practical wisdom will 
 be worth more to many of us than any change of 
 circumstances or conditions could be. 
 
 " I like the man who faces what he must, 
 
 With step triumphant and a heart of cheer; 
 Who fights the daily battle without fear; 
 
 Sees his hopes fail, yet keeps unfaltering trust 
 
 That God is God, — that, somehow, true and just, 
 His plans work out for mortals; not a tear 
 Is shed when fortune, which the world holds dear, 
 
 Falls from his grasp ; better, with love, a crust, 
 
 Than living in dishonor; envies not, 
 
 Nor loses faith in man; but does his best, 
 
 Nor ever murmurs at his humbler lot, 
 
 But, with a smile and words of hope, gives zest 
 
 To every toiler: he alone is great, 
 
 Who by a life heroic conquers fate." 
 
 (120) 
 
April 30. 
 
 Now there was leani?ig on Jesus 1 bosom one of his 
 disciples, whom Jesus loved, — St. John xiii. 23. 
 
 I LIKE the word leaning. John leaned his 
 weight on Jesus, on his breast, near his heart. 
 We need to learn better our privilege of leaning, 
 nestling, in the bosom of divine love. We think of 
 giving a few of our burdens to Christ ; but he wants 
 to carry both us and all our load. 
 
 A gentleman was moving his library, and his boy 
 was helping him. The child had gathered his arms 
 full, and had gone off proudly with his load. Pres- 
 ently, however, the father heard a call for help. 
 The little fellow had gotten half-way up the stairs 
 when the burden proved too heavy, and he sank 
 down. The father heard the call, and, coming up 
 the stairs, lifted and carried both the boy and his 
 load. 
 
 That is like what Jesus will do for us. He takes 
 our sins, and puts them away. He takes our wicked 
 heart, and changes it. He takes our ruined life, and 
 restores it. He takes all our mistakes and sins, and 
 corrects them. He takes into his hands the order- 
 ing of our steps, the shaping of our circumstances, 
 the ruling and overruling of the events of our days, 
 our deliverance in temptation. We really have 
 nothing whatever to do with our own life but our 
 simple duty day by day, hour by hour. 
 
 " In the light and pity of thy face 
 The burden melts away." 
 
May 1. 
 
 This do in remembrance of me. — St. Luke xxii. 19. 
 
 A YOUNG man came to me one morning hold- 
 ing a letter in his hand. Opening it, he 
 showed me some pressed flowers and leaves. " My 
 sister gathered these from my mother's grave," he 
 said, with a voice soft and tender. Then he told 
 me about his mother, — her beautiful life, her deeds 
 of self-denial, her loving counsels, her prayers, lin- 
 gering especially on her long illness, when she faded 
 like a flower. 
 
 " It was ten years ago," he said, " ten years ago, 
 this very day, that she died ; but it seems as if it 
 were only yesterday." The faded flowers and 
 leaves from her English grave had brought back 
 the memories in all their vividness. 
 
 Perhaps you have in your home some memento 
 of a departed friend. Every time you see it, it re- 
 calls your friend. This suggests why Jesus gave 
 us the Last Supper. He would keep his love and 
 death always fresh in our mind. " My people will 
 forget me," he said, " and what I have suffered for 
 them. The memory of my sacrifice will fade out as 
 the years pass. I will give them this memorial, so 
 that each time they take the bread and the cup 
 they may freshly remember me." So all these cen- 
 turies the Lord's Supper has kept the memory of 
 the love and sacrifice of Christ fresh in the hearts 
 of his people, and this memory has made all the 
 world sweeter and gentler. 
 
 (122) 
 
May 2. 
 
 Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, 
 cvid from thy father 's house, unto the land that I will 
 shew thee. — Genesis xii. i. 
 
 ALL noble life begins with sacrifice. To gain 
 the higher, the lower must be given up. We 
 must get out of our own country, before we can get 
 into God's country. We can have the better only 
 by giving up the less valuable. God calls us all to 
 leave the old, in order to enter the new. It may 
 not be literally to leave country, kindred, and home, 
 and go out into a strange land ; but in a spiritual 
 sense it always is just this. If we would follow 
 Christ, we must cut loose from the world, and go 
 out with him. 
 
 Perhaps there is too great a tendency in these 
 days to try to follow Christ without cutting loose 
 from the world. Too many people imagine that 
 they can take the pilgrimage to Canaan without 
 leaving Ur. But this is quite impossible. We can 
 get to our land of promise only by leaving all, and 
 following where Christ leads. This means that we 
 must give up this world as our portion, and take 
 the heavenly inheritance instead ; we cannot keep 
 both. The rich man who came to Christ could not 
 sacrifice his earthly possessions, and therefore could 
 not get the heavenly riches. 
 
 Faith shares the future's promise; love's 
 
 Self-offering is a triumph won; 
 And each good thought or action moves 
 
 The dark world nearer to the sun. 
 
 J. G. Whittier, 
 
 ( I2 3) 
 
May 3. 
 
 / will bless thee . . . and be thou a blessing. — 
 Genesis xii. 2. 
 
 THAT is God's offer and message to all of us. 
 He wants to bless us, and then he wants 
 us in turn to be a blessing to others. God's way 
 is to send very many of his good things through 
 human mediators. When he would bless a little 
 child, he puts a gift of wondrous love into a 
 mother's heart. When he would bless a class of 
 young people or children, he sends a teacher with 
 a heart full of warm sympathy and earnest interest 
 in life. When he would bless a community, he 
 raises up a good man, and touches his heart, that 
 he may scatter benefits among the people. 
 
 W T hen God enriches us with gifts of whatever 
 kind, he wants them to be blessings to others. 
 Nothing that we have is ours for ourselves alone ; 
 we receive that we may dispense. When God gives 
 a man money, he intends him to use it so as to 
 make it a blessing to the world. When God be- 
 stows upon any one the gift of song, of eloquence, 
 of the artist's power, he desires these gifts to be 
 used to make men better and happier. We should 
 never live for ourselves. We should seek always 
 to live so as to make the world purer, truer, richer, 
 sweeter. 
 
 He liveth long who liveth well; 
 
 All else is being flung away : 
 He liveth longest who can tell 
 
 Of true things truly done each day. 
 
 Bonar. 
 
 ( I2 4) 
 
May 4. 
 
 Jacob was left alone ; and there wrestled a man with 
 him until the breaking of the day. — Genesis xxxii. 24. 
 
 WE are all having our Jabboks continually. We 
 are coming face to face with wrestlers in 
 the darkness. We go away from our wrestling, too, 
 many a time, carrying the marks of wounding ; and 
 yet in the experience we have gotten blessing. 
 
 That touch on the hollow of Jacob's thigh was 
 the touch that withered the old boasted strength. 
 You say Jacob was victorious. Yes ; but when ? 
 Not while he wrestled, but after his thigh was out 
 of joint and he could wrestle no more. He wound 
 his sinewy arms about the neck of his antagonist, 
 and clung, saying, " I will not let thee go except 
 thou bless me." That was the way he prevailed 
 — not in the old way of cunning, but by having 
 the old man crippled, defeated, and then by the 
 new way of trust and clinging. 
 
 " Soul of mine, 
 
 Wouldst thou not choose for life a motto half divine ? 
 
 Let this be thy guard and guide 
 
 Through the future, reaching wide: 
 
 Whether good or ill betide, 
 
 Rise higher. 
 
 From the mire 
 Where the masses blindly grovel, rise higher ! 
 From the slavish love of gold, 
 From the justice bought and sold, 
 From the narrow rules of old, 
 Rise higher." 
 
 (^5) 
 
May 5. 
 
 So shall also my heavenly Father do unto you, if 
 ye forgive not every one his brother from your hearts. 
 — Matthew xviii. 35. 
 
 IF we have truly received the divine forgiveness, 
 we will be forgiving toward others. As one 
 says, " If you get pardon from God, you will give it 
 to a brother ; if you withhold it from your brother, 
 you thereby make it manifest that you have not 
 gotten it from God." So we are brought face to 
 face with a most solemn practical teaching which 
 we«dare not ignore. Have we the forgiving spirit? 
 Can we sincerely pray, " Forgive us our debts, as we 
 forgive our debtors "? No doubt the lesson is hard, 
 for it is so against nature ; yet we all know by ex- 
 perience that the cherishing of resentment never 
 brings peace to our hearts. People say, " Revenge 
 is sweet;" but it is not true. It really makes bit- 
 terness for him who cherishes it. The gratification 
 of a moment becomes pain afterward. 
 
 Revenge is a naked sword; 
 
 It has neither hilt nor guard. 
 Wouldst thou wield this brand of the Lord? 
 
 Is thy grasp then firm and hard? 
 
 But the closer thy clutch of the blade, 
 The deadlier blow thou wouldst deal, 
 
 Deeper wound in the hand is made — 
 It is thy blood reddens the steel. 
 
 And when thou hast dealt the blow — 
 
 When the blade from thy hand has flown — 
 
 Instead of the heart of the foe, 
 
 Thou mayst find it sheathed in thine own. 
 
 Charles Henry Webb. 
 
 (126) 
 
May 6. 
 
 There were some that had indignation . . . say- 
 ing, l^o what purpose hath this waste of the ointment 
 been made ? — St. Mark xiv. 4. 
 
 THERE are some who think every sacrifice for 
 Christ's sake is a waste. They think that 
 money which is given to build churches, or to send 
 missionaries to the heathen, is wasted. They think 
 that lives are wasted which are devoted to Christ 
 and sacrificed in his service. But is it so ? Is it 
 really the money that is spent in advancing Christ's 
 kingdom that is wasted ? Are they the wasted lives 
 that are emptied out in love for Christ? There is 
 money that is wasted ; but it is that which is used 
 for selfish and sinful purposes, or squandered in 
 the mere extravagances of worldliness. There are 
 lives that are wasted ; but they are those which are 
 thrown away in evil courses, sacrificed in pleasure, 
 in dissipation, in lust, in passion's fires. 
 
 Indeed, all lives are wasted which are not lost for 
 Christ's sake ; for did he not say, " He that saveth 
 his life shall lose it " ? To withhold one's life from 
 Christ is therefore to waste it. It has been noted 
 as very suggestive that our Lord uses the self-same 
 word for " wasted " when he describes Judas as a 
 " son of perdition." Judas had wasted that which 
 was more precious than the ointment of spikenard, 
 even the gift of eternal life which once had been 
 within his reach. What we give to Christ is indeed 
 all that we do not waste of our life and of our 
 substance. 
 
 (127) 
 
May 7. 
 
 Rejoice in the Lord alway : again I will say. Rejoice. 
 — Philippians iv. 4. 
 
 THE Bible insists upon joy as an element of 
 Christian life. Christ spoke of his desire 
 that the disciples should have his joy fulfilled in 
 themselves. St. Paul exhorts Christians to rejoice 
 always, and speaks of joy as one of the fruits of the 
 Spirit. 
 
 Christian joy is not hilarity. One may be sorrow- 
 ful, and yet have the joy of the Lord in the heart. 
 It is an inner joy — a fountain in the heart, supplied 
 from heaven. Every Christian should have this 
 joy. It belongs to the ideal of the complete Chris- 
 tian character. It is very evident, however, that 
 there are many Christians who do not have it. 
 Their spirits go up and down like the mercury in 
 the tube of the thermometer, varying with the at- 
 mosphere. When things are pleasant they have 
 joy. When circumstances are hard or painful they 
 have no joy. 
 
 We ought to know how to get the joy of Christ. 
 One secret is absolute devotion to the will of God. 
 Another is serving others. Only as we learn to live 
 the life of love — " Not to be ministered unto, but 
 to minister " — can we find true, deep joy. Every 
 self-denial or sacrifice of love for another's sake 
 adds to the Christian's joy. We reach the ideal 
 life only as joy lives in our heart, and shines out in 
 our life. 
 
 (128) 
 
May 8. 
 
 Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, — 
 St. Matthew vi. 28. 
 
 GOD looks up at us from every sweet flower that 
 blooms. The beauty that fills our earth is a 
 pledge to us of God's thought and love for us. We 
 all know the familiar story of the great traveller who 
 was saved from perishing on the desert where he 
 had fallen, faint and famishing for water, by seeing 
 a little speck of green moss peeping up out of the 
 hot sand. This gleam of life assured him that God 
 must be near, thus putting new hope into his heart, 
 and giving him strength to rise and struggle on 
 until he found water. Every plant or flower should 
 remind us of God, make us reverent. A writer 
 says, — 
 
 " We are not left of God 
 So long as a rose blooms at our window-pane ; 
 So long as the sun shines, and the soft rain 
 Calls forth the early violets from the sod. 
 If but a wild brier by our pathway nod, 
 After its winter death wakened again, 
 Seeing its life we may forget our^paih 
 Of unbelief. Who bringsjforth life but God? 
 He stains with tender tint the lily's lip;' 
 Feeds with incessant care the insect crew; 
 Drops honey for the wandering bee to sip 
 In a white chalice set with pearls of dew. 
 The glow-worm hath its lamp; the firefly's light 
 Is but a pledge of love writ on the night." 
 
 (129) 
 
May 9. 
 
 Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. — 
 Isaiah xl. i. 
 
 COMFORT is a very sweet word. It has music 
 in it for those who are in trouble. And most 
 people have some trouble. This word was spoken 
 hrst to captives. There are a great many captives 
 — people carried away from home into a strange 
 land. Many people are in bondage of sorrow ; it 
 is hard to find a home without its grief. Many are 
 in bondage of circumstances : life is too hard for 
 them. There is a great deal of poverty in the world. 
 But here is God's gospel : " Comfort ye my people." 
 Few words are more misunderstood, however, 
 than the Bible word comfort. Many people think 
 it means mere condolence — to sit down with suf- 
 ferers and weep with them, pitying them, but doing 
 nothing to lift them up. But God's comfort is no 
 such weak, sentimental thing as this. He never 
 merely sits down with us in passive yielding to 
 trouble. He comes to deliver us, to lead us out 
 of our bondage, to make us victorious over trial 
 or sorrow. There is always in Bible comfort the 
 thought of strength. Xo bondage is hopeless under 
 the skies of divine love. The stars shine into the 
 deepest dungeon. There is not in any prison in 
 this world a captive to whom the gospel does not 
 come with its " Speak ye comfortably." 
 
 (130) 
 
May 10. 
 
 My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your 
 ways my ways, saith the Lord. — Isaiah lv. 8. 
 
 IT is well indeed that God's ways differ from ours. 
 For example, if God's forgiveness were like 
 ours it would do us little good. We hold our petty 
 grudges and resentments ; we remember men's 
 smallest unkindnesses to us, allowing them to im- 
 bitter our love, and stop the flow of our affections. 
 We profess to forgive, but retain the grudge in our 
 heart. 
 
 But God's ways of forgiving are not as our ways. 
 He forgives the worst of sinners, the greatest of 
 sins, and the largest number of transgressions. In 
 the parable, it was God who forgave the ten thou- 
 sand talents ; and it was a man who would not for- 
 give his fellow the miserable pittance of a hundred 
 pence. The most wonderful thing in this universe 
 is God's forgiveness. We ought to be thankful for 
 it ; for if it were less we could not be saved. Then, 
 when we have received it, we ought to let itsj>pirit 
 work in our heart, to change us into its own image. 
 We pray, " Forgive us as we forgive." If we mean 
 this, we should look well to the kind of forgiveness 
 we show to others." 
 
 Thy way, not mine, O Lord, 
 ^ However dark it be : 
 
 Lead me by thine own hand, 
 
 Choose out the path for me, 
 Smooth let it be or rough, 
 
 It will be still the best; 
 Winding or straight, it leads 
 
 Right onward to thy rest. 
 
 (131) 
 
 BONAR. 
 
May 11. 
 
 I was an himgred, a?id ye gave me no meat . . . 
 sick, and in prison, and ye visited me ?iot. — St. 
 Matthew xxv. 42, 43. 
 
 NOT the doing of things they ought not to have 
 done here determines the doom of the un- 
 righteous, but the not doing of things they ought 
 to have done. They had not been cruel or unkind 
 to any of Christ's little ones — no such charge is 
 made. They had not wronged any one. Only 
 neglects are mentioned. They had seen " little 
 ones " hungry, and had not fed them ; thirsty, 
 and had not given them drink ; naked, and had 
 not clothed them ; sick, and had not visited them. 
 They had merely " passed by on the other side " 
 when they saw human need and misery which they 
 might have relieved. Yet their omissions and neg- 
 lects count as actual sins. 
 
 Many of us are apt to neglect opportunities of 
 helping others and of relieving distress, never think- 
 ing that we are sinning against Christ ; that is, are 
 leaving him unhelped and unrelieved in distress, 
 when we might have given him comfort. The re- 
 sult of the teaching should be to make us more 
 thoughtful of others. and f more alert to embrace 
 every opportunity of ministry to others in Christ's 
 name. It is because we do not think that we fail 
 so often in love's duty. 
 
 " And yet it was never in my soul, 
 To play so ill a part; 
 But evil is wrought by want of thought 
 As well as want of heart." 
 
 (!3 2 ) 
 
May 12. 
 
 But judge ye this rather, that no man put a stum- 
 bling-block in his brother's way. — Romans xiv. 13. 
 
 INSTEAD of keeping our eye ever on others, 
 looking for faults and mistakes in them, we 
 are to look to our own example, lest something 
 we do may hurt others' lives, or cause them to 
 do wrong. If every one would do this, it would 
 go far toward making a paradise of this world of 
 thorns and briers. We easily get in the habit of 
 overlooking our own faults, or imagining that we 
 are well-nigh perfect, while in reality our life is 
 full of inconsistencies. We dash at our neigh- 
 bor's eye, to pull out some little mote we imagine 
 we see in it, while at the same time we have a great 
 beam in our own eye which sadly disfigures us, and 
 is a reproach to us in the sight of others. 
 
 The habit of judging and condemning others is 
 usually a great deal more serious blemish than are 
 the things we so glibly point out as flaws or faults. 
 The first duty of every Christian is to make sure 
 that he lays no stumbling-block in others' way. 
 It is said that Rutherford B. Hayes did not carry a 
 watch. When he was a young man his watch was 
 twice stolen, and the thief each time was arrested 
 and imprisoned. Mr. Hayes then resolved never to 
 wear a watch, because twice his carrying one had 
 made a temptation for another. We may call this 
 excessive conscientiousness, but we can scarcely 
 overdo in this duty. 
 
May 13. 
 
 Who by the power of God are guarded through 
 faith unto a salvation ready to be revealed in the 
 last time. — i Peter i. 5. 
 
 IT is related of a saintly man, that by his own 
 request his only epitaph was " Kept." We are . 
 all kept, if we do not fall away into the darkness of 
 eternal death, by the power of God unto final salva- 
 tion. Only those who overcome at last get home to 
 glory. Only Christ can help us to be conquerors. 
 And important as was his death for us, his real 
 work in saving us is that which he does with us, 
 one by one, in keeping us, guiding us, giving us 
 grace for living, lifting us up when we have fallen, 
 bringing us back when we have wandered away. 
 Were it not for the patient, watchful, never-wearying 
 love of Christ, not one of us would ever get home. 
 We are kept. 
 
 This divine keeping comes to us in many ways. 
 We believe in angel guardianship. Then there is 
 human guardianship. The mother is her child's first 
 keeper. Robert Browning says that even " angels 
 are less tenderwise than God and mothers ; " and 
 the old rabbis used to say that God could not be 
 everywhere present, and therefore he made mothers. 
 All through life God gives human guardians who 
 become helpers of our faith. Then we have ever 
 the real divine presence in which we find perfect 
 keeping. "The Lord is thy keeper." 
 
 (134) 
 
May 14. 
 
 / am come down to deliver them . . . and to bring 
 them . . . unto a good land. — Exodus iii. 8. 
 
 WEEPING may endure for a night, but joy 
 cometh in the morning. The night may 
 grow very dark, but the morning will break. " We 
 must through much tribulation enter the kingdom 
 of God;" but notice the word "through." "The 
 valley of the shadow of death" lies in the path ; but 
 we are to pass through it, and beyond comes, " I 
 will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever." 
 After Egypt and its bondage comes the " good 
 land and large." So it is always. After winter, 
 with its death and desolation, comes spring with 
 its flowers, fruits, harvests, and life. After earth 
 with its sorrows, comes heaven, where joy shall 
 be eternal. 
 
 "After the shower the tranquil sun; 
 After the snow the emerald leaves; 
 Silver stars when the day is done; 
 
 After the harvest the golden she aves. 
 
 After the clouds the violet sky; 
 
 After the tempest the lulPbf waves; 
 Quiet woods when the winds go by; 
 
 After the battle, peaceful graves. 
 
 After the knell the wedding-bells; 
 
 After the bud the radiant rose; 
 Joyful greetings from sad farewells; 
 
 After our weeping, sweet repose. 
 
 After the burden the blissful meed; 
 
 After the flight the downy rest ; 
 After the furrow the waking seed; 
 
 After the shadowy river — rest ! " 
 
 (135) 
 
May 15. 
 
 Bring them down unto the water, and I will try 
 them for thee there. — Judges vii. 4. 
 
 THE way the men drank water from the brook 
 was the test of their fitness for the work of 
 conquering the Midianites. It seemed to make the 
 smallest difference in the world whether a soldier 
 drank by bowing down with his face in the water, 
 or by lapping up the water with his hand as he 
 stood ; yet it was a difference that settled the 
 question of fitness or unfitness for the great work 
 before the army. 
 
 It is in just such little ways, and in such matters 
 of everyday and commonplace action, conduct, and 
 manner, that God is always testing us and deciding 
 whether we are fit or unfit for the greater work for 
 which he is seeking men. By the way a boy lives 
 at home, by the way he treats his parents, by the 
 way he performs his duties at school, by the spirit 
 he shows on the play-ground, by the diligence or 
 the want of it which he displays in the store or 
 office in which he is first employed — by the way he 
 acts in all these relations and duties, the question 
 is being settled to what greater responsibilities the 
 Lord will call him in after-days. Every young girl, 
 by the way she deports herself in her girlhood, at 
 home, at school, at play, and in all the days of 
 youth, is settling the place in life she shall fill in 
 full womanhood and strength. We cannot know 
 what future honor may depend on the way we do 
 the simplest, most commonplace thing to-day. 
 
 (136) 
 
May 16. 
 
 Therefore the childre7i of Israel cannot stand before 
 their ene?nies. — Joshua vii. 12. 
 
 THIS is the only record in the Book of Joshua 
 of a lost battle. The word " therefore " tells 
 us that it was a sin that caused this defeat, a secret 
 sin, and the sin, too, of but one individual. How 
 little do we know of the real causes of the failures 
 we see about us ! 
 
 All of us have our Ais, too, our defeats in battle ; 
 and very often they come just after our Jerichos. 
 It was only a little town, too, at which this disaster 
 occurred, so small that it was thought unnecessary to 
 send more than a handful of soldiers to take it. Is 
 it not often just so in our spiritual warfare ? One 
 writes, " Our greatest failures often happen in the 
 little things of life. We miscalculate the strength 
 of the foe ; we fail to spy out the reserved forces. 
 Indeed, we mistake, when we think it an easy mat- 
 ter to subdue any enemy. How often has it hap- 
 pened that he who has won his most signal victory 
 in some great crisis of the church, who has rescued 
 the truth from the teachers of false doctrine, or 
 stormed the- intrenchments of vice, has forthwith 
 failed in some petty domestic disturbance, in some 
 social duty, or in a trifling claim of common charity ? 
 If there be a time in life when we need more than 
 ever to watch and pray lest we enter into tempta- 
 tion, it is in the hour of success." 
 
 037) 
 
May 17. 
 
 The Lord heareth your murmuri?igs which ye mur- 
 mur against him. — Exodus xvi. 8. 
 
 " l^vOES God really hear every discontented word 
 YJ I ever speak ? Does he hear when I grumble 
 about the weather, about the hard winter, about the 
 late spring, about the dry summer, about the wet 
 harvest, about the grub-worm and the grasshopper ? 
 Does he hear when I grumble about the frosts, about 
 the drought, about the high winds, and about the 
 storms ? Does he hear when I scold about my cir- 
 cumstances, about the hardness of my lot, about my 
 losses and disappointments ? " 
 
 If we could get into our heart, and keep there 
 continually, the consciousness that every word we 
 speak is heard up in heaven, would we murmur so 
 much as we now do ? We are very careful of our 
 speech before men. We are always on our guard 
 when we think anybody is within hearing, and speak 
 only proper words. Are we as careful what we say 
 in the hearing of heaven ? We are careful, too, 
 never to speak words which would give pain to the 
 hearts of those we love. Are we as careful not to 
 say anything that will grieve our heavenly Father ? 
 
 If the world seems cold to you, 
 
 Kindle fires to warm it ; 
 Let their comfort hide from view 
 
 Winters that deform it. 
 Hearts as frozen as your own 
 
 To that radiance gather : 
 You will soon forget to moan 
 
 " Ah, the cheerless weather ! " 
 
 Lucy Larcom. 
 
 (138) 
 
May 18. 
 
 All the women that were wise hearted did spin with 
 their hands. — Exodus xxxv. 25. 
 
 IT didn't spoil their hands a bit either. Some 
 dainty women " toil not, neither do they spin." 
 They keep their hands soft and white. They think 
 any kind of work would mar the delicate beauty of 
 their fingers. But they make a great mistake. The 
 hands that are beautiful in heaven's sight are not the 
 dainty ones that are never roughened or hardened 
 by toil. Anything is beautiful just in the measure 
 in which it fulfils the mission for which it was made. 
 Hands were made to work; and an idle, useless 
 hand, no matter how delicate and fair, is not a 
 lovely hand. 
 
 " Beautiful hands are those that do 
 Work that is earnest and brave and true, 
 Moment by moment, the long day through." 
 
 These ancient women had learned to spin, and 
 now they spun for God. Here we see how every- 
 day gifts and occupations may be turned over into 
 God's service^ The young women of to-day do not 
 spin much — many of them never saw a distaff or a 
 spinning-wheel ; but they have other common ac- 
 quirements which they may consecrate to Christ. 
 
 " The sweetest lives are those to duty wed, 
 Whose deeds, both great and small, 
 Are close-knit strands of an unbroken thread, 
 
 Where love ennobles all. 
 The world may sound no trumpets, ring no bells; 
 The book of life the shining record tells." 
 
 O39) 
 
May 19. 
 
 And brought . . . the blue, and the purple, the scar- 
 let, a?id the fine I men. — Exodus xxxv. 25. 
 
 WHEN the ancient Hebrews were preparing to 
 make a tabernacle for God, they brought the 
 richest and best things they had. They looked on 
 their heirlooms and their most prized possessions, 
 and took out for God the things that were dearest 
 and most sacred. 
 
 We should follow the same rule when we are 
 giving to God or for God. When we make presents 
 to those we love tenderly, we are at great pains to 
 get the best and loveliest gifts we can find. But do 
 we always bring Christ the best ? Do we give him 
 the best of our heart's affections ? Do we bring 
 him the best of our life, — our youth, our energy, 
 our most vigorous powers ? Do we do our best 
 work in his service ? Are our gifts for him the 
 most precious things we possess ? 
 
 These Israelites brought their bracelets, ear-rings, 
 and rings, and all their jewels of gold. They had 
 nothing that was too good or too precious to be 
 offered to God. Is it thus with us ? Do not we 
 sometimes bring to God the very smallest gifts we 
 can find ? We keep for ourselves the bright gold 
 and the large bills, and give him the nickels and 
 pennies. So of our time, of our thought, our skill, 
 our energy. We put him off too often with what is 
 left over, when we have served ourselves. 
 
 (140) 
 
May 20. 
 
 Thou shalt put upon Aaron the holy garments. — 
 Exodus xl. 13. 
 
 ONE feature of the high priest's dress was very 
 suggestive. On each shoulder, in the golden 
 clasp that fastened together the two parts of the 
 ephod, was an onyx stone, on which were engraved 
 the names of six of the tribes of Israel. Thus, in 
 an emblematic way, the high priest bore the people 
 on his shoulder, the place of strength. He was a 
 type of Christ ; thus Christ carries his people on 
 his shoulder, bearing them and their burdens. 
 
 Another feature of this dress was the breastplate 
 which was worn by the high priest. It had in it 
 twelve precious stones, with the names of the twelve 
 tribes engraved on them. This the priest wore on 
 his breast over his heart. When he went in before 
 God he thus represented all the people. He not 
 only carried them on his shoulder, for support and 
 upholding, but near his heart, for affection. So 
 Christ carries his people in his heart, in deep, 
 tender, unchanging love. Thus we are sure of both 
 the strength and the love of Christ in our interest. 
 
 " He bears the names of all his saints 
 Deep on his heart engraved; 
 Attention to the states and wants 
 Of all his love has saved. 
 
 In him my weary soul has rest, 
 
 Though I am weak and vile ; 
 I read my name upon his breast, 
 
 And see the Father smile." 
 
May 21. 
 
 Dead flies eause the ointme?it of the perfumer to send 
 forth a stinking savour : so doth a little folly outweigh 
 wisdom and honor, — Ecclesiastes x. i. 
 
 IT is sad to see how some strong and noble char- 
 acters are marred by little, yet grievous, faults 
 and blemishes. One man is generous, but he de- 
 sires always to have his charity praised. Another 
 is disposed to be kind and helpful, but by his man- 
 ner hurts or humiliates the one he befriends. An- 
 other is unselfish and devout, but is careless of 
 promises and engagements. He makes appoint- 
 ments, and never thinks of them again. He bor- 
 rows money, and does not repay it. His friends 
 say, " He is so forgetful ! " Yes ; but how his for- 
 getfulness mars his character and hurts his in- 
 fluence ! Forgetfulness is worse than an amiable 
 weakness ; it is a sin. 
 
 Whenever self crops out in conduct or disposi- 
 tion, it is a dead fly in the ointment. Untruthful- 
 ness is a blot in all eyes. It makes little difference 
 that a person is not intentionally at fault in the 
 things that so mar his life. Carelessness and 
 thoughtlessness are themselves such serious moral 
 blemishes that they make impossible any excuse 
 for delinquencies resulting from them. We need 
 to look to the infinitesimals that make perfection 
 or mar it. No fault is too small to be worth curing, 
 and no fragment of beauty is too small to be worth 
 setting in the mosaic of character. 
 
 (142) 
 
May 22. 
 
 He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their 
 wounds. — Psalm cxlvii. 3. 
 
 IT is said that when one branch of a tree is 
 bruised, all the tree begins to pour of its life 
 toward the wounded place, to restore it. Is it not 
 thus that Christ does when one of his own is 
 bruised by sorrow ? " Blessed are they that mourn ; 
 for they shall be comforted." 
 
 There are fields where once fierce battles raged, 
 great armies contended, and blood flowed, but 
 where now the birds sing sweet songs, in summer 
 days flowers bloom, meadows are green with waving 
 grass, and ripening harvests bend. So there are 
 homes where once sorrow's dark clouds hung, tears 
 flowed, and cries of grief were heard, but where 
 now joyous songs ring out, and glad faces smile. 
 God's comfort has healed the waste. 
 
 There are many ways in which God restores sor- 
 row's devastation. He sends new blessings instead 
 of the old which lie' took away, as new flowers come 
 in place of those that fade. He hides a blessing, 
 too, in the very heart of the sorrow itself. Grief is 
 like the cloud which comes with its dark portents 
 into the blue summer sky. It blots out the blue, 
 and fills the air with terrors. The lightnings flash, 
 the thunders roll ; but out of the bosom of the 
 blackness pours the soft rain. So sorrow's cloud 
 comes with dark, portentous aspect ; but it empties 
 blessings upon the life, thus carrying in itself its 
 own power of restoration. 
 
 (143) 
 
May 23. 
 
 Whe?i saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto 
 thee? — St. Matthew xxv. 39. 
 
 TRUE goodness is not conscious of itself. Moses 
 wist not that his face shone. The noblest 
 Christians put the lowest value on their own good 
 works. No doubt many of the commendations and 
 rewards of the righteous in the judgment will be 
 surprises to them. They keep no record of their 
 own good deeds. Their own sense of personal 
 unworthiness hinders their seeing anything worthy 
 in their ministrations. 
 
 Besides, we do not see Christ in the lowly and 
 the suffering ones who come before us needing love 
 and help ; we see only poor, sick, unfortunate peo- 
 ple, with no outshining of glory, no hints of nobility, 
 no marks of heavenly beauty. There is a picture 
 which, seen in ordinary light, shows only a very 
 poor man dying in a miserable garret, with tokens 
 of abject poverty on all sides ; but seen in another 
 light it represents a throng of angels waiting to 
 bear a child of God up to glory. We do not see 
 things as they are. Jesus himself is ever before us 
 in lowly disguise. We are unconsciously serving 
 the Master himself whenever we do in his name the 
 lowly things of love. Every consecrated Christian 
 is preparing for himself many a blessed surprise of 
 reward and glory when he enters the fuller, richer 
 life of heaven, where all the results of service and 
 all the fruits of kindness shall be revealed. 
 
 044) 
 
May 24. 
 
 That which is born of the Spirit is spirit, — St. 
 John iii. 6. 
 
 LIKE produces like. To be born of the Spirit 
 j is to have a new life imparted by the Spirit. 
 This new life will be like that which produces it. 
 Every one who is born of God will have some fea- 
 tures of God's likeness. He will love the things 
 that God loves, and hate the things that. God hates. 
 He will be like God in holiness, in unselfishness, 
 in gentleness, in patience, in forgiveness, in truth- 
 fulness, in love. 
 
 If we would know what God is like we have only 
 to look at Jesus Christ, for he was the image of God ; 
 and if we are born again, we shall have the same 
 features in our lives. They will be dim at first ; but 
 they will come out clearer and clearer each day, as 
 we go on. 
 
 We can tell whether or not we are born again by 
 looking closely at ourselves to see if we have the 
 marks of the Spirit in our life. Do we hate sin ? 
 Do we love holiness ? Do we love the Bible and 
 prayer and the services of the church and the 
 Lord's Supper? 
 
 We have the same thought presented by St. Paul 
 under the figure of the seal. Christians are sealed 
 by the Spirit. The seal impresses its own features 
 on the wax. So the Holy Spirit seals believers by 
 stamping his own image on their hearts. Those 
 who have received the Spirit will bear the marks 
 of his beauty in their lives. 
 
 (*45) 
 
May 25. 
 
 The fruit of the Spirit is love. — Galatians v. 22. 
 
 THE sum of all practical religion is love. " Love 
 is the fulfilling of the law." All Christian 
 growth is to be toward the likeness of Christ, and 
 all his character is summed up in love. Whatever 
 is unloving in us is un-Christian ; and we should 
 seek to overcome the evil with good. Perhaps the 
 ordinary Christian conscience has not been suffi- 
 ciently exacting on this line of character and duty. 
 It demands truthfulness, justice, honesty, purity ; but 
 does it not too easily tolerate bad temper, resent- 
 ment, and other phases of unamiableness, in those 
 who are professing Christians ? 
 
 Pour forth the oil, — pour boldly forth; 
 
 It will not fail until 
 Thou failest vessels to provide, 
 
 Which it may freely fill. 
 
 But then, when such are found no more, 
 
 Though flowing broad and free 
 Till then, and nourished from on high, 
 
 It straightway stanched will be. 
 
 Dig channels for the streams of Love, 
 
 Where they may broadly run; 
 And Love has overflowing streams 
 
 To fill them every one. 
 
 For we must share if we would keep 
 
 That good thing from above; 
 
 Ceasing to give, we cease to have, — 
 
 Such is the law of Love. 
 
 R. C. Trench. 
 
 (146) 
 
May 26. 
 
 I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day. — Revela- 
 tion i. 10. 
 
 WE should all seek to be in the Spirit on the 
 Lord's day. During the week we have our 
 cares of business, and our hands are full of work 
 that must be done. The world is apt to get into 
 our heart during the week-days ; and if there is no 
 break in this secular life, we are apt to become 
 secularized in spirit, losing interest in spiritual 
 things. The trouble is not that we are in the 
 world, but that the world too often gets into us. 
 It i§ a proper enough thing for a ship to be in the 
 sea ; but when the sea gets into the ship there is an 
 end of sailing, and the ship sinks into the waters. 
 Christ wants us to be in the world, but he does not 
 want the world to get into us. 
 
 On the Lord's day, therefore, we should run 
 our bark just as completely as possible out of the 
 world's troubled waters into the peaceful bay of 
 spiritual rest and enjoyment. We should think on 
 spiritual things, and seek to have our heart thor- 
 oughly cleansed of worldliness and filled with God. 
 One who thus faithfully uses the Lord's day each 
 week will be safe amid the world's unspiritual in- 
 fluences. A well-spent Sabbath will keep up the 
 tone of the life amid the most intense pressure of 
 week-day duty. But there is no other antidote to 
 worldliness ; and no Christian who desires to be 
 faithful dare lose the Sabbaths out of his week. 
 
 (147) 
 
May 27. 
 
 Learn a parable of the fig tree. — St. Mark xiii. 
 28. 
 
 THE parable of the fig-tree teaches that we 
 should not shut our eyes to the foreshadow- 
 ings of future things. We are taught not to be 
 anxious about to-morrow. But there is also a duty 
 of looking ahead as well as not looking ahead. The 
 good sailor watches the skies, and he would be crim- 
 inally foolish were he to pay no heed to the fore- 
 tokens of storm. The prudent farmer watches 
 the forerunners of winter, and gathers in his fruits, 
 houses his cattle, puts wood and coal in his bins, 
 when he can do so easily, and is ready before the 
 snows and the bitter cold come. So in all our life 
 we should watch the "signs of the times," and shape 
 our course accordingly. 
 
 Young people, as they feel the impulses of life in 
 their souls, and hear the calls of God sounding in 
 their ears, should be reminded of the duties and re- 
 sponsibilities of life, toward which they are moving, 
 and should diligently prepare themselves for filling 
 well their place. Each period of life brings its own 
 special work ; and there are always forecasts which, 
 if heeded, will enable us to prepare ourselves for 
 what God is preparing for us. If we are faithful, 
 one day will prepare us for the next, and we shall 
 never be found by any event, however sudden, 
 unprepared to meet it. 
 
 (148) 
 
May 28. 
 
 The elders . . . came to meet him trembling, and 
 said, Comest thou peaceably ? And he said, Peaceably : 
 I am come to sacrifice unto the Lord, — i Samuel 
 xvi. 4, 5. 
 
 GOD'S messengers do not all wear gentle faces ; 
 ofttimes they come in a garb of sternness. 
 Yet they come always with a blessing. Sickness 
 is one of these dark-visaged prophets. We cannot 
 welcome it. Yet if we ask this messenger, " Comest 
 thou peaceably ? " the answer is, " Yes, peaceably." 
 It brings always messages of peace, of good, if 
 only we have grace to receive them. 
 
 The same is true of all hardness. We would 
 rather have easy times. Boys and young men who 
 are poor think ofttimes that they have scarcely a 
 fair chance in life, when they see the sons of rich 
 fathers revelling in luxury, with plenty of money. 
 Yet really the stern prophet of poverty brings oft- 
 times a holier message and a richer, truer bless- 
 ing than the smiling-faced, silken-robed messenger 
 brings to the youth in the fine mansion. The best 
 things in life can be developed only by work and 
 discipline. Hence, whatever compels a boy or a 
 young man to toil, to deny himself, to depend on 
 his own efforts, is a blessing to him. The prophet 
 of necessity therefore comes to him peaceably. We 
 should never turn from our doors any prophets God 
 sends, however stern they may appear. They all 
 come with a good message. 
 
 049) 
 
May 29. 
 
 I will send thee to Jesse . . . f have provided me a 
 king among his so?is. — i Samuel xvi. i. 
 
 THE Lord is never at loss for a man. When 
 one fails he has another ready. His plans 
 and purposes go on in spite of human failure, and 
 through all seeming disaster. 
 
 Here was a boy, keeping the sheep in the fields, 
 probably not dreaming of greatness, and yet God 
 had him marked out to be king. The boys do not 
 know what God has in mind for them. They may 
 be sure, however, that for every one of them he has 
 some plan. It may be a great place or a small one, 
 as the world rates greatness or smallness ; but every 
 boy should feel that to be just what God made him 
 to be is the grandest, noblest, best thing possible 
 for him. If God made him to be a carpenter, and 
 by his own restless strivings he gets to be a mem- 
 ber of Congress or Parliament, or President of the 
 United States, his place is not half so high and 
 great in the angels' sight as if he had been the car- 
 penter he was meant to be. 
 
 The greatest place any one can attain is the place 
 God intended him to fill. How can we know what 
 God wants us to do and to be ? By doing his will, 
 day by day, with quiet fidelity, wherever we find 
 ourselves. God's will for each day is God's- plan 
 for us for that day. Thus God will lead us continu- 
 ally to that which he has for us to do. Failure in 
 the lowlier duties will hinder our promotion to the 
 higher. 
 
 (iSo) 
 
May 30. 
 
 Then David ran, and stood over the Philistine, and 
 took his sword, and drew it out of the sheath thereof, 
 and slew him, and cut off his head therewith. — 
 i Samuel xvii. 51. 
 
 IF he had not, the old champion would have 
 gotten up by and by and walked away ; for 
 he was only stunned, not killed, by the stone. 
 David made sure work of his victory. 
 
 A great many of our attacks upon sin in our own 
 hearts v and in the world only stun and do not kill 
 the evil. We walk away, thinking we have done 
 a fine thing ; and presently we meet the old giant 
 again, stalking abroad as before. He soon recovers 
 from our blow, and we have to fight the battle over ; 
 and perhaps we fight it again in the same half way, 
 and thus on and on to the end of life. Most of us 
 have had just such experience as this with our own 
 lusts and passions. We overcome them very often, 
 and think each time that we are through with them, 
 but soon again they are active as ever. 
 
 We need to learn a lesson from David, and finish 
 our victories by cutting off the head of every giant 
 we strike down. There is no other way of killing 
 sins. The life is in the head, and the head must be 
 struck off or the enemy will be facing us again in a 
 day or two with but a scar on his forehead. The 
 only way to get a real victory over vices is to de- 
 capitate them. Bruises are not enough. There 
 must be thorough work done, in the name of the 
 Lord. Half-way measures will not avail. 
 
 (151) 
 
May 31. 
 
 David . . . said before Jonathan . . . what is my 
 sin before thy father, that he seeketh my life ? — 
 i Samuel xx. i. 
 
 A FRIEND is a refuge. We all have troubles 
 at some time. For many years we may get 
 along quietly, and without sore trial ; but the day 
 will come to all of us when we shall be in sorrow or 
 danger. It may be in such an experience as David's, 
 when people shall misjudge us, or become our ene- 
 mies without cause, and may seek to harm us. It 
 may be sickness that comes upon us, or bereave- 
 ment, or loss of some kind. Whatever the trouble 
 may be, a true friend will prove a great comfort to 
 us in the experience. 
 
 It is a blessed thing to have one friend that we 
 are sure of, though all others fail us. We can go to 
 him then as David went to Jonathan, telling him all 
 our heart's burden. Young people should seek to 
 have a friend older than themselves, to whom they 
 can fly in trouble or in danger, and in whose faith- 
 ful love they can find a sure and safe refuge. There 
 is a wonderful strength in the confidence that one 
 has such a friend. 
 
 Christ is the best, strongest, truest, most helpful 
 friend any one can have. His friendship is a refuge 
 indeed. We can flee to him in any danger, and find 
 him ready always to comfort, shelter, and bless. 
 However many human friends we may have, we all 
 need Christ. 
 
 (15*) 
 
June 1. 
 
 Jonathan spake good of David unto Saul his father, 
 — i Samuel xix. 4. 
 
 ONE quality of true friendship is the loyalty 
 which speaks out for one's friend in his 
 absence, when derogatory things are said of him. 
 In few ways is human infirmity shown in worse 
 light than in the too common willingness to hear 
 evil things even of one's friends. Must we confess 
 that there is something in a great deal of human 
 nature which delights in learning of faults, mistakes, 
 or lapses in others ? At least we must admit that 
 there is a strong tendency in this direction. 
 
 But we ought to set the world the example of a 
 friendship free from such malign weakness. We 
 ought to refuse to believe evil of our friend, or 
 even to listen to whispers or insinuations against 
 him. Instead of being delighted at hearing in- 
 jurious things about him, hints of wrong-doing in 
 him, or of flaws in his character, such things should 
 grieve us. The law of Christian love requires us 
 to defend the character of our friend as we would 
 our own character. We are our brother's keeper. 
 One writes : — 
 
 Say not, " It matters not to me ; 
 
 My brother's weal is his behoof." 
 For in this wondrous human web, 
 
 If your life's warp, his life is woof. 
 
 Woven together are the threads, 
 And you and he are in one loom; 
 
 For good or ill, for glad or sad, 
 
 Your lives must share one common doom. 
 
 (153) 
 
June 2. 
 
 Then said Jonathan unto David, Whatsoever thy 
 soul desireth, I will even do it for thee. — i Samuel 
 xx. 4. 
 
 FRIENDSHIP is helpful. We never know what 
 our friends do for us. They are advocates 
 for us, speaking strong, earnest words for us to 
 others. They defend us from false things which 
 others may speak of us. Since I began to write 
 this paragraph I have had an opportunity to tell 
 the truth about one of my friends to another who 
 had heard certain charges against him, thus re- 
 moving the false impression concerning my friend 
 at least from one man's mind. None of us know 
 how much of our success we owe to the loyal words 
 of our friends. 
 
 Friends help us in our personal life. A pure- 
 hearted friend is continually leaving touches of 
 beauty on our character. We get from him good 
 thoughts, wholesome influences, fresh inspirations, 
 continual incitements. Longfellow tells us of a 
 song breathed in the air which he found long, 
 long afterward in the heart of a friend. So it is 
 continually with the sweet songs, good words, and 
 holy influences of friendship. 
 
 Friends are helpful also in the ministry of kind- 
 ness which they render as two walk on together. 
 A true friend is unselfish, thoughtful, ready always 
 to render aid in every possible way. Especially 
 should friendship show itself in time of trouble. " A 
 friend is born for adversity." 
 
 (154) 
 
June 3- 
 
 The men . . . said . . . Behold the day of which 
 the Lord said unto thee, Behold, I will deliver thine 
 enemy i?ito thine hand. — i Samuel xxiv. 4. 
 
 SO far as we know, the Lord had not said this at 
 all. The men put their own interpretation on 
 the opportunity, and called it providential. We are 
 all too apt to interpret providences in accordance 
 with our own wishes. When we are desiring to be 
 led in a certain manner, and there is one way we 
 desire very much to take, we are quite sure to find 
 providences that seem to favor our preference. 
 
 But opportunity does not always indicate duty. 
 When the merchant by mistake gives back a dollar 
 too much change, there is an opportunity to make a 
 dollar ; but who will say that we ought to accept it ? 
 When you find in trouble one who has done you a 
 wrong, there is an opportunity to have revenge. 
 But does the opportunity justify retaliation ? The 
 duty in the former case is honesty, and in the latter 
 is the showing of love to an enemy. 
 
 In reading providences we must remember that 
 no opportunity to do anything in itself wrong is 
 ever to be regarded as a divine leading. It is 
 a sin to take revenge, no matter how much our 
 enemy deserves punishment, or how good a chance 
 we have for punishing him. It is a sin to steal, 
 even though an opportunity makes it very easy to 
 do it. God leads us by his providence, but never 
 into sin. 
 
 (155) 
 
June 4. 
 
 Wherefore hearkenest thou to men's words ? — 
 i Samuel xxiv. 9. 
 
 THERE was some one who in the dark was 
 stabbing David's name. It is probable that 
 Saul was made to believe that David was his bitter 
 foe, and was plotting all manner of evil against him. 
 There are people in every community who are quite 
 as bad as the man Cush. They go to this one and 
 that one, and drop dark insinuations about some 
 other person, whose shoe's latchet they are not 
 worthy to unloose. They come to one of two 
 friends, and let fall some hint only that the other 
 is not faithful as a friend, perhaps relating some- 
 thing in a perverted way, so as to leave an impres- 
 sion of faithlessness. " A whisper separateth chief 
 friends." The ruin wrought by the slanderer in this 
 world cannot be computed, — characters blackened, 
 friendships broken up, jealousies aroused, homes 
 destroyed, hearts broken. Slanderous words have 
 measureless power for evil. 
 
 "A whisper broke the air — 
 A soft, light tone, and low, 
 Yet barb'd with shame and woe ! 
 Now might it perish only there, 
 Nor farther go ! 
 
 Ah, me ! a quick and eager ear 
 
 Caught up the little-meaning sound ! 
 
 Another voice then breathed it clear, 
 And so it wandered round 
 
 From ear to lip, from lip to ear, 
 
 Until it reached a gentle heart, — 
 And that it broke." 
 
 (156) 
 
June 5. 
 
 The Lord forbid that I should do this thing, — 
 i Samuel xxiv. 6. 
 
 WOULD it not be manly to resent it ? " said 
 one who had received an insult. " Yes," 
 was the reply, " but it would be godlike to forgive 
 it." David did the godlike thing. He had a chance 
 to avenge himself. He had his cruel enemy in his 
 power. One stroke, and Saul would never have 
 troubled him any more. David's life would then 
 have been safe. He would have become king at 
 once. His men were urging it, and he himself was 
 tempted to do it. Yet he overcame the temptation, 
 and allowed Saul to pass out of his hand unharmed. 
 He listened to the voice of God speaking in his own 
 conscience, and restrained the impulse to avenge 
 himself. 
 
 The first impulse of a child, when wronged or 
 hurt by another, is to seek revenge. Sometimes 
 older persons encourage this spirit in children by 
 telling them to whip the chair or the rocking-horse 
 by which they have chanced to be hurt. In older 
 people, too, the desire for revenge is natural, and 
 can be repressed only by the higher law of love 
 which Christ teaches. The lesson is, that the pun- 
 ishment of sin must be left in God's hands. Our 
 duty is to bear patiently the wrongs and injuries 
 others may inflict upon us, not giving reviling for re- 
 viling, to repay unkindness with kindness, to over- 
 come evil with good. 
 
 (iS7) 
 
June 6. 
 
 I will not put forth mine hand against my lord ; for 
 he is the Lord's anointed. — i Samuel xxiv. 10. 
 
 DAVID seemed now to have a short, quick way 
 to the kingdom, but he would not dare to take 
 it. Now the throne was Saul's — he was the Lord's 
 anointed. David would not lift a finger to hurry 
 God's providence, and to become king before God 
 made him king. There often are things that God 
 intends to give us, but which we must wait to 
 receive in his way. Short-cuts in life's paths are 
 always mistakes in the end. Jacob's mother knew 
 that Jacob was to have the blessing of the firstborn, 
 but if she had waited it would have come to him 
 without being stained as it was by her own and 
 Jacob's deception. 
 
 Young men are ambitious, and their ambition may 
 be right; but too often they are in such feverish haste 
 to reach what they wish that they take the short- 
 cut of dishonesty to get the sooner to the coveted 
 place. It never pays. David could have been on 
 the throne the next day, but he would have left 
 stains of guilt on the steps as he ascended ; it was 
 better far for him to wander on in exile for a time 
 longer, and then reach the throne by a clean path. 
 It is pleasant to see young men get on in life ; but 
 we must always ask how they have gotten on, to 
 know whether their elevation is really an honor. 
 The only way to true success is God's way. We 
 must learn to wait for God. 
 
 (158) 
 
June 7- 
 
 The Lord judge between me and thee, and the Lord 
 avenge me of thee : but mine hand shall not be upon 
 thee. — 1 Samuel xxiv. 12. 
 
 THERE are apt to be wrong views about bearing 
 injuries. People ask, " Is there to be no jus- 
 tice in cases like David's ? Must we quietly bear 
 wrong ? and must the person who does the wrong 
 never receive any punishment ? " Our sense of 
 right is sometimes so outraged that our soul cries 
 out in remonstrance, when we are told that we 
 never §hould resent nor resist, but turn the other 
 cheek when one cheek has been smitten. The 
 Bible teaching is, that it is not our part to punish 
 those who wrong us. Our clumsy hands are not 
 skilful enough to adjust such delicate matters. 
 
 We are not required to say that a certain person's 
 treatment of us was beautiful when it was manifestly 
 wrong, but we are to recognize the truth that the 
 question of justice is God's matter, not ours ; that 
 our part is to be patient and meek, leaving in God's 
 hands the whole adjustment of right and wrong. 
 
 Two Scripture passages help to make this plain : 
 " Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather 
 give place unto wrath ; for it is written, Vengeance 
 is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord." " Who when 
 he was reviled, reviled not again ; when he suffered, 
 he threatened not ; but committed himself to him 
 that judgeth righteously." We should meekly en- 
 dure, and commit all to God. 
 
 • (159) 
 
June 8. 
 
 Then David the king went in, and sat before the 
 Lord. — 2 Samuel vii. 18. 
 
 WE can get before the Lord anywhere by shut- 
 ting our eyes to the world and looking up 
 into our Father's face. Even in a crowd we can be 
 really alone with God. We can commune with him, 
 too, in his works. Sweet wayside flowers whisper 
 to us tender thoughts of God. The sea tells us of 
 his power. The deep blue sky has its suggestions 
 of God's peace. The mountains speak of his sta- 
 bility and unchangeableness. 
 
 But there are other ways of going in before God. 
 When we enter into our closet of prayer and shut 
 the door, we are in a very real sense sitting before 
 him. We open our Bible, and look into its pages 
 with reverent heart and with open ear ; and as we 
 read the sacred words, God talks to us. We bow 
 in prayer ; and we are lying at Christ's very feet, 
 so close to him that we can reach the hem of his 
 garment, and feel the touch of his hand upon our 
 fevered hearts. How near we get to our Saviour in 
 such moments, and how his touch thrills us ! 
 
 " O Saviour Christ, thou too art man; 
 
 Thou hast been troubled, tempted, tried; 
 Thy kind but searching glance can scan 
 The very wounds that shame would hide. 
 
 Thy touch has still its ancient power; 
 
 No word from thee can fruitless fall. 
 Hear, in this solemn evening hour, 
 
 And in thy mercy heal us all." 
 
 (i 60) 
 
June 9. 
 
 David spake unto the Lord when he saw the angel 
 that smote the people, and said, Lo, I have sinned, and 
 I have do?ie perversely : but these sheep, what have they 
 done! — 2 Samuel xxiv. 17. 
 
 IT is human and very common to try to lay the 
 blame on others when we have sinned. Com- 
 pare SauPs conduct when Samuel accused him of 
 disobedience in sparing the king and the best spoil 
 of the Amalekites : he charged the blame on the 
 people. How much nobler is David's behavior in 
 this case ! The sin had not been his alone, but he 
 sees only his own share in it. He sees the people 
 suffering under a heavy stroke which he feels he 
 ought to be bearing himself, and he cries to God 
 to lift his hand from them and let it fall upon 
 him. 
 
 The lesson is for all of us. We should never 
 try to shift the blame of our sins or mistakes 
 upon others, but should take it upon ourselves. 
 If penalties or sufferings come through our mis- 
 doings we should bear them, and not allow them 
 to fall upon innocent persons while we escape. 
 
 Another thing to notice here is, that David's 
 penitence deepened under the divine judgment. 
 Some people grow rebellious when chastened ; but 
 the true way, when we have sinned and when 
 punishment comes, is to creep closer to God, and 
 to get down lower before him. This is the spirit 
 that pleases God and receives blessing from his 
 hand. 
 
 (161) 
 
June 10. 
 
 The Lord . . . which had appeared unto him twice. 
 — i Kings xi. 9. 
 
 MATTHEW HENRY says : " God keeps account 
 of the gracious visits he makes us, whether 
 we do or not, knows how often he has appeared 
 to us, and for us, and will remember it against us r 
 if we turn from him." Every such gracious visit to 
 us adds to our responsibility for obedience and holy 
 service. 
 
 A sculptor had a vision of Christ, which he re- 
 produced in marble. He believed that he had seen 
 the Christ in a dream, and that the form he had chis- 
 elled in the marble was the very image of the glori- 
 ous Person who had appeared to him. Afterward 
 the sculptor was asked to make statues of certain 
 heathen deities. But he refused, saying, " A man 
 who has made the image of the Christ would commit 
 sacrilege if he were to employ his art in the carving 
 of pagan goddesses. My art is henceforth a conse- 
 crated thing." 
 
 When Solomon had seen the Lord in vision, he 
 should have been forever a consecrated man. The 
 eyes which had looked upon the Lord should never 
 have lusted after earth's pleasures. The hands 
 which had fashioned a temple for God should never 
 have built chapels and altars for heathen deities. 
 Solomon's sins were far greater because of the 
 special favors God had granted to him. See- 
 ing Christ should set us apart forever for holy 
 living. 
 
 (162) 
 
June 11. 
 
 In thy days I will not do it, for David thy father's 
 sake : but I will rend it out of the hand of thy son, — 
 i Kings xi. 12. 
 
 IN this word of God we have a double illustration 
 of the way our lives cast shadows. A good man 
 transmits blessings to his children, and one who 
 turns away from God robs his children of blessings 
 that ought to be theirs. David's good life kept from 
 Solomon the visitation of the full consequences of 
 Solomon's sin. 
 
 There are many of us who are enjoying blessings 
 which have come through the faithfulness of our 
 fathers. But there are many who, like Solomon, 
 live so as to rob their children of the honors and 
 privileges which they ought to transmit to them. 
 
 Solomon's son did not get the kingdom of all 
 Israel. He received but a fragment of it, and it 
 was his father's fault that the kingdom was divided. 
 The man who by indolence or extravagance wastes 
 the fortune God has given him, and transmits pov- 
 erty or beggary to his children, is guilty of a like 
 sin. Still more guilty is he who by wrong or shame- 
 ful living brings dishonor upon his own name, and 
 thus bequeaths a heritage of dishonor to his de- 
 scendants. It is not merely our own life which is 
 affected by our conduct ; we are so tied up in 
 bundles that others are made or unmade by our 
 making or unmaking of ourselves. We are under 
 the most sacred obligations to live worthily, so that 
 we hurt not but bless those coming after us. 
 
 (163) 
 
June 12. 
 
 / will sing a new song unto thee, O God. — Psalm 
 cxliv. 9. 
 
 RUSKIN says. " Many mighty harmonies have 
 been discoursed by instruments that had been 
 dumb or discordant, but that God knew their stops." 
 This is very true, and is most encouraging to those 
 who are conscious of the imperfection of their own 
 lives. One says, " I never can live a truly sweet or 
 beautiful life, for sin has so marred my soul and 
 jangled all its chords." True, but God can take 
 the instrument with the broken keys and the dis- 
 cordant strings and put it in perfect repair — "He 
 restoreth my soul : " and under his touch and his 
 breath it may give out music that will thrill men's 
 hearts, and delight the angels and God himself. 
 
 The worst tempered people may be made gentle 
 and loving in speech, act, and disposition, by the 
 transforming power of divine grace. The selhsh 
 nature may be tuned into sweetest unselfishness 
 and charity. So with all jangled life-keys. God 
 can put them in tune if we will but leave them 
 in his skilful hands. The possibilities of beautiful 
 living in even the most marred and imperfect souls 
 are almost infinite. None need ever despair who 
 will accept the divine grace, and proht by the divine 
 teaching and discipline. 
 
 "The hours of pain have yielded good 
 Which prosperous days refused ; 
 As herbs, though scentless when entire, 
 Spread fragrance when they're bruised." 
 
 (164) 
 
June 13. 
 
 The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul. 
 — Psalm xix. 7. 
 
 THE works of God declare his glory, but not 
 his will. We could never learn by studying 
 the stars, the flowers, or the rocks, how we ought 
 to live, what is right, and what is wrong. We could 
 never learn what God himself is, what his attributes 
 are, how he feels toward us. We may learn from 
 his works that he is great, wise, unchanging, good ; 
 but we could not learn that he loves us with a 
 tender, personal affection. We could never find 
 a gospel of salvation for lost sinners in the works 
 of God. 
 
 How thankful we should be for his word, which 
 tells us all these things ! It teaches us how to live. 
 It is a perfect law ; not perfect only in that it is 
 without flaw or mistake, but also in that it is com- 
 plete as a revelation, containing all we need to 
 know to be saved and to reach the full stature 
 of perfect men. We may turn to the law of the 
 Lord with every question of duty, and we shall 
 always find the right answer. 
 
 I worship thee, sweet will of God, 
 
 And all thy ways adore; 
 And every day I live I seem 
 
 To love thee more and more. 
 
 He always wins who sides with God, 
 
 To him no chance is lost; 
 
 God's will is sweetest to him when 
 
 It triumphs at his cost. 
 
 F. W. Faber. 
 
 (i6 S ) 
 
June 14. 
 
 The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the 
 heart. — Psalm xix. 8. 
 
 MANY people think that a good life must be 
 a sad and gloomy life. They suppose that 
 Christians have no joy. They have to deny them- 
 selves many pleasures. They have to live strictly 
 and soberly. They have to keep the Sabbath and 
 follow conscience. Life must be dreary and joy- 
 less to Christians. 
 
 So the people talk who boast of being free from 
 the restraints of the Bible. But, as a matter of 
 fact, the happiest people in this world are those 
 who are keeping God's commandments. Who ever 
 heard of sin " rejoicing the heart " ? Disobedience 
 never made any one happy, but obedience always 
 gives peace. 
 
 There are fresh-water springs in the sea that 
 continually pour out sweet water beneath all the 
 brackish tides. So in the obedient heart, under 
 all self-denials, there is a spring of joy ever flowing. 
 It is the peace of God which nothing can disturb, a 
 holy fountain whose flow nothing can ever check. 
 
 There are in this loud stunning tide 
 
 Of human care and crime, 
 With whom the melodies abide 
 
 Of th' everlasting chime — 
 Who carry music in their heart, 
 Through dusky lane and wrangling mart, 
 Plying their daily task with busier feet 
 Because their secret souls a holy strain repeat. 
 
 Keble. 
 
 (,66) 
 
June 15. 
 
 Many, O Lord my God, are the wonderful works 
 which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to 
 us-ward . . . I am poor a?id needy ; yet the Lord 
 t Junket h upon me. — Psalm xl. 5, 17. 
 
 DOES God ever think of us, — the great, glorious, 
 eternal God, of us sinful, unworthy beings ? 
 We admit that he may think of our earth, for that 
 is something large enough to be worthy of divine 
 thought. He may give thought, too, to some dis- 
 tinguished man, who rises above the masses, as 
 Mont Blanc towers above the common hills of 
 earth. But here am I, a little child, living in a 
 humble street in a great city with its teeming popu- 
 lation ; surely he never thinks of me. Of course 
 my mother does, because she is my mother, and 
 she has only me ; but God has millions more chil- 
 dren ; it cannot be that he ever gives any particular 
 thought to me, one of the least of these. 
 
 The Bible says he does. Think of a parent's 
 thoughts of his child, a father's, a mother's thought. 
 So God loves, watches, thinks, plans, cares, for each 
 one of his children. 
 
 Then his thoughts are both loving and wise. He 
 says, " I know the thoughts that I think toward 
 you, thoughts of peace and not of evil." There is 
 not a moment when we are not in God's thought. 
 He has plans for each life, taking in its smallest 
 events as well as its greatest. How secure it should 
 make us feel at all times, to know that God is think- 
 ing of us, caring for us ! 
 
 (167) 
 
June 16. 
 
 Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts, — 
 Psalm li. 6. 
 
 NO doubt being is better than doing — that is, if 
 it were possible to separate the two. The 
 worth of a deed depends largely upon who does it. 
 The force of a word depends upon the character 
 and standing of the speaker. We must be good 
 before we can do good. 
 
 Yet to be good is not a sufficient aim in life — 
 there must also be the desire to do good. We are 
 never to live for ourselves alone, even in the seek- 
 ing of good. We are to desire to be blessed that 
 we may be a blessing to others. Everything of 
 good we receive from God should make us able to 
 do more good. It is a new trust from God which 
 we are to hold for him. If our heart be right, then 
 our work, little or much, will have a blessing in it 
 for the world. 
 
 Thou must be true thyself 
 
 If thou the truth wouldst teach; 
 
 Thy soul must overflow, if thou 
 Another's soul would reach; 
 
 It needs the overflow of heart 
 To give the lips full speech. 
 
 Think truly, and thy thoughts 
 
 Shall the world's famine feed; 
 Speak truly, and each word of thine 
 
 Shall be a fruitful seed ; 
 Live truly, and thy life shall be 
 
 A great and noble creed. 
 
 HORATIUS BONAR. 
 
 (168) 
 
June 17. 
 
 Herewith shall Aaron come into the holy place : with 
 a young bullock for a sin offering, and a ram for a 
 burnt offering. — Leviticus xvi. 3. 
 
 THE high priest must make an offering for him- 
 self before he could present the sacrifice for 
 the people. The lesson is for all who would inter- 
 cede with God for sinners or engage in any way in 
 the Lord's work. They must strive that their own 
 life may be unspotted and their own sins put away, 
 before they go to God for others. 
 
 A frescoer noticed some little blotches on the 
 wall he had painted in delicate tints. Taking a wet 
 cloth he sought to remove the spots ; but he only 
 made them worse, for the cloth in his hand was 
 soiled and unclean. So it is when one with spotted 
 hands seeks to remove the faults and blemishes of 
 other lives. 
 
 A little child reached out his hand to his mother 
 to receive a present she was about to give him ; but 
 his hands were soiled, and his mother said she could 
 not give him what she had for him until they were 
 washed clean. We cannot cleanse the lives of 
 others, nor minister in their behalf, nor can we re- 
 ceive gifts and blessings from God for ourselves or 
 others, if our own hands be foul. We must seek 
 forgiveness first for ourselves. 
 
 "Lord, I my vows to thee renew: 
 Scatter my sins like morning dew; 
 Guard my first springs of thought and will, 
 And with thyself my spirit fill." 
 
 (169) 
 
June 18. 
 
 Remember also thy Creator in the days of thy 
 youth, or ever the evil days come. — Ecclesiastes 
 xii. i. 
 
 IT is easier to begin a Christian life in youth 
 than at any other time. It is easy to train 
 the heart's affections about the cross before they 
 have learned to cling to earth's sordid things. It 
 is easy to teach young fingers to play on the piano 
 or organ, but it is next to impossible to train the 
 stiff fingers of age to do it. So it is easy for the 
 young to learn to strike the harps of heaven. It is 
 easier to keep the heart pure and tender, than to 
 get back its purity and tenderness when once they 
 have been lost. 
 
 To-morrow is not ours to hold, 
 
 May never come to bless 
 Or blight our lives with weal or ill, 
 
 With gladness or distress; 
 No man shall clasp to-morrow's hand 
 
 Nor catch her on the way; 
 For when we reach to-morrow's land, 
 
 She'll be, by then, to-day. 
 
 You ask me for the golden time — 
 
 I bid you seize this hour, 
 And fill it full of earnest work, 
 
 While yet you have the power. 
 To-day the golden time for joy 
 
 Beneath the household eaves; 
 To-day the royal time for work, 
 
 For bringing in the sheaves. 
 
 Margaret E. Sangster. 
 
 07°) 
 
June 19. 
 
 Through many tribulations we must enter into the 
 kingdom of God. — Acts xiv. 2 2 . 
 
 THE best things of life come out of wounding. 
 Wheat is crushed before it becomes bread. 
 Incense must be cast upon the fire before its odors 
 are set free. The ground must be broken with the 
 sharp plough before it is ready to receive the seed. 
 It is the broken heart that pleases God. The 
 sweetest joys in life are the fruits of sorrow. Hu- 
 man nature seems to need suffering to fit it for 
 being a blessing to the world. 
 
 They tell me I must bruise 
 
 The rose's leaf, 
 Ere I can keep and use 
 
 Its fragrance brief. 
 
 They tell me I must break 
 
 The skylark's heart, 
 Ere her cage song will make 
 
 The silence start. 
 
 They tell me love must bleed, 
 
 And friendship weep, 
 Ere in my deepest need 
 
 I touch that deep. 
 
 Must it be always so 
 
 With precious things? 
 Must they be bruised and go 
 
 With beaten wings? 
 
 Ah, yes ! By crushing days, 
 
 By caging nights, by scar 
 Of thorn and stony ways, 
 
 These blessings are ! 
 
 Samuel W. Duffield. 
 
 (17O 
 
June 20. 
 
 He that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. — 
 i John ii. 17. 
 
 GOD'S will is always the best ; it is always divine 
 love. A stricken wife, standing beside the 
 coffin of her husband, said to a friend : " There 
 lies my husband, my only earthly support, my most 
 faithful human friend, one who has never once failed 
 me ; but I must not forget that there lies also the 
 will of God, and that that will is perfect love." By 
 faith she saw good and the blessing in what ap- 
 peared to her the wreck of all her happiness. But 
 truly the good and the blessing are in every dark 
 providence which comes into the life of God's child. 
 Our Father never means us harm in anything he does 
 or permits. His word is, " I know the thoughts that 
 I think toward you . . . thoughts of peace." 
 
 I worship thee, sweet Will of God ! 
 
 And all thy ways adore; 
 And every day I live, I seem 
 
 To love thee more and more. * 
 
 I have no cares, O blessed Will ! 
 
 For all my cares are thine; 
 I live in triumph, Lord ! for thou 
 
 Hast made thy triumphs mine. 
 
 He always wins who sides with God ; 
 
 To him no chance is lost ; 
 God's will is sweetest to him when 
 
 It triumphs at his cost. 
 
 Ill that he blesses is our good, 
 
 And unblest good is ill; 
 And all is right that seems most wrong, 
 
 If it be his sweet will. 
 
 F. W. Fabbr. 
 
 (172) 
 
June 21. 
 
 Ye know this, my beloved brethren. But let every 
 man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. 
 — James i. 19. 
 
 WE miss a great deal by not being good listen- 
 ers. The world is full of sweet music, — 
 bird songs, the chirping of insects, the sweet mur- 
 mur of all nature, the breathing of the wind through 
 the trees, the plashing of the waters ; and yet some 
 people never hear one melodious sound as they go 
 through the fields and forests. God is ever speak- 
 ing in our ears, — in conscience, in his word, in the 
 gentle voice of his Spirit ; but many of us miss all 
 this wonderful divine speech. We ought to train 
 ourselves to listen, to hear, to be " swift to hear." 
 We learn by hearing. Truth comes to us from 
 all sides. There is nothing so mean, so lowly, that 
 it may not have some message for us. Words- 
 worth says : — 
 
 To me the meanest flower that blows can give 
 Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears. 
 
 Unless we go about ever listening we may miss 
 many a rich lesson, turning away unaware many an 
 angel who comes from God with a message for us. 
 
 Silence is vocal if we listen well; 
 And life and being sing in dulled ears 
 From morn to night, from night to morn again, 
 With fine articulations; but when God 
 Disturbs the soul with terror, or inspires 
 With a great joy, the words of doubt and faith 
 Sound quick and sharp like drops on forest leaves, 
 And we look up to where the pleasant sky 
 Kisses the thunder-caps and drinks the song. 
 
 J. G. Holland. 
 
 (*73) 
 
June 22. 
 
 For you therefore which believe is the preciousness. 
 — i Peter ii. 7. 
 
 THE close friends of Christ have found no other 
 influence in their life so strong as his precious 
 friendship in forming and transforming their lives. 
 Continually before them in all its purity and spot- 
 lessness, in all its strength and heroism, in all its 
 gentleness and beauty, that fair life has shone, a 
 pattern in the mount, let down from heaven, brought 
 close to them, and winning them by its loveliness. 
 The vision has hung before them continually, and 
 has lifted them up. No one who has had Christ for 
 a friend, in any true, real, vital sense, has failed 
 to be blessed by him in the way of growth into 
 nobler, richer life. 
 
 Gentle, sympathetic, strong human friendships 
 can do much for us. You can tell me how in your 
 life, in some time of grief, certain friends came to 
 you, and how by their sweet sympathy, their quiet 
 peace, their strong comfort, they helped you through 
 some valley of shadows. But tell me, rather, what 
 Christ did for you in your hours of sorrow. When 
 the shadows hung over your home, when your heart 
 was bowed in grief, when a life dearer to you than 
 your own hung trembling in the balance, when at 
 last death came and your heart was broken, what 
 was Christ to you then ? Was he not precious to 
 you in those dark experiences ? We find the best 
 things of Christ's grace and love only in life's expe- 
 riences of trial. 
 
 (174) 
 
June 23. 
 
 Seest thou a man diligent in his business ? he shall 
 stand before kings. — Proverbs xxii. 29. 
 
 M 
 
 EN like to rise in the world ; but there are 
 different kinds of elevation. One is that 
 which money gives. Then, there is elevation which 
 comes through social recognition. But true eleva- 
 tion is of character and worth. It can be obtained 
 only by being diligent. We are not to wait idly for 
 promotion, but are to be busy at our lowlier duty till 
 the larger is ready for us. Because Moses could not 
 be an emancipator at once, he did not spend his 
 time in idleness, but was faithful as a shepherd ; and 
 when God wanted him, he found him at his work. 
 Jesus found Peter, James, and John fishing. The 
 way to make sure of being wanted for a greater 
 work is to do well your plainer work. Diligence 
 makes men ready to go up higher. Do well to-day's 
 work, however lowly ; perhaps to-morrow God will 
 have something larger for you. Longfellow has 
 written : — 
 
 The heights by great men reached and kept 
 
 Were not attained by sudden flight; 
 But they, while their companions slept, 
 
 Were toiling upward in the night. 
 
 Standing on what too long we bore, 
 
 With shoulders bent and downcast eyes, 
 
 We may discern — unseen before — 
 A path to higher destinies: 
 
 Nor deem the irrevocable past 
 
 As wholly wasted, wholly vain, 
 If, rising on its wrecks, at last 
 
 To something nobler we attain. 
 
 (17s) 
 
June 24. 
 
 Howbeit the Levites hastened it not. — 2 Chroni- 
 cles xxiv. 5. 
 
 THE Levites seem to have been indifferent and 
 negligent. No reason is given for their want 
 of energy, but we see its consequence. The house 
 of the Lord remained year after year in its condi- 
 tion of decay, a standing dishonor to the name of 
 God, and a reproach to those who had been com- 
 manded to repair it. 
 
 This is quite an old story ; but we may take for 
 ourselves a lesson on the sin of indolence in doing 
 God's work. Whatever we are bidden to do we 
 should do at once. Promptness is half of obedi- 
 ence. Procrastination is a sad sin. It takes out of 
 life much of its power for good. It grows into a 
 fearful habit if it is encouraged. A boy who is 
 slow and loitering will always be behind time, and 
 when he becomes a man will accomplish but little. 
 Many men, even good men, fail to do all that they 
 might do with their life if only they were always 
 prompt. They lose time, not by being idle, but by 
 loitering, by failing to work intensely. 
 
 " Lose this day loitering, 'twill be the same story 
 
 To-morrow, and the next more dilatory; 
 
 The indecision brings its own delays, 
 
 And days are lost lamenting o'er lost days. 
 
 Are you in earnest ? Seize this very minute. 
 . What you can do, or think you can, begin it; 
 
 Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. 
 
 Only engage, and then the mind grows heated; 
 
 Begin it, and the work will be completed." 
 
 (176) 
 
June 25. 
 
 And he said unto Moses, Come up unto the Lord, 
 thou and Aaron. — Exodus xxiv. i. 
 
 GOD is always far above us. We can get nearer 
 to him only by rising out of sin and earthli- 
 ness, into holier, purer life. It was not easy to 
 climb up the steep side of Sinai ; it is not easy 
 to rise nearer to God. It costs pain and struggle. 
 We must make stepping-stones of our dead selves, 
 if we would ascend in life and character. We must 
 climb upward step by step. 
 
 Jacob saw life visioned before him as a ladder. 
 That is the true vision in every case, — not a level 
 path, through grassy meadows, but rocky steps up a 
 mountain-side. We sing : — 
 
 " Nearer, my God ! to thee, 
 Nearer to thee ! 
 E'en though it be a cross 
 That raiseth me ! " 
 
 A child lay dying, and said plaintively, " Lift me 
 higher ! Lift me higher ! " The father took the 
 little one in his arms, and lifted her up high as he 
 could raise her, as she continued to plead, with fail- 
 ing strength, " Lift me higher ! " Soon she was 
 gone, lifted out of her earthly father's trembling 
 arms, into the bosom of her heavenly Father. On 
 the child's grave they cut her name and the words : 
 " Lifted higher ! " God wants us all to come up to 
 him, to get closer to him, to be lifted higher into 
 life's better things. 
 
 077) 
 
June 26. 
 
 As he thinketh in his heart so is he. — Proverbs 
 xxiii. 7. 
 
 OUR thoughts make us. They are the silent 
 builders on the temple of character we are 
 rearing. They give color and form to the whole 
 building. If we think truly, we are rearing up a 
 fabric whiter than Parian marble. If our thoughts 
 are evil, the fabric that is rising within us is 
 blemished. 
 
 The inner and the outer life will always corre- 
 spond in the end. A bad heart will work through 
 to the surface. If a man's life is righteous, you 
 know his thoughts are just ; unjust thoughts will 
 never yield righteousness in conduct. 
 
 Thoughts seem mere nothings, flecks of cioud 
 flying through the air, flocks of birds flitting- dv, 
 and gone. But they are the most real things about 
 our life. All things we do are thoughts first. Our 
 thoughts fly out like birds, and take their place in 
 the world. Then our heart is still their home-nest, 
 w r hither they will return at last to dwell. Ella 
 Wheeler Wilcox says : — 
 
 I hold it true that thoughts are things, 
 Endowed with bodies, breath, and wings, 
 And that we send them forth to fill 
 The world with good results — or ill. 
 
 Then let your secret thoughts be fair; 
 They have a vital part and share 
 In shaping worlds and moulding fate — 
 God's system is so intricate. 
 
 (178) 
 
June 27. 
 
 A good man shall obtain favor of the Lord. — 
 Proverbs xii. 2. 
 
 IT is certainly worth while to have the Lord's 
 favor. If we know that he is smiling upon 
 us, we need not much mind what the world thinks. 
 Christ's commendation sweetens even the bitterest 
 of unjust blame. It was very comforting for Mary 
 when the disciples were finding fault, to have Jesus 
 say, " She hath wrought a good work." This ap- 
 proval healed the hurt the disciples' unfit words 
 had caused. 
 
 A good man obtains God's favor. A good man 
 is one who loves God and does his will. The 
 Scripture does not say a great man, a rich man, 
 a strong man, a man of rank. If either of these 
 were the qualification required there would be very 
 many people who never could obtain the divine 
 favor ; for not many of us are either great, rich, 
 strong, or noble. The qualification is a "good" 
 man. Goodness is within the reach of all of us. 
 If only we are good, it matters little what our con- 
 dition in other regards may be. 
 
 The other side of this proverb is also instruc- 
 tive : " A man of wicked devices will he condemn." 
 Again, it is not poverty, nor ignorance, nor com- 
 monplace condition, that misses the Lord's favor, 
 but a bad heart, one full of intrigue, scheming, and 
 evil designs against others. If we would have 
 God's favor we must keep a guileless heart. 
 
 (i79) 
 
June 28. 
 
 He went out to his father, . . . he said, . . . My 
 head! my head ! . . . he . . . brought him to his mother, 
 he sat on her knees till noon, and then died. — 2 Kings 
 
 iv. iS. 19. 20. 
 
 THE child went out with glee from the home 
 door into the harvest-field, where his father 
 and the reapers were busy. The sun was hot, 
 and it was not long till the little one was crying 
 in great pain. The father was too busy to give 
 much thought to his sick child. The mother was 
 the person to do that, and he sent the boy home 
 by a servant. The mother was not too busy to 
 attend to her child — mothers never are. With 
 maternal tenderness she took her stricken boy on 
 her knees, doing all in her power to restore him. 
 But when noon came he was dead in her arms. 
 
 What a change a few hours made in that home ! 
 We are never sure when we leave the breakfast- 
 table and scatter to our several tasks, that our 
 merry laughter shall not be turned to grief before 
 nightfall. This consciousness should make our home 
 intercourse very affectionate, since any hour we 
 spend together may be the last. The scene in this 
 old Shunem home is one which has been repeated 
 in so many households, that, as we linger on it. it 
 touches all hearts, and makes this Jewish mother 
 kin to thousands of other mothers. Xo matter that 
 she lived twenty-seven hundred years ago. To us 
 she is a mother with her dead child in her arms, and 
 our hearts are touched by her grief down through 
 all these centuries. . x 
 
June 29. 
 
 There is no God like thee . . . who keepest covenant 
 . . . with thy servants, that walk before thee with all 
 their heart. — i Kings viii. 23. 
 
 PRAYER is not all request and supplication. 
 We ought not to speak to God merely and 
 only when we want some favor from his hand. 
 Much of all true prayer is adoration and praise. A v 
 loving child-heart always seeks to express its love 
 and confidence. 
 
 " There is no God like thee." The heathen have 
 their idols, but our God is not like them. They see 
 not, hear not, love not, care not for those who wor- 
 ship them. Our God loves and keeps covenant. 
 What he promises he performs. His word never 
 fails, is never broken. What a strong confidence it 
 gives us to be sure that the God in whom we trust 
 always keeps his word ! Not a promise of his ever 
 has been broken. 
 
 There is something else here which we must not 
 overlook. We should never cut Bible sentences in 
 two in the middle, for if we do we shall get only 
 half truths. God keeps covenant ; but to every 
 covenant there are two sides, and we have some- 
 thing to do to secure what he has promised. He 
 keeps covenant with those who "walk before him 
 with all their heart." That is our part, and it 
 should be our continual care to be faithful to God 
 in all our ways. There is no danger that he will 
 fail us ; let us take heed that we do not fail in our 
 part. 
 
 (181) 
 
June 30, 
 
 My mouth shall utter truth . . . All the words of 
 my mouth are in righteousness. — Proverbs viii. 7, 8. 
 
 IN this world's counsels there is a great deal 
 of guessing and speculating. Friends advise 
 us, and intend to speak only what is true ; yet 
 by reason of the limitation of their knowledge, 
 they may often give wrong counsel. Bad advice, 
 though well meant and honestly given, has wrecked 
 many a life. But here is counsel that is always 
 absolutely true. The words that this divine Wis- 
 dom speaks to us are always infallibly right words. 
 Here is a guide in whose leading we may put 
 implicit confidence. Here is a counsellor whose 
 counsel is always safe, because always right and 
 true. 
 
 Those who abandon themselves utterly to the 
 word of God, follow its counsels, and obey its every 
 precept, are sure of blessedness in two worlds. It 
 never has been heard that the Bible took any per- 
 son on a course which ended in disaster, or in any 
 loss or dishonor. It always leads in right paths ; 
 and these right paths are safe throughout, and have 
 their unvarying destination in the highest good and 
 blessedness of those who pass over them. 
 
 " Lord, I had chosen another lot, 
 But then I had not chosen well; 
 Thy choice and only thine was good; 
 No different lot, search heaven or hell, 
 Had blessed me, fully understood, 
 None other which thou orderest not." 
 
 (182) 
 
July 1. 
 
 And I will restore to you the years that the locust 
 hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpillar, and 
 the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among 
 you. — Joel ii. 25. 
 
 IT is God who says, " I will restore." Only the 
 divine hand can do it. Christ is the restorer, 
 for he has made atonement for us. There is an 
 old legend which says that Jesus was crucified with 
 his face turned away from the Holy City and look- 
 ing toward the west. One writes, referring to this 
 legend : — 
 
 " His face was westward. Knew the soldiers why 
 Thus in its stony cleft they turned the beam? 
 Perchance they learn that Jewish elders deem 
 Unholy glances from the filming eye 
 Of man condemned upon a cross to die, 
 Might shed pollution Zion's courts around, 
 Which God of old so beautiful had found ; 
 So, leaning westward hangs he, death anigh. 
 Murmurs the heedless city. O'er him breaking, 
 Beyond the far hills and the soundless main, 
 Rise lands and peoples, deep in night's domain, 
 Where deathless love shall conquer ; nations waking 
 Down the long ages, prisoned souls set free. 
 His face was westward — it was turned to me." 
 
 This is very beautiful. Wherever there is a life 
 that is hurt by sin or sorrow in all the land, the face 
 of the Christ on the cross beams on it with healing 
 in its beams. " By his stripes we are healed." By 
 his wounding our wounds are cured. His visage 
 was marred, that the marring of sin in our faces 
 might be changed to beauty. By his sorrows our 
 sorrows are comforted. " I will restore the can- 
 kered years," he said. 
 
 (183) 
 
July 2. 
 
 He smote thrice, and stayed . . . Thou shouldest 
 have smitten five or six times, — 2 Kings xiii. 18, 19. 
 
 CHARACTER comes out in little things. It 
 seemed a small matter, there in the prophet's 
 dying chamber, whether the king shot three arrows 
 or six, yet the future successes of his sword de- 
 pended on it. Unconsciously, he was undergoing 
 a critical test. His lack of energy in shooting 
 the arrows betrayed a fatal weakness of character. 
 And when the test was over the measure of his 
 success in life was unalterably fixed. No doubt 
 he would have given large sums for a repetition 
 of the testing, now that he knew what depended 
 on it; but it was too late. 
 
 Every life is full of just such testings. Destinies 
 are forever turning on events too trivial for record. 
 Our characters are ever being put to proof in the 
 smallest things, and the result settles important 
 matters for our future. He who improves his one 
 talent receives more. He who is faithful in things 
 that are least is intrusted with greater things. On 
 the other hand, unfaithfulness in the smallest things 
 is forever keeping men out of greater trusts. The 
 picking up of a pin in a merchant's office has made 
 a great destiny for a boy. There is not a lad who 
 may not make or unmake his fortune any day by 
 some unconscious act. 
 
 God also is continually putting us to the test to 
 see how we do this or that little thing ; and he de- 
 termines thereby whether or not he can intrust great 
 things to us. / o \ 
 
July 3. 
 
 He hath put a new song in my mouth. — Psalm 
 xl. 3. 
 
 i 
 
 THE ancient statue of Memnon was supposed to 
 become musical when the sun rose and the 
 beams of morning light fell upon it. When the 
 light of the gospel falls upon a darkened heart, it 
 begins to sing. No wonder salvation gives joy. 
 Only think of what we are saved from — the hor- 
 rible pit of sin — and of what we are saved to — 
 childship in God's family. Can we but rejoice, if 
 we realize our full deliverance ? 
 
 Every Christian should be a singer. If we can- 
 not acquire the vocal art, we should at least sing 
 and make melody in our heart unto the Lord. 
 God wants to put a song into the mouth of every 
 child of his. Our song should be one that nothing 
 can check. Paul sang in prison with his feet fast 
 in the stocks, and his back gashed with stripes. No 
 trouble or pain should have power to hush the song 
 in a Christian's heart. 
 
 Then, our lives themselves should be songs. We 
 cannot all be poets, to write glad hymns of praise 
 for others to sing ; or singers, to thrill hearts by the 
 sweetness of our voice ; but we can live hymns and 
 songs, and that is just as pleasing to God. 
 
 The heart that trusts forever sings. 
 And feels as light as it had wings; 
 
 Come good or ill, — 
 Whate'er to-day, to-morrow brings, — 
 
 11 is his wilK Isaac Williams. 
 
 (i85) 
 
July 4. 
 
 The children of Israel . . . kept the feast. . . with 
 joy : for the Lord had made the??i joyful. — Ezra vi. 
 21, 22. 
 
 THE Lord is always doing things to make us 
 joyful, if only we will accept the love he 
 sends us in them and rejoice. Christian life ought 
 to be one of joy. Christ said he wished his disci- 
 ples to have his joy in them, and wished their joy to 
 be full. There are a great many reasons why we 
 should be joyous Christians. The greatest is that 
 we are saved from sin and are in God's family. 
 Our privileges, blessings, and hopes are enough to 
 fill our hearts with gladness. 
 
 We ought to show our joy in gratitude. Some 
 people take all God gives them, accept all he does 
 for them, and yet go through life grumbling and 
 complaining all the time. Every little trial or care 
 counts for more with them than all the multitude of 
 God's goodnesses. There is never any sunshine in 
 their faces, for they can always find something that 
 is not satisfactory, to make a cloud of, and to give 
 them excuse for being unhappy. This is a poor, 
 miserable way to live. These people are neither 
 joyful themselves, nor do they help to make the 
 world brighter. We ought to be ashamed to live 
 so unworthily and unbeautifully. God wants us to 
 be burning and shining lights, and to scatter happi- 
 ness and good cheer wherever we go. Instead of 
 being croakers, he wants us to be sweet singers. It 
 is a sin not to live cheerfully. 
 (186) 
 
 
July 5. 
 
 Blessed be the Lord . . . there hath not failed one 
 word of all his good promise. — i Kings viii. 56. 
 
 IT is nearly three thousand years since Solomon 
 uttered this testimony ; but we can say now, 
 just as confidently as the king did that day, that in 
 all these centuries since not one word of all God's 
 good promise has failed any one of his people. No 
 one has ever trusted a word of God, and had that 
 word fail of fulfilment. 
 
 The most real and sure things in this world are 
 the words of God. In every one of them God's 
 own almighty hand is gloved ; we clutch them, and 
 find ourselves clutched in turn by divinity, out of 
 whose clasp we never can fall, nor be torn away. 
 We lean upon these words, and find ourselves en- 
 circled and upborne by the everlasting arms. We 
 pillow our head in weariness or sorrow upon God's 
 words of love and comfort, and find ourselves drawn 
 close to our Father's heart, held in his warm bosom, 
 and soothed by his tenderness, which is gentler than 
 a mother's. 
 
 So all through life, in every experience, we may 
 trust the promises of God, and commit all our in- 
 terests to them, and be assured in our heart that 
 not one of them will ever fail us. We may trust 
 them, too, in death, and we shall find everything just 
 as God has said — the divine presence with us in 
 the valley, dying but a going to be at home, absent 
 from the body at home with the Lord, in eternal 
 blessedness. Not one word of God can fail. 
 
 (187) 
 
July 6. 
 
 This thing became a sin. — i Kings xii. 30. 
 
 THE king's plan was successful. The people 
 did not go back to the temple at Jerusalem, 
 but bowed down before the calves. The separation 
 was thus made complete. Xo only so, but the false 
 leading of the king turned the ten tribes into a path 
 that took them farther and farther away from God. 
 The name of Jeroboam is held up to execration 
 through all the after history as the man who made 
 Israel to sin. It was certainly an unenviable im- 
 mortality that Jeroboam achieved — a man who 
 made others sin. 
 
 Sin grows from small beginnings till it attains 
 giant proportions. The man who starts an error 
 knows not what moral ruin will come from it. To 
 teach one child falsely may be to blight thousands 
 of lives. Those who begin new enterprises set in 
 motion streams of influence, good or bad, which 
 may continue to flow forever. Jeroboam gave 
 character to this new kingdom, and all the nineteen 
 kings who followed him walked in his steps. 
 
 There is a story of an abbot who coveted a 
 piece of ground. The owner consented to lease it 
 to the abbot for one crop only. The abbot sowed 
 acorns, a crop which took three hundred years to 
 ripen. Jeroboam's one sowing mortgaged the new 
 kingdom for evil through all its history. Satan 
 begs for one crop only, and then sows seeds whose 
 harvest will fill all the life to the end. We do not know 
 what we are doing when we start a wrong thing. 
 (iSS) 
 
July 7. 
 
 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall 
 give him shall never thirst ; but the water that I 
 shall give him shall become in him a well of water 
 springing up unto eternal life. — St. John iv. 14. 
 
 IF you are a true believer in Christ, your new life 
 will become a spring of water in you. Wher- 
 ever you go, into the driest desert, into the hottest 
 plain, far away from the means of grace and from 
 spiritual privileges, into the dark paths of sorrow, 
 your life shall not waste nor fail, for its fountain is 
 within you. It is not fed from without, nor is it 
 dependent upon ordinances and means of grace as 
 sources of nourishment along the way. The foun- 
 tain of your life, your comfort, your joy, your 
 strength, is fed from the mountains of heaven, from 
 the fulness of Christ ; hence it can never waste. 
 Thus from this well of water in the heart of the 
 Christian flows out a perpetual stream of life, with 
 blessing for the world. 
 
 If you can be only a little spring, with but water 
 enough to fill a pilgrim's cup, do not be discouraged ; 
 be the sweet blessing that you can be, and thank 
 God for the privilege. Yet Jesus says that " rivers 
 of living water " shall flow from this well in him who 
 believes — not a mere trickling rill, but large rivers, 
 to bless a whole community. We should not be 
 satisfied with any small measure of usefulness. We 
 should seek to bear much fruit. We should always 
 abound in the work of the Lord. We should seek 
 to be the largest blessing we can be. 
 
 (189) 
 
July 8. 
 
 Unto you is given the mystery of the kingdom of 
 God. — St. Mark iv. n. 
 
 IT is wonderful how differently the truth of Christ 
 looks from within and from without. It is like 
 the great picture windows in a church. One who 
 stands outside and looks at them sees none of their 
 rich beauty. They seem dull, opaque, and without 
 meaning. But let one stand within the building 
 and look at the rich windows, and all is trans- 
 formed. The lines and figures appear in all their 
 rich loveliness. 
 
 It is the same with the truths of God's word. 
 They are not attractive to those who are without. 
 People sometimes sneer at the faith of Christians, as 
 they find them leaning upon an unseen God, and 
 clinging to intangible hopes. But when one be- 
 comes a Christian all is changed. Where there 
 was no loveliness, there now appears the loftiest 
 beauty. What was laughed at before is now seen 
 to be worthy of highest admiration. Only those 
 who have accepted Christ can really understand 
 the wonderful things of his love. 
 
 O God within, so close to me 
 
 That every thought is plain, 
 Be Judge, be Friend, be Father, still, 
 
 And in thy heaven reign ! 
 Thy heaven is mine — my very soul ! 
 
 Thy words are sweet and strong: 
 They fill my inward silences 
 
 With music and with song. 
 
 William C. Gannett. 
 (190) 
 
July 9. 
 
 The Lord upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all 
 those that be bowed down. — Psalm cxlv. 14. 
 
 GOD never gets tired helping us learn our les- 
 sons. No matter how often we miss, he is 
 ready to give us another chance. When we fail to 
 have our lesson learned, he does not give us up, 
 putting us out of his school, but tells us to take the 
 lesson over again and try to get it better. Only 
 think how often we have to try before we do things 
 as he wants us to do them, how often we fall in 
 trying to walk before we learn to walk. If our 
 great Teacher were not patient with us we should 
 never become like Christ ; but he never wearies 
 of our slowness. He is pleased with our efforts, 
 however faulty they are, and has for us always an 
 encouraging word. 
 
 " He came to my desk with a quivering lip — 
 
 The lesson was done. 
 ' Dear teacher, I want a new leaf,' he said: 
 1 I have spoiled this one.' 
 In place of the leaf so stained and blotted 
 I gave him a new one all unspotted, 
 And into his sad eyes smiled — 
 ' Do better, now, my child.' 
 
 " I went to the throne with a quivering soul — 
 
 The old year was done — 
 ' Dear Father, hast thou a new leaf for me ? 
 
 I have spoiled this one.' 
 He took the old leaf, stained and blotted, 
 And gave me a new one all unspotted, 
 And into my sad heart smiled — 
 ' Do better now, my child.' " 
 
 (191) 
 
July 10. 
 
 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, 
 if ye hare love me to another. — St. John xiii. 35. 
 
 IN all the cordage of the British naval service, 
 there is a red thread twisted, which cannot be 
 taken out without undoing the whole. So there is 
 one unfailing mark of Christian character, wherever 
 it is found. Love is always in it. Whatever else 
 may be or may not be in the new life of the Chris- 
 tian, the scarlet thread of love is always woven into 
 the character. God is love, and the believer in 
 Christ is like God. To be a Christian is to have 
 Christ in the heart ; and Christ is love. Not to 
 have love is not to be a Christian. 
 
 The first effect of faith in Christ is the springing 
 up of love in the heart of him who believes. This 
 love does not lie hidden, but is revealed in the life. 
 It shows itself in love for God ; but there is no love 
 for God which does not also make the heart warm 
 toward man. He that loveth not his brother, whom 
 he hath seen, cannot love God, whom he hath not 
 seen. And this love is not a mere beautiful senti- 
 ment, glowing like a radiant vision in the soul, but 
 fading the moment we meet our brothers in actual 
 life ; it is a love that becomes the very mainspring 
 of all action, the burning heart of all ambition. It 
 is a love that makes us pitiful toward all human 
 sorrow, gentle toward human infirmity, helpful to- 
 ward human need, patient under human unkindness 
 and injury, and ready at every call to do and suffer 
 and sacrifice. 
 
 ( I9 2) 
 
July 11. 
 
 Now we that are strong- ought to bear the infirmities 
 of the weak, and not to please ourselves. — Romans 
 
 XV. I. 
 
 THERE are some people who are anointed to 
 be helpers of others. Those who have ques- 
 tions or perplexities, those who are seeking light 
 or guidance, turn to them instinctively, with confi- 
 dence, sure of finding what they seek. 
 
 There is need for such helpers. There are ques- 
 tions which books or sermons do not answer — it is 
 a friend that is needed, one who can understand 
 and sympathize. No other ministry to which men 
 are ordained in this world is so sacred as this, 
 which comes into lives in their deepest experiences, 
 at times when, without wise help, they may be 
 wrecked. There is no one of us who may not be 
 such a helper. 
 
 If there be some weaker one, 
 Give me strength to help him on : 
 If a blinder soul there be, 
 Let me guide him nearer thee. 
 Make my mortal dreams come true 
 With the work I fain would do; 
 Clothe with life my weak intent, 
 Let me be the thing I meant : 
 Let me find in thy employ 
 Peace, that dearer is than joy; 
 Out of self to love be led 
 And to heaven acclimated, 
 Until all things sweet and good 
 Seem my natural habitude. 
 
 J. G. Whittier. 
 
 ( x 93) 
 
July 12. 
 
 We speak that we do know, and bear -witness of that 
 we have seen. — St. John iii. 1 1. 
 
 THE things that Christ teaches are certainties. 
 Very much human science is only guessing ; 
 we cannot be sure of it. Every now and then some 
 new discovery is made which sweeps away whole 
 volumes of boasted theories. We have to be all 
 the time buying new books to keep up with the 
 times ; and we are afraid to quote from any but the 
 newest editions, lest there has been some recent 
 discovery which contradicts the older. 
 
 But Christ's teachings are certainties. He came 
 down from heaven, where from all eternity he had 
 dwelt, and he knew the things he taught. We may 
 accept his words without the slightest doubt, and 
 may build our soul's hopes upon them. What he 
 said about God, about God's love, about heaven, 
 about the judgment, about the future life, about the 
 way of salvation, is all certainty. As we go on into 
 the future, we shall find everything just as he has 
 described it. 
 
 This fact should give us deep and strong con- 
 fidence if we are reposing upon Christ's promises 
 for salvation and life. It should drive us speedily 
 to his cross for refuge if we are still unsheltered, 
 for he has told us of condemnation abiding upon 
 all who do not believe on him. We may not dis- 
 regard a single word that Christ spoke, for all his 
 words are all true and eternal. Xot one of them 
 can ever fail him who leans upon it. 
 
 (194) 
 
July 13. 
 
 And Joshua . . . the servant of the Lord, died, — 
 Judges ii. 8. 
 
 WE have no elaborate account of the closing 
 scenes of this good man's life. Many chap- 
 ters are filled with accounts of his life, his work, 
 his wise words, and his many activities ; but all we 
 know about his death is told in one little phrase. 
 If he had lived in these days the scenes of his 
 death would have been described with glowing pen. 
 We should have known what his last words were, 
 how he met the end, whether with or without fear ; 
 what dying testimony he left to the power of divine 
 grace. But not a word have we about any of these 
 things. We are told simply, in the briefest possible 
 words, that he died. 
 
 The same is true of all Bible saints. We have 
 no death-bed scenes, no descriptions of dying ex- 
 periences. The meaning of this is that it matters 
 very little how a man dies — living is the important 
 thing. Not many people have raptures in the last 
 hour. Some, whose lives have been very Christly, 
 die without any remarkable manifestation of faith 
 or any joyous experiences. Then sometimes those 
 who have not lived a Christian life at all seem to 
 have the greatest raptures in their last hours. All 
 this proves that it is living, not dying, that tests 
 one's character. In such a man as Joshua it mat- 
 tered not whether he had a triumphant end, or sank 
 away in the shadows of old age, and died without a 
 word of ecstasy. His life was his testimony. He 
 
 needed no other. . x 
 
 095) 
 
July 14. 
 
 Joshua . . . died . . . a?id the children of Israel 
 did that which was evil . . . and they forsook the 
 Lord. — Judges ii. 8-12. 
 
 THAT is too often the way. So long as the 
 godly parent or the faithful friend lives, it is 
 not hard to do right ; but when the human guide 
 is gone the restraining hand is withdrawn, and the 
 child or friend drifts away from the holy influence. 
 Many a boy begins to drift at his mother's grave. 
 
 There was a man whose besetting sin was strong 
 drink. He said to a friend one day : "When I am 
 with you I feel strong ; if I could always be with 
 you I should never give way to my terrible passion." 
 Said his friend : " Whenever you feel the tempta- 
 tion getting the mastery over you, come to me and I 
 will help you." So, many a time this poor man might 
 have been seen hurrying toward his friend's office. 
 Once in that helpful presence, he soon grew strong. 
 
 But death came to this friend, and among those 
 who wept at his grave none shed bitterer tears than 
 he who had so often run to him for the sympathy 
 and help that saved him. Soon the temptation 
 came again, and there was no one to whom to go. 
 In his despair he fell into the old sin, and sank 
 down to ruin. If he had known Christ, when his 
 friend died he would still have missed him, and 
 would have found living harder wanting his help, 
 but he would not have sunk down in utter helpless- 
 ness. He would then have had the strength of 
 Christ to support him in his temptation. 
 
 (196) 
 
July 15. 
 
 Jesus gave him no answe?\ — St. John xix. 9. 
 
 THE silences of Jesus are as significant as his 
 words. He was silent before Pilate. He 
 understood the governor's miserable insincerity. 
 Pilate had had opportunity enough to do the right 
 thing, but he had thrown away his chance. Now 
 Jesus would answer no more of his questions. It 
 was not worth while. 
 
 One lesson we get from this silence of Jesus is, 
 that if we reject his offer of grace over and over, 
 the time may come, will come, when he will be 
 silent to us. And of all calamities that can possibly 
 ever come to any man, no other could be so great 
 as that Christ should be silent to his prayers, turn- 
 ing his back and answering no more when he calls. 
 
 Another lesson from Christ's example is, that 
 there come times in every life when silence is bet- 
 ter than speech. Ofttimes to words of reviling or 
 insult, silence is the only true answer. To many 
 of the assaults made by sceptics on our religion, 
 it is better that we remain silent. There is a time 
 to speak boldly in the presence of Christ's enemies ; 
 but there also are times when we should keep 
 silence, attempting no answer. 
 
 " Let me no wrong or idle word 
 Unthinking say; 
 Set thou a seal upon my lips 
 Just for to-day." 
 
 O97) 
 
July 16. 
 
 This ointment might have been sold . . . and given 
 to the poor. And they murmured against her. — St. 
 Mark xiv. 5. 
 
 IT is very easy to yield to the temptation to criti- 
 cise others, and find fault with their way of 
 serving Christ. There are many motives which 
 come in to encourage this unchristian habit. We 
 are all prone to be envious of others, and hence to 
 form unjust opinions of what they do. One of the 
 last graces to ripen in a Christian is usually that of 
 rejoicing in another's good work. It is very hard, 
 too, to learn our Lord's lesson: "Judge not, that 
 ye be not judged." It seems natural, too, sad as 
 the confession may be, for us to disparage what 
 others do and to underestimate it. 
 
 But we should learn the sinfulness of murmuring 
 against others. We see how unlovely, how un- 
 christlike, it was in these first disciples. Is it any 
 less so in us when we allow ourselves to criticise 
 our fellow-Christians, finding fault with the way 
 they show their love for Christ ? Even if they do 
 not do their work as we do ours, have we a right 
 to judge them and blame them, and speak unkind 
 things about what they have done ? Between them 
 and their Master rests the matter, and it is not our 
 duty to make ourselves judges and condemners of 
 their acts. They are responsible — not we — for 
 what they do. There are few lessons more needed 
 than this, for there are few faults more common 
 than that which we see here in these first disciples. 
 
 (198) 
 
July 17. 
 
 All chastening seemeth for the present to be not joy- 
 ous, but grievous : yet afterward it yieldeth peaceable 
 fruit unto them that have bee7i exercised thereby, even 
 the fruit of righteousness. — Hebrews xii. n. 
 
 WE have all known Christian sufferers who 
 have grown into rare, sweet beauty as they 
 have suffered. They have lost their earthliness and 
 have learned heavenliness. Pride has given way 
 to humility. The harsh music has grown soft and 
 gentle. The rough marble has taken the shape of 
 graceful beauty. There are elements of loveliness 
 in the depths of every life which pain alone can 
 bring out. God often takes his children into a 
 darkened room and draws the curtains while he 
 brings out more clearly in theni the features of his 
 own image, which before had been only dim and 
 shadowy outlines. 
 
 Yet afflictions do not always make people better. 
 Not all suffering yields the fruit of righteousness. 
 We have all seen people suffering who became only 
 more impatient, selfish, and cold. Their trouble 
 hurt them. 
 
 As I watch the effects of trial upon men and 
 women, I find that it is only in the fewest cases 
 that the life is made more radiant by pain. There 
 are dangerous shoals skirting all the deeps of afflic- 
 tion, and many frail barks are wrecked in the dark- 
 ness. In no experience of life do most persons 
 need wise friendship and firm, loving guidance 
 more than in their times of trouble. 
 
 099) 
 
July 18 
 
 As the Lord, the God of Israel liveth, before whom I 
 stand. — i Kings xvii. i. 
 
 A\ 
 
 E all stand before God. His eye is ever upon 
 us. His face ever beams its light upon us. 
 We all believe this, and say it often with our lips ; 
 yet many of us do not really get the truth into our 
 heart. If we did. it would make better people of us. 
 We should not slight our work as now we do so 
 often, if we were truly conscious that God is look- 
 ing on us as we work. 
 
 This consciousness would also give us hope and 
 courage in darkness or danger. Some people think 
 of " Thou God seest me ,? as a reason for fear and 
 terror. But it was not so to Hagar when she called 
 God by this name. It meant to her divine love 
 and care. God had not forgotten her nor forsaken 
 her. She was cast out of her earthly home, but the 
 Lord saw her and took her up. If we are God's 
 children, the thought of our Father should always 
 bring us comfort, assurance, a wonderful sense of 
 security. So it is a great thing to stand before 
 God. to be conscious of his eye upon us. and to 
 know him so well as not to be afraid of him. 
 
 I say to thee, do thou repeat 
 
 To the first man thou mayest meet, 
 
 In lane, highway, or open street, — 
 
 That he and we and all men move 
 
 Under a canopy of love, 
 
 As broad as the blue sky above. 
 
 R. C. Trench. 
 
 (200) 
 
July 19. 
 
 Thou shalt drink of the brook ; and I have com- 
 manded the ravens to feed thee there. — i Kings 
 xvii. 4. 
 
 GOD is never at a loss for a way of providing for 
 his children. The brooks of water, the birds 
 of the air, the beasts of the field, the winds of 
 heaven, the waves of the sea — all creatures belong 
 to him, and are under his direct control. He has 
 no trouble, therefore, in getting food to his children 
 wherever they may be. Perhaps none of us ever 
 had ravens carry us our daily bread, but God sends 
 it to us in other ways ; and it is just as really he 
 who sends it, whether railroad trains carry it across 
 a continent, or ships bring it half around the globe, 
 or birds bear it to our windows, or it come through 
 hands of loving friends. 
 
 We know too much for our good these modern 
 days, — many of us. We are so wise about " laws 
 of nature " that we can account for everything on 
 scientific grounds, and have no need for God's in- 
 terference anywhere ; consequently we forget, some 
 of us, that God has anything to do with this world. 
 What poor fools we are ! What are nature's laws 
 but God's established ways of doing things ? If I 
 sow wheat-seeds on a little patch of soil, and in a 
 few months reap a harvest, and then, taking the 
 wheat to the mill, get fine flour and have good 
 bread on my table, had God nothing to do with 
 sending it to me? Did not he provide it as really 
 as when he sent the ravens to Elijah day by day, 
 with food for him ? / \ 
 
July 20. 
 
 It came to pass after a while, that the brook dried 
 up. — i Kings xvii. 7. 
 
 THAT is the way this world's brooks always do. 
 For a time they flow full ; then they begin to 
 waste, and at last dry up altogether. This is true 
 of all earthly joys. There is a comfort, however, 
 in what comes after the statement made in these 
 words. When the brook dried up, God had another 
 place ready for his servant. " Arise, get thee to 
 Zarephath." There he found other help ready. 
 
 It must have been a sore test of Elijah's faith to 
 watch the stream growing less and less every day. 
 " What shall I do when the brook is dry ? " he 
 would wonder. But we need not suppose that he 
 ever worried about it. He knew that God was pro- 
 viding for him, and would have something else 
 ready when this supply ceased. One morning there 
 was no water running over the stones, and the 
 prophet had to eat a dry breakfast — only bread 
 and meat ; but still, I think he did not grow anx- 
 ious. Then after breakfast the Lord came and told 
 him to move. 
 
 The lesson is, that we are never to doubt God, 
 no matter how low the supply gets. Though we 
 have come down to the last mouthful of bread and 
 the last cupful of water, and still see no new pro- 
 vision beyond, we are to take the last morsel with 
 thankfulness, believing that God will have- some- 
 thing else ready in time. It will be soon enough if 
 it is ready when we have eaten the last crust. 
 (202) 
 
July 21. 
 
 And she went and did according to the saying of 
 Elijah. — i Kings xvii. 15. 
 
 THAT is, she took the handful of flour she had 
 and the little oil, and made a cake for her 
 hungry guest first, and then for herself and her 
 household. Then she found that there was as 
 much meal and oil left as she had before. 
 
 There are several things to commend in this 
 woman. One is her faith. She believed what was 
 told her, and acted on it. It is when we do God's 
 commandments that he blesses us. His promises 
 are conditional, depending upon the fulfilment of 
 our part. Had this woman not believed and obeyed, 
 the wonderful two or three years' miracle in her 
 house would not have been wrought. The woman's 
 unselfish generosity must also be commended. She 
 had enough only for a meal for herself and son, 
 but she fed the stranger first. Had she prepared 
 a meal for herself and son, and left the hungry 
 prophet unfed, there would have been no miracle 
 of increase. We must be ready to share our little 
 with others who need, if we would have the bless- 
 ing on ourselves. Mrs. Charles writes : — 
 
 Is thy cruse of comfort failing? 
 
 Rise and share it with another, 
 And through all the years of famine 
 
 It shall serve thee and thy brother. 
 Love divine will fill thy storehouse, 
 
 Or thy handful still renew ; 
 Scanty fare for one will often 
 
 Make a royal feast for two. 
 
 ( 2 °3) 
 
July 22. 
 
 S/?c\ and Ju\ and fur /iousc\ did eat many days. — 
 i Kings xvii. 15. 
 
 HAD not the prophet come to the widow's door 
 she and her household would probably have 
 perished in the famine. Or had the woman re- 
 fused the prophet's request, saying. " I cannot spare 
 anything for a stranger ; charity begins at home. 
 and I must look first after my own," she and hers 
 would have starved before the rain fell. The meal 
 wasted not because she shared it with another. 
 
 The lesson is plain. There is a withholding that 
 tendeth to poverty; there is a giving that enricheth. 
 The way to make sure of spiritual blessing is. to 
 seek to be a blessing. If your love is growing cold, 
 help some one and it will become warm again. We 
 cannot afford to shut our doors in the face of those 
 God sends to us for sympathy and for the minis- 
 tries of love. Such serving brings to us blessings 
 which we must not miss. 
 
 Is thy cruse of comfort failing 
 Rise and share it with another. 
 
 Elizabeth Charles. 
 
 Remain not folded in thy pleasant joys 
 Within the narrow circle of thy walls, 
 Content if thine are blessed. Cold is thy fire, 
 If on thy hearth-stone only; and thy bread 
 Bitter, which feeds alone thy selfish blood: 
 Thy house a prison, if it hold thy world. 
 Thy heaven a fiction. 
 
 F. R. Abbe. 
 
 (.204) 
 
 
July 23. 
 
 He . . . came and sat down under a juniper tree : 
 and he requested for himself that he might die. — 
 i Kings xix. 4. 
 
 HE was sorely discouraged. It seemed to him 
 that all he had done had come to nothing. 
 There are few things we need more to guard against 
 than discouragement. When once we come under 
 its influence, it makes us weak, robbing us of our 
 hope and making cowards of us. Many a life is 
 discrowned and drawn down to failure through 
 discouragement. 
 
 It is surely a sad picture — this greatest of the 
 old prophets lying there under the little bush, in 
 the wilderness, longing to die. If he had died then 
 and there, what an inglorious ending it would have 
 made of his life ! As it was, however, he lived to 
 do further glorious work and to see great results 
 from his contest with idolatry. God was kinder to 
 him than he knew. 
 
 It is wrong to wish ourselves dead. Life is 
 God's gift to us, a sacred trust for which we shall 
 have to give account. While God keeps us living 
 he has something for us to do. Our prayer should 
 be for grace to do our duty bravely and well unto 
 the end. From Elijah's after-experience we learn 
 that we should never be cast down by any dis- 
 couraging experiences. The things we think have 
 failed are often only slowly ripening into rich suc- 
 cess. We have only to be faithful to God and to 
 duty, and we may always rejoice. What seems 
 failure is often best success. 
 ( 2 °S) 
 
July 24. 
 
 An angel touched him, and said unto kirn, Arise a?id 
 eat . . . He . . . went in the strength of that meat 
 forty days and forty nights. — i Kings xix. 5, 8. 
 
 BEHOLD the loving gentleness of God. He fol- 
 lowed his discouraged servant in his flight, 
 kept watch over him all the way, and did not cast 
 him off. There is great comfort in this for us all. 
 God is very patient with us in our weakness and 
 fault. He does not break bruised reeds. 
 
 Then it must be noticed that when God would 
 restore his servant's soul he began with his body. 
 He gave him sleep and then food, till his exhausted 
 nature was refreshed. Much spiritual depression is 
 caused by the bodily condition. Ofttimes the best 
 cure for despondency is sleep and rest, until the 
 body is restored to healthy conditions. 
 
 This incident is typical. God is continually pre- 
 paring a table in the wilderness where he feeds his 
 weary ones. In their sorrows, he provides for them 
 meat which the world knows not of : they rise up 
 and go on their journey with joy, sustained by the 
 secret strength which divine grace supplies. Many 
 persons whose lot in life is hard go through the 
 days with cheerful, songful spirit, because every 
 morning in the closet God gives them food which 
 makes them strong. Those whom God thus blesses 
 
 " Carry music in their heart. 
 
 Through dusky lane and wrangling mart; 
 Plying their daily task with busier feet, 
 Because their secret souls a holy strain repeat/' 
 (206) 
 
July 25. 
 
 /, even I only, am left. — i Kings xix. 10. 
 
 THERE is something very pathetic in this word. 
 Elijah really thought he was alone. He did 
 not know of one other man in all the land who was 
 loyal to God. This made it all the harder for him. 
 Companionship strengthens us. It is comparatively 
 easy in battle for one to march and fight in the 
 ranks, with others all around him ; but to move out 
 alone, old soldiers say, is a sore test of courage. 
 It is easy to be good, faithful, and loyal in duty, 
 diligent in Christian service, when one has com- 
 panionship. But it tests one's life to have to stand 
 alone, the only Christian in the family, the work- 
 shop, the store, the school. But many have to 
 stand just in this way. They are really the only 
 one who is in their place to stand for God. If 
 they fail, God's work there will suffer greatly. 
 
 But we see also the value of a single life. For 
 years Elijah was the only one who confessed the 
 Lord and was faithful to him. Yet though utterly 
 alone, and not knowing of any others who even 
 secretly were true, he yet stood firm, and bravely 
 maintained the honor of Jehovah in the face of a 
 whole nation. As we read the story through to the 
 end we see the outcome of his faithfulness. He 
 alone wrought a great reformation. We sometimes 
 find ourselves alone — the only one to witness for 
 Christ in the place where we stand. If we simply 
 stand and falter not, we shall by and by see the 
 triumph of that for which we stand. 
 (207) 
 
July 26. 
 
 Yet will I leave i?ie seve7i thousand i?i Israel . . . 
 which have not bowed unto Baal. — i Kings xix. 18. 
 
 THINGS were not so bad as Elijah had thought. 
 He supposed he was the only one ; but there 
 were seven thousand more, scattered here and 
 there through the land, who were still loyal to God. 
 God's cause in this world is never hopeless. He 
 has others where we think we are the only one. 
 
 There is an experience of Luther's which is sug- 
 gestive : "At one time," he says, "I was sorely 
 vexed and tried by my own sinfulness, by the 
 wickedness of the world, and by the dangers that 
 beset the church. One morning I saw my wife 
 dressed in mourning. Surprised, I asked her who 
 had died. ' Do you not know ? ' she replied ; ' God 
 is dead.' ' How can you talk such nonsense ? ' I 
 said. ' How can God die ? ' 'Is that really true ? ' 
 she asked. ' Of course,' I said, not perceiving her 
 aim. ' How can you doubt it ? ' ' Yet,' she said, 
 ' though you do not doubt that, yet you are so help- 
 less and discouraged.' " 
 
 Workmen of God, oh, lose not heart, 
 
 But learn what God is like ! 
 And, in the darkest battle-field, 
 
 Thou shalt know where to strike. 
 
 Oh, blest is he to whom is given 
 
 The instinct that can tell 
 That God is on the field, when He 
 Is most invisible. 
 
 F. W. Faber. 
 (208) 
 
July 27. 
 
 It came to pass, when the Lord would take up Elijah 
 by a whirlwind into heaven. — 2 Kings ii. 1. 
 
 WHEN a good man leaves the world he does 
 not cease to live. The Lord took Elijah to 
 live in another country. We are able actually to 
 verify this statement. We have but to turn over 
 to the Gospels to see him again, nearly nine hun- 
 dred years later, alive, and active still in God's 
 work. 
 
 It is just as true of the Christians who die in our 
 homes as it was of this old prophet, that the Lord 
 takes them up into heaven, and that they live on in 
 blessedness forever. 
 
 One cold autumn day I saw an empty bird's-nest 
 on a tree. It looked desolate and forsaken. But 
 I knew the birds that once were there were living 
 yet, living now in the warm South, beyond the 
 reach of winter's storms, and singing there their 
 sweet songs. There is an empty love nest in many 
 a home, in many a heart, but we know that the 
 dear one who is gone is living with God in heaven. 
 There is comfort in this. 
 
 There is a suggestion in the way God took Elijah 
 from earth. It was " by a whirlwind." A whirl- 
 wind suggests terror. But this wild storm was 
 God's chariot, and it took the prophet up into 
 heaven. Death always seems terrible to nature. 
 Sometimes it comes in form of special terror. But 
 however it may come, it takes God's child home 
 to glory. 
 
 (209) 
 
July 28. 
 
 It came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, 
 that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire . . . 
 which parted them both asunder, — 2 Kings ii. 11. 
 
 SO the most loving friends must sometimes be 
 parted. We walk on together, talking of a 
 thousand things, not dreaming of separation, when 
 suddenly, as we turn some sharp corner in the way, 
 the chariot is waiting, and one is taken and the 
 other left. We ought not to forget the certainty of 
 separation in every friendship we form. Some day 
 one of the two will be taken, and the other must be 
 left to weep by a grave and to walk on lonely and 
 sorrowing after that. 
 
 Another thought suggested here is, that heaven 
 is not far away. One of the chariots from the 
 King's country came down that day to carry Elijah 
 home. Another came down to the door of your 
 house when the baby died, or when father or 
 mother or brother or sister died. We shall not 
 leave this world as Elijah did — missing death — 
 we shall have to pass through the valley ; but we 
 shall have the heavenly chariot to bear away our 
 freed spirit just as truly as he did. 
 
 To die? it is to rise 
 
 To fairer, brighter skies, 
 
 Where death no more shall his dread harvests reap; 
 
 To soar on angel wings 
 
 Where life immortal springs, 
 
 For so he giveth his beloved sleep. 
 
 I. N. Tarbox. 
 
 (2IO) 
 
July 29. 
 
 Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portio?i of thy 
 spirit be upon me. — 2 Kings ii. 9. 
 
 ELISHA'S choice shows where his heart was. 
 He did not ask for position, for wealth, for 
 ease, for honor, but for more life, more spiritual 
 power. He had watched his master in his great 
 work, his zeal for God, his heroism, his intense 
 earnestness, and he wanted to have a large measure 
 of the same spirit. He wanted most of all to be a 
 better man, a more useful man, more active and 
 mighty in the Lord's work. Here is a good lesson 
 for us. We ought to seek above all other things 
 the qualities and graces and beauties which make 
 a noble character. 
 
 There is something else. Elisha greatly admired 
 his master, Elijah, and his chief desire was to be 
 like him. This is commendable. Christ, our Mas- 
 ter, is the one great and perfect example, and all 
 of us should imitate him. Any other model is too 
 low. Yet he gives us in his true followers pictures 
 of at least some fragments of his own beauty, and 
 it is right for us to imitate these. St. Paul said : 
 " Be ye imitators of me." Every parent should live 
 so that his child, imitating him, shall be ever follow- 
 ing Christ and growing more like him. Tennyson 
 said : "lama part of all that I have met." It is 
 right when we see anything beautiful in another 
 to desire to have the same beauty in ourselves. 
 Whether we will or not, we grow, even unconsciously, 
 like those whom we admire and love. 
 
 (211) 
 
July 30. 
 
 He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from 
 him. — 2 Kings ii. 13. 
 
 WE are continually seeing useful lives removed 
 from earth. The loss seems irreparable. 
 But there are no accidents in God's providence. 
 Every one's life is a plan of God, and no faithful 
 servant is taken away until his part in the great 
 plan is finished. There is abundance of work re- 
 maining, but it is the work of others, not of him 
 who is gone. His mantle falls at some one's feet 
 — yours, perhaps. 
 
 A good father dies, and there is grief in the home. 
 How he will be missed ! Yes ; but an elder son 
 stands by the coffin, strong and gifted, blessed with 
 the blessing of the father's life and teaching. At 
 his feet the mantle falls from the father's shoulders. 
 He must take it up, and with it lift the burdens and 
 responsibilities of manhood. He must become now 
 his mother's protector, and the shelter and defender 
 of his younger brothers and sisters. 
 
 A mother dies, and when a gentle mother goes 
 out of a home the loss indeed seems irreparable. 
 But if there is an elder daughter in the sorrowing 
 group at the grave, at her feet the mantle falls. So 
 it is in all the breaches which death makes in 
 Christian homes and communities, — in every case 
 the mantle falls at some one's feet. God makes 
 provision that his work shall not suffer unless his 
 servants fail in their duty. We must be ready al- 
 ways to take up what is ours. 
 
 (212) 
 
July 31. 
 
 But his delight is i?i the law of the Lord ; and in 
 his law doth he meditate day and night, — Psalm i. 2. 
 
 A perfumer bought a common earthen jar and 
 filled it with attar of roses. Soon every par- 
 ticle of the substance of the jar was filled with the 
 rich perfume ; and long afterward, and even when 
 broken, the fragments retained the fragrance. So 
 it is that a human life becomes filled, saturated, 
 with the word of God, when one loves it and medi- 
 tates upon it continually. The thoughts, feelings, 
 affections, dispositions, and the whole character be- 
 come colored with the spirit of the word. 
 
 Such a filling of the heart and memory with the 
 pure words of God is the best way to prepare for 
 any future of darkness into which the life may pass. 
 It is like hanging up a hundred lamps while the 
 light of day yet shines, to be ready to pour down 
 their soft beams the moment daylight fades. 
 
 And when thy darkened eyes no more behold 
 
 The glory of the light, 
 Then shall a purer radiance thee enfold 
 
 To bless thy failing sight. 
 And when to thy dulled ear earth's voices wane, 
 
 And singing birds grow dumb, 
 Then angel harmonies with sweet refrain 
 
 Shall to thy spirit come. 
 For the veiled past shall show a smiling face, 
 
 And blessing shall not cease; 
 To all who work the works of truth and grace 
 
 Life's memories shall bring peace ! 
 
 Annie E. Lyddon. 
 
 (213) 
 
August 1. 
 
 The Lord hath sent me as far as Bethel . . . The 
 Lord hath seut me to Jericho . . . The Lord hath sent 
 me to Jordan. — 2 Kings ii. 2, 4, 6. 
 
 GOD leads us on step by step, each step a new 
 revelation. He led Elijah on with new calls 
 to new errands, from Gilgal to Bethel, from Bethel 
 to Jericho, from Jericho to Jordan, and then over 
 the river and up among the hills, until at last, as he 
 went on, the chariot came down and lifted him 
 away. In this same beautiful way does God lead 
 each one of his children through life. We know 
 not what any day may bring forth. But he knows ; 
 and he calls us forward, to this duty and experience 
 to-day, to others to-morrow, and so on and on, and 
 on and on, until we come to the last step, and that 
 will be into glory. 
 
 Elijah's prompt obedience teaches us our side of 
 the lesson. He went swiftly from task to task. 
 He would finish his work before the end came. It 
 was to visit the schools of the prophets that he 
 went to Bethel and to Jericho. He wanted to give 
 his last counsels to the young students whom he 
 had been training and on whom the future religious 
 work among the people would depend. 
 
 The nearing of the end of life should intensify 
 our earnestness. A good woman was told that she 
 could not live more than six weeks. 6i Then I must 
 arise, and hasten to finish my work.' 7 Leaving her 
 bed, she went out and hurried from place to place, 
 laboring intensely until the very end came. 
 
 (214) 
 
August 2. 
 
 They took their bones and buried them under the 
 tamarisk tree in Jabesh. — i Samuel xxxi. 13. 
 
 IT has been said that every one lives for a funeral ; 
 that the burial one has tells the story of one's 
 life. One man amasses great wealth, and when his 
 body lies in state the rich come and look at him and 
 pass on with their tearless eyes. Another devotes 
 his life to doing good. His hands scatter blessings. 
 The needy are cared for, the hungry are fed, the 
 sick are visited, the fallen are lifted up. When 
 he lies in his coffin, the poor come, the widow and 
 the orphan, those whom his hands have relieved 
 and helped, and with grateful hearts and tearful 
 eyes take their farewell. 
 
 It is a beautiful sight — this rescuing of the body 
 of King Saul from dishonor on the field where he 
 had fallen, and it is especially so when we learn 
 that it was an act of kindness which he had done 
 many years before which secured for his dead body 
 the gentle thought and care it received that day. 
 Had Saul's life been filled to its close with such 
 deeds of true valor as marked its beginning he 
 would have had the gratitude of a whole nation 
 when he came to die. We should try to live so 
 that we shall be remembered with gratitude. Then 
 we should never fail to show gratitude to any one 
 who has conferred a favor upon us. Let us be sure, 
 too, that we live so as to obtain honor from God 
 when we come to the end of life. If we miss that, 
 earth's honor will be an awful mockery. 
 
 (2*5) 
 
August 3. 
 
 Whe?i I kept silence, my bones waxed old through 
 my roaring all the day long. — Psalm xxxii. 3. 
 
 SOMETIMES we would better be silent to God. 
 When sore trials are upon us we should not say 
 a word in resistance. But there is a silence to God 
 which does not bring blessing. Sins unconfessed 
 produce bitterness. David's words tell a sad story 
 of the suffering of the days when he kept silent 
 about his guilt. 
 
 " When I kept silence, my bones waxed old 
 Through my roaring all the day long. 
 For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me." 
 
 He could not put away the memory of his sin. 
 It stayed in his mind, saddened every joy and em- 
 bittered every sweet thing in his life. His very 
 body suffered, and his heart cried out continually 
 in anguish. 
 
 Sins unconfessed are a burden too great for mor- 
 tal to bear. We should never keep silence for a 
 moment about a sin which we have committed. 
 The only true thing to do is to confess it instantly, 
 and put it out of our life utterly and forever. Sin 
 is a demon from the dark abodes, and must be ex- 
 pelled or it will take up its home in the heart and 
 destroy the life. Sin is poison of eternal death, 
 and if not cast out it will spread its death through 
 the soul. The only safety is, by confession and re- 
 pentance to thrust out remorselessly every sin that 
 has betrayed us. 
 
 (2 1 6) 
 
August 4. 
 
 In the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, 
 the ninth day of the month , a breach was made in the 
 city. — Jeremiah xxxix. 2. 
 
 WHEN even the smallest breach is made in a 
 wall, it is the beginning of the end. The 
 breach is easily increased, until, where at first only 
 one or two men could enter, a whole army pours 
 through. 
 
 Each of us lives within walls. There is the wall 
 of innocence, which God sets around every human 
 soul. So long as it remains unbroken we are safe ; 
 but when once a breach is made, enemies pour in. 
 It is then easy to break down the whole wall, leaving 
 the life exposed to every temptation. Every wild 
 beast enters the garden at pleasure. 
 
 Conscience is another of the walls which God 
 builds around each soul. So long as it is kept in- 
 violable it is an impregnable protection. But this, 
 too, may be broken ; and when one small breach has 
 been made in it, it is easy to make it larger. It is 
 not so hard to violate conscience the second as the 
 first time. It is easier still the third and the fourth 
 time. By and by the whole wall is broken down. 
 When this time comes the citadel of the heart is 
 utterly in the enemy's hands. Everything beautiful 
 is destroyed. The temple is in ruins, the altar is 
 torn away, the fires are dead, the lamps are out, and 
 there is only darkness in the place once sacred 
 and bright with God's presence. It is well that we 
 look after the walls of our life. 
 
 (217) 
 
August 5. 
 
 In the fourth watch of the night he came wito them. 
 — St. Matthew xiv. 25. 
 
 HE did not come immediately; indeed, it was 
 almost morning when he came, and the dis- 
 ciples had been all night struggling in the storm. 
 Yet he had not been indifferent to them meanwhile. 
 From the mountain top where he was praying he 
 kept his eye upon them. " He saw them distressed 
 in rowing." All that dark night he kept a watch 
 upon that little boat in the midst of the waves that 
 bore his disciples. 
 
 There is something very suggestive in the picture. 
 This boat in the storm represents Christ's friends 
 in this world in the storms of life. Sometimes we 
 think we are forgotten, but from his place in glory 
 Christ's eye is always on us. He sees us toiling, 
 battling with the waves, beaten, and distressed. He 
 has full sympathy with us in all our struggles. It 
 ought to be a great strength and comfort to us in 
 trial to know this. Jesus intercedes for us in our 
 distresses. It may not be best always to deliver 
 us immediately, but continually ascends his prayer, 
 that our faith may not fail in the struggle. This 
 also should encourage us. Then he always comes 
 in time. He may delay long, but it is never too 
 long. If we call upon him in trouble we may be 
 sure that he hears and sees us, and knows just how 
 hard it is for us to endure ; that he prays for us 
 that we may not fail, and that he will come at the 
 right time for our deliverance. 
 
 (218) 
 
August 6. 
 
 His disciples came and besought him, saying, Send 
 her away ; for she crieth after us. — St. Matthew 
 xv. 23. 
 
 JESUS is not so tender-hearted that he cannot see 
 us suffer when suffering is the best experience 
 for us. He does not immediately lift burdens from 
 our shoulders when it is needful for our growth that 
 we bear the burdens longer. There is a mawkish 
 sentimentality about too many people's ideas of 
 Christ, as if he were too gentle to endure the sight 
 of suffering. It is possible to be too tender toward 
 pain. It is possible for parents to be too emotion- 
 ally kind to their children. Uncontrolled pity is 
 positive weakness, and it is ofttimes very injurious. 
 
 Christ's tenderness is never too tender to be wise 
 as well as tender. He never makes the mistake of 
 yielding to any one's entreaties when denial would 
 be better than acquiescence. He never lets us 
 have what we want because he cannot bear to say 
 " no " to our tearful cries. He is not so tender- 
 hearted as to allow his own disciples to go unchas- 
 tened when only by chastisement can he promote 
 their growth. 
 
 But one thing we must not forget, — it is love that 
 prompts his severity. He was silent here, that, in 
 the end, he might give the full, rich blessing he 
 wanted to give this woman, but which she could 
 not receive at the first. He denies us, and is silent 
 to us when we cry, that he may draw out our faith, 
 and give us his best blessings by and by. 
 (219) 
 
August 7. 
 
 Not with eyeservice, as mcn-pleasers, but in singleness 
 of heart ', fearing the Lord. — Colossians iii. 22. 
 
 ST. PAUL speaks of " eyeservice " as a kind of 
 service that is not the truest. There always 
 are those who work well when they are under the 
 eye of a master, but who fall off in diligence and 
 faithfulness when the watching eye is wanting. 
 This is very imperfect serving. The person who 
 takes advantage of an employer and does his work 
 slowly, or loiters at his tasks, or shortens the time 
 he is expected to be at his post, or in any way is 
 less faithful or less diligent and careful than if his 
 employer were beside him, is yielding to a tempta- 
 tion which will hurt his own life immeasurably. 
 The wrong he does to another by skimping his 
 work is sin enough ; but the injury done to himself 
 is far more serious. The former is only in money ; 
 the latter is in character. The man who does a 
 dishonest thing, or is in any way unfaithful in duty, 
 has lowered the tone of his own life, and blighted 
 irreparably some portion of the possibilities of his 
 being. 
 
 Perish policy and cunning ! 
 
 Perish all that fears the light ! 
 Whether losing, whether winning, 
 
 " Trust in God, and do the right." 
 
 Simple rule, and safest guiding, 
 Inward peace, and inward might, 
 
 Star upon our path abiding, 
 
 " Trust in God, and do the right.'* 
 
 Norman MacLeod. 
 
 (220) 
 
August 8. 
 
 Hezekiah received the letter . . . and Hezekiah went 
 up unto the house of the Lord y and spread it before the 
 Lord. — Isaiah xxxvii. 14. 
 
 THAT was Hezekiah's way of laying his troubles 
 in the Lord's hands. He could not do any- 
 thing, and so he gave the matter to God. We all 
 have our cares. Sometimes it is a business per- 
 plexity, sometimes it is a temptation ; or it may be 
 a combination of circumstances that seems about to 
 crush us. 
 
 What is our duty ? what is our privilege ? We 
 may take the matter directly to God. We may cast 
 the burden upon him. That is what St. Paul tells 
 us to do with all our anxieties ; and he says the 
 peace of God shall then guard our heart and thoughts 
 in Christ Jesus. 
 
 Peace, perfect peace, in this dark world of sin? 
 The blood of Jesus whispers peace within. 
 
 Peace, perfect peace, by thronging duties pressed? 
 To do the will of Jesus — this is rest. 
 
 Peace, perfect peace, with sorrows surging 'round? 
 On Jesus' bosom naught but calm is found. 
 
 Peace, perfect peace, with loved ones far away? 
 In Jesus' keeping we are safe and they. 
 
 Peace, perfect peace, death shadowing us and ours? 
 Jesus has vanquished death and all its powers. 
 
 It is enough; earth's struggles soon shall cease, 
 And Jesus calls us to heaven's perfect peace. 
 
 Edward H. Bickersteth. 
 
 (221) 
 
August 9. 
 
 In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death, — 
 2 Kings xx. i. 
 
 PALACE walls cannot shut out sickness. Kings 
 and queens, as well as peasants, must yield to 
 the touch of disease and pain. People who live in 
 a plain, humble way very often feel that somehow 
 this world's troubles have easier access to them 
 than to the rich, who live in a grand way. Some- 
 times they envy those who dwell in the great 
 houses, and fancy that brown-stone walls exclude 
 most of the ills of life. 
 
 But they make a mistake : no splendid doors 
 can shut out trouble. The healthiest people in the 
 world are well-to-do working people, who earn their 
 bread by honest toil — the healthiest and the hap- 
 piest too. Wealth and high station bring more 
 cares than they shut out. The tall peaks are more 
 conspicuous than the little hills, but they are swept 
 by more storms. Contentment, with plainness and 
 God's blessing, is the lesson. 
 
 One stormy night during the American civil war 
 some one in conversation with Mr. Lincoln was 
 pitying the soldiers in the held. The President 
 replied, that there was not one of them with whom 
 he would not gladly exchange places that night. 
 Responsibility brings burdens. 
 
 Released from that fraternal law 
 
 Which shares the common bale and bliss. 
 No sadder lot could folly draw 
 
 Or >in provoke from fate than this. 
 
 J. G. Whittier. 
 (222) 
 
August 10, 
 Turn yon at my reproof, — Proveres i. 23, 
 
 WE must be always turning if we would keep 
 our life true and according to God's com- 
 mandments. There are some flow T ers which always 
 turn toward the sun. There was a little potted 
 rose-bush in a sick-room which I visited. It sat in 
 the window. One day I noticed that the one rose 
 on the bush was looking toward the light. I re- 
 ferred to it ; and the sick woman said that her 
 daughter had turned the rose around several times 
 toward the darkness of the room, but that each 
 time the little flower had twisted itself back, until 
 again its face was toward the light. It would not 
 look into the darkness. 
 
 The rose taught me a lesson — never to allow my- 
 self to look toward any gloom, but instantly to turn 
 from it. Not a moment should we permit our eyes 
 to be inclined toward anything sinful. To yield to 
 one moment's sinful act is to defile the soul. The 
 Bible says in its every verse, " Turn from the wrong, 
 the base, the low, the unworthy, to the right, the 
 pure, the noble, the godlike." We should not allow 
 even an unholy thought to stay a moment in our 
 mind, but should turn from its very first suggestion, 
 with face full toward Christ, the Holy One. 
 
 But we should train ourselves to turn also from 
 all shadows and discouragements. There is always 
 a bright side, and we should find it. Discourage- 
 ment is full of danger. It weakens and hurts the 
 life. 
 
 (223) 
 
August 11. 
 
 Receive my instruction, a?id not silver ; and knowl- 
 edge rather than choice gold. — Proverbs viii. 10. 
 
 IT is hard to convince people in these days that 
 anything is or can be better than silver or gold 
 or rubies. The best way, however, to look at this 
 subject is to think of some of the greater and 
 deeper needs of life, and ask what these precious 
 things of earth can do to meet them. 
 
 Dr. Arnot represents a party of emigrants wrecked 
 on a desert island, far from the tracks of men. 
 They get ashore with their stores. They have food 
 to last for a time. The soil is rich and the climate 
 fine. Soon, however, they find gold, and instantly 
 they all begin to search for the precious metal. 
 They gather much, and are rich ; but they have not 
 sown a grain of seed, and no harvest is coming, 
 while the season for sowing is past. Famine is 
 upon them, and their gold will not feed their 
 hunger. 
 
 This illustrates the value of that wisdom which 
 is bread for the life. In the great needs of life, 
 money and jewels amount to nothing ; only the 
 grace of God will do then. In the time of great 
 sorrow no one turns to gold or diamonds for com- 
 fort. In the sore struggles of life, in its tempta- 
 tions, hardships, and perplexities, these symbols of 
 earthly wealth will not meet the needs of the soul. 
 When death comes, these things are utterly worth- 
 less, are indeed bitter mockeries. We need in these 
 experiences a help greater than earth's. 
 (224) 
 
August 12. 
 
 All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and 
 cassia, out of ivory palaces stringed instruments have 
 made thee glad. — Psalm xlv. 8. 
 
 WE cannot guard too carefully the influences 
 which we allow to play upon our life, for 
 all of them leave their hue and impress upon us, 
 either for beauty or for marring. A great artist 
 refused to look upon the works of inferior artists, 
 saying that they would affect his style. We should 
 seek continual intercourse with the good, the pure, 
 the holy ; for in close, sympathetic mingling with 
 them we unconsciously receive into our own spirit 
 something of their sweetness, their beauty, and the 
 aroma of heavenliness that surrounds them. We 
 absorb something of whatever we see or touch. 
 
 " Oh! there are some who, while on earth they dwell, 
 And seem to differ little from the throng, 
 Already to the heavenly choir belong, 
 And even hear the same sweet anthem swell; 
 
 They joy at times, with joy unspeakable, 
 
 Pouring to him they love their heartfelt song; 
 While to behold him face to face they long, 
 
 As the parched traveller for the cooling well. 
 
 Ask you how such from others may be known? 
 
 Mark those whose look is calm, their brow serene, 
 Gentle their words, love breathing in each tone, 
 
 Scattering rich blessings all around, unseen. 
 
 They draw each hour, from living founts above, 
 
 The streams they pour around of peace and joy and love." 
 
 ( 22 5) 
 
August 13. 
 
 Teach me to do thy will ; for thou art my God : thy 
 Spirit is good, — Psalm cxliii. 10. 
 
 THERE are so many possibilities in life, in at- 
 tainment and achievement, and so many 
 opportunities of doing good, that it is a glorious 
 thing to live. Surely, then, we ought to make the 
 most of our life, not failing to become what Christ 
 would have us to be, or to do the sweet things he 
 would have us do as we pass along the way. 
 
 Yet life's lessons must always be learned slowly. 
 St. Paul was well on in life when he said, " I have 
 learned, in whatsoever state I am, therein to be 
 content." The words suggest that the lesson was 
 not easily learned ; that it required time and strug- 
 gle. It is only fair to infer that St. Paul could not 
 have written thus in his earliest epistles. There is 
 comfort in this for us common mortals, who in 
 younger or middle life grow discouraged because we 
 have not St. Paul's contentment. If only we are 
 really learning the lesson, there is hope that some 
 day we shall be able to say we have learned it. 
 
 The soul alone, like a neglected harp, 
 
 Grows out of tune, and needs a hand divine ; 
 
 Dwell thou within it, tune and touch the chords, 
 Till every note and string shall answer thine ! 
 
 Abide in me ! There have been moments pure 
 When I have seen thy face and felt thy power; 
 
 Then evil lost its grasp, and passion, hushed, 
 Owned the divine enchantment of the hour. 
 
 Harriet Beecher Stowe. 
 
 (226) 
 
August 14. 
 
 They helped every otie his neighbour ; and every one 
 said to his brother, Be of good courage. — Isaiah xli. 6. 
 
 IT was Charles Kingsley who said, " We become 
 like God only as we become of use." The 
 saying is truer than at first we may think. Every 
 glimpse we have of heaven's life is a glimpse of 
 usefulness, helpfulness. In olden days angels some- 
 times came down to earth, and always they came 
 on some errand of service to men. Then, we are 
 told in our New Testament that the mission of the 
 angels to earth is " to minister to those who shall 
 be the heirs of salvation." Thus these pure crea- 
 tures of heaven live only to serve. God himself is 
 revealed on every Scripture page, and always in the 
 same character of helpfulness. Christ came as God 
 incarnate ; and his whole life is summed up in the 
 words, " He went about doing good." Thus the 
 divine life finds its expression in serving, doing 
 good. " God is love; 'and love cannot but minister 
 and bless, even to the point of utter self-sacrifice. 
 
 " Oh, what a little thing can turn 
 
 A heavy heart from sighs to song ! 
 A smile can make the world less stern, 
 
 A word can cause the soul to burn 
 With glow of heaven, all night long. 
 
 It needs not that love's gift be great, — 
 
 Some splendid jewel of the soul 
 For which a king might supplicate, — 
 
 Nay ! true love's least, at love's true rate, 
 Is tithe most royal of the whole." 
 
 (227) 
 
August 15. 
 
 I zvaited patiently for the Lord ; a?idhe inclined unto 
 me, and heard my cry, — Psalm xl. i . 
 
 HAS God taught you some great truth, or re- 
 vealed to you, in deep personal experience, 
 some new, sweet thought of his love ? What is the 
 next thing ? Is it not that you shall whisper the 
 blessed secret to some other soul ? After Peter's 
 strange vision he sat pondering what it could mean ; 
 and while he thought on the vision, the Spirit said 
 unto him, "Behold, three men seek thee." The 
 picture is very suggestive When we have gotten 
 anything from God, there is always some one wait- 
 ing to get from us what God has just given to us. 
 Heavenly visions are not shown to us to be ab- 
 sorbed in our own soul, but to be translated into 
 some form that will bless the world. That is what 
 the artist does with his visions. That is what we 
 should do with ours. 
 
 Scarcely have I asked in prayer 
 
 That which others might not share. 
 
 I who hear with sacred shame 
 
 Praise that paineth more than blame, 
 
 Rich alone in favors lent, 
 
 Virtuous by accident, 
 
 t)oubtful, where I fain would rest, 
 
 Frailest, where I seem the best, 
 
 Only strong for lack of test, — 
 
 What am I that I should press 
 
 Special pleas of selfishness, 
 
 Coolly mounting into heaven 
 
 On my neighbor unforgiven? 
 
 J. G< Whittier. 
 
 (228) 
 
August 16. 
 
 We know that \ if he shall be manifested, we shall 
 be like him ; for we shall see him even as he is. — 
 i John iii. 2. 
 
 BISHOP THOBURN tells a beautiful story about 
 a picture of his dead child. It seemed a very 
 imperfect photograph, so blurred that scarcely a 
 trace of the loved features could be seen in it. But 
 one day he took the picture to a photographer, and 
 asked him if he could do anything to improve it. 
 In three weeks the bishop returned ; and as he saw 
 the picture in its frame on the wall, he was startled. 
 It seemed as if his child were living again before 
 him. The image had been in the old picture, but 
 was concealed beneath the blurs and mists that 
 were there also. The artist, however, had brought 
 it out in strong, living beauty, until it was like life 
 in its tender charm. 
 
 In every true disciple of Christ there is the image 
 of the Master. It may be very dim. Its features 
 are overlaid by blurs and blemishes, and are almost 
 unrecognizable by human eyes. It is the work of 
 Christ in our lives to bring out this likeness, more 
 and more clearly, until at last it shines in undimmed 
 beauty. This is what Christ is doing in many of 
 his ways with us. 
 
 "Who from unsightly bulb or slender root 
 Could guess aright 
 The story of the flower, the fern, the fruit, 
 
 In summer's height? 
 Through tremulous shadows voices call to me, 
 'It doth not yet appear what we shall be.' " 
 (229) 
 
August 17. 
 
 Jesus said, Z. f one . . . she hath wrought a 
 
 good work an me. — St. Mark xiv. 6. 
 
 LfTILITY is not the only test. Acts may be 
 I beautiful in Christ's sight, even though they 
 clo not seem to be immediately helpful to others. 
 Marys deed fed no poor, relieved no sick, clothed 
 no shivering child, and yet Jesus commended it. 
 He is pleased when offerings are made from love 
 to him. even though the things offered mav not be 
 necessary to his work. There is no real strengthen- 
 ing in the ornamental parts of a church building: 
 yet who will say that all ornamentation is wrong? 
 Is not Go 1 when we honor his house by 
 
 making it beautiful as well as strong ? 
 
 We may not measure all our services to Christ 
 by the standard of direct helpfulness to others. 
 s ointment, spilled over Christ's head and 
 feet, was not a really useful ministry, and yet it was 
 and beautiful in Christ's sight. What shall 
 we sav of the loveliness which God lavishes every- 
 where in nature ? Does the beauty of the flowers. 
 of the skies, feed the hunger of the poor? Evi- 
 dently it was Mary's love for Christ that pleased 
 him, and made her deed beautiful. She had indeed 
 wrought a sfood work on him, one that blessed him ; 
 for in the great sorrow of his heart as he drew near 
 his cross, nothing could so strengthen him as love. 
 It made him stronger for the journey to his cross. 
 Nothing else that we - give another will be such 
 a blessing as love. 
 
 0*3< 
 
August 18. 
 
 He called to him a little child, and set him in the 
 midst of them. — St. Matthew xviii. 2. 
 
 WHEN the disciples wanted to know who was 
 greatest, Jesus called a little child, and took 
 him on his knee. The disciples were clustered 
 around him, and saw what he did. A little child in 
 the midst is used ofttimes to teach great lessons 
 to older people. When a new baby comes into a 
 home, God sets it in the midst of a family as a 
 teacher. Parents suppose they are training their 
 children, but the children are also teaching and 
 training them. 
 
 I learned more of the meaning of the fatherhood 
 of God, and of the way he feels toward his children, 
 in one week after the first baby came into my home, 
 than I had learned from teachers and books, even 
 from the Bible, in all the preceding years of my 
 life. Every child's life is a book, a new page of 
 which is turned over each day. 
 
 Children are not angels, and yet they bring from 
 heaven to earth many fragments of loveliness. 
 Their influence in a home is a benediction. They 
 soften hearts ; they change the whole thought of life 
 in their parents. It is no more self ; they begin to 
 live for their children. The children open love's 
 chambers. They train their parents in patience, 
 gentleness, thoughtfulness. While a young child is 
 in a home a school of heaven is set up there. Sad 
 is it for those within, if they miss the chance of 
 learning such blessed lessons. 
 
 ( 2 3 J ) 
 
August 19. 
 Tribulation worketh patience. — Romans v. 3. 
 
 PATIENCE is a great lesson to learn. Any 
 school in which we can learn it is a good 
 school, and the lesson can scarcely be too costly. 
 Few things mean more in life than patience. Many 
 people wreck the best hopes of their life for want 
 of patience. Jesus said, " In your patience ye 
 shall win your lives. " That is, to be impatient in 
 certain conditions is to lose all ; and to be patient, 
 to be able to keep quiet and still in the presence of 
 things that try us, is to gain all. Thus patience be- 
 comes the very key to success in living. It is surely 
 worth while to learn the lesson. 
 
 Patience is ofttimes learned in the school of suf- 
 fering. We are there trained to endure ; not to cry 
 out in the hour of anguish, but to sing instead. 
 Richter tells of the little bird that is shut away in 
 the darkness to learn new strains, which afterward 
 it sings in the light. Many Christians are taken 
 into the darkness, and kept there for a time, while 
 they are taught the songs of patience. We look at 
 patient people with admiration, not knowing what 
 it has cost them to get this pearl of the graces. 
 
 " Angel of patience, sent to calm 
 
 Our feverish brows with cooling balm, 
 To lay the storms of hope and fear, 
 And reconcile life's smile and tear, 
 The throbs of wounded pride to still, 
 And make our own our Father's will.' 
 
 ( 2 3 2 ) 
 
August 20. 
 
 The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away ; 
 blessed be the name of the Lord. — Job i. 21. 
 
 GOD'S love is the same in the brightness, and 
 when the brightness fades into gloom. It is 
 the same in joy, and when the joy turns to grief. 
 It is the same when blessings are given, and when 
 the blessings are recalled. It does not seem so to 
 us ; we easily believe that while God showers favors 
 upon us he loves us ; but when he gives sorrow, we 
 almost feel that he does not love us as before. Yet 
 it may be that there are even richer blessings in the 
 things which make us grieve than in those which 
 -give us gladness. We know at least that the same 
 love sends both. That should be comfort for us. 
 It is always love that comes from God, in whatso- 
 ever form or guise it comes. We need never doubt 
 that this is true. 
 
 " So, day by day and step by step, sustain thy failing strength; 
 
 From strength to strength, indeed, go on through all the 
 journey's length. 
 
 God bids thee tarry now and then, forbear the weak com- 
 plaint; 
 
 God's leisure brings the weary rest, and cordial gives the 
 faint. 
 
 God bids thee labor, and the place is thick with thorn and 
 brier ; 
 
 But he will share the hardest task, until he calls thee higher. 
 
 So take each disappointment, friend ; 'tis at thy Lord's com- 
 mand ! 
 
 Shall God's appointment seem less good than what thyself 
 had planned?" 
 
 (233) 
 
August 21. 
 
 The word of the Lord came unto Jo7iah the seco?id 
 time, — Jonah iii. i. 
 
 JONAH had failed the first time, but God gave 
 him a second chance. This shows the divine 
 patience. Strict justice would have left Jonah at 
 the bottom of the sea, or in the maw of the fish ; 
 but God was merciful to him. He had now gone 
 through a discipline which left him ready to obey. 
 
 That is the way God often deals with people in 
 our own days. When they rebel or disobey him he 
 does not cast them off, but puts them under some 
 discipline, sometimes sore and painful, to teach 
 them obedience, and then tries them again. Many 
 of us have to be whipped to duty ; but what a 
 blessed thing it is that God is so patient with us ! 
 Most of us owe all we are to his disciplines. Thus 
 even our falls may become blessings to us. 
 
 We should be very thankful to God for these 
 second chances that he gives us when we have 
 failed to improve the first chance. Very few peo- 
 ple make of their life what God first wanted them 
 to make. Then he sets them another lesson, that 
 they may try again. Perhaps the second is not so 
 beautiful nor so noble as the first ; still it is good, 
 and if they are faithful and diligent, they can make 
 something worthy even yet of their life. Most of 
 us have to be sent more than once on our errands 
 for God. Happy are we if we go even at the 
 second bidding, although it is far better that we go 
 at first. 
 
 ( 2 34) 
 
August 22. 
 
 So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according 
 to the word of the Lord, — Jonah iii. 3. 
 
 JONAH had learned his lesson well. We are not 
 told where he was after his deliverance, but no 
 doubt he had a quiet time for thought. He thought 
 over the story of his wilfulness and disobedience, no 
 doubt, and was ashamed of his conduct. Thus he 
 learned humility, and was ready now to do as God 
 might command him. Indeed, he became eager 
 for another opportunity to do the work which at 
 first he had refused to do. 
 
 There is a story of a regiment of soldiers which 
 in some war had been dishonored on a certain bat- 
 tle-field. In the next war the same regiment was 
 again in the service, and at the first opportunity 
 they displayed most heroic courage, thus " burning 
 out the shame" of the former field. So Jonah in 
 his penitence would long for another chance to go 
 for God to Nineveh, that he might wipe out the dis- 
 honor of his former disobedience. 
 
 So we see prompt obedience this time, no quib- 
 bling, no running away. We ought to get the les- 
 son. When we have failed in any task that God 
 has set for us, or broken any command that he has 
 given to us, not only should our repentance lead us 
 to sorrow and confession, but we should eagerly 
 prepare ourselves for burning out the shame of our 
 past sin and dishonor by a service and an obedience 
 worthy of sincere love for Christ. Thus alone do 
 we make our repentance worthy. 
 
 035) 
 
August 23. 
 
 Elisha was fallen sick of his sickness whereof he 
 died. — 2 Kings xiii. 14. 
 
 A DEATH-BED is a good place from which to 
 look at one's own life. In the strange, dim 
 light that pours in from eternity, things do not ap- 
 pear as they did in the common sunlight. Many 
 things that gave pleasure as life went on, give pain 
 and shame now in the retrospect, and appear calam- 
 itous. This is true of all sins and follies, of all 
 gains and pleasures that did not have God's bene- 
 diction, of all things done for self and not for 
 Christ, of all quarrels and strifes. 
 
 Many things also that seemed hard when they 
 came, and that cost pain and self-denial, in the light 
 of the death-chamber appear radiant and beautiful. 
 Thus the dying hour is the place to test life. If we 
 would always ask, before doing any doubtful thing, 
 " How will this look when I am dying ? " it would 
 save us from many a mistake and sin. 
 
 But the death-bed is also a good place for other 
 people to study a man's life. When a man is en- 
 gaged in the affairs of the world, he suffers more 
 or less from the envy of others. The more active 
 and influential he is, the more are men about him 
 envious of him. But when a man lies dying, all 
 this unjust feeling vanishes. All men feel kindly 
 toward him. Whatever has been faulty in him is 
 forgotten in the glow of tenderness that his dying 
 enkindles ; and whatever has been beautiful in him 
 shines out in still fairer beauty. 
 
August 24, 
 
 As soon as the man touched the bones of Elisha, he 
 revived, and stood up on his feet. — 2 Kings xiii. 21. 
 
 THE bones of Elisha had no more power in 
 themselves to give life than any other dead 
 man's bones. Yet we may get here the lesson of 
 posthumous influence. No man ever wholly dies. 
 We have nothing to do with superstitious nonsense 
 about relics, — saints' bones, and bits of good men's 
 clothing or of their coffins ; but it is true that a 
 really good man has influence after he dies. He 
 leaves behind him something which cannot die. 
 His name has power. If he writes good books, 
 these live after him, and give life to the souls that 
 their words touch. We ought ever to seek to live 
 so as not only to be missed and mourned when we 
 die, but to live on after death in our works, our 
 name, our influence. 
 
 " Wayside roses droop and fade, 
 
 Bloom and die their own sweet way; 
 We know not where their fragrance goes — 
 Floating, floating, day by day. 
 
 Pass the foot-sore travellers, 
 
 Breathing in the dusty air ; 
 They catch the odor of the flowers, 
 
 And bless the grateful perfume there. 
 
 Such our lives. Sweet words of kindness 
 Fall, — we know not where or when; 
 
 Like the fragrance of the roses, 
 Reaching far beyond our ken." 
 
 ( 2 37> 
 
August 25. 
 
 Esther spake ittito Hatach, and gave him a message 
 unto Mordecai. — Esther iv. 10. 
 
 WE are apt to overlook the minor actors in 
 Scripture stories in our absorbed interest 
 in the prominent ones. Yet ofttimes these lesser 
 people are just as important in their own place, and 
 their service is just as essential to the final success 
 of the whole, as the greater ones. The little girl in 
 the story of Naaman is scarcely seen in the splen- 
 dors of the Syrian court ; but without her part we 
 should never have had the story at all. The lad 
 with the basket is hardly thought of when we read 
 the account of the miracle ; but they were his loaves 
 with which the Master fed all those hungry thou- 
 sands that day on the green grass. The smallest 
 links in a chain are ofttimes quite as important as 
 the greatest links. 
 
 Hatach was one of these obscure characters. But 
 his part was by no means unimportant. If he had 
 been a different sort of a man, Mordecai's communi- 
 cation with Esther would have been impossible. 
 He was a trustworthy messenger. If we cannot 
 do brave things like Esther, nor give wise counsels 
 like Mordecai, we may at least be useful, as Hatach 
 was, in faithful service. And perhaps our lowly 
 part may some day prove to have been as essential 
 as the great deeds which all men praise. We may 
 at least help some others in doing the great things 
 that they are set to do in this world. 
 
 (238) 
 
August 26. 
 
 If thou altogether holdest thy peace . . . thou and 
 thy father's house shall perish. — Esther iv. 14. 
 
 THE only safe way in life's thronging field is 
 straight on in the path of duty. He who fal- 
 ters and hesitates even for one instant, is trodden 
 down by the marching hosts behind him. No dan- 
 ger of the battle is so great as that of halting and 
 trying to turn backward. 
 
 The same is true in all the paths of life. No 
 duty, however hard and perilous, should be feared 
 one-half so much as failure in the duty. People 
 sometimes shrink from responsibility, saying they 
 dare not accept it because it is so great. But in 
 shrinking from duty they are really encountering 
 a far more serious condition than that which they 
 evade. It is a great deal easier to do that which 
 God gives us to do, no matter how hard it is, than 
 to face the responsibility of not doing it. We have 
 abundant assurance that we shall receive all the 
 strength we need to perform any duty God allots to 
 us; but if wewfall out of the line of obedience, and 
 refuse to do anything which we ought to do, we 
 find ourselves at once out of harmony with God's 
 law and God's providence, and cannot escape the 
 consequences of our failure. 
 
 So it is always in the end easier and infinitely safer 
 to do our duty, whatever it may involve of cost or 
 peril, than not to do it. To drop out of the ranks 
 in life's crowded pathway is to lose all. To neglect 
 opportunities is to throw away honors and crowns. 
 
 ( 2 39) 
 
August 27. 
 
 If thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then 
 shall relief and deliverance arise to the Jews from 
 another place, — Esther iv. 14. 
 
 OFTEN we sin by speaking, and do incalculable 
 harm with our words. But there are times 
 when it is a sin not to speak, when to be silent is 
 to fail in duty. We are not to speak out the wrong 
 thoughts that may be in our heart, but the good 
 thoughts and feelings which burn within us it is 
 usually our duty to utter. We should never hesi- 
 tate to speak out boldly in confession of Christ 
 when his honor is assailed by his enemies. To walk 
 with an impenitent friend day after day and year 
 after year, in close association with him, and never 
 to speak a word to him about his spiritual life, is to 
 commit a grievous sin against him. 
 
 We have many cautions about watching our 
 speech, and withholding words that are not good ; 
 but we need to beware also lest we fail to speak the 
 words we ought to speak. Especially should we 
 beware of silence about spiritual and eternal things. 
 God gives to each of us a message — a message of 
 life to others; we dare not fail to deliver it. We 
 scarcely ever lack words when the themes are trivial ; 
 but amid the trivial talk, let us not fail to speak 
 some word which shall not be forgotten. 
 
 " Yea, find thou always time to say some earnest word 
 Between the idle talk, lest with thee henceforth, 
 Night and day, regret should walk." 
 
 (240) 
 
August 28. 
 
 Who fyioweth whether thou art not come to the king- 
 dom for such a time as this ? — Esther iv. 14. 
 
 ONE reason Esther was in the palace at this 
 time as queen, was for this very mission, — 
 to save her people by interceding for them. She 
 was not there by accident. We know the singular 
 providences by which she came to her place. 
 
 We live under the same providence, and nothing 
 is accidental in the circumstances of our lives. If 
 we are true to God, doing his will day by day, we 
 are always in the place where he wants us to be ; 
 and wherever we are he has something for us to do 
 there. Each day God sets our work for us. When 
 we find ourselves in the presence of any human 
 need or sorrow, we should say, " Perhaps God sent 
 me here now, just to bring relief or to give help or 
 comfort.'' Sometimes we wonder at the strange 
 ways of providence, by which we are carried into 
 this place or that ; is there not a key to this 
 mystery ? 
 
 It certainly was a strange providence that led 
 Esther, the lowly, simple-hearted Jewish maiden, 
 into the palace of the great Xerxes to be his queen ; 
 but there was a divine purpose in it. She was sent 
 there because she would be needed there by and 
 by. When God, by some strange providence, brings 
 us into peculiar circumstances or associations, it is 
 because at some time there will be need for us 
 there. We must be careful that we do always the 
 thing we find there to do. 
 (241) 
 
August 29. 
 
 I fasted a?td prayed before the God of heaven, — 
 Nehemiah i. 4. 
 
 YEARS were not all. Nehemiah also carried the 
 burden to God in prayer. He did this before 
 he took any step himself for the relief of the suffer- 
 ing and the advancement of his work. Compassion 
 is Christlike ; but tears alone are not enough. This 
 is a lesson we should not forget in our compassion 
 for others. God cares more for them than we do, 
 and his compassion is deeper than ours ; we may, 
 therefore, be sure of interest upon his part when we 
 speak the names of our friends in his ear. Besides, 
 he knows best how to help. We should take the 
 burden to him first, and then be ready to do what 
 he may tell us to do. 
 
 The best way for us to help others usually is to 
 pray for them. Of course praying is not all we 
 should do ; Nehemiah did not stop with tears and 
 prayers. He gave himself to the work in behalf of 
 his people. He left his luxurious palace, and jour- 
 neyed away to Jerusalem, and took earnest hold 
 with both hands, giving all his energy and influence 
 to the cause. More than tears and prayers are 
 needed; there is something for us to do. Many 
 people can weep over distress, and then pray fer- 
 vently for the relief that is needed, but never do 
 anything themselves. Nehemiah's way is better, — 
 sympathy, prayer, work. This makes a threefold 
 cord which cannot be broken. 
 
 (242) 
 
August 30. 
 
 But we made our prayer unto our God, and set a 
 watch against them day and night, — Nehemiah iv. 9. 
 
 WE are in danger of making prayer a substitute 
 for duty, or of trying to roll over on God the 
 burden of caring for us and doing things for us, 
 while we sit still and do nothing. When we pray 
 to be delivered from temptation, we must keep out 
 of the way of temptation unless duty clearly calls 
 us there. We must also watch against temptation, 
 resist the Devil, and stand firm in obedience and 
 faith. When we ask God for our daily bread, 
 pleading the promise that we shall not want, we 
 must also be ready to earn God's bread, and thus 
 make it ours honestly. A lazy man came once and 
 asked alms, saying that he could not find bread for 
 his family. "Nor can I," replied the industrious 
 mechanic to whom he had applied. " I am obliged 
 to work for it." 
 
 While we pray for health, we must use the means 
 to obtain it. While we ask for wisdom, we must 
 use our brains and think, searching for wisdom as 
 for hid treasure. While we ask God to help us 
 break off a bad habit, we must also strive to over- 
 come the habit. Prayer is not a mere device for 
 saving people from toil, struggle, and responsibility. 
 When there is no human power adequate to the 
 need, we may ask God to work without us, and in 
 some way he will help us. But ordinarily we must 
 do our part, asking God to work in and through us, 
 and to bless us through faithful obedience. 
 (243) 
 
August 31, 
 
 Judah said, The strength of the bearers of burdens 
 is decayed ; . . . so that we are not able to build. — 
 Nehemiah iv. 10. 
 
 THERE are always croakers and discouragers. 
 They find fault with their part of the work, 
 and object to the methods of those in charge. We 
 remember how it was with the spies sent to look 
 over the promised land. It was a good country, 
 they said, rich and fertile, but, oh, the giants that 
 were there ! So ten frightened men discouraged 
 a whole nation. People are forever making it 
 harder for others to live by going about with their 
 murmurings and groan ings. 
 
 These people of Judah in Nehemiah's time seem 
 to have been only half-hearted. They were not 
 willing to make sacrifices to get the city rebuilt. 
 Nothing good is ever accomplished without cost. 
 Gold is not picked up in the streets. Half-hearted- 
 ness is not weakness merely ; it is sin. All through 
 the ages men who have been blessings to the world 
 have been willing to bear burdens that were too 
 heavy for them. Easy living never accomplished 
 much for God or the world. 
 
 Some murmur when the sky is clear 
 
 And wholly bright to view, 
 If one small speck of dark appear 
 
 In their great heaven of blue; 
 And some with thankful love are filled 
 
 If but one streak of light, 
 One ray of God's good mercy, gild 
 
 The darkness of their night. 
 
 (244) R - c - Trench. 
 
September 1. 
 
 Be not ye afraid of them : remember the Lord, . . . 
 and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your 
 daughters, your wives, a?id your houses \ — Nehemiah 
 iv. 14. 
 
 EVERY one with a spark of manhood in him will 
 fight to the death for his own. We are all so 
 tied up together that this motive is really present 
 in all our defending of the right. We must seek 
 the safety of the town in which we live because our 
 family is in it, and peril to the place is peril to 
 ours. We must seek wholesome water supply, good 
 drainage, and clean streets for the town, because 
 our children and friends live there. So with the 
 moral and religious influences of the community ; 
 the welfare of our sons and daughters, our brothers 
 and sisters, is involved. A man may have no in- 
 terest in the fight against the saloon ; but if the 
 evil be let alone, by and by his own boys may be 
 destroyed by it. 
 
 A distinguished man was speaking at the open- 
 ing of a reformatory for boys, and remarked that 
 if only one boy were saved from ruin it would pay 
 for all the cost. After the exercises were over a 
 gentleman asked him if he had not put it too 
 strongly when he said that all the cost of founding 
 such an institution would be repaid if only one boy 
 should be saved. " Not if it were my boy," was the 
 answer. It is only when we learn to look at all 
 such movements as if we were working for our own, 
 that we do our best work. 
 
 ( 2 45) 
 
September 2. 
 
 Every one with o?ie of his hands wrought in the 
 work, and with the other held his weapo?i ; a?id the 
 builders, every one had his sword girded by his side. — 
 Nehemiah iv. 17, 18. 
 
 WE should all work on the wall of God's tem- 
 ple, every one building over against his own 
 door. We should never slack in our diligence ; 
 there is some duty for each moment. But we work 
 amid enemies. On every side are those who oppose 
 us, and are ready to assault us and to stop us in 
 our service. The Christian young man in the store 
 or shop, in the school or college, is constantly ex- 
 posed to temptation. His companions are not all 
 godly. Some of them will seek to draw him away 
 from Christ. In his own heart, too, there are ene- 
 mies which resist the good that is striving within 
 him and seek his destruction. 
 
 So while he works he must also be ready any in- 
 stant to fight. Every Christian should have his 
 sword girded continually by his side. The Chris- 
 tian's sword is " the word of God." The best prep- 
 aration, therefore, for meeting the world's enmity is 
 to become filled with the Holy Scriptures. There 
 come many occasions through life when a verse 
 quoted will be a sword drawn to smite an enemy. 
 Thus it was that Jesus vanquished the tempter, at 
 each temptation drawing out a word of God, and 
 with it smiting the adversary. So we all may learn 
 to fight, building ever on the wall of character, and 
 ever thrusting back the enemy that assails us. 
 
 (246) 
 
September 3. 
 
 Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet. a?id 
 send portions unto thein for whom nothing is prepared. 
 — Nehemiah viii. 10. 
 
 GOD loves to have us enjoy ourselves. He does 
 not want us to be long-faced ; joy is the ideal 
 Christian life. Of course we are to be sorry when 
 we sin ; but when we have confessed the sin, truly 
 repented of it, and found mercy, we are to dry our 
 tears and rejoice. Why should we not be happy 
 when God has forgiven us, made us his children, 
 and assured us of everlasting glory ? 
 
 But our joy must not be selfish. When we are 
 prosperous, we should not forget those who are 
 poor ; when we are happy in our homes of love, 
 with unbroken circles, we should not forget the 
 families that are in sorrow. The good things God 
 gives us are not meant for ourselves alone. They 
 are given us to be passed on. " It is more blessed 
 to give than to receive." People who keep all to 
 themselves, and eat the fat and drink the sweet in 
 their own houses, at their own well-covered tables, 
 never thinking of the hungry ones outside, are not 
 the kind of children God wants them to be. The 
 very essence of Christian life is unselfishness. 
 
 The Holy Supper is kept, indeed, 
 
 In whatso we share with another's need; 
 
 Not what we give, but what we share — 
 
 For the gift without the giver is bare; 
 
 Who gives himself with his alms feeds three — 
 
 Himself, his hungry neighbor, and me. 
 
 J. R. Lowell. 
 
 ( 2 47) 
 
September 4. 
 
 Neither be ye grieved ; for the joy of the Lord is your 
 strength. — Nehemiah viii. 10. 
 
 IF we would be strong for service, and would do 
 our best always, we must cultivate a joyful 
 spirit. No duty is urged in the Bible more ear- 
 nestly than the duty of Christian joy. Of course we 
 must make sure that it is the joy of the Lord we 
 have. We must draw the water of our gladness 
 out of the wells of salvation, not out of the muddy 
 pools of earth. The joy of the Lord comes from 
 the heart of Christ. When we have this joy we are 
 strong; for joy inspires us, fills us with hope and 
 courage. When we can sing at our toil, or in our 
 sorrow, we are in no danger of being overcome. 
 
 Forget the past, and live the present hour; 
 
 Now is the time to work, the time to fill 
 
 The soul with noblest thoughts, the time to will 
 Heroic deeds, to use whatever dower 
 Heaven has bestowed, to test our utmost power. 
 
 Now is the time to love, and better still, 
 
 To serve our loved ones, over passing ill 
 To rise triumphant; thus the perfect flower 
 Of life shall come to fruitage; wealth amass 
 
 For grandest giving ere the time be gone. 
 
 Be glad to-day, to-morrow may bring tears; 
 Be brave to-day, the darkest night will pass, 
 
 And golden rays will usher in the dawn; 
 Who conquers now shall rule the coming years. 
 
 Sarah K. Bolton. 
 
 (h8) 
 
September 5. 
 
 Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia . . . he hath 
 charged me to build him an house. — Ezra i. 2. 
 
 IT comforts us to know that nothing is going 
 wrong in this world, though at times all seems 
 confusion. It ought to comfort us to know that 
 there is One, greater than men, who rules over all 
 things. A little boy sat in front of his father in a 
 carriage, and held the reins. But his father held 
 them too, although the boy did not know it. Pres- 
 ently the boy felt one of the reins drawn through 
 his little hands. He understood it then, and said, 
 " Father, I thought I was driving ; but I am not, 
 am I ? " We think we are doing great things, but 
 there is One behind us whose hand really holds the 
 >reins. 
 
 "Pull, little maid!" he would cheer me, but still kept his 
 hand on the oar, 
 Though sometimes I'd try to turn us to some pretty nook on 
 
 the shore; 
 Still straight went the boat to the harbor, and as I* grew 
 
 stronger each day, 
 I found that the only wisdom was in rowing my father's way. 
 
 And I think, sir, that God our Father keeps hold of the world 
 just so. 
 
 We may strive and struggle our utmost, that we may stronger 
 grow, 
 
 Stronger and wiser and humbler, till at last we can under- 
 stand 
 
 The beauty and peace of his keeping the oar through all life 
 in his hand. 
 
 (249) 
 
September 6. 
 
 Whosoever there is atnong you of all his people . . . 
 let him go up . . . and build the house of the Lord. 
 — Ezra i. 3. 
 
 THERE is another temple to build for the Lord, 
 and builders are wanted. The proclamation 
 comes now, not from a heathen king, but from 
 Christ himself. Every o>ne is invited to take part 
 in this great work. The temple at Jerusalem, on 
 which these builders wrought, has long since per- 
 ished, and every trace of their work has been de- 
 stroyed. But the temple for which Christ seeks 
 builders shall stand forever, and everything any one 
 may do on it shall be eternal. 
 
 How can we build on the heavenly temple ? By 
 doing all we can in this world for Christ. Our own 
 lives are parts of the temple. We may seek to 
 have our characters made beautiful and holy. Then 
 we can strive to bring others to Christ, to make 
 other lives better, to help build up in them a like- 
 ness to the Lord Jesus. The smallest things we 
 can do for Christ will be like the stones laid on the 
 walls of God's great house, which is rising within 
 the veil, or like ornaments, little touches of beauty, 
 on some part of the glorious building. We cannot 
 see now that our work is of any value, but some 
 day we shall see that nothing which we have done 
 with pure motive for our Lord has been done in 
 vain. No touch laid on another life in love shall 
 ever fade out. 
 
 ( 2 S°) 
 
September 7. 
 
 The children of Israel, the priests a?id the Levites, 
 and the rest . . . kept the dedication of this house of 
 God with joy. — Ezra vi. 16. 
 
 IT was a glad occasion when that building stood 
 there completed on the sacred mount. It had 
 risen out of ruins. It had cost great sacrifice and 
 toil. It had been built up amid many discourage- 
 ments and hindrances. Tears had fallen on many 
 a stone as it was lifted to its place. 
 
 Things we do through cost, self-denial, hardship, 
 and hindrance are far dearer to us and more sacred 
 than things we do with ease, without feeling the 
 burden or the cost. Churches built by poor, strug- 
 gling congregations, whose people have to sacrifice 
 and deny themselves to gather the money, yield 
 far more joy to their builders when finished than 
 beautiful and costly churches reared by the rich. 
 They are built out of people's hearts, and shine in 
 heaven's sight in love's splendor. 
 
 Our joy in doing God's work, and in making gifts 
 to God, is measured by the real cost of the things 
 we do and give. The more heart's blood there is 
 in them, the more precious will they be to us and 
 also to God. The richest treasures of our lives are 
 those which have cost us the most. 
 
 All common good has common price; 
 
 Exceeding good exceeding; 
 Christ bought the keys of Paradise 
 
 By cruel bleeding. 
 
 J. G, Holland, 
 
 (251) 
 
September 8. 
 
 In the seventh month, in the one and twentieth day 
 of the month, came the word of the Lord by Haggai. 
 — Haggai ii. i. 
 
 THE Lord always seeks to be an encourager. 
 These returned captives were very much dis- 
 couraged. They had begun with great enthusiasm to 
 build the temple, but difficulties had risen. Then the 
 Lord sent his servant to hearten the governor and the 
 people, to cheer them, that they might go on through 
 all the obstacles which faced them. That is the way 
 the Lord is always doing with his children. He 
 does not want us ever to yield to discouragement. 
 Of course life is hard at many a point. There 
 are ofttimes difficult tasks to perform, and sore strug- 
 gles to endure. Things often seem to fail in our 
 hands. Our plans miscarry, our hopes disappoint us. 
 We meet opposition and enmity, and it seems to us 
 we can never get through with the things we are 
 set to do. But when we open the Bible we find en- 
 couragement on every page. We are there taught 
 never to yield to despair. There can be no failure 
 in duty if only we are faithful. We never can be 
 defeated in temptation if only we stand true to 
 Christ. We never can sink under our burden, if 
 only we cast it upon Christ. The things that seem 
 to be failures become successes when God's hand 
 is in them. So God ever comes to encourage us in 
 our difficulties. " Fear not ; I am with you," is the 
 formula of divine cheer in every hour of trial. 
 Therefore we should never lose heart. 
 ( 2 5 2 ) 
 
September 9. 
 I waited patiently for the Lord. — Psalm xl. i. 
 
 THERE come times in every one's life when no 
 exertion of his own can do anything, and 
 when no human power can help. Then he should 
 commit all to God, and wait for him. And it is 
 no ignorant confidence that we may have at such 
 times ; for our Father rules this world, and has a 
 plan for each life. We can safely trust him to 
 bring aid, deliverance, or light at the right time. 
 
 There are occasions when a patient waiting is 
 our highest duty. When we are working for souls 
 we must present the truth, and then commit the 
 result to God. Time is necessary for some spiritual 
 processes, and the result cannot come immediately. 
 In prayer we sometimes have to wait for the an- 
 swer, even to wait long, but we should never be 
 impatient. 
 
 The days went by, but nothing brought 
 Be/ond the wonted round of care; 
 
 And I was vexed with anxious thought, 
 And found the waiting hard to bear. 
 
 But when I said, " In vain I pray ! " 
 
 I heard him answer gently, " Nay." 
 
 So praying still, and waiting on, 
 
 And pondering what the waiting meant, 
 
 This knowledge sweet at last I won, — 
 And oh, the depth of my content ! 
 
 My blessed task for every day 
 
 Is humbly, gladly, to obey. 
 
 Harriet McEwen Kimball. 
 
 ( 2 53) 
 
September 10. 
 
 And he said unto me, What seest thou ? And I said, 
 I have seen, and behold, a candlestick all of gold, and 
 its bowl upon the top of it, and its seve?i lamps thereo?i. 
 — Zechariah iv. 2. 
 
 A CANDLESTICK suggests light. Every Chris- 
 tian should be a light-bearer. God wants us 
 to shine. The world is dark, and we are to pour 
 light into its darkness. Our character must shine. 
 That means, to put it very simply, that we must be 
 good. To be good is to be first pure in heart. A 
 little child said she liked best of all the beatitudes 
 the one about a pure heart, because if she had that 
 blessing she would have all the others too. A pure, 
 good, loving heart will make a life shine. " God is 
 love," and we are like God just so far as we are loving. 
 That means love to God first, and then love to all men. 
 We are therefore to be obedient, trustful, and rev- 
 erent toward God, and gentle, unselfish, patient, 
 thoughtful, kindly and helpful toward men. 
 
 We will find that it is not always easy to shine 
 with love's light. The candle wastes, burns itself 
 up, in shining. So does life. It costs to be un- 
 selfish, patient, thoughtful, and useful. We have 
 to be forgiving, to bear injuries sweetly, to deny 
 ourselves and make personal sacrifices, continually, 
 in order to be gentle, patient, and kind when others 
 are rude to us. It costs to shine ; nevertheless we 
 are to shine. Christ gave his blessed life to be 
 consumed on the candlestick of divine love, to light 
 the world. 
 
 (254) 
 
September 11. 
 
 Be stro?ig all ye people of the land, saith the Lord, 
 and work. — Haggai ii. 4. 
 
 THERE are many times in most people's lives 
 when this fragment of a lesson ought to be 
 inspiring and helpful. Men are called to do some 
 work for God, and their resources of strength ap- 
 pear to be altogether inadequate. They look at 
 the small beginning or the unpromising condition, 
 and say they never can do the work, nor achieve 
 the result expected. Nearly all beginnings of good 
 things are small. The Christian church began with 
 two followers. Missionary efforts have all had a 
 most unpromising start. 
 
 In our individual lives the same thing is true. It 
 does not seem to us that we can ever accomplish 
 anything worthy with our feeble strength. But the 
 word of God rings out : " Be strong, and work ; for 
 I am with you." God never gives us a duty but 
 that he means to help us with his presence and 
 strength so that we need not fail in it. If we lose 
 heart, and let our hands hang down in idleness, 
 nothing will come of the little beginning, and God's 
 purpose will fail in our hands through our own lack 
 of earnestness. But if we do our whole duty, the 
 end will be blessing and success. 
 
 " That trust is sweetest and that faith the best 
 Which, having done such share 
 As human life demands, then leaves the rest 
 To the dear Father's care." 
 
 (25s) 
 
September 12. 
 
 The Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee. — 
 Zechariah iii. 2. 
 
 THE Lord is the friend of his people, and will 
 not stand by inactive when Satan is plotting 
 against any of them. He is the defender especially 
 of the defenceless. This characteristic of the divine 
 love is revealed in all parts of the Scriptures. God 
 is the God of the weak. In the Mosaic laws defi- 
 nite provision was made for the widow and the 
 orphan. Something was to be left for them when 
 the harvests were gathered. The poor were put 
 under special protection, to shield them from the 
 oppression of the rich and the strong. God's 
 thought for the poor appeared amid even the de- 
 tailed laws given for common life. 
 
 Every child of God is an object of peculiar divine 
 care. The weakest of his children is safe in his 
 keeping, even amid the greatest dangers. Xo harm 
 can come to any of them while nestling in his 
 bosom. We may safely leave our defending in the 
 Lord's hands when Satan assails us, and when any 
 one would do us harm. 
 
 Our Father, deliver thy children from sin, 
 From evil without and from evil within, 
 From this world, with its manifold evil and wrong, 
 From the wiles of the Evil One, subtle and strong; 
 Till, as Christ overcame, we, too. conquer and sing, 
 11 All glory to thee, our victorious King, 
 For thine is the power." 
 
 Frances Ridley Havergal. 
 
 (256) 
 
September 13. 
 
 Then she said, Did I desire a soil of my lord ? — 
 2 Kings iv. 28. 
 
 THE woman's thought seems to have been, " It 
 would have been better had I remained as 
 I was, with no voice of love in my home, my 
 heart unfilled with affection, than that I should 
 know and experience the gladness of motherhood 
 for this brief time, and then be robbed of the joy. V 
 No doubt similar thoughts ofttimes come to those 
 who are bereft of friends. In their deep grief it 
 seems to them that it would have been better if 
 they had never had their friends at all than to have 
 had them a little while, to have learned to love 
 them so, and to find such blessing in them, and 
 then to lose them. But Tennyson's word in " In 
 Memoriam " is far more true than this : — 
 
 " 'Tis better to have loved and lost, 
 
 Than never to have loved at all." 
 
 Loving itself blesses us. It opens our heart and 
 enriches our life. It teaches us the true meaning 
 of life ; for to live truly is to love. Then the taking 
 away of our dear one does not rob us of the bless- 
 ings which loving wrought in us. These we keep 
 forever, though the friend be with us no more. 
 Even if this child had not been restored to the 
 mother in this world, she would still have kept for- 
 ever the impressions and the influences which the 
 child in its brief, beautiful years had left upon her 
 life. 
 
 (257) 
 
September 14. 
 
 That seeing they may see, and not perceive, — St. 
 Mark iv. 12. 
 
 IT is a mistake not to use one's eyes to see things 
 that are to be seen. The result is that in the 
 end one has no eyes with which to see. Refusing 
 to listen to the words of God that are spoken in 
 gentleness and love, results in the loss of the power 
 to hear, so that in all God's universe of love one 
 shall hear no sweet sound ; so that the very voices 
 of tender mercy shall become screams of terror. 
 Refusing to understand the things of God leads to 
 the dulling and deadening of the soul, so that at 
 last one cannot understand if he would. 
 
 We should learn to keep all the gates of our soul 
 open toward heaven. We should train ourselves to 
 see whatever God would show us. Thus shall our 
 eyes become able to see more and more beauty in 
 God and in all his works. We should keep our 
 ears attent to hear every word that God speaks to 
 us. We should strive to understand what God 
 teaches us ; for to those who seek, all hidden mys- 
 teries at length become clear. 
 
 " There's many a gem in the path of life, 
 
 Which we pass in our idle pleasure, 
 That is richer far than the jewelled crown 
 
 Or the miser's hoarded treasure; 
 It may be the love of a little child, 
 
 Or the mother's prayer to heaven, 
 Or only a beggar's grateful thanks, 
 
 For a cup of water given." 
 
 (258) 
 
September 15. 
 
 jfesus . . . turned him about in the crowd, and saia \ 
 Who touched my garments ? — St. Mark v. 30. 
 
 THE crowd was close about Jesus, and many 
 people touched him ; but there was one touch 
 different from the others. There was a heart's cry 
 in it, a pleading, a piteous supplication. It was a 
 touch of faith, inspired by a deep sense of need. 
 It was not an accidental touch, a mere touch of 
 nearness ; it was intentional. 
 
 This incident illustrates what is going on all the 
 while about Christ. We cannot move without press- 
 ing up against him. Sometimes in our heedless- 
 ness we jostle him rudely. But when among all 
 earth's millions one person intentionally reaches out 
 a hand to feel after Christ, to touch him with a pur- 
 pose, to seek for some blessing, to crave some help, 
 he instantly knows the pressure of that touch, and 
 turns to answer it. He knows when any heart 
 wants him, no matter how obscure the person, how 
 poor, how hidden away in the crowd. Blessing 
 came that day to none in that crowd, so far as we 
 know, save to this poor, sick woman who touched 
 Christ's clothes. It came to her because she had 
 a burden on her heart and sought Christ's help. 
 
 So in every company there are some who are 
 close, and yet receive no blessing, because there is 
 no faith in their touching. Then there are those 
 who are no nearer, but who reach out their hands 
 in faith, and touch Christ's clothes, and go away 
 helped, comforted. 
 
 059) 
 
September 16. 
 
 Blessed are ye poor ; for yours is the ki?igdom of 
 God. - — St. Luke vi. 20. 
 
 THE blessed ones of the Bible are not those 
 whom this world considers happy. Indeed, 
 in the opinion of earth those whom Christ calls 
 blessed have a dreary life. He says the meek are 
 blessed, the poor in spirit, the pure in heart, the 
 peacemakers, they that mourn, and they who are 
 persecuted for righteousness' sake. It would be 
 hard to convince the man of this world that these 
 are the really blessed ones. But that is the way it 
 appears to the eyes that look down from heaven, 
 and that is the standard of life by which we must 
 be measured in the divine judgment. 
 
 It is assuring to hear Jesus himself speak beati- 
 tudes for men. He knew who really are the 
 blessed. He knew the difference between the 
 earthly ideals of happiness and the heavenly ideals. 
 We may safely trust his estimates, and know that 
 they are right. We know, too, that he came into 
 this world to make blessedness possible for men 
 who were lost in sin. On the cross he died to make 
 men happy. It is pleasant to remember, too, that 
 the last glimpse this w r orld had of Jesus he was in 
 the attitude of blessing men. He had his hands 
 stretched out over his disciples when he began to 
 ascend. Ever since that moment benedictions have 
 been raining down from those pierced hands upon 
 a sorrowing earth. Those who do not receive bless- 
 ings shut their hearts against them. 
 (260) 
 
September 17. 
 
 When the Lord saw her, he had compassion 011 her, 
 and said unto her, Weep not. — -St. Luke vii. 13. 
 
 A SORROW in a home sends out a wave of 
 tender feeling which impresses a wide com- 
 munity. While crape hangs on a door, almost 
 every one of the great throng of passers-by is made 
 at least for the moment a little more thoughtful. 
 Even strangers going by feel the influence, and 
 their hearts are warmed by it. Whatever thus 
 touches men with a gentler mood, though but tran- 
 siently, becomes a blessing in the world. There is 
 a humanizing influence in sympathy. It makes 
 men more tolerant of each other, more patient with 
 each other's faults, more loving and thoughtful. 
 That which is changing the world these days from 
 cruelty and savageness into lovingness and brother- 
 liness is a sorrow — the sorrow of Calvary. 
 
 My heart was heavy, for its trust had been 
 Abused, its kindness answered with cruel wrong; 
 So turning gloomily from my fellow-men, 
 One summer Sabbath day, I strolled among 
 The green mounds of the village burial-place, 
 Where, pondering how all human love and hate 
 Find one sad level, and how, soon or late, 
 Wronged and wrong-doer, each with meekened face 
 And cold hands folded over a still heart, 
 Pass the green threshold of our common grave, 
 Whither all footsteps tend, whence none depart; 
 Awed for myself, and pitying my race, 
 Our common sorrow like a mighty wave 
 Swept all my pride away, and trembling, I forgave. 
 
 J. G. Whittier. 
 
 (261) 
 
September 18. 
 
 A voice came out of the cloud, saying, Tliis is my 
 Son, my chosen ; hear ye him. — St. Luke ix. 35. 
 
 MANY of the sweetest revealings of comfort are 
 spoken to God's children out of the clouds 
 of sorrow. Many a Christian learns more about 
 God in a brief season of trouble than he has learned 
 before in years of earthly prosperity. We should 
 never see the stars if the sun did not go down. We 
 should never see the promises that gem the Bible 
 pages, like stars in the sky, were there no darken- 
 ing of the sky of human prosperity and joy. Out 
 of our clouds, too, comes the Father's voice, saying, 
 "This is my Son." It is Christ who comes even 
 in the shadow that for a time hides and darkens 
 his face. He is in the centre of every cloud. 
 
 There is significance also in the other word from 
 the cloud, " Hear ye him." We must learn to lis- 
 ten to Christ and to him only. There are mysteries 
 about Christianity, things hard to be understood, 
 but we may safely wait for the solution of these, 
 meanwhile doing sweetly and quietly the things 
 that Christ bids us do. Hereafter we shall know. 
 
 Rain comes out of clouds, and if there is no rain 
 all nature suffers. So out of sorrow's clouds the 
 rain falls, and our lives are enriched thereby. 
 
 " The meadow was parched and brown and dry, 
 
 And listless drooped each bloom ; 
 So wan and weak, they could hardly sigh, 
 " If it doesn't rain, we all must die; 
 
 Oh, that the rain would come ! " 
 
 (262) 
 
September 19. 
 
 If any man ivoirfd come after me, let him deny him- 
 self and take up his cross daily, and follow me. — 
 St. Luke ix. 23. 
 
 THE more important is the position we occupy, 
 and the greater are its responsibilities, the 
 more cares will it bring. The quiet calm is found 
 in the low valley, not on the mountain-top. As we 
 rise in life our burdens increase. We need to learn 
 how to carry our load cheerfully when it gets heavy. 
 We cannot reach the higher places, and miss the 
 steep climbing that leads to them. If we would 
 gain the heights, we must consent to climb up the 
 steep and rugged mountain. It was not a mere 
 dream that visioned life to the patriarch as a ladder. 
 
 " Does the road wind uphill all the way?" 
 
 " Yes, to the very end ! " 
 u Will the day's journey take the whole long day? " 
 
 " From morn to night, my friend ! " 
 
 " But is there for the night a resting-place? " 
 " A roof for all when the dark hours begin ! " 
 
 u May not the darkness hide it from my face? " 
 u You cannot miss that inn ! " 
 
 " Shall I meet other wayfarers at night? " 
 
 " Those who have gone before ! " 
 " Then must I knock or call when just in sight? " 
 
 " They will not keep you standing at that door ! " 
 
 " Shall I find comfort, travel-sore and weak ? " 
 
 " Of labor you shall find the sum ! " 
 
 " Will there be beds for me and all who seek? " 
 
 " Yea — beds for all who come ! " 
 
 Christina Rossetti. 
 
 (263) 
 
September 20. 
 
 If ye love me, ye will keep my commandments. — St. 
 John xiv. 15. 
 
 LOVE is more than a mere sentiment ; it is also 
 j a life. The proof of it must be in acts. Thus 
 in one of his epistles this disciple of love writes : 
 " Hereby know we love, because he laid down his 
 life for us : and we ought to lay down our lives for 
 the brethren. But whoso has the world's goods, 
 and beholdeth his brother in need, and shutteth up 
 his compassion from him, how doth the love of God 
 abide in him ? My little children, let us not love 
 in word, neither with the tongue ; but in deed and 
 truth." 
 
 This same principle applies to our profession of 
 love for Christ. It is not enough that we sing it in 
 our hymns, say it in our prayers, or utter it in our 
 creed ; we must show it in our life. A fruit-tree 
 proves its usefulness by bearing fruit in the season. 
 The rose-bush must prove its right to the distinction 
 by putting forth beautiful roses. And when we 
 claim to be Christ's friends, we must show it by 
 doing what he bids us to do. 
 
 Be what thou seemest; live thy creed; 
 
 Hold up to earth the torch divine; 
 Be what thou prayest to be made; 
 
 Let the great Master's steps be thine. 
 
 Sow love, and taste its fruitage pure; 
 
 Sow peace, and reap its harvest bright; 
 Sow sunbeams on the rock and moor, 
 
 And find a harvest-home of light. 
 
 (264) Bonar. 
 
September 21. 
 
 Yea, Lord : for even the dogs eat of the crumbs which 
 fall from their masters' table, — St. Matthew xv. 27. 
 
 WHEN Jesus spoke to the poor Gentile woman 
 in the language of the time, as if she were 
 but a dog, she was not offended. She was willing 
 to be as a dog under the Master's table. She was 
 ready to grant to the Jews the children's place. 
 The position Jesus had assigned to her satisfied 
 her. For the dogs under the table did not starve. 
 The children were first served, and then the pieces 
 of bread which they let fall belonged to the dogs. 
 Even the crumbs from that table were enough for 
 her. Thus her humility and also her faith were 
 shown. We should come to Christ with a deep 
 sense of our unworthiness, ready to take the lowest 
 place ; and we should realize that even the crumbs 
 of his grace and love are better than all the feasts 
 of this world. 
 
 Not worthy, Lord, to gather up the crumbs 
 With trembling hand, that from thy table fall, 
 
 A weary, heavy-laden sinner comes 
 
 To plead thy promise and obey thy call. 
 
 I am not worthy to be thought thy child, 
 Or sit the last and lowest at thy board; 
 
 Too long a wanderer and too oft beguiled, 
 I only ask one reconciling word. 
 
 I hear thy voice; thou bid'st me come and rest; 
 
 I come, I kneel, I clasp thy pierced feet : 
 Thou bid'st me take my place, a welcome guest 
 
 Among thy saints, and of thy banquet eat. 
 
 / 2 6 BlCKERSTETH. 
 
September 22. 
 
 Be ye imitators of mc\ even as I also am of Christ. 
 — i Corinthians xi. i. 
 
 OXE way in which God reveals himself to us is 
 through the lives of the good and the saintly. 
 Next to living in direct communion with him is liv- 
 ing with others who thus live with him. Converse 
 with those who lie in Christ's bosom and who know 
 the secret of the Lord cannot but greatly enrich 
 our own knowledge of divine things. Yet in these 
 busy days we are quite in danger of losing almost 
 altogether out of our lives this rich means of grace. 
 One has said : " Do not think it wasted time to sub- 
 mit yourself to any influence which may bring upon 
 you any noble feeling. " 
 
 The Lord is in his holy place, 
 
 In all things near and far; 
 Shekinah of the snowflake he, 
 
 And Glory of the star, 
 And Secret of the April-land 
 
 That stirs the field to flowers, 
 Whose little tabernacles rise 
 
 To hold him through the hours. 
 
 He hides himself within the love 
 
 Of those w r e love the best; 
 The smiles and tones that make our homes 
 
 Are shrines by him possessed. 
 He tents within the lonely heart 
 
 And shepherds ever)' thought; 
 We find him not by seeking long, 
 
 We lose him not unsought. 
 
 William C. Gannett. 
 
 (266) 
 
September 23. 
 
 Be not deceived ; God is not mocked : for whatsoever 
 a man sowet/i y that shall he also reap. — Galatians 
 vi. 7. 
 
 PEOPLE have loose notions about sin. They 
 think they can go on through life in disobedi- 
 ence of God's commands, and defiance of all moral 
 laws, and then, by a single act of penitence, in a 
 moment, have all the consequences of their sinning 
 wiped out, all the effects in their own nature of 
 lifelong evil habits reversed, and their character 
 changed into saintly beauty and meetness for the 
 kingdom of heaven. 
 
 But the Bible does not teach this. Those who 
 choose sin for their way in life must eat sin's fruit. 
 The fruit of trees drops off, but sin's fruits stay in 
 the life and become part of it. One may sow com- 
 mon seeds, and others gather and eat the harvest; 
 but the sinner must gather and eat the fruit of his 
 own sowing. 
 
 We are not through with our life as we live it. 
 Every act, every word, every thought, every choice, 
 is a seed which we drop. We go on carelessly, 
 never dreaming that we shall ever again see our deeds. 
 Then some day we come upon an ugly plant grow- 
 ing somewhere, and we ask, " What is this ? " 
 Comes the answer, " I am one of your plants. You 
 dropped the seed which grew into me." Our lives 
 are the little garden plats in which it is our privi- 
 lege to drop seeds. We shall have to eat the fruits 
 of the seeds of which we are planting these days. 
 
 ( 2 6 7 ) 
 
September 24. 
 
 Every good gift and every perfect boon is from above, 
 coming down from the Father of lights. — James i. 17. 
 
 THERE are many good things that come to us 
 through our friends. The father toils and 
 serves, and leaves an inheritance for his children. 
 Many rich blessings come to us through human 
 affections. Hands are ever being reached out to 
 us, hands of love and kindliness, offering us good 
 things. We owe far more than we ever can esti- 
 mate to those who love us. The kindly ministry 
 of friends brings countless benefits to our lives. 
 
 But every one of these is a blessing sent to us 
 from God. The human hands that bring them are 
 but the hands of messengers. This is only one of 
 God's ways of sending his good things to us. St. 
 James tells us also that all that God gives us is 
 good, and that every boon of his is perfect. Some- 
 times we think that what we receive from God can- 
 not be good. We think he must have changed 
 toward us. It is a loss or a disappointment, and 
 it seems unkind. But in whatever form it comes, 
 there is a blessing — some good — wrapped up in 
 everything God sends to any of his children. 
 
 An easy thing, O Power divine, 
 
 To thank thee for these gifts of thine ! 
 
 For summer's sunshine, winter's snow, 
 
 For hearts that kindle, thoughts that glow : 
 
 But when shall I attain to this, — 
 
 To thank thee for the things I miss? 
 
 Thomas Wentworth Higgixson. 
 
 (268) 
 
September 25. 
 
 Ye have this day rejected your God, who himself 
 saveth you out of all your calamities and your dis- 
 tresses. — i Samuel x. 19. 
 
 WE are very quick to see ingratitude in those 
 whom we have befriended, who forget our 
 kindness and treat us ill. We like to quote in such 
 connection the fable of the serpent, frozen by the 
 wayside, which the benevolent passer-by took up 
 and put in his bosom to warm, but which returned 
 his kindness by striking its deadly fangs into his 
 flesh. 
 
 Let us be honest toward God. Let us judge our- 
 selves in relation to his mercies and favors to us by 
 the same rule which we so inexorably apply to our 
 fellow-men. What has God done for us ? What 
 mercies and favors have we received from him ? 
 From what adversities and tribulations has he de- 
 livered us ? Are we saved ? Are we on the way 
 now to heaven and glory ? Who forgave us our 
 sins ? W T ho rescued us out of the hands of Satan ? 
 W T ho keeps us day by day ? 
 
 There is only one answer. How, then, are we 
 treating this Deliverer, Saviour, and Friend ? Do 
 we recognize him as our King and Lord ? Or are 
 we rejecting him and demanding another ? It is 
 well that we sit down quietly, while this matter is 
 before us, and see whether we are free from the 
 sharp blame which the prophet here lays upon these 
 ancient people. May it not be that we, too, are 
 neglecting the God who has saved us ? 
 (269) 
 
September 26. 
 
 The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom 
 shall I fear ? — Psalm xxvii. i. 
 
 THE thought is, that God is a fortress like stone 
 walls around his people. The same thought 
 is found elsewhere. " The eternal God is thy ref- 
 uge." " God is our refuge." " As the mountains 
 are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round 
 about his people. " It is not said that the Lord 
 builds a refuge about his people, but that he him- 
 self is the refuge. He puts himself between them 
 and peril. The stork and other birds, when there 
 is danger, cover their young with their own bodies, 
 receiving the assault themselves and shielding their 
 brood. So Christ said he would gather his people 
 as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings. 
 Thus on Calvary he did receive on himself the 
 terrible storm, that his people, coming under the 
 shadow of the cross, might be sheltered. 
 
 So about every individual believer's life God is 
 a fortress, in which, in every danger, he may hide 
 and be safe. If this be true, of whom indeed shall 
 we be afraid ? The only thing is, to make sure that 
 we can say for ourselves the words, " The Lord is 
 the stronghold of my life." It makes a very great 
 difference on which side of a fortress one is when 
 the battle is raging. Outside its strong walls one 
 finds no protection, while its missiles fall every- 
 where, dealing death. It is only inside that its 
 shelter is enjoyed. We must be in Christ by a 
 simple faith. 
 
 (270) 
 
September 27. 
 
 The elders . . . said unto him, Behold, thou art old, 
 — i Samuel viii. 4, 5. 
 
 THEY meant that his old age made him inef- 
 ficient as a ruler. It was a suggestion to him 
 that he would better resign and let them choose 
 some other ruler. They seem to have forgotten 
 that he had grown old in their service ; that they 
 owed to him whatever of grandeur or real glory 
 there was in their land. They forgot, also, that his 
 years had brought him more wisdom, and had fitted 
 him all the better to rule them, and that he could 
 do more for them now than ever he had done. 
 Their conduct toward him was most ungrateful. 
 
 This fault is too common in our own days. We 
 are lacking in reverence for the aged. We are too 
 ready to ask them to step aside when they have 
 grown gray in serving us, to make room for younger 
 people to take up the work they have been doing 
 so long and so faithfully. 
 
 We ought to venerate old age, especially when it 
 has ripened in ways of righteousness and in service 
 of self-denial for the good of others. Those who 
 have given all their life to God's service ought to 
 receive honor and affection from younger Chris- 
 tians. Often they are lonely; we know not what 
 sorrows they have endured, what sad memories fill 
 their hearts, how they crave sympathy and love. 
 No sight is more beautiful than that of a young 
 person showing respect and homage to one who 
 is old. 
 
 (271) 
 
September 28. 
 
 I am old and gray-headed , . . I have walked before 
 you from my youth unto this day, — i Samuel xii. 2. 
 
 OLD age is the test of life. It is the harvest of 
 all the life's sowing. In its evening shadows 
 the deeds of all the past years appear at their real 
 value. All life's memories gather about the old 
 man's last days, and make either sweetness or bit- 
 terness for him. It is a great thing to be able to 
 stand up in old age, and face all one's past without 
 a blush, and challenge every one to witness if any- 
 thing wrong is known. 
 
 Nothing but well-watched years all along life's 
 way can yield such a happy consciousness in old 
 age. We must begin in early youth to grow old — 
 that is, to grow into the beauty and sweetness which 
 we all want to have in our character when we be- 
 come old. If we would be able to face our own 
 past without blushing when we reach seventy years, 
 we must not do anything during the seventy years 
 that we shall be ashamed to face. If we would be 
 able to challenge the scrutiny of the world, turning 
 the light on every chapter of our life, every page 
 and line, we must be careful that we leave nothing 
 behind us as we go on which any one can bring up 
 against us. It was because that from a child Sam- 
 uel had served God, and had been exemplary in his 
 conduct, honest, faithful, and upright in all his deal- 
 ings, that he could now so confidently appeal to his 
 record, 
 
 (272) 
 
September 2,9. 
 
 They said, Thou hast not defrauded us, nor oppressed 
 us, neither hast thou taken aught of any man's hand. 
 — i Samuel xii. 4. 
 
 IT is a noble testimony to the purity and noble- 
 ness of a man's life, that in his old age not a 
 voice can utter a word of complaint against him. 
 Especially is it so when a man has lived all his 
 days in public, in the eyes of his neighbors, charged 
 with sacred trusts. The life of Jesus was thus un- 
 blamable. Even his enemies, searching with all 
 the keenness of their wicked malice, could find not 
 the slightest thing with which to accuse him. 
 
 The aim of every one of us should be to live so 
 that when we come to the close of our days no one 
 can lay any wrong or injury to our charge. It is a 
 sweet joy in our last hours to have others say to us 
 with unanimous voice, " You have never done any- 
 thing to harm us. You have never treated us un- 
 kindly. You never robbed us of any right. You 
 have been only and always kind to us. You have 
 comforted our sorrows. You have encouraged us 
 in our toils, tasks, and trials. You have helped us 
 in all ways, generously, unselfishly, thoughtfully. 
 You have done us nothing but good." To have 
 such a testimony at the last, one must begin early 
 to live an upright, helpful life, and must never 
 allow his hand to slacken until it is folded on his 
 bosom in its final rest. 
 
 073) 
 
September 30. 
 
 Moreover as for me, God forbid that I should sin 
 against the Lord in ceasing to pray for yon : but I will 
 instruct you in the good and the right way. — i Sam- 
 uel xii. 23. 
 
 TT7E sin against our friend when we do not pray 
 V V for him. Of all the ways of doing good 
 and showing kindness to others, prayer is the best. 
 Sometimes we catch ourselves saying to one who is 
 in sore trouble : " I am sorry I cannot do anything 
 to help you ; I can only pray for you.'' But if we 
 really pray for him, we do the very best that we 
 could possibly do. God knows better how to help 
 him than we do. Ofttimes the help we would give 
 would only harm him. We would lift away burdens 
 he would better carry longer. We would make easy 
 the path which would better be left rough. We are 
 always in danger of hindering God's work in a 
 man's life when we come in with our help. The 
 best we can do is to pray for him. 
 
 " Yes, pray for whom thou lovest; if uncounted wealth were 
 thine, 
 The treasures of the boundless deep, the riches of the mine, 
 Thou couldst not to thy cherished friend a gift so dear im- 
 part, 
 As the earnest benediction of a deeply prayerful heart. 
 
 Yes, pray for whom thou lovest; thou mayst vainly, idly seek 
 The fervid thoughts of tenderness by feeble words to speak. 
 Go, kneel before thy Father's throne, and meekly, humbly 
 
 there 
 Ask blessing for thy loved one in the silent hour of prayer." 
 
 (274) 
 
October 1. 
 
 My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God : 
 when shall I come and appear before God .? — Psalm 
 xlii. 2. 
 
 ONE may have everything else — riches, honor, 
 human friends, social rank, health, home joys, 
 but if he has not God, all these things fail to make 
 him truly and deeply blessed. On the other hand, 
 if we have God we are blessed, though we have 
 nothing else. 
 
 A gentleman came home from business heavy- 
 hearted. Disaster had overtaken him. Throwing 
 himself into a chair, he said, " Everything is gone. 
 We are beggared. There is nothing left." His 
 little child, seeing his distress and hearing his 
 words, climbed up on his knee, and said, " Why, 
 papa, you have mamma and me left/' Yes ; while 
 such human love remained, was he not still rich ? 
 Still more, if everything else is taken, and God and 
 his love remain, are we not rich ? Mrs. Browning 
 has put this thought in a beautiful sonnet : — 
 
 If I could find 
 
 No love in all the world for comforting, 
 
 Nor any path but hollowly did ring, 
 Where " Dust to dust " the love from life disjoined; 
 
 And if, before those sepulchres unmoving, 
 I stood alone (as some forsaken lamb 
 
 Goes bleating up the moor in weary dearth), 
 
 Crying " Where are ye, O my loved and loving? " — 
 I know a Voice would sound: " Daughter, I am ! 
 
 Can I suffice for heaven and not for earth ?" 
 
 075) 
 
October 2. 
 
 Except a grain of wheat fall into the earth and die, 
 it abideth by itself alone. — St. John xii. 24. 
 
 JESUS was a very wise teacher. He did not use 
 fine illustrations which the common people 
 would not understand, but took those whose mean- 
 ing would be plain to them. He pointed to the 
 lilies, to the birds, to leaves, to vines, to the hen 
 and her chickens, and other familiar things. 
 
 The illustration here from nature is very simple. 
 The farmer who would keep his wheat in the dry, 
 safe granary, because if it were sown in 4he field it 
 would rot and die, would make a very foolish mis- 
 take. The only proper thing to do with the grain 
 which the farmer wishes to preserve and take care 
 of in the best way, is to sow it in the ground. True, 
 that seems to be wasting it, losing it, throwing it 
 away. But it is thus it is made to increase. It has 
 to die to live. This is the law of life. 
 
 Our Lord meant here that the only way for him 
 to be glorified was by giving his life. He could 
 have saved himself from his cross ; his sacrifice 
 was voluntary. But suppose he had saved himself, 
 what would have been the result ? He would have 
 missed the suffering ; but souls would not have been 
 saved, no church would now be praising his name. 
 But in dying he made blessing for a world. From 
 the one precious seed let fall into the ground on 
 Calvary, has sprung a glorious harvest, whose full 
 fruitage will not be known until all the redeemed 
 are gathered home. 
 
 (276) 
 
October S. 
 
 The words that I have spoken unto you, are spirit, 
 and are life. — St. John vi. 63. 
 
 GOD'S own life is in the words of Scripture. 
 Put a handful of flower-seeds in your window- 
 box, under the sunshine, and they will soon become 
 lovely flowers. Put the truths of the gospel into a 
 human heart, and soon the life will begin to grow 
 into the beauty of Christ. Its effects will be seen 
 in the disposition, in the character, in the conduct, 
 in all the daily acts. 
 
 At an auction, a rude jar of common earthenware 
 was bought by a seller of perfumes for a penny. 
 But he filled it with attar of roses, and soon every 
 particle of the substance of the jar had partaken 
 of the sweetness. The fragrance within it had per- 
 meated it. Long, long afterward, when emptied 
 and broken, every smallest fragment was still sweet 
 with the precious perfume. 
 
 So it is, when even the most common life is filled 
 with the word of Christ. It flows out, as it were, in 
 the character, in the feelings and affections, in the 
 thoughts and desires, in the tempers and disposi- 
 tions, until the whole being is permeated, filled with 
 the spirit of Christ. For where the word of Christ 
 dwells the Holy Spirit dwells, and where the Holy 
 Spirit dwells is the kingdom of heaven, heaven be- 
 gun in a human life. We see the effects of this 
 indwelling in the gentleness, the sweetness, the 
 purity of heart, the truth, the patience, the love, 
 which the word of Christ always produces. 
 
 ( 2 77) 
 
October 4. 
 
 I came that they may have life, a?id may have it 
 abundantly. — St. John x. io. 
 
 TO have abundant life, we must use the life we 
 have. If the child would have his puny arm 
 grow into strength, he must exercise it. The smith 
 wields his hammer, and his muscles become like 
 withes of iron. If you would have your brain de- 
 velop into mental strength, you must use it. It is 
 so of every faculty and function of the life. If you 
 would have your power of sympathy grow, until 
 you are able to be a true helper and comforter of 
 others, you must find expression for your sympathy. 
 If you would become a true helper begin in little 
 ways. Every outgoing of love in true service makes 
 our love itself more abundant. 
 
 Begin with the little life you have, accept every 
 opportunity to use it, and by and by you will reach 
 a capacity for helpfulness and service which will 
 amaze you. But sit down and do nothing, put 
 forth no effort, and your little life will dry up and 
 shrivel to a crisp. " If the stars did not move," 
 said Horace Bushnell, " they might rot in the sky. " 
 The curse on thousands of Christian lives is inac- 
 tivity. Do not use your hand — tie it up on your 
 breast — for a few months, and it will wither to 
 death. The same is true of all physical, mental, 
 and moral powers ; unused they will die. If you 
 would have abundant life, use every particle of the 
 life you have, and it wall develop until it reaches 
 fulness of power. 
 
 ( 27 8) 
 
October 5. 
 
 A certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where 
 he was : and when he saw him, he was moved with 
 compassion. — St. Luke x. $3. 
 
 " f~\ LORD, advertise thy love through us ! " 
 V_y was the prayer of an earnest Christian. A 
 young Christian, when asked if she loved Jesus, 
 was moved to tears, saying in her heart, "What a 
 dim light mine must be, if others are not sure that 
 I love Jesus ! " A Christian writer has recently 
 said that the deadliest heresy is to be unloving. 
 
 God advertised his love through the good Sa- 
 maritan. Others needed not to ask him if he loved 
 God. He was not guilty of the deadly heresy of 
 being unloving. He had true compassion. He 
 was not content merely to say a few pitying words. 
 His sympathy took the practical form of doing 
 something. He bound up the man's wounds — 
 that was help of the best kind. He stopped the 
 bleeding away of the sufferer's life. He rested not 
 until he had him safe in a warm shelter. 
 
 He did not even content himself with getting the 
 man into an inn, then throwing off further respon- 
 sibility. He might have said, " I have done my 
 share; let some other one look after him now." 
 But he was in no hurry to get the case off his 
 hands. He took care of the man for a time, and 
 then provided for the continuation of the care as 
 long as it should be needed. The good Samaritan 
 is Christ's own picture of what Christian love should 
 be in every one of his disciples. 
 
 ( 2 79) 
 
October 6. 
 Jesus weft. — St. John xi. 35. 
 
 THIS is the shortest verse in all the Bible, but 
 it is rich in meaning. It is a great window 
 in Christ's bosom, showing us his very heart. It 
 tells us that our Saviour, though so glorious, is 
 touched by our griefs. He is the same now in 
 heaven that he was that day when Mary lay at his 
 feet and he wept with her. He is with us in all 
 our sorrows, and sympathizes with us. This alone 
 is a wonderful comfort to those who are in trouble. 
 A little child visited a neighbor who had lost her 
 baby, and came home and told her mother that she 
 had been comforting the sorrowing woman. Her 
 mother asked her how bhe had done it. and she 
 said. " I cried with her.'' It does us good when 
 we are in trouble to know that some other one 
 sympathizes with us. It brings us a sense of 
 companionship in our loneliness. It puts another 
 shoulder under our load. But when it is Jesus who 
 cares and is touched, weeps with us. comes up be- 
 side us in gentle companionship, it is wondrous 
 comfort indeed. 
 
 " Dear Lord, my heart hath not a doubt 
 But thou dost compass me about 
 With sympathy divine. 
 
 The love for me once crucified 
 Is not a love to leave my side, 
 
 But waiteth ever to divide 
 
 Each smallest care of mine." 
 
 (2S0) 
 
October 7. 
 
 And he took him by the right hand, and raised him 
 up : and immediately his feet and his anklebones re- 
 ceived strength. — Acts iii. 7. 
 
 A LADY was asked for her ideal of happiness 
 and gave this answer : " My ideal of happi- 
 ness is the helping of somebody up." This has the 
 ring of that word of the Master's in which he said 
 he came, " not to be ministered unto, but to min- 
 ister." At first thought most people would look 
 for their ideal of happiness in some possible good 
 or favor to be received by themselves. . But this 
 lady was right. There is more real happiness in 
 helping somebody up than in the receiving of the 
 largest benefits for ourselves. This glimpse of 
 ideal happiness shows how near the desired bless- 
 ing lies all the while to every one of us. There is 
 not a day nor an hour, when we cannot be helping 
 somebody up. 
 
 In many climes without avail, 
 Thou hast spent thy life for the Holy Grail; 
 Behold, it is here, — this cup which thou 
 Didst fill at the streamlet for me but now; 
 This crust is my body broken for thee; 
 This water His blood that died on the tree ; 
 The Holy Supper is kept indeed, 
 In whatso we share with another's need; 
 Not what we give, but what we share, — 
 For the gift without the giver is bare; 
 Who gives himself with his alms, feeds three — 
 Himself, his hungering neighbor, and me." 
 J. R. Lowell. 
 
 (28O 
 
October 8. 
 
 Rejoice with them that rejoice ; weep with them that 
 weep. — Romans xii. 15. 
 
 STRANGE as it may seem, it is easier to weep 
 with those who weep than it is to rejoice with 
 those who rejoice. There is something in sorrow 
 that makes its resistless appeal to every heart, touch- 
 ing it with tenderness, and calling out sympathetic 
 expressions. Suffering in another disarms all un- 
 kindly feeling, and bids a truce, for the time at 
 least, to all bitterness, jealousy, and resentment. 
 We weep even with our enemy whom we find in 
 pain or sorrow. No one is ever envious of an- 
 other's grief. 
 
 But when we see others rejoicing, it is not so ac- 
 cording to nature to rejoice with them. The mood 
 of gladness is not so sure to find sympathetic chords 
 in the hearts of others. There are those who are 
 envious of the happiness of others, and are made 
 even more miserable by their joy. This surely is 
 a most undivine spirit, and yet none can deny its 
 existence in many hearts. 
 
 Gladness in others makes no such appeal to a 
 heart as sorrow does. It does not need help. Yet 
 we should mark well the lesson — that it is as much 
 our duty to rejoice with those who rejoice, as it is 
 to weep with those who weep. It is a close test of 
 character — this being able to be glad because our 
 friend is prosperous, even though at the time we do 
 not have prosperity ourselves. It shows a whole- 
 some spiritual condition. 
 
 (282) 
 
October 9. 
 
 Tribulation worketh patierice ; and patience, proba- 
 tion. — Romans v. 3, 4. 
 
 AT first we would say that a home into which no 
 JTjL sorrow had ever come is the happiest home. 
 It has had only prosperity. It is a Christian home, 
 too, and has all the blessings of religion. It is a 
 home of love — ideal in its fellowship. But it has 
 never known a sorrow. The circle is unbroken. 
 No tears have been shed in it. We would say that 
 this is the happiest home we know. 
 
 But it takes sorrow to perfect love's happiness. 
 There is little doubt that the sweetest home is one 
 in which there has been grief. We do not find the 
 richest things in the Bible until we pass into shad- 
 ows. We do not see the stars until night comes. 
 There is no rainbow save when there are clouds. 
 We do not find out the richest love even of our 
 human friends while we are strong and well and 
 prosperous; it is only when we are in some grief or 
 trouble that we discover how much they love us. 
 And we do not get the best of God's grace until 
 we are in sorrow. 
 
 Besides, grief softens our hearts, makes us capa-' 
 ble of deeper affection and sympathy, and draws us 
 nearer to each other. After a household has stood 
 together around the coffin of one of its own, it is a 
 new tenderness that unites the members. Suffering 
 together brings a new closeness in loving. Thus, 
 even sorrow may be put among the elements of 
 home happiness. 
 
 (283) 
 
October 10. 
 
 Having therefore obtained the help that is from God, 
 I stand unto this day, — Acts xxvi. 22. 
 
 IT had been through nearly twenty-five years of 
 hard, toilsome life that the heroic old apostle 
 had stood, never giving up, never faltering in his 
 confession. But he takes no praise to himself. 
 The help came from God. 
 
 Many young people are afraid to set out on a 
 Christian life, fearing they will not be able to be 
 true to the end. Here is the word for all such ; 
 they will obtain help from God for every duty, for 
 every struggle, for every sorrow, which they must 
 endure. They need only to be faithful day by day, 
 doing the day's duty, and trusting God for grace. 
 The help will come silently, just as it is needed, 
 always grace sufficient, so that they will ever be 
 able to stand. 
 
 God never puts a burden upon us without giving 
 us the strength to carry it. The way to obtain help 
 from him is to go promptly forward in the way of 
 duty, asking for the help, and sure of getting it. It 
 will not come if we wait to get it before we set out 
 to obey. It will come only as we do God's will 
 moment by moment. 
 
 " A sacred burden is the life ye bear: 
 Look on it, lift it, bear it solemnly; 
 Stand up and walk beneath it steadfastly; 
 Fail not for sorrow, falter not for sin, 
 But onward, upward, till the goal ye win. ,, 
 
 (284) 
 
October 11. 
 
 That ye may be sincere and void of offence unto the 
 day of Christ, — Philippians i. 10. 
 
 SINCERE means without wax. Many people in 
 Rome's palmy, days lived in fine marble pal- 
 aces. Sometimes a dishonest workman, when there 
 was a piece chipped off a stone, would fill in the 
 chink with a kind of cement called wax, an imita- 
 tion of marble. For a time the deception would 
 not be discovered, but after a while the wax would 
 become discolored, thus revealing the defect. It 
 became necessary to put in contracts a clause stat- 
 ing that the work should be sine cera, without wax. 
 This is the origin of the word sincere. It means 
 that the life thus described is true through and 
 through. It makes no pretensions. It has noth- 
 ing to hide. 
 
 Insincerity in any form mars the beauty of life. 
 Unreal professions of friendship are to be guarded 
 against. So are over-statements of religious ex- 
 perience. We remember in what scathing words 
 our Lord denounced hypocrisy. This was the only 
 sin of which he did not speak with pity and com- 
 passion. So in many parts of the Scripture we 
 are cautioned against insincerity. We are to have 
 faith unfeigned. We are to have unfeigned love 
 of the brethren. We are to love without dissimu- 
 lation. Few things do more harm to the cause of 
 Christ than insincerity in those who profess to be 
 his friends. Sincerity gives influence and power 
 to life. 
 
 (285) 
 
October 12. 
 
 Bless the Lord, O my soul ; and all that is within 
 me, bless his holy name, — Psalm ciii. i. 
 
 EVERY part of our being should join in praising 
 God. The song of praise we sing should not 
 be a solo, or a duet, but a full chorus — the feel- 
 ings, affections, mental powers, tastes, desires, all 
 mingling in praise. 
 
 There are some who praise with their voice, but 
 not with their heart. Others give intellectual wor- 
 ship, while their affections are not engaged. Others 
 give emotional praise, but their will and conscience 
 do not join heartily in the song ; they have good 
 feelings, but lack in practical obedience. Some 
 sing missionary hymns with zest, but give nothing 
 to missionary work, or consecration hymns, and 
 then live for themselves. The true way is to rouse 
 every faculty, energy, power, and affection, to hearty, 
 enthusiastic, practical praise, — all that is within 
 us joining in glad and holy songfulness. 
 
 Oh, the little birds sang east, 
 And the little birds sang west; 
 And I said in underbreath, — 
 All our life is mixed with death, 
 And who knoweth which is best? 
 
 Oh, the little birds sang east, 
 And the little birds sang west; 
 And I smiled to think God's greatness 
 Flowed around our incompleteness, — 
 Round our restlessness, his rest. 
 
 E. B. Browning. 
 
 (286) 
 
October 13. 
 
 Blessed is that man that niaketh the Lord his trust. 
 — Psalm xl. 4. 
 
 THAT is not what the world says. It calls the 
 man blessed, or happy, who gets on in busi- 
 ness, who prospers and grows rich, or who rises to 
 power. It is along the paths to these places of dis- 
 tinction that the racers throng. There is no scram- 
 ble for the honors of sainthood. Not many people 
 envy the heroes of Christian faith. Yet as the 
 angels see this world, its highest seats are filled by 
 God's believing ones. If we study the beatitudes, 
 we shall learn who are really " blessed." If we 
 trace the word " blessed " through the Bible, we see 
 who come within the radiant circle. 
 
 The man that maketh the Lord his trust is 
 blessed. Why? He has been lifted out of the 
 horrible pit. His feet are on a rock that cannot 
 be shaken. He has a joy that nothing ever can 
 break. His trust is one that no storm or flood, no 
 financial panic, no bank failure, no defalcation, no 
 fire, no political defeat, can ever disturb. 
 
 Is it not worth while to have such a secure 
 blessedness ? No other trust is absolutely safe, 
 even in this life. Then what about the day of 
 death, and the judgment that comes after, and the 
 eternity ? We cannot leave out these stupendous 
 events when estimating what is best. It is not hard 
 to prove that none are really blessed sive those 
 whose trust is stayed on God. The question, how- 
 ever, is. Where is your trust ? Are you among the 
 blessed ? ( 2 g 7 ) 
 
October 14. 
 
 A good ?iame is rather to be chosen than great ?'iches, 
 and loving favor rather than silver a?id gold. — 
 Proverbs xxii. i. 
 
 WE cannot be too careful of our good name. 
 Many things, perhaps not morally wrong in 
 themselves, when seen by other and uncharitable 
 eyes may yet be construed to mean wrong-doing, 
 and may thus hurt one's good name. There is 
 need, too, of the most delicate moral sense in the 
 regulation of conduct, and the most careful inter- 
 pretation of duty, lest there be a lowering of tone 
 which shall permit of acts not in accord with the 
 perfect law of right. We cannot hold ourselves too 
 strictly to " whatsoever things are true, whatsoever 
 things are of good report." A name once tarnished 
 never can be made altogether bright again. 
 
 "The fleece that had been by the dyer stained 
 Never again its native whiteness gained." 
 
 How beautiful it is to be alive ! 
 To wake each morn as if the Maker's grace 
 Did us afresh from nothingness derive, 
 That we might sing, How happy is our case, 
 How beautiful it is to be alive ! 
 
 Thus ever, towards man's height of nobleness 
 Striving some new progression to contrive; 
 Till, just as any other friend's, we press 
 Death's hand; and having died feel none the less, 
 How beautiful it is to be alive. 
 
 H. S. Sutton. 
 
 (288) 
 
October 15. 
 
 Turn you at my reproof : behold, I will pour out 
 my spirit unto you, I will make know?i my words unto 
 you. — Proverbs i. 23. 
 
 AFTER repenting comes new divine anointing. 
 ±\_ The Holy Spirit will not enter or stay in a 
 heart that is cherishing sin. But when we turn 
 away from the wrong things, the Spirit will come 
 and live in us. 
 
 There is a great deal in the Bible about the con- 
 ditions on which divine things are revealed. "The 
 secret of the Lord is with them that fear him." 
 These words promise a very sweet confiding — even 
 God tells the secret things of his heart to his chil- 
 dren. The condition is, " with them that fear him/' 
 that is, reverence, honor, love, and obey him. We 
 have an illustration of this in God's dealing with 
 Abraham. "The Lord said, Shall I hide from 
 Abraham that which I do ? " Abraham was the 
 "friend of God/' and the secret of the Lord was 
 confided to him. 
 
 In our Lord's parting words to his disciples we 
 have the same truth : " No longer do I call you 
 servants : for the servant knoweth not what his lord 
 doeth ; but I have called you friends ; for all things 
 that I heard from my Father I have made known 
 unto you." 
 
 Again we have the condition of this confidence : 
 "Ye are my friends, if ye do the things which I 
 command you." If we would know divine things, 
 we must submit ourselves to divine guidance. 
 
 (289) 
 
October 16. 
 
 What seest thou ? — Zechariah iv. 2. 
 
 THE world is full of lovely things which only a 
 few people can see. A lady was looking 
 with Turner at some of his great pictures. " Why, 
 Mr. Turner," said the lady, "I cannot see those 
 things in nature." — " Don't you wish you could, 
 madam ? " asked the artist. Many people have 
 eyes, yet see nothing lovely in all the splendors of 
 earth, or sky, or sea. Well would it be if by the 
 side of every one an angel walked, saying continu- 
 ally, at every turn, " What seest thou ? " The world 
 is full of visions of loveliness for every one who 
 can see. Says Alice Cary : — 
 
 Thy works, O Lord, interpret thee, 
 And through them all thy love is shown; 
 Flowing about us like a sea, 
 Yet steadfast as the eternal throne. 
 
 Out of the light that runneth through 
 Thy hand, the lily's dress is spun; 
 Thine is the brightness of the dew, 
 And thine the glory of the sun. 
 
 Then in the Bible, too, there are wonderful things 
 on every page. Here, again, we should train our- 
 selves to ask, as our eyes fall on verse after verse, 
 "What seest thou?" If we had this habit well 
 formed, we should be ever coming upon new things. 
 Visions of divine loveliness would rise up continu- 
 ally before us, with their heavenly teachings, and 
 their inspirations toward loftier, nobler life. 
 
 (290) 
 
October 17. 
 
 For surely there is a reward ; and thy hope shall 
 not be cut off. — Proverbs xxiii. 18. 
 
 WHAT you see of the brilliance, the dash, and 
 the pleasure of sin, is only a cheat. Wait 
 till the end comes. " Sin, when it is finished, bring- 
 eth forth death." For a while a wicked man may 
 seem to prosper in his sin ; but there is a hereafter, 
 and sin will surely bring its harvest of curse and 
 death at last. Indeed, if we could see all, we should 
 find that even day by day the fruits of a good life 
 are far sweeter than those of sin. No godly young 
 man would envy his gay neighbor, if he could follow 
 him from his dissipation and revelling and see 
 the sickening sequel. 
 
 " Sorrow follows wrong, 
 As echo follows song." 
 
 The peace which comes to the heart of him who 
 lives after God's laws is a thousand times better 
 than the remorse which is the portion of the sinner. 
 There would be no envy if a Christian young man 
 could set the two lives side by side, and see them in 
 fair, honest light. One young man was placed in 
 unfortunate circumstances. Nearly all the young 
 men he knew drank. Would he go with them ? 
 He took a philosophical look at the older men 
 about him, and saw what drink had done for those 
 who had formed the drinking habit in their youth. 
 Then he looked at the men who had refused to 
 learn to drink. He made his choice. " Surely 
 there is a reward." 
 
 (291) 
 
October 18. 
 
 Their delectable things shall not profit. — Isaiah 
 xliv. 9. 
 
 " TAELECTABLE things," are the things in which 
 \J they took delight, — that is, their idols. 
 They bestowed honor upon them, prayed to them, 
 looked to them as gods. But these delectable things 
 could do nothing for them. We have it all in the 
 old psalm : — 
 
 Their idols are silver and gold, 
 
 The work of men's hands; 
 
 They have mouths, but they speak not; 
 
 Eyes have they, but they see not; 
 
 They have ears, but they hear not; 
 
 Noses have they, but they smell not; 
 
 They have hands, but they handle not; 
 
 Feet have they, but they walk not; 
 
 Neither speak they through their throat. 
 
 These idols could give no comfort in sorrow, no' 
 strength in weakness, no deliverance in danger. 
 Suppose you were an idol-worshiper, and had in 
 your house a beautiful god of gold. Then suppose 
 there was death in your family, or some other 
 trouble, in which you needed help that no human 
 friend could give you ; what could your idol do for 
 you? 
 
 No better than these idols are other worldly 
 trusts which men have — their money, for instance. 
 Suppose there is sorrow in a home of wealth, filled 
 with works of art and with fine furniture, and with- 
 out Christ ; what comfort can these delectable things 
 give? 
 
 (292) 
 
October 19. 
 
 Even to-day is my complaifit rebellions : my stroke is 
 heavier than my groaning. — Job xxiii. 2. 
 
 JOB does not mean that he was rebellious, but 
 that even with his submission to the divine 
 will, he could hardly keep his pain from breaking 
 out in cries. If we are God's children we should 
 bear even the greatest sufferings without complain- 
 ing. It may not always be possible to repress the 
 outcries of anguish ; but even if our complaint is too 
 full of pain to be altogether repressed, we should 
 not have in our heart any rebellious feeling toward 
 God. 
 
 An English writer tells of two birds, and how they 
 acted when put into a cage. One flew violently 
 against the wires of its prison, in unavailing efforts 
 to escape, only bruising its own breast and wings 
 in the struggle. The other perched itself on the 
 bar, and began to pour forth from its little throat 
 bursts of sweet song. We know well which bird 
 was the wiser, which had learned the truer way to 
 meet hard conditions. 
 
 Some people are like the starling ; when they are 
 in trouble they chafe, cry out, and complain. The 
 result is, they only hurt themselves, make them- 
 selves more miserable, and do not in any sense 
 lessen their trouble. It is wiser always, as well as 
 more pleasing to God, for us to bear our trials 
 patiently, singing songs of faith, rather than crying 
 in pain and discontent. Thus we take the bitter- 
 ness out of trial, making it sweet. 
 
 ( 2 93) 
 
October 20. 
 
 The childre?i of me?i take refuge imder the shadow of 
 thy wings. — Psalm xxxvi. 7, 
 
 UNDER God's wings is a blessed shelter into 
 which to flee when the world is cold. It is 
 a warm place into which to creep when the heart 
 is smitten with sorrows. It is when we are troubled 
 that we find these wings the softest. We call sor- 
 row a shadow, and we talk about the shadow falling 
 upon us and deepening until sometimes all the 
 light is obscured. Have you ever thought that it 
 is the shadow of God's wings that makes this dark- 
 ness ? It does not seem love's shadow — it seems 
 unkindness. But really it is love. God is never so 
 close to us as when we are in deepest sorrow. 
 
 As feeble babes that suffer, 
 
 Toss and cry and will not rest, 
 Are the ones the tender mother 
 
 Holds the closest, loves the best; 
 So when we are weak and wretched, 
 
 By our sins weighed down, distressed, 
 Then it is that God's great patience 
 
 Holds us closest, loves us best. 
 
 Oh, great heart of God ! whose loving 
 
 Cannot hindered be nor crossed, 
 Will not weary, will not even 
 
 In our death itself be lost; 
 Love divine ! of such great loving 
 
 Only mothers know the cost — 
 Cost of love, which, all love passing, 
 
 Gave a Son to save the lost. 
 
 Saxe Holm. 
 
 (294) 
 
October 21. 
 
 Let another man praise thee, and not thine own 
 mouth ; a stranger, and not thine own lips. — Prov- 
 erbs xxvii. 2. 
 
 WE would better not permit ourselves to talk 
 about ourselves. People do not want to hear 
 about you from your own lips. Though your good 
 deeds, your greatness, or your fine attainments do 
 not become known, what does it matter ? God 
 knows about them, and that is enough. One says 
 wisely, " Think as little as possible about any good 
 in yourself ; turn your eyes resolutely from any view 
 of your acquirements, your influence, your plans, 
 your success, your following — above all, speak as 
 little as possible about yourself. The inordinate- 
 ness of our self-love makes speech about ourselves 
 like the putting of a lighted torch to the dry wood 
 which has been laid in order for burning. Nothing 
 but duty should open our lips upon this dangerous 
 theme, except it be in humble confession of our sin- 
 fulness before God." 
 
 I who hear with secret shame, 
 Praise that paineth more than blame, 
 Rich alone in favors lent, 
 Virtuous by accident, 
 Doubtful where I fain would rest, 
 Frailest where I seem the best, 
 Only strong for lack of test, — 
 What am I, that I should press 
 Special pleas of selfishness, 
 Coolly mounting into heaven 
 On my neighbor unforgiven? 
 
 J. G. Whittier. 
 
 ( 2 95) 
 
October 22. 
 
 If thou seest the oppression of the poor . . . one 
 higher than the high regardeth. — Ecclesiastes v. 8. 
 
 IT is a comfort in a world where so many things 
 continually go wrong, to know that God regards 
 his people, and that he will surely in some way 
 bring justice out of injustice, good out of wrong. 
 He is always on the side of the oppressed, of the 
 weak, of those whom the strong would crush. We 
 naturally pity any person whom we see treated un- 
 fairly by others. Our hearts cry out against the 
 injustice, and yet we may be powerless to do any- 
 thing to set it right. Our comfort, however, is that 
 God sees all this wrong, and not only sees, but 
 cares, and in his own time and way will vindicate 
 the cause of those who are made the victims of the 
 cruelty of the strong. We may safely leave in his 
 hands the adjustment of the equities. 
 
 The vindication may not come in this world, but 
 the end of events is not here. Said Anne of Aus- 
 tria, Queen of France, to her bitter enemy, Cardi- 
 nal Richelieu, " My Lord Cardinal, there is one fact 
 that you seem to have entirely forgotten — God is 
 a sure paymaster. He may not pay at the end of 
 every week or month or year, but I charge you to 
 remember that he pays in the end." One of -the 
 strongest arguments for a future life is in this fact, 
 that in the present world full justice cannot always 
 be had. It takes an after-life to right earth's 
 wrongs. But we may be sure that they will all be 
 righted in the end. 
 
 (296) 
 
October 23. 
 
 The soul of the people was much discouraged because 
 of the way. — Numbers xxi. 4. 
 
 THERE are a great many discouraged people in 
 the world. They have lost heart, and when 
 one has lost heart, life is very hard ; the wheels roll 
 heavily. No doubt there are things in every one's 
 path that are discouraging. There are hardships 
 to endure. There are disappointments to suffer. 
 Hope fades out like the picture of the mirage, as 
 we hasten on to grasp them. We come up to the 
 very edge of brilliant expectations, when suddenly 
 our path is turned away backward. There are hos- 
 tile enemies, too, besetting all the way. No wonder 
 we are discouraged sometimes, if we look no higher 
 than the road at our feet. 
 
 Some of the reasons why a Christian should not 
 be discouraged by any hardness in the way are, be- 
 cause it is God's way, and he leads ; and because 
 the way leads to heaven, and we should be willing 
 to endure any hardships to reach such blessedness 
 as there waits for us. 
 
 Hand in hand with angels, 
 
 Through the world we go; 
 Brighter eyes are on us 
 
 Than we blind ones know; 
 Tenderer voices cheer us 
 
 Than we deaf will own; 
 Never, walking heavenward, 
 
 Can we walk alone. 
 
 Lucy Larcom. 
 
 (297) 
 
October 24. 
 
 For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but 
 the Lord will take me up. — Psalm xxvii. i o. 
 
 WE all know how much our father and mother 
 love us. It seems to us there never could 
 be a stronger love than theirs. No matter how 
 wickedly a son may act, the love in his father's and 
 mother's heart still continues tender and faithful. 
 Though all the world turn him out-of-doors, the 
 home door still stands open for him. But this word 
 tells us that even if parental love is worn out, and 
 parental patience exhausted, and the home door 
 shut in one's face, there is still a place in God's 
 heart and home for the outcast. This is the verse 
 for the man or the woman who has gone down to 
 the lowest depths of shame, till even his mother — 
 if this be possible — has given him up and shut him 
 out of her heart. God's love outlasts human love. 
 Then this is the orphan's verse. When God re- 
 moves father and mother, he himself takes up the 
 child in special love and care. Very desolate is the 
 world when both father and mother are gone. Life 
 is never the same again. There is no place to go 
 with the heart's hunger, and with the burden that is 
 too heavy. Yet God remains, and in the loss of 
 the human, there are first revealed, ofttimes, the 
 warmth, tenderness, faithfulness, and help of the 
 divine love. 
 
 If you fear, 
 Cast all your care on God: that anchor holds. 
 
 Tennyson. 
 
 (298) 
 
October 25. 
 
 Concerning which salvation the prophets sought . . . 
 which things angels desire to look into. — i Peter i. 
 
 IO, 12. 
 
 BOTH earth and heaven are intensely interested 
 in the great redeeming work of Christ. There 
 are wise men who are so busy in their researches 
 into little earthly matters, that they cannot get time 
 to study the things of the spiritual kingdom of God. 
 But nothing in this world so merits the thought, 
 study, and research of the wisest beings in the uni- 
 verse as Christ's work of redemption. 
 
 The interest of the angels in Christ's suffering as 
 the Redeemer is very beautiful. There is a picture 
 by Domenichino which represents the scene on Cal- 
 vary, on the evening after the Saviour's body had 
 been taken down and laid in the grave. The cross 
 is empty. An angel stands beside the crown of 
 thorns which lies there, feeling with the point of his 
 finger one of its sharp points. His face wears a 
 look of wonder. He is trying to find out the mean- 
 ing of suffering, but he cannot understand it nor 
 fathom its depth. 
 
 The artist's thought is, that to this angel the suf- 
 ferings of Christ were a great mystery which he was 
 trying to comprehend. The same thought is sug- 
 gested in the words, " which things the angels desire 
 to look into." Surely it is worth while to give 
 thought and attention to the wonderful things of 
 Christ's redemption, since even the angels find in 
 them mystery worthy of their deepest study. 
 
 ( 2 99) 
 
October 26. 
 
 Peace I leave with you ; my peace I give unto you. 
 — St. John xiv. 27. 
 
 TWO artists went out to paint each a picture 
 of peace. One painted a silvery lake em- 
 bosomed deep amid the hills, where no storm could 
 ever touch it — calm, sweet, quiet in its shelter. 
 The other painted a wild sea, swept by tempests, 
 strewn with wrecks, but rising out of the sea a 
 great rock, and in the rock, high up, a cleft, with 
 herbage and flowers amid which, on her nest, a. 
 dove was sitting. The latter is the true picture of 
 Christian peace. 
 
 Anybody can be confident when there is nothing 
 to disturb, no danger, no storm. Anybody can be 
 happy when there is no trouble, nothing to hurt or 
 vex. Anybody can be patient when there is noth- 
 ing to make one impatient. Any little lake can be 
 smooth and glassy when there is no wind to ruffle 
 it, or when it is hidden away within a wall of moun- 
 tains. But we want a religion which will help us 
 to have peace when the sorest trials are upon us. 
 How can we get this peace ? Only by hiding in 
 Christ. 
 
 " There is a point of rest 
 
 At the great centre of the cyclone's force, 
 A silence at its secret source; 
 A little child might slumber undisturbed, 
 Without the ruffle of one fairy curl, 
 In that strange, central calm, amid the mighty whirl." 
 
 (3°°) 
 
October 27. 
 
 I have learnea, i?i whatsoever state I atn, therein to 
 be content, — Philippians iv. 1 1. 
 
 CONTENTMENT depends upon the person, not 
 upon his circumstances. One is content, liv- 
 ing in the plainest way, with bare necessaries and 
 no luxuries, working hard and enduring many trials. 
 Another is discontented in a palace, with all the 
 comforts, delicacies, and ease that money can pro- 
 vide. The difference is in the hearts of the two 
 persons. The former has in himself all the re- 
 sources of contentment, and is not affected by 
 changes in his circumstances. The latter depends 
 entirely upon his circumstances for his content- 
 ment, and therefore is affected by every vicissitude. 
 
 O heart of mine, we shouldn't 
 
 Worry so. 
 What we have missed of calm we couldn't 
 
 Have you know. 
 What we've met of stormy pain 
 And of sorrow's driving rain, 
 We can better meet again 
 
 If it blow. 
 
 We have erred in that dark hour — 
 
 We have known. 
 When the tears fell from the shower 
 
 All alone, 
 Were not shine and shadow blent 
 As the gracious Master meant? 
 Let us temper our content 
 
 With his own. 
 
 James Whitcomb Riley. 
 
 (3 01 ) 
 
October 28. 
 
 What I do thou knowest not now ; but thou shalt 
 understand hereafter. — St. John xiii. 7. 
 
 AT this time Peter did not know why the Messiah 
 ±\_ he really needed was a Messiah with basin 
 and towel. He was thinking of a Messiah with 
 throne and crown and sceptre and earthly pomp. 
 He did not understand it until after the blood of 
 Calvary had been shed. Christ referred to these 
 days by " hereafter." 
 
 This saying of Christ, however, may be used in 
 a much wider sense. There are a great many 
 things he does which at the time we cannot under- 
 stand ; yet in due time all of them will become 
 clear. As they appear to us, while we are pass- 
 ing through them, they are unfinished acts ; when 
 the work is done it will appear beautiful. This is 
 especially true of many providences in our lives. 
 One time Jacob thought and said, " All these things 
 are against me ; " but he lived to see that the very 
 things he thought were against him were really all 
 working together for his good. 
 
 So it is always in the providences of God with 
 his own people. "We know that all things work 
 together for good to them that love God." The 
 tapestry weavers do their work on the reverse side, 
 looking at the ends and thrums, a mystery of tangle 
 and confusion, but not seeing the beautiful picture 
 they are making on the other side. So we are 
 weaving our lives largely on the reverse side. We 
 cannot see the Master's plan till afterward. 
 
 (3 02 ) 
 
October 29. 
 
 I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from 
 me. And he hath said unto me, My grace is sufficient 
 for thee. — 2 Corinthians xii. 8, 9. 
 
 MANY prayers that seem to be unanswered are 
 really answered. The blessing comes, but 
 in a form we do not recognize. Instead of the very 
 thing we sought, something better is given. The 
 burden is not lifted away, but we are sustained 
 beneath it. We are not spared the suffering, but 
 in the suffering we are brought nearer to God, and 
 receive more of his grace. The sorrow is not taken 
 away, but is changed to joy. Our ignorant prayers 
 are taken into the hands of the great Intercessor, 
 and are answered in ways far wiser than our thought, 
 — instead of earthly trifles, heavenly riches ; instead 
 of things which our poor wisdom sought, things 
 God's infinite wisdom chose for us; instead of pleas- 
 ure for a day, gain for eternity. 
 
 Sometime, when all life's lessons have been learned, 
 
 And sun and stars forevermore have set, 
 The things which our weak judgment here had spurned, 
 
 The things o'er which we grieved with lashes wet, 
 Will flash before us out of life's dark night, 
 
 As stars shine most in deeper tints of blue ; 
 And we shall see how all God's plans are right, 
 
 And how what seemed reproof was love most true ; 
 And we shall see how, while we frown and sigh, 
 
 God's plans go on as best for you and me; 
 How when we called he heeded not our cry, 
 
 Because his wisdom to the end could see. 
 
 May Riley Smith. 
 
 (303) 
 
October 30. 
 
 Let us have peace with God through our Lord Jesus 
 Christ. — Romans v. i. 
 
 PEACE is a favorite word with St. Paul. His 
 life was full of suffering, care, toil, and trial ; 
 yet his epistles are starred all over with the bright 
 word peace. He speaks of different kinds of peace. 
 Here it is " peace with God." This means the 
 consciousness of reconciliation with God. Sin sep- 
 arates us from God. While the feeling of guilt is 
 in the heart there is no peace. We cannot look 
 into God's face. But when we have repented of 
 our sins, and have confessed them, and received 
 God's forgiveness through Jesus Christ, we have 
 peace with God. 
 
 St. Paul speaks elsewhere of "the peace of God." 
 Writing from a prison, he exhorted his friends to 
 be anxious for nothing, but to make all their cares 
 known to God; and then, he said, the peace of 
 God would keep their hearts and minds in Christ 
 Jesus. This is a step farther than peace with God. 
 It is the peace which holds the heart quiet and still 
 in the midst of whatsoever things are hard and try- 
 ing in this world. It comes from resting in God's 
 love, and leaving all tangled things in his hands. 
 Christ promised the same peace when he said, 
 " Peace I leave with you ; my peace I give unto 
 you." Peace is named as one of the fruits of the 
 Spirit. It comes, therefore, through having the 
 Holy Spirit in our heart, and is not an earthly 
 attainment. 
 
 (3°4) 
 
October 31. 
 
 That he may incline our hearts imto him, to walk 
 in all his ways. — i Kings viii. 58. 
 
 WE must be obedient and faithful, else we for- 
 feit the divine promises. We are " prone 
 to wander" from God; our hearts are deceitful and 
 incline to lead us away. Hence this prayer is a 
 fit one to be always on our lips — that God may 
 incline our hearts unto him, to walk in all his ways, 
 to keep his commandments. We are charged to 
 keep our heart with all diligence. The heart is the 
 fountain of all motive and action, and therefore 
 it must be under constant guard. We in our weak- 
 ness cannot keep it ourselves, and hence the need 
 of divine keeping. 
 
 Fe'nelon's prayer was, " Lord take my heart, for 
 I cannot give it to thee ; and when thou hast it, 
 oh, keep it, for I cannot keep it for thee ; and save 
 me in spite of myself, for Jesus Christ's sake. 
 Amen." This is a good daily prayer for any of us. 
 God will never compel us to be good and obedient ; 
 but he will grant to us the grace of his Holy Spirit, 
 if we ask for it, and will incline us, draw us, help 
 us. We need, therefore, to pray continually to him 
 to throw over us the mystic influence of his Spirit 
 that we may seek to walk in God's ways. 
 
 I thirst for springs of heavenly life, 
 
 And here all day they rise ; 
 I seek the treasure of thy love, 
 
 And close at hand it lies. 
 
 A. L. Waring. 
 
 (305) 
 
November 1. 
 
 Let ?wt the sun go dow?i upon you?' wrath. — Ephe- 
 sians iv. 26. 
 
 IT is well for us to have horizons which cut oil 
 our life for the time, as if it were ended. These 
 temporary endings keep us thoughtful and mindful 
 of the final ending, after which will come no begin- 
 ning again in this world. Evening puts an end 
 to life's work for a season. We leave the plough 
 standing in the furrrow, the hammer lying by the 
 anvil, the axe resting against the root of the tree. 
 We shut the door of the mill or office and go home. 
 Our work is done for the day, and we may never 
 take it up again. Every setting of the sun should 
 therefore be a testing of life. Everything should 
 be finished as if it were the ending of all. 
 
 Especially should the hour of evening, when we 
 bow at God's feet, be always a time for setting 
 right all that may have gone wrong in us during 
 the day. Then every feeling of bitterness should 
 be cast out of our heart. Life is too critical for 
 us to venture into any night's darkness and sleep, 
 cherishing anger or envy. M Let not the sun go 
 down upon your wrath " is a wise counsel. 
 
 " Life is too short for hate — 
 
 We mingle here but one brief day — 
 Too brief for what we meant to say, 
 When it is all too late. 
 
 Life is too short for hate: 
 The tree is green that soon shall wave 
 Its leafy plumes above the grave 
 In that relentless stale." 
 
 (3°*) 
 
November 2. 
 
 Paul said . . . Except these abide in the ship ye 
 cannot be saved. — Acts xxvii. 31. 
 
 THE sailors were needed to help save the lives 
 of the passengers. Yet Paul had said before 
 that there should be no loss of life. He had re- 
 ceived this assurance from the angel of God. If 
 it was God's purpose that no life should perish, why 
 did Paul say that unless the seamen stood at their 
 posts and continued to attend to their duties, the 
 passengers could not be saved ? Was God's prom- 
 ise dependent on a few heathen boatmen ? 
 
 The divine assurance did not do away with the use 
 of all proper means for securing deliverance. We 
 are not to sit down and do nothing when we find a 
 promise of God ; we are rather to do our whole duty, 
 as if the fulfilment of the promise depended alto- 
 gether upon us. There is no real conflict between 
 the truths that God has a plan which extends to all 
 things, and that men are free in their choice and 
 responsible for their acts. Theology may find it im- 
 possible to harmonize the two, but common-sense ac- 
 cepts both, and does not worry about the harmonizing. 
 
 It is clear that the working out of God's purposes 
 depends upon human faithfulness to duty, and that 
 God's purpose of deliverance for us may and will 
 fail unless we do our part. There is no excuse, 
 therefore, for inaction in the assurance that God 
 plans for our good ; the plan will not be carried out 
 unless we work it out for ourselves. Every divine 
 purpose depends on human fidelity. 
 
 (307) 
 
November 3. 
 
 Casting- off the anchors, they left them in the sea, — 
 Acts xxvii. 40. 
 
 ANYTHING that hinders our getting to heaven 
 . we should resolutely sacrifice. An illustra- 
 tion of this is the flight of Cortez, on that fearful 
 night when the Aztecs compelled the invaders to 
 escape for their lives. The vast masses of gold 
 that had been accumulated were more than could 
 be carried away, as each soldier would have to fight 
 his way through. The men were allowed to take 
 what they would, but the commander warned them 
 against overloading. " For," said he, " he travels 
 safest in the dark night who travels lightest. " The 
 more cautious men heeded the advice so given, but 
 others were less self-restrained. Some bound heavy 
 chains of gold about their neck and shoulders, some 
 filled their wallets with the bulky ingots till they 
 literally staggered under their burden. 
 
 The experience of the conflict that ensued dem- 
 onstrated the wisdom of the advice given by the 
 commander, and the folly of those who failed to 
 heed it ; for all such became an easy prey to the 
 lances of the Aztecs. To save life all else had to 
 be abandoned ; and that night poverty itself was 
 the greatest riches. 
 
 We ought to see whether there is anything keep- 
 ing us away from Christ or hindering our faithful- 
 ness and devotion ; and if we find that there is any- 
 thing, no matter how dear it is to us, we should 
 cut it off or cast it away. 
 
 (308) 
 
November 4. 
 
 He that is unrighteous in a very little is unrighteous 
 also in much. — St. Luke xvi. 10. 
 
 WE are apt to under-estimate little failures in 
 duty. It seems to us a small matter that we 
 do not keep an engagement, that we lose our tem- 
 per and say an impatient or angry word, that we 
 show an unkind or disobliging spirit, that we allow 
 ourselves to speak uncharitably of another, that we 
 treat some one with discourtesy, or fail in some 
 other way that appears trivial. So long as we are 
 honest, faithful, and loving in a larger way, we think 
 it of small moment that we make little slips. 
 
 But we never can tell what may be the conse- 
 quences of failure in even the most minute duty. 
 It hurts our own life. It leaves us a little weaker 
 in our character, a little less able to resist the next 
 temptation that comes at the same point. It breaks 
 our habit of faithfulness, and makes it easier for us 
 to break it a second time. We sin against ourselves 
 when we relax our diligence or our faithfulness in 
 even the least thing. Then we know not what the 
 consequences to others will be when we fail in their 
 presence. An outburst of temper in a Christian 
 has been known to set back indefinitely the accept- 
 ance of Christ by one who was trying to begin a 
 Christian life. The failure of a Christian minister 
 to pay a little debt to a man not a Christian but 
 interested in religion, destroyed the minister's in- 
 fluence over the man, and drove him back into the 
 world. 
 
 (3°9) 
 
November 5. 
 
 Work not for the meat which perisheth, but for the 
 meat which abideth unto eternal life. — St. John 
 vi. 27. 
 
 WE need to be continually reminded of the un- 
 satisfying nature of the things of this world, 
 and exhorted to seek the real things in life. We 
 live in a material age, when the quest of men is for 
 money, for power, for things of the earth. Bunyan 
 gives a picture of a man with a muck-rake, working 
 hard, scraping up the rubbish under his feet, not 
 seeing the crown that hangs in the air above his 
 head. It is a picture of the great majority of the 
 people in this world. They are wearing out their 
 life in gathering rubbish out of the dust, not think- 
 ing of the heavenly treasures, the divine and im- 
 perishable gifts, which they might have with half 
 the toil and care. 
 
 " Bubbles we buy with a whole soul's tasking ; 
 
 'Tis heaven alone that is given away, 
 
 'Tis only God may be had for the asking." 
 
 We ought not to spend our life in picking up 
 things which we cannot carry beyond the grave. If 
 we are wise we will seek rather to gather treasures 
 and riches which we can take with us into eternity. 
 Whatever we build into our character, we shall 
 possess forever. Money which we spend in doing 
 good, in Christ's name, we lay up as safe and se- 
 cure treasure in heaven. All true service for Christ 
 stores up rewards for us in the future. What we 
 keep we lose ; what we give in love we keep. 
 
 (3 IQ ) 
 
November 6. 
 
 I will bless them that bless thee, and him that curseth 
 thee will I curse. — Genesis xiL 3. 
 
 IT is wonderful how God makes common cause 
 with his people in this world. They represent 
 him wherever they are, and the things that are done 
 to them God regards as done to himself. It is a 
 perilous thing to lift a hand against any of God's 
 people, for he who does so lifts his hand against 
 God. Christ says the same of his relation to his 
 friends. To harm a Christian is to harm his Mas- 
 ter. To neglect a suffering Christian is the same 
 as if Christ himself were suffering and we neglected 
 him. 
 
 We need to beware that we never do injury of 
 any kind to any of Christ's little ones. On the 
 other hand, all kindness shown to a friend of Christ 
 is shown as to Christ himself, and is rewarded ac- 
 cordingly. Even the giving of a cup of cold water 
 to a disciple of his, in his name, does not go with- 
 out reward. Surely it is worth while to be a Chris- 
 tian, to have such divine friendship, to have God 
 on our side to defend us and to make common 
 cause with us. 
 
 The spirit's cry 
 Is all for thee, O Lord unseen, 
 To fill the need that hath not been 
 By any human passion filled, 
 By any human giving stilled; 
 For thee, — for only thee, its cry, 
 O Love supreme, to satisfy ! 
 
 Mary Clemmer Ames, 
 
 (3") 
 
November 7. 
 
 I said, I will confess my transgressions anto the 
 Lord ; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. — 
 Psalm xxxii. 5. 
 
 UNCONFESSED sins are unforgiven sins, and 
 unforgiven sins make bitterness. It is writ- 
 ten in the old psalm : — 
 
 When I kept silence, my bones waxed old 
 
 Through my roaring all the day long, 
 
 For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me : 
 
 My moisture was changed as with the drought of summer. 
 
 But the moment he made confession, back on the 
 echo of his prayer of penitence came the assur- 
 ance of pardon, — u I have sinned ; " " The Lord 
 hath also put away thy sin." 
 
 That is always the way. God loves to forgive. 
 The instant he hears the voice of penitence he 
 speaks the word of remission. So we learn the 
 only way to get clear of our sins — we must put 
 them out of our heart, by sincere and humble con- 
 fession. Then they will trouble us no more forever. 
 
 Some people try to flee from their sins, but they 
 can never get away from them. Their sins are a 
 part of themselves. Some people try to hide from 
 God when they have sinned, but this also is a vain 
 effort. Adam and Eve tried this, hiding in the 
 garden after their transgression, when they heard 
 the footsteps of God approaching. The only safe 
 flight from sin and from God is to God. In his 
 mercy there is secure and eternal refuge. 
 
 (3 12 ) 
 
November 8. 
 
 My son, if thine heart be wise, my heart shall be 
 glad, even mine, — Proverbs xxiii. 15. 
 
 EVERY true father is affectionately interested 
 in the lives of his children. His own joy, in 
 later years, depends largely upon the way they live. 
 He is made very happy by seeing them make some- 
 thing noble and worthy of their lives, and living 
 honorably and righteously among men. 
 
 Notice here, also, the place of the heart in the 
 making of the life. We are never better than our 
 own heart. If our heart be evil, full of wrong 
 thoughts, dispositions, and tempers, our character 
 cannot be lovely and winning. " Beautiful thoughts 
 make a beautiful soul." As we think in our heart 
 so we are. 
 
 There is a thought here for parents. If they 
 would have happiness in seeing their children live 
 beautiful lives, they must do more than give them 
 good and wise counsels. Solomon was splendid 
 at advising. His words are full of wisdom. If 
 followed faithfully they will build into a life what- 
 soever things are true, whatsoever things are pure, 
 whatsoever things are lovely. But we know how 
 Solomon lived. It is little wonder that his son did 
 not turn out well. Other parents need to guard 
 against the same fatal mistake. No matter how 
 well they may advise, if they do not themselves live 
 godly lives, they will probably draw their children 
 with them to ruin. They cannot by good advice 
 overcome the force of bad example. 
 
 (3*3) 
 
November 9. 
 
 Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art 
 thou disquieted within me? — Psalm xlii. n. 
 
 NO spirit is more fruitful of discomfort than that 
 of habitual complaining. It makes misery in 
 him who indulges it and in those who suffer from 
 contact with it. The complaining man is never 
 happy himself. Indeed, he strives not to be happy, 
 since in whatever circumstances he finds himself 
 he at once sets about trying to discover something 
 unpleasant. Of course he never seeks in vain ; for 
 people find in this world what they look for. It 
 would not be so bad, if he made only himself 
 miserable, but he succeeds also in imparting more 
 or less of his wretchedness to all he meets. It is 
 about as poor a use of one's immortal powers as 
 one can find, to live to grumble and thus add to 
 the unhappiness of others. 
 
 O thou of dark forebodings drear, 
 O thou of such a faithless heart, 
 Hast thou forgotten what thou art, 
 
 That thou hast ventured so to fear? 
 
 No weed on ocean's bosom cast, 
 Borne by its never-resting foam 
 This way and that, without a home, 
 
 Till flung on some bleak shore at last. 
 
 But thou the lotus, which above, 
 
 Swayed here and there by wind and tide, 
 Yet still below doth fixed abide, — 
 
 Fast rooted in the Eternal Love. 
 
 R. C. Trench. 
 
 (314) 
 
November 10. 
 
 What can David say more unto thee ? for thou know- 
 est thy servant, O Lord God. — 2 Samuel vii. 20. 
 
 WHO has not felt in prayer the utter inadequacy 
 of speech to express his heart's deep long- 
 ings ? We try to tell God of our sorrow for sin, our 
 hunger after righteousness ; but we can tell him 
 only the merest fraction of what we feel. Words 
 are never large enough for thought. No poet ever 
 gets into his lines the whole of the vision of beauty 
 which floats before his soul. No true orator ever 
 finds sentences majestic enough to express the 
 sentiments that burn in his breast. Deep, pure 
 love is never able to put into language its most 
 sacred feelings. It is only the commonplace of the 
 inner life that can be interpreted in words. There 
 is always more that lies back unexpressed than is 
 uttered in speech. 
 
 In one of St. Paul's epistles there is a wonderful 
 word which shows how God understands our un- 
 expressed prayers. "Unto him that is able to do 
 exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or 
 think." God is able to answer prayer, not only 
 beyond what we can express, but even beyond what 
 we can think. He knows our deepest and most 
 sacred feelings. Even the hungers of our heart, 
 the longings of our soul, he understands. We need 
 not fret because we cannot tell God all that we feel 
 or desire. He reads all that is within our heart, 
 and answers not our mere words, but our yearnings, 
 our longings. 
 
 (315) 
 
November 11. 
 
 What tneaneth then this bleating of the sheep . . . 
 which I hear ? — i Samuel xv. 14. 
 
 SIN is hard to hide. We may think that we have 
 covered up our disobediences so that detec- 
 tion shall be impossible ; but suddenly something 
 tears away the covering, and they are exposed to 
 the gaze of the world. A man carries on a series 
 of dishonesties through a series of years, and covers 
 them up by expert bookkeeping, thinking he is 
 safe. But some morning he is startled to find that 
 the stolen sheep have been bleating, and the pur- 
 loined oxen have been lowing, and all the world 
 knows of his peculations or embezzlements. 
 
 It is the nature of sheep to bleat and oxen to low, 
 and they have not sense enough to keep quiet when 
 they are expected to. Indeed, they are almost sure 
 to make a noise and reveal their whereabouts just 
 when they are depended on to keep perfectly still. 
 It is the same with sin. It is a poor friend to a 
 man. It professes well when it is offering its soli- 
 citations, but when it has been committed it is a 
 poor confidant. It cannot keep a secret. It is sure 
 at some time to betray the man who depends upon 
 it for prudent silence. 
 
 In most of our lives there are some bleating sheep 
 and lowing oxen, — faults, evil habits, blemishes of 
 character, tendencies or idiosyncrasies, which tell 
 the story of the imperfectness of our obedience, 
 things which we would not want even our nearest 
 friend to know. 
 
 (316) 
 
November 12. 
 
 I delight to do thy will. — Psalm xl. 8. 
 
 THAT is consecration. All ambition should start 
 and end there. Duty is simple obedience. 
 The highest thing possible in this world for any- 
 life is what God would make out of it. The Koran 
 tells of the sending of Gabriel to the earth to keep 
 Solomon from sinning ; at the same time he was 
 bidden to help a little toiling ant that could not 
 get home with its burden. And the mighty angel 
 did both errands with equal alacrity and gladness. 
 Nothing is small if it be God's will for us for the 
 moment. Nothing is great, however brilliant in 
 men's eyes, if it be not God's will. Here should 
 be our life motto, " I delight to do thy will." 
 Since Christ himself filled his life with such loving 
 devotion to his Father's will, it should be our 
 highest joy to do the same. 
 
 " A lesson, Lord, those eighteen years to me; 
 Not elsewhere could I so divinely learn 
 That humble tasks are best, howe'er I yearn 
 
 For higher sphere where I may work more free. 
 
 Blest were those patient, toiling years to thee, 
 Their secret kept within thy lonely heart, 
 While thou wast trained by daily skill of art 
 
 To build new world for human destiny. 
 
 Thy Future was the Now. 'Twas from its height 
 Thine eye read meanings in the passing day. 
 If cross of death cast shadows on thy way, 
 
 What sun was that so darkened in his light? 
 O Nazarene, out of these toils there came 
 That which we prize most dear, — a brother's name ! " 
 
 (317) 
 
November 13. 
 
 And the people were as murmurers, speaking evil in 
 the ears of the Lord : and when the Lord heard it, his 
 anger was kifidled. — Numbers xi. i. 
 
 THERE are people who can speak of little else 
 but the unpleasant things in their own experi- 
 ence. If you ask them about their health, or even 
 unfortunately put your salutation in the form of 
 " How do you do ? " you get as an answer a descrip- 
 tion of many ills and infirmities to which they 
 are subject, instead of any cheerful reciprocating 
 of your greeting. All their ordinary conversation 
 is filled with dolorous rehearsals of discouraging 
 things. They have keen eyes for the unpleasant 
 happenings and never fail to mention them to 
 others. 
 
 We all have troubles — things in our daily per- 
 sonal life that are vexing and annoying, sometimes 
 things that are painful and burdensome. But we 
 should not talk about them. We have no right to 
 scatter our briers and thorns about us so that 
 others' feet may be torn by them. It does us no 
 good, and it does others immeasurable harm. 
 
 Silence about ourselves should be a rule almost 
 without exception. Especially should the rule never 
 to complain be an absolute one. No matter how 
 poorly we have rested through the night, we need 
 not tell the whole family about it at breakfast. 
 Patient bearing of the portion of life's ills that 
 comes to us is the characteristic of ideal Christian 
 faith. 
 
 (3iS) 
 
November 14. 
 
 And straightway he constrained the disciples to get 
 into the ship. — St. Matthew xiv. 22. 
 
 EVEN when Christ sends us out we may encoun- 
 ter storms. It was so here ; the disciples were 
 sent out by their Master, even constrained by him 
 to go upon the sea, and yet a terrific storm arose. 
 We must not expect that when we begin to obey 
 Christ we shall have all favoring breezes. We 
 must not conclude, whenever we find obstacles or 
 hindrances in anything we have undertaken, that 
 we are not doing right, and that these difficulties 
 are providential indications that we ought not to 
 proceed in the course. They are providential ; but 
 they may have a different mission altogether — to 
 inspire us to stronger faith and greater endeavor. 
 Jesus sent his disciples out alone ; but in all 
 their life they had few more profitable experiences, 
 though the night was one of such terror. They 
 knew their need of Christ after that experience 
 better than ever before. Then they had a new 
 revelation of Christ's power and glory which they 
 never could have had if he had not stayed behind 
 and then come to them on the waves. We do not 
 see Christ's cross until we are left in the night of 
 conviction. We can never understand the sweet- 
 ness of the divine comfort if we never have sorrow. 
 So it may be a blessing for us sometimes even to 
 go alone a little way, to learn lessons we could 
 never learn with Christ beside us. We can at least 
 learn our need of him. 
 
 (3*9) 
 
November 15. 
 
 To obey is better than sacrifice, — i Samuel xv. 22. 
 
 MANY people set a great deal more stress on 
 religious ceremonials than upon practical 
 obedience. They will be faithful in attendance 
 upon church services, devout and reverent in wor- 
 ship, and yet in their daily life they will disregard 
 the plain commandments of God. They fill the 
 week with selfishness, pride, bitterness, and evil- 
 speaking, and then come on the Sabbath, with 
 great show of devotion, to engage in the worship 
 of God. 
 
 But what God desires before our worship can be 
 acceptable is that we do what he commands us. 
 He bids us to love one another, to be unselfish, 
 patient, kind, honest, pure, true ; and unless we 
 obey these commands, the worship, no matter how 
 conspicuous, how costly, how seemingly devout and 
 reverent, is not acceptable. 
 
 There are many other phases of the truth. It is 
 exact obedience, and not something else of our 
 own substituted, that God desires. When he tells 
 a mother to care for her child, he is not satisfied if 
 she neglect that duty to write a book or look after a 
 sick woman. When God wants a man to help a 
 poor family in some obscure street, he is not satisfied 
 if instead of that lowly service the man does some 
 brilliant thing that seems to bring ten times as 
 much honor to the Lord. The supreme thing in 
 Christian life is to obey God ; without obedience 
 nothing else counts. The obedience must also be 
 exact, just what God commands, not something else. 
 
 (320) 
 
November 16. 
 
 He put forth his hand, a?id took her, and brought 
 her in unto him into the ark. — Genesis viii. 9. 
 
 ONE night in a home by the sea, the family sat 
 around the evening lamp. Within, all was 
 peace ; without, however, the storm was wild. Rain 
 and sleet beat against the windows. During the 
 evening, one of the group heard a strange fluttering 
 outside one of the windows. Making careful ex- 
 amination, it was found that there was a little bird 
 flapping its wings against the pane. It had been 
 caught in the storm, and was unable to find shelter. 
 The light in the window had attracted it, and there 
 it was beating against the glass. Quickly the win- 
 dow was opened, and the little thing flew in, drenched 
 and faint, but happy and safe. Inside it found 
 shelter, light, warmth, and food. 
 
 Often there are lives among us like the bird — 
 caught in earth's storms, swept by temptation, by 
 sorrow, or by passion ; defeated, weary, with no 
 shelter. For all such the only refuge is in the 
 heart of God, under the shadow of the wings of 
 divine love. There the weary spirit finds all it 
 craves of refuge, love, warmth, joy, and satisfaction. 
 Flying to the window of the divine ark, a strong, 
 gentle hand draws it in. 
 
 " Under the shadow of thy wing 
 
 I'll make my refuge, till the cares and fears 
 Of life are past : then through its tears 
 For joy my soul shall sing." 
 
 (321) 
 
November 17. 
 
 Hannah went not up ; for she said unto her hus- 
 band, I will not go up until the child be weaned, and 
 then I will bring him. — i Samuel i. 22. 
 
 JUST at this time her religious duties were at 
 home. Her child required her attention, and 
 she believed that she was worshiping God accept- 
 ably in staying at Ramah and mothering her boy. 
 No doubt she was right. A mother's first duties 
 are to her children. No amount of public religious 
 service will atone for neglect of her sacred home 
 tasks. She may attend Dorcas meetings and mis- 
 sionary services, do good work among the poor, 
 and carry blessings to many a sorrowful home ; but 
 if she fails meanwhile to look after her own chil- 
 dren, she can scarcely claim to have been a suc- 
 cessful worker. 
 
 A mother's first duty is to bring up her children 
 for God. Whatever she can do for others after that 
 will be acceptable. Many things must be crowded 
 out of every earnest life, things that are good and 
 desirable in themselves. No one can do everything 
 that needs to be done, and we must select the things 
 we shall do. But it will be a sad thing if a mother 
 allows the proper care of her own children to be 
 crowded out of her life by the appeals on behalf of 
 other people's children, the calls for public service 
 however important, or the cries of any other human 
 needs in the world. These outside duties may be 
 hers in some measure, but the duties of the home 
 are hers and no other's. 
 
 (322) 
 
November 18. 
 
 I am in a strait betwixt the two, having the desire 
 to depart, and be with Christ ; for it is very far better : 
 yet to abide in the flesh is more needful for your 
 sake. — Philippians i. 23, 24. 
 
 TWO desires draw upon our hearts if we are liv- 
 ing in this world as citizens of heaven. The 
 heavenly life woos us with its visions of bliss, its 
 face to face with Christ, its tearless joy, its disin- 
 thrallment, its realizations of holy hopes. At the 
 same time, earth has its strong hold upon us. It is 
 natural to want to live — any other desire in ordi- 
 nary conditions is unwholesome. Human affections 
 form a network of chains binding us to this life. 
 So we are all held " betwixt the two." When one 
 of the Cary sisters died, the other wrote : — 
 
 Strange, strange for thee and me, 
 
 Sadly afar; 
 Thou safe beyond, above, 
 
 I 'neath the star; 
 Thou where flowers deathless spring, 
 
 I where they fade; 
 Thou in God's Paradise, 
 
 I 'mid time's shade ! 
 
 Thou in eternal peace, 
 
 I 'mid earth's strife; 
 Thou where care hath no name, 
 
 I where 'tis life; 
 Thou without need of hope, 
 
 I where 'tis vain; 
 Thou with wings dropping light, 
 
 I with time's chain. 
 
 (323) 
 
November 19; 
 
 I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision. — 
 Acts xxvi. 19. 
 
 DR. DODDRIDGE, in his life of Colonel Gardi- 
 ner, describes the conversion of this soldier. 
 He was waiting near midnight, the hour fixed for 
 a sinful meeting with another, and was carelessly 
 turning over the pages of a religious book, when 
 suddenly he saw before him, vivid and clear, the 
 form of the Redeemer on the cross, and heard him 
 speak : " All this have I done for thee ; and is this 
 thy return? " Like Paul, he was not disobedient to 
 the heavenly vision, but from that moment turned 
 and followed Christ. 
 
 That is what every one of us should do ; when 
 we see Christ and hear his voice, we should straight- 
 way leave all and go after him. Not only at the 
 beginning, but all the way through life God sends 
 us visions to guide us. Every time we see in a 
 verse of Scripture a glimpse of some beautiful thing 
 commended, it is a heavenly vision given to lead us 
 to the beauty it shows. 
 
 Every fragment of loveliness we see in a human 
 life is a heavenly vision sent to woo us upward. 
 Wherever we see beauty which attracts us, and kin- 
 dles in us desires and aspirations for higher attain- 
 ments, it is a vision from God, whose mission is to 
 call us to a higher life. We should make sure that 
 we do not prove disobedient to any heavenly vision, 
 but that we follow every one as an angel sent from 
 heaven to woo us nearer God. 
 
 ^-0 
 
November 20. 
 
 The fashio7i of his countenance was altered. — St. 
 Luke ix. 29. 
 
 ARTISTS put a halo about Christ's face in their 
 ._ pictures, but there was no visible halo on the 
 face men saw as he walked about and did his 
 works of love. Now, however, for a little while the 
 glory broke through his flesh and the disciples saw 
 it. It must have been an experience of great joy 
 to Jesus. That mountain-top reached into heaven 
 that night ; and he climbed up out of the mists 
 and shadows and stood in his native glory for a 
 little while, to be refreshed by the ministry of the 
 heavenly visitants for his dark way of sorrow. 
 
 An Alpine traveller tells of climbing one of the 
 mountains in a dense, dripping fog, and standing at 
 last in the clear air, under a cloudless sky. In the 
 valley below him lay the fog like an ocean of white 
 vapor, and he could hear the chiming of bells, the 
 lowing of cattle, and the sounds of labor coming up 
 from the villages that were hidden beneath. Now 
 and then a bird would dart up out of the mist, fly 
 about a little while in the joyous sunshine, sing a 
 few notes of sweet song, and then fly down again 
 and disappear. What this brief time of radiance 
 was to the bird, the transfiguration was to our Lord. 
 His earthly life was spent in the valley, beneath 
 the clouds of suffering and sorrow ; now for once 
 he climbed up above the mists into the glory of 
 heaven, bathed his soul in its brightness, heard the 
 converse of messengers from his home. 
 
 (325) 
 
November 21. 
 
 He entered and was passing through Jericho. — St. 
 Luke xix. i. 
 
 JESUS had never been in Jericho before, and he 
 never came there again. He was now on his 
 last journey, and in a few days he was dead. Hence 
 this was the only chance the people there ever had 
 of receiving blessings from him. If any sufferers 
 neglected to seek for help just that one day, they 
 never had another chance. 
 
 Think what that passing hour was in the history 
 of the old city. Some caught a blessing at Christ's 
 hand as he went by, and they must ever after have 
 remembered with gratitude the face that shone upon 
 them and the eyes that looked into theirs. But 
 there must have been many who did not seize the 
 opportunity and were left unblessed. 
 
 Christ is ever passing by. He may come again 
 — he does continually come again ; but he is ever 
 moving, and the blessing we would get from him 
 at any time we must get as he passes. All the days 
 seem alike as they come to us ; but each day comes 
 with its own opportunities, its own calls to duty, its 
 own privileges, holding out hands offering us radi- 
 ant gifts. The day passes, and never comes again. 
 Other days as bright may come, but that day never 
 comes a second time. If we do not take just then 
 the gifts it offers, we shall never have another 
 chance to get them, and shall always be poorer for 
 what we have missed. We need to be alert to take 
 quickly from each day the blessing it brings. 
 
 (326) 
 
November 22. 
 
 What shall I do that I may inherit eternal life ? — 
 St. Mark x. 17. 
 
 ETERNAL life is the only thing worth living for. 
 No matter how much pleasure, or how great 
 success, or how high honor, one may gain in this 
 world, if at the end of threescore years a man 
 passes into eternity unsaved, of what comfort to 
 him will it be to remember his pleasant life on this 
 earth ? 
 
 A rich man failed in business. When he had 
 gathered together the fragments of his wrecked 
 fortune he had in all a few thousand dollars. He 
 determined to go to another part of the country to 
 start again. He took all his money, and had built 
 for himself a splendid car, furnishing it in the most 
 luxurious style, and stocking it with provisions for 
 his journey. In this sumptuous car he travelled to 
 his destination. At length he stepped from the 
 door of his rolling palace, and only then thought 
 for the first time of his great folly. He had used 
 the last cent of his money in getting in this mag- 
 nificent way to his new home, and had nothing on 
 which to begin life anew. 
 
 This illustrates the folly of those who think only 
 of this life, and make no provision for eternity. 
 They use up all their time, their opportunities, their 
 life's strength, in getting to the gate of the grave, 
 and find themselves forced to begin eternity with 
 nothing, no treasure laid up. The only true success 
 is that which makes a man rich for eternity. 
 
 (3 2 7) 
 
November 23. 
 
 Except ye turn, and becot?ie as little children, ye shall 
 in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven. — St. 
 Matthew xviii. 3. 
 
 OUR great Teacher spoke strong words when he 
 said that only those who become as little 
 children can enter into the kingdom of heaven. It 
 is of vital importance that we learn just what the 
 words mean. What is it to become as a little 
 child ? 
 
 There is a legend of a man whom the angels 
 loved, and wished to have honored in some way. 
 They asked that some remarkable power might 
 be bestowed upon him. They were told to learn 
 what the man would choose. But he would make 
 no choice. Pressed to name some new power 
 which should be given him, he said he would like 
 to do a great deal of good in the world without even 
 knowing it. So it came about that whenever his 
 shadow fell behind him it had healing power, but 
 when it fell before his face it had not this power. 
 
 This is Christlikene^ss, — goodness, power to do 
 good, usefulness, helpfulness, without being con- 
 scious of the possession of these qualities. Ambition 
 to have distinction, craving for praise, conscious- 
 ness of being good, bright, useful, or great, — all are 
 marks of a worldly spirit. In another place Jesus 
 said that greatness in his kingdom is the spirit of 
 unselfish serving, — desiring "not to be ministered 
 unto, but to minister." He who serves others the 
 most unselfishly is the greatest. 
 
 (328) 
 
November 24. 
 
 The word of the Lord abideth for ever. — i Peter 
 i. 25. 
 
 MEN often make promises to others on which 
 the others depend, perhaps staking all their 
 interests and happiness on the word given to them, 
 only to find at last that the promises have been for- 
 gotten. But God's least word is sure and eternal. 
 When a soul takes any divine promise, and builds a 
 fabric of hope upon it, sooner might the stars fall 
 from heaven than that God should forget his word 
 or fail to make it good. 
 
 An English nobleman, walking in the country 
 one day, found a little child in distress. She had 
 broken her pitcher, and her family were poor, and 
 the vessel could not be replaced. The good man 
 put his hand in his pocket to find some money to 
 give the child, but had not a penny. Then he bade 
 her meet him to-morrow at the same place, at the 
 same hour, promising to bring her money to buy a 
 new pitcher. The child ran away very happy, repos- 
 ing perfect confidence in the stranger's word to her. 
 
 To-morrow he was invited to dine with the queen 
 at the very hour of his appointment with the child. 
 But he promptly declined the invitation. He would 
 not fail in his word, even to an unknown child of 
 poverty. She had trusted him, and his promise had 
 made her happy. He would not disappoint her for 
 a thousand dinners with royalty. Will God be less 
 faithful to his word ? No word he has spoken shall 
 ever be broken. 
 
 (3 2 9) 
 
November 25. 
 
 Because to you it hath been granted in the behalf of 
 Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer in 
 his behalf — Philippians i. 29. 
 
 WE cannot know in what way we can best 
 glorify God. It may be in work ; it may 
 be in quiet waiting ; it may be in painful suffering. 
 It is better, therefore, that we let God choose the 
 way in which he would have us serve and honor 
 him. The bird glorifies God by singing its sweet 
 song, the flower by pouring out its fragrance. 
 Mary praised Christ by sitting at his feet, Martha 
 by serving him. If we do simply his will, that will 
 always be the best. 
 
 " I cannot choose; I should have liked so much 
 To sit at Jesus' feet — to feel the touch 
 Of his kind, gentle hand upon my head, 
 While drinking in the gracious words he said. 
 
 And yet to serve him ! O divine employ, 
 To minister and give the Master joy ; 
 To bathe in coolest springs his weary feet, 
 And wait upon him when he sat at meat ! 
 
 Worship or service — which ? Ah, that is best 
 To which he calls me, be it toil or rest — 
 To labor for him in life's busy stir, 
 Or seek his feet a silent worshipper. 
 
 So let him choose for us. We are not strong 
 To make the choice; perhaps we should go wrong, 
 Mistaking zeal for service, sinful sloth 
 For loving worship — and so fail of both." 
 
 (33°) 
 
November 26. 
 
 If he offer it for a thanksgiving, — Leviticus 
 vii. 12. 
 
 THE idea of this offering was, that when there 
 was any special favor shown or blessing re- 
 ceived, the heart's gratitude should express itself 
 in this way. If the ship arrived safely through the 
 storm, the passenger, as soon as he reached the 
 shore, hastened to present his thank-offering. If 
 one recovered from a dangerous sickness, his first 
 walk abroad was to the tabernacle with his sacrifice 
 and oblation. Should we not bring some new gift 
 to God's altar after every recovery from sickness, 
 every deliverance from danger, every new kindness 
 enjoyed? 
 
 There is a story of a Scotch mother whose child 
 was stolen away by an eagle. Almost crazed, she 
 saw the bird soar away to its eyrie far up the cliff. 
 No one could scale the crag. The mother went to 
 her room and prayed. An old sailor climbed the 
 cliff, and crept down with the child. As the mother 
 was still praying, with outstretched hands and shut 
 eyes, he softly laid the babe on her arms and van- 
 ished. Rising in silence, she did not even kiss her 
 little one, till she had carried it to the kirk and 
 solemnly given it to God. Should not every life given 
 back again, every joy plucked from death and re- 
 stored, as well as every new blessing granted, be 
 given to God in solemn dedication before it is put 
 to any other use? 
 
 (33 
 
November 27. 
 
 In all things I gave you an example, haw that so 
 labouring ye ought to help the weak. — Acts xx. 35. 
 
 ALL Christians are brethren. When one suffers, 
 _ the others should share the pain. Fortunate 
 people should not forget the unfortunate people. 
 There are some of God's other children who are 
 sick, while you are well : some who are hungry or 
 cold, while you have plenty of bread and are warmly 
 clad: some who are in sorrow, while you have joy: 
 some who are orphaned and homeless, while you 
 have home and friends. You, in your comfort and 
 gladness, should not forget those who are in adver- 
 sity. Keep your heart open toward them. Watch 
 for opportunities to do good to them. Remember 
 what Jesus said about the judgment day — that the 
 places on his right hand will be for those who have 
 fed the hungry, given drink to the thirsty, clothed 
 the naked, visited the sick, the perishing, and the 
 suffering, and that to these he will say, " Inasmuch 
 as ve have done it unto one of the least of these 
 my brethren, ye have done it unto me." 
 
 \Vhen no low thoughts of self intrude, 
 
 Angels adjust our rights ; 
 And love that seeks its selfish good 
 
 Dies in its own delights. 
 
 How much we take, how little give ! 
 
 Yet every life is meant 
 To help all lives; each man should live 
 
 For all men's betterment. 
 
 Alice Cary. 
 
November 28. 
 
 We are a sweet savor of Christ unto God, in them 
 that are being saved, and in them that are perishing, 
 . . . And who is sufficient for these things ? — 2 Cor- 
 inthians ii. 15, 16. 
 
 THE consciousness that others trust us is one 
 of the strongest possible motives to faithful- 
 ness. We dare not fail when we feel the pressure 
 of other lives upon us ; for if we faint, or falter, or 
 prove untrue, we shall draw them down with us. 
 When a man has lived in such a way as to win the 
 confidence and become the guide of others, he bears 
 a responsibility which he can meet only by unalter- 
 able fidelity. Every word of his is believed and 
 rested upon. What if he speaks an untrue word, 
 a word which misrepresents the divine teaching ! 
 His example, too, is of infinite importance. Others 
 believe in him so unquestionably that anything 
 they know him to do they will regard as right and 
 will feel at liberty to do themselves. But what if it 
 be not right ? 
 
 It is a weighty burden which a man bears who 
 has become trusted teacher, guide, and friend of 
 others. If he be not faithful to his sacred obliga- 
 tion, he misrepresents Christ, and hurts the lives 
 that lean upon him. To know that one stands for 
 God to certain human souls, and is set to do God's 
 work, to be the very hand of God to lead, or hold 
 up, or lift up struggling, fainting souls, is enough 
 to crush the strongest, bravest heart, if God be not 
 real to it in his love, power, and presence, 
 
 (333) 
 
November 29. 
 
 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the 
 exceeding greatness of the power may be of God, and 
 
 not from ourselves. — 2 Corixthiaxs iv. 7. 
 
 EARTHLY success is not the test of spiritual 
 life. Sometimes failure is better than success. 
 God can do more with our weakness than with our 
 strength. St. Paul learned that when he was weak 
 then he was strong, because then the strength of 
 Christ rested on him in fuller measure. Some- 
 times we do more effective work when we seem to 
 fail than when we appear to get through victori- 
 ously. Many a preacher has learned that his best 
 sermons are not those he thinks the best. Ofttimes 
 when he has failed in making his discourse, it has 
 accomplished more than any of his finer sermons 
 on which he prided himself. 
 
 It has been said that some of the greatest treas- 
 ures in heaven will be the blunders God's children 
 have made when trying to show their love. A 
 mother said that the most sacred treasure in her 
 home was a puckered handkerchief which her little 
 girl, now in heaven, had tried to hem for her. 
 
 " Close to his feet on the pathway, 
 Empty and frail and small, 
 An earthen vessel was lying, 
 Which seemed of no use at all. 
 
 But the Master saw it, and raised it 
 
 From the dust in which it lay, 
 And smiled as he gently whispered, 
 
 'This shall do my work to-day.' " 
 
 (334) 
 
November 30. 
 
 All the widows stood by him weeping, and shewing 
 the coats a?id garments which Dorcas made, while she 
 was with them. — Acts ix. 39. 
 
 A GOOD many people have to die to be appre- 
 ciated. They go through the world living 
 quietly, devoted to the interests of those who are 
 dear to them, seeking no recognition. They are 
 merely commonplace people, and so are allowed to 
 love and serve without appreciation. 
 
 But one day they are missed from their wonted 
 place ; their work is done and they are gone. Then 
 the empty place reveals the value of the blessing 
 they have been. In their absence people learn for 
 the first time the value of the services they had been 
 accustomed to receive from them. There are many 
 who might adopt, as part of their liturgy of grief, 
 lines like the following : — 
 
 " She lived and labored 'midst the lowliest things, 
 % Walked at my side and talked, and oft did fill 
 
 The gracious hours that friendly twilight brings 
 
 With toil, naught questioning if good or ill 
 Were hers ; soft lullabies she crooned at eve, 
 
 Like poppies' breath falling down tenderly 
 On infant eyelids, that gay sports would leave 
 
 To nestle close and sleep upon her knee. 
 Her life was colorless and commonplace, 
 
 Devoid of poetry — I thought it so, 
 For I was blind, and could not see the grace 
 
 That grew through common duties ; now I know, 
 Since she has gone from me and all her cares, 
 
 I entertained an angel unawares." 
 
 (33s) 
 
December 1. 
 
 Be not therefore anxious for the morrow ; for the 
 morrow will be anxious for itself, — St. Matthew 
 vi. 34- 
 
 ONE reason our Lord gives for not worrying 
 about the future is that we have nothing to 
 do with it. Each day has its own duties, its own 
 needs, its own trials and temptations ; and God 
 always gives us strength enough for the day. But 
 if we insist upon dragging back to-morrow's cares 
 and adding them to to-day's, the strength will not 
 be enough, for God will not add to the day's portion 
 of strength just to humor our whims of anxiety. 
 
 So the lesson is that we should keep the days 
 fenced off, each one by itself. " Do to-day's duty, 
 fight to-day's temptation, and do not weaken and 
 distract yourself by looking forward to things which 
 you cannot see, and could not understand if you 
 saw them. 7 ' You say, " I could get through with 
 to-day, but this must go on to-morrow and to-mor- 
 row." Yet you may not have any to-morrow ; cer- 
 tainly you have no to-morrow to-day. When the 
 morrow comes it will bring its own strength. 
 
 " One day at a time. A burden too great 
 To be borne for two can be borne for one. 
 Who knows what will enter to-morrow's gate? 
 While vet we are speaking, all may be done. 
 
 One day at a time. But a single day, 
 Whatever its load, whatever its length ; 
 And there's a bit of precious Scripture to say 
 That according to each shall be our strength." 
 
 (336) 
 
December 2. 
 
 Go thy way for this time ; and when I have a con- 
 ve?iient season, I will call thee imto me. — Acts 
 xxiv. 25. 
 
 THAT is the way men are continually doing. 
 They hear the truth and feel its power, but 
 put off action. Felix was not true to his own best 
 interests. He was not honest with himself. He 
 saw the wrong in his own life ; he had a glimpse of 
 the judgment ; he was terrified ; he knew what he 
 ought to do — yet he put the matter off. He did 
 not doubt the truth of what Paul said, he did not 
 actually reject the Saviour Paul offered ; he merely 
 postponed action. Some other time he would find 
 it more convenient to adjust his life to the requisite 
 condition. 
 
 This is a well-trodden highway, and there always 
 are thousands upon it. They believe the word 
 of God, and are terrified when they think of the 
 awful facts of eternity. They mean to turn and be 
 saved, but they put it off. There will be a more 
 convenient season by and by. It is a terribly mis- 
 taken way to do. The best time to repent and be 
 saved is always now. A more convenient season 
 will never come. Countless thousands have been 
 lost by saying to-morrow when they should have 
 said to-day. 
 
 "To-morrow and to-morrow and to-morrow, 
 
 Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, 
 
 To the last syllable of recorded time; 
 
 And all our yesterdays have lighted fools 
 
 The way to dusty death.' ' 
 
 (337) 
 
December 3. 
 
 This is the man, that teacheth all men everywhere 
 against the people, and the law, and this place. — Acts 
 xxi. 28. 
 
 THIS was a case of gross misrepresentation. 
 Paul had never uttered a word against either 
 the Jewish people, the law, or the temple. They 
 had perverted and distorted his words into mean- 
 ings he never thought of. Many persons thus take 
 the words of others, give a wrong sense to them, 
 and then repeat them. 
 
 Misrepresentation is a grievous sin. Many a 
 calumny that destroys a fair name grows from a 
 mere misstatement, an inexact reporting of some- 
 thing said or done. We should be scrupulously 
 careful, if we must repeat what others say, that we 
 state the precise truth. No fault of speech is more 
 common than want of accuracy in quoting. Most 
 people's ears seem to hear with a bias in favor of 
 their own prejudices; then in reporting what they 
 have heard, the bias is too apt to show its influence 
 a second time in emphasizing the distortion. 
 
 Besides, when a story travels as far as from 
 Ephesus to Jerusalem, and passes through a num- 
 ber of ears and tongues, it is scarcely to be ex- 
 pected that it will arrive just the same as it started. 
 It is proverbial that stories grow in frequent repeti- 
 tion. Paul is not the only person who has not 
 recognized at all his own words after they had gone 
 the rounds. Let us learn the virtue of accuracy. 
 Inaccuracy is lying. 
 
 (33s) 
 
December 4. 
 
 Having loved his own which were in the world, hb 
 loved them unto the end. — St. John xiii. i. 
 
 HIS own ! How sweet the words are ! They 
 tell of a close and most sacred relation. His 
 own ! We belong to him, not simply as property, 
 but in the ownership of love. " Ye are not your 
 own, for ye are bought with a price." The prints 
 of the nails tell of the cost of our redemption. We 
 are " his own " because the Father gave us to him. 
 " Thine they were, and thou gavest them me." 
 Then we are " his own " because we have volun- 
 tarily given ourselves to him. That is what you 
 did when you became a Christian. You accepted 
 the love that claimed you. 
 
 The relation is like that between two friends. 
 The world cannot intermeddle. It is a close, per- 
 sonal relation. All believers are Christ's own, but 
 there is a sense in which each one has all of Christ 
 for himself. We all sit down at the same com- 
 munion table and the banner of love is over all ; 
 yet each one has a whole communion of his own. 
 The sun shines upon the broad field and bathes all 
 the million grass-blades and flowers in his beams. 
 But each blade and each flower can say, " The sun 
 is mine ; he shines for me." Christ's love is for 
 all his church, and floods the world ; but the smallest 
 of his little ones can say, " He is my Friend, my 
 Saviour, my Master." " We are Christ's own." 
 All of Christ is ours — all his love and all his 
 grace. 
 
 (339) 
 
December 5. 
 
 Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose 
 sin is covered. — Psalm xxxii. i . 
 
 ^yO blessedness can ever come to any one until 
 N forgiveness has come. Unforgiven sin lies 
 as a heavy curse upon a life. No other favor or 
 prosperity is of any avail while sin remains uncan- 
 celled. But with forgiveness comes all the blessed- 
 ness of life and glory. When we are forgiven we 
 become at once God's children, heirs of God, and 
 joint heirs with Christ to all the rich inheritance of 
 eternal life. All the blessings of salvation are in 
 this one. 
 
 We may study also with profit the word " cover." 
 There is one way of covering sin which brings no 
 blessing. W T e must not try to cover our own sin. 
 " He that covereth his sins shall not prosper ; but 
 whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have 
 mercy." Sins that we cover are not put away. 
 They are like the quiet fires in the volcano, ready 
 to burst out any moment in all their terribleness. 
 But when God covers our sins they are put out of 
 sight forever — out of our sight, the world's sight, 
 God's sight. 
 
 In one place God says he will remember our sins 
 against us no more. The covering is complete and 
 final. The sins are covered by the atonement of 
 Christ. " All we like sheep have gone astray . . . 
 and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquities of us 
 all." If our sins were laid on Jesus Christ they are 
 covered forever, and will never rise up against us. 
 
 (34o) 
 
December 6. 
 
 He took a towel, and girded himself. Then he 
 poureth water into the basin, and began to wash the 
 disciples'' feet, and to wipe them with the towel. — St. 
 John xiii. 4, 5. 
 
 THERE are many pictures of Jesus — the Holy 
 Child in the manger, the Redeemer on the 
 cross, the Conqueror with the keys, but none of 
 them surpasses that of the servant with the towel 
 and basin. We get the lesson of service. Jesus 
 did not think his holy hands too fine for the wash- 
 ing of the feet of the twelve men who sat around 
 the table. Many of us think we are too fine in the 
 texture of our being, or too high in our rank among 
 men, to stoop to lowly service like this. This pic- 
 ture of the Christ is a New Testament answer to 
 all such pride and pretension. 
 
 Our service should be personal. Christ washed 
 the feet of his disciples with his own hands. Too 
 many like to do all their serving by proxy. They 
 believe in washing feet, but they get some other 
 body to do it for them. They will pay something 
 to a missionary to visit and relieve the poor or the 
 sick, but will not do the work with their own hands. 
 This is not what Christ's example teaches us. We 
 would better do the serving ourselves. 
 
 " When all our hopes are gone, 
 
 'Tis well our hands must still keep toiling on 
 
 For others' sake; 
 For strength to bear is found in duty done, 
 And he is blest indeed who learns to make 
 The joy of others cure his own heartache.' ' 
 
 (341) 
 
December 7. 
 
 Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou 
 k?iowest not now ; but thou shalt understa?id hereafter. 
 — St. John xiii. 7. 
 
 IT is never wise for us to pass judgment on any 
 of God's providences while we can read but 
 a part of their meaning. No work can be fairly 
 judged while it is only in progress. We must wait 
 till it is completed. As the end must sometimes lie 
 far out of sight, whether it be in future years of 
 earthly life, or in the unrevealed life beyond earth's 
 horizon, we need to train ourselves to trust the 
 goodness and the love of God, believing that he 
 will do only what is right and what is best also for 
 us. It is faith alone can give us peace. 
 
 I think if thou could'st know, 
 O soul, that will complain, 
 What lies concealed below 
 
 Our burden and our pain; 
 How just our anguish brings 
 Nearer those longed-for things 
 We seek for now in vain, 
 I think thou would'st rejoice, and not complain. 
 
 I think if thou could'st see 
 
 With thy dim mortal sight, 
 How meanings dark to thee 
 Are shadows hiding light; 
 Truth's efforts crossed and vexed, 
 Life's purpose all perplexed, — 
 If thou could'st see them right, 
 I think that they would seem all clear, and wise, and bright. 
 
 Adelaide Procter. 
 
 (342) 
 
December 8. 
 
 Let every ma?i be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow 
 to wrath. — James i. 19. 
 
 WE are told that we ought to think twice before 
 we speak. Sometimes we are advised if we 
 are feeling unkindly, to count ten before we open 
 our mouth. Yet hasty words ofttimes fly from our 
 lips in the moment of excited feeling ; and before 
 we have time to think twice, or count half of ten, 
 the harm is done, the keen word has flashed like a 
 dart into some gentle heart. 
 
 These hasty words are spoken, too, most fre- 
 quently between those who love each other. We 
 control our speech fairly well when it is with stran- 
 gers or ordinary acquaintances we are speaking ; but 
 with those we love best we are less careful. We 
 let our worry or our weariness make us irritable, 
 and then we utter the hasty words which five min- 
 utes afterward we would give all we have to recall. 
 But such words never can be recalled. They may 
 be forgiven, for love forgives till seventy times 
 seven times ; but the wounds, the scars, remain. 
 
 Words are mighty, words are living; 
 
 Serpents with their venomous stings, 
 Or bright angels crowding round us, 
 
 With heaven's light upon their wings ; 
 Every word has its own spirit, 
 
 True or false, that never dies; 
 Every word man's lips have uttered 
 
 Echoes in God's skies. 
 
 Adelaide Procter. 
 
 (343) 
 
December 9. 
 
 Thou . . . hast ?iot asked for thyself long life; 
 neither hast asked riches . . . lo, I have given thee 
 a wise and an understanding heart. — i Kings iii. 1 1 . 
 
 THE Lord approved the choice Solomon had 
 made. It was an unselfish choice. He was 
 thinking of his people, and wanted to be a good 
 king. It was a spiritual choice — not gold, power, 
 victory, and fame, but wisdom to qualify him for 
 duty, to fit him for fulfilling well his mission. Such 
 a choice always pleases God. He loves to have us 
 choose the best things. 
 
 St. James says that the reason men ask and re- 
 ceive not is because they ask that they may consume 
 God's gifts on their lusts. The prayer of selfish- 
 ness is never pleasing to God ; but he is pleased 
 when we ask for things to be used in blessing 
 others. The prayer for mere earthly things may 
 really be for a curse upon our life. Midas desired 
 the power to change into gold whatever he touched. 
 His request was granted ; and the fruits he plucked, 
 and the food he would put into his mouth, turned to 
 gold, until in the agonies of starvation he was com- 
 pelled to cry for the withdrawal of the power. It 
 was a curse, not a blessing to him. 
 
 So it is with those who live only for wealth ; they 
 get it, but their souls are starving. Solomon asked 
 for wisdom only, and left all other matters to God's 
 own choice. Jesus said, " Seek ye first the king- 
 dom of God and his righteousness, and all these 
 things shall be added unto you." 
 
 (344) 
 
December 10. 
 
 It was in my heart to build an house . . . But the 
 word of the Lord came to me, saying, . . . thou shalt 
 not build an house unto my name. — i Chronicles 
 xxii. 7, 8. 
 
 GOD was pleased with David's desire, but it was 
 not David's work to build a temple. His 
 part was to conquer the country, and gather ma- 
 terials for the house. Sometimes the things we 
 purpose to do we are not permitted to accomplish. 
 They belong to some other worker who is to come 
 after us, and are not part of our mission at all. 
 
 There are many people called to do preparatory 
 work. A man goes to the West, and clears off a 
 piece of ground, building a rude log hut. His son 
 succeeds him, and in the midst of broad, rich acres 
 erects a palatial home. The father's work was just 
 as important in its place, though not so conspicuous, 
 as the son's. One set of men make the excavations 
 for a building, and then put in the foundations. For 
 weeks they toil underground ; and then another set 
 of men come, the walls rise up, and the magnificent 
 building attracts all eyes. The foundation work is 
 buried out of sight, but who will say that it is less 
 important than the splendid walls that tower above 
 the street ? 
 
 But for what David did, Solomon never could 
 have built the temple. It is the same in all life. 
 To each one God allots a place and a part ; and if 
 we do that which God gives us to do, he asks 
 nothing more. 
 
 (345) 
 
December 11. 
 
 If thou wilt walk in my ways, and if thou wilt keep 
 my charge, then . . . I will give thee a place of access 
 among these that stand by. — -Zechariah iii. 7. 
 
 THE way to rise to higher places is to be faithful 
 where we are. Unless we do well the smaller 
 things which God gives us to do, he will not intrust 
 greater things to us. The man who was faithful and 
 diligent in the use of his two talents saw the two 
 become four, and found himself put in trust also with 
 new responsibilities. The promise here was, that 
 if this good priest would walk in God's ways, and 
 keep his charge, he should have influence and power 
 in God's house, and should stand among angels. 
 
 This latter is a remarkable promise. It seems to 
 mean that even on the earth those who are faithful 
 in holy things shall have fellowship with angels. 
 They may not be conscious of the companionship 
 amid which they stand, but really they are working 
 alongside spiritual beings continually while they 
 wait upon God. 
 
 Then, those who serve God faithfully and dili- 
 gently in holy things in this world will be received 
 into the good fellowship of angels in the other 
 world. The lesson, however, is that faithfulness in 
 the common duties of the passing days is the one 
 thing of life with us. If we live thus, God will lead 
 us step by step, even into larger service and greater 
 usefulness, as he may find us ready. We need not 
 worry about our promotion — the only real promo- 
 tion is that which comes through fidelity. 
 
 (346) 
 
December 12. 
 
 The whole congregation . . . murmured against Moses 
 and against Aaron in the wilderness. — Exodus xvi. 2. 
 
 AS soon as the people of Israel got away from 
 _ visible means of sustenance, they lost heart. 
 It is strange, we say, that so soon they could have 
 forgotten all God's wonderful deliverances in the 
 past. 
 
 But are we any more trustful ? We sing and are 
 joyful while things go well ; and then when want or 
 need comes, away go the song and the joy. There 
 is a great deal of murmuring done yet when Elims 
 have to be left for desert roads. How much happier 
 we would be if we had learned to walk by faith 
 rather than by sight ! A promise of God really is 
 a great deal better security for provision in life than 
 any quantity of food in store, or any amount of 
 notes and bonds in the bank. Nothing in this 
 world is so real as are the invisible things of God's 
 love. If we are his children we may trust him 
 absolutely, no matter how dreary the desert may 
 be. 
 
 " He who hath led will lead 
 
 All through the wilderness ; 
 He who hath fed will feed; 
 
 He who hath blessed will bless; 
 He who hath heard thy cry 
 
 Will never close his ear ; 
 He who hath marked thy faintest sigh 
 
 Will not forget thy tear. 
 He loveth always, faileth never; 
 So rest on him, to-day, forever." 
 
 (347) 
 
December 13. 
 
 Moses alone shall come near unto the Lord, — 
 Exodus xxiv. 2. 
 
 THERE are always some who are admitted to 
 closer intimacy with Christ than others. In 
 his first disciple family, John came nearest. The 
 way is open, however, for all to come as near as 
 they will. Yet it is not height on earth's hills that 
 takes us closest to him. Those are greatest in the 
 kingdom of heaven — so the Master said — who are 
 most like children ; also those who serve the most 
 sweetly and unselfishly. In the psalm, too, when 
 the question is asked, " Who shall ascend into the 
 hill of the Lord ? '' the answer is, " He that hath 
 clean hands and a pure heart." 
 
 Getting up in the world may not be getting up 
 toward God ; yet we may rise toward God, and that 
 surely is infinitely the worthiest aspiration of an 
 immortal soul. Moses was called up near to God 
 that he might get blessings to carry down to the 
 people. Those who get closer to God than others 
 are always privileged to become blessings to the 
 world. God fills their hands with gifts that they 
 are to distribute, and reveals to them precious things 
 that they are to communicate to others. 
 
 " When one that holds communion with the skies 
 Has filled his urn where those pure waters rise, 
 And once more mingles with us meaner things, 
 'Tis e'en as if an angel shook his wings; 
 Immortal fragrance fills the circuit wide 
 That tells us whence his treasures are supplied." 
 
 (348) 
 
December 14. 
 
 Gird yourselves with humility, to serve one another : 
 for God visiteth the proud, but giveth grace to the 
 humble, — i Peter v. 5. 
 
 WHAT is humility ? It is not thinking meanly 
 of one's self. It is not a voluntary humbling 
 of one's self for any particular purpose. It is the 
 spirit which is ready always to use its best powers 
 and its richest gifts in the lowliest service of love. 
 Love is at the heart of it. When we truly love 
 others we are interested in them, and will do them 
 any service they need, however hard or costly or 
 lowly it may be, not considering ourselves too fine 
 to serve them, nor any possession of ours too good 
 to be used in their behalf. 
 
 It is not the lowly place in which one lives and 
 works which makes one humble. One may be 
 proud, and move in a very obscure sphere. Humil- 
 ity is in the spirit, not in the station. 
 
 " In some still nook dost toil unknown? 
 Thy simple fare unnoticed take, 
 Keeping true heart, asleep, awake, 
 While deeds less brave than thine have flown 
 Where fame's proud trump is loudly blown. 
 Work patiently for God's dear sake; 
 Give what thou caost to hearts that ache. 
 The Lord some day will claim his own ; 
 And when he counts his treasures o'er 
 Upon eternity's bright shore, 
 It may be he will value more 
 The fragrance of the lily's bell, 
 Shed richly in its narrow dell, 
 Than stars whose praise the ages tell." 
 
 (349) 
 
December 15. 
 
 My little children, let us not love i?i word, neither with 
 the tongue ; but in deed and truth. — i John iii. 18. 
 
 MORE and more are Christian people learning 
 that true religion must have adequate and 
 fitting expression in the life. A good creed and 
 activity in Christian work are not the best tests of 
 Christlikeness. It is in Christian character, and in 
 the exercise of the spiritual graces in life's contacts, 
 that Christian culture finds its finest expression. 
 
 To put it more simply, love is the true measure 
 of Christian life. Becoming a Christian is simply 
 letting the love of God into the heart. This love 
 is something which cannot be hid. If it is in the 
 heart, it will work its way out in the life. As George 
 MacDonald puts it : " When God comes to man, 
 man looks around for his neighbor." So it always 
 is. The love of God dwells not in a man who does 
 not love his neighbor. The nearer we come to the 
 heart of Christ, the deeper and tenderer becomes 
 our interest in our brothers and sisters. 
 
 Be what thou seemest; live thy creed; 
 Hold up to earth the torch divine; 
 Be what thou prayest to be made; 
 Let the great Master's steps be thine. 
 
 Sow love, and taste its fruitage pure; 
 Sow peace, and reap its harvest bright; 
 Sow sunbeams on the rock and moor, 
 And find a harvest-home of light. 
 
 Bonar, 
 
 (35°) 
 
December 16. 
 
 Buy the truth, and sell it not ; yea, wisdom, and in- 
 struction, and understanding, — Proverbs xxiii. 23. 
 
 IT is not with money that we buy the truth : the 
 price we must pay is our self-will, our pride, 
 our self-confidence. We ought, however, to yield 
 ourselves utterly to the truth, and should do it 
 promptly. He who will not pay any price, however 
 great, to be true is losing where he seems to be 
 saving. 
 
 There is a legend of King Tarquin and the sibyl. 
 The old woman came into the king's presence 
 staggering under the weight of nine great rolls of 
 manuscript, containing prophecies and counsels 
 concerning Rome. She offered them for sale, but 
 asked a price so high that the king hesitated to buy 
 them. " Wait till to-morrow," said the king. Next 
 day she came again, but with only six books, hav- 
 ing destroyed three ; and for the six she asked twice 
 as much as she had asked for the nine. Tarquin 
 again declined to purchase, and the woman again 
 withdrew. Once more she came, this time with 
 only three of the volumes, and asking a yet higher 
 price. Tarquin dared delay no longer, and pur- 
 chased the books at the cost of half his treasure, 
 for they were of great value to him. 
 
 The truth is offered to us, but at a high price. 
 If we delay, less and less is offered to us, and it 
 ever costs us more to buy. The best time to begin 
 to buy God's truth is in gentle youth. We buy it 
 when we live it, no matter at what sacrifice. 
 
 (350 
 
December 17. 
 
 He was despised and rejected of men. — Isaiah 
 liii. 3. 
 
 THE saddest thing about the life of Christ was 
 the unwelcome he met among those he had 
 come to bless. He came with a great love in his 
 heart. He wanted to do them good, to draw them 
 away from their sins, to make them love God, to 
 lead them to heaven. " He came unto his own, 
 and his own received him not." He went to their 
 doors and knocked, and they kept their doors shut 
 upon him ; and he had to go away with his gifts and 
 blessings unbestowed, leaving " his own " in their 
 sin and sorrow. 
 
 It is the same yet. Christ comes with treasures 
 of life and glory, which he offers to all ; but men 
 and women pay no heed to his knocking and his 
 calls, and he has to pass on. " He is despised and 
 rejected." He never forces his blessings on any. 
 He knocks, but we must open the door. He will 
 never open it himself. 
 
 In Holman Hunt's picture, " The Light of the 
 World," the door has no knob on the outside ; it 
 can be opened only from within. You can keep 
 the omnipotent Christ outside your heart if you 
 will ; you do keep him out by simply not rising to 
 open to him. It does not need dishonoring sins, 
 nor any violent rejection of the Saviour, to make 
 one a lost sinner ; the mildest and gentlest indif- 
 ference to his knocking and call will do it just as 
 effectually. 
 
 (35 2 ) 
 
December 18. 
 
 Preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching the 
 things concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. — Acts 
 xxviii. 31. 
 
 THIS is the last glimpse Acts gives us of St. 
 Paul. The glorious apostle appears as a 
 prisoner, though keeping open house and receiving 
 all who came to him. No doubt many came to him 
 with their questions, their burdens, their sorrows. 
 Men with gentle spirit and deep and wide sym- 
 pathies become a blessing to many people in the 
 world. Those whose hearts are hungry, or who are 
 under the shadow of grief or of sin, turn to them 
 with eagerness, as thirsty animals turn to springs of 
 water. That was the kind of man St. Paul was, 
 and no doubt many came to him with their needs. 
 He had something they had not. He listened to 
 them patiently, and sympathized with them tenderly. 
 
 But notice also the kind of help he gave to those 
 who came. He preached to them the kingdom of 
 God, and taught them the things about the Lord 
 Jesus Christ. He fed their hunger with the bread 
 of heaven. He pointed them to the only source of 
 comfort. He presented Christ to them as the only 
 One who could help them and bless them. We 
 have nothing in ourselves to give to those who come 
 seeking help or comfort. We can only point them 
 to the Saviour. 
 
 These prison days of St. Paul were among the 
 most fruitful of his whole ministry. We may make 
 our shut-in days full of good for the world. 
 
 (353) 
 
December 19. 
 
 He went on his way rejoicing. — x\cts viii. 39. 
 
 HE did not give up his journey and decide to go 
 back among the other Christians because he 
 was now a believer. He went on his way to his own 
 country and to his own business ; but he had a new 
 secret of joy in his heart. Part of the duty of this 
 new convert was to carry the knowledge of Christ 
 back to the people among whom he had been living. 
 He had found something which they needed and 
 which would bless them as it had blessed him. 
 
 We learn that a new-born Christian is not to give 
 up his work. Of course if he is engaged in any 
 wrong occupation he must give it up. But if his 
 occupation is right, he is usually to stick to it, and 
 carry Christ with him into it. A carpenter when 
 converted is to continue a carpenter — with Christ. 
 
 To be a Christian makes one happy. This man 
 went on his way rejoicing. His heart was full of 
 song. The Christian goes on in his work day by 
 day : but while he works his heart sings, and the 
 songs make the way shorter and the burdens lighter 
 for him, while at the same time they give cheer to 
 others on whose ears they fall. As Keble says : — 
 
 There are in this loud stunning tide 
 
 Of human care and crime, 
 With whom the melodies abide 
 
 Of th' everlasting chime; 
 Who carry music in their heart 
 
 Through dusky lane and wrangling mart, 
 Plying their task with busier feet 
 
 Because their secret souls a holy strain repeat. 
 
 (354) 
 
December 20. 
 
 The Spirit and the bride say, Come. And he that 
 heareth, let him say, Come. And he that is athirst, let 
 him come : he that will, let him take the water of life 
 freely. — Revelation xxii. 17. 
 
 A GREAT novelist tells of a child that wandered 
 away from her home. Every night when it 
 grew dark a candle was set in the window, to show 
 to the lost one, if ever she crept back repentant, 
 that love's place was kept for her within. The 
 Bible seems to me like a great palace standing 
 in the centre of a dark world. It has a thousand 
 windows ; and in every one of them a bright light 
 shines, to tell earth's lost ones of a home where 
 they will find a welcome if they but come to its 
 door. 
 
 " I heard the voice of Jesus say, 
 
 ' Come unto me and rest ! 
 Lay down, thou weary one, lay down 
 
 Thy head upon my breast.' 
 I came to Jesus as I was, 
 
 Weary, and worn, and sad; 
 I found in him a resting-place, 
 
 And he has made me glad. 
 
 I heard the voice of Jesus say, 
 
 * Behold, I freely give 
 The living water; thirsty one, 
 
 Stoop down and drink, and live.' 
 I came to Jesus, and I drank 
 
 Of that life-giving stream; 
 My thirst was quenched, my soul revived, 
 
 And now I live in him." 
 
 (35s) 
 
December 21. 
 
 He that is righteous, let him do righteousness still. — 
 Revelation xxii. n. 
 
 THE life in the after world will not be different 
 from the life here. The same good things 
 we have learned to do here, we shall continue to do 
 there. Those who have learned here to do right- 
 eousness shall continue, in the other life, to do 
 righteousness. We shall still obey God there, and 
 do his will ; only we shall be more obedient than 
 we have been here, and shall do his will better — 
 perfectly. We shall love God there with all our 
 l\eart, and love each other as ourself ; our life there 
 shall be a perfect brotherhood, and heaven shall be 
 a perfect home. It will still be more blessed there 
 to give than to receive. They will still be chief 
 there who shall serve. Love, joy, peace, long-suf- 
 fering, meekness, gentleness, goodness, truth, will 
 still be fruits of the Spirit there as they are here. 
 
 Life in heaven will not be so strange to us as we 
 think, if we have learned to do God's will in this 
 world. The everlasting life begins the moment we 
 believe on Christ. While we remain on this sphere 
 it is hindered and hampered by the limitations of 
 earth, but in all true Christian experiences there 
 are intimations of what the full blessedness will be. 
 When we reach heaven the life begun here will go 
 on, only without hindrance, limitation, or imperfec- 
 tion, forever. We are taught to pray that the will 
 of God may be done on earth as it is in heaven. 
 Thus we are to get ready here for heaven. 
 
 (356) 
 
December 22. 
 
 // is more blessed to give than to receive. — Acts 
 xx. 35. 
 
 WE shall have a happier Christmas for our- 
 selves, if we have helped to make a little 
 joy for some others. We give presents to our 
 friends — and that is right ; but if we would get 
 the richest blessing from our giving, we must re- 
 member also some one who really needs our gift; 
 feeding some hungry one, or sending clothing to 
 one who is shivering in the cold. This is the giv- 
 ing that is more blessed than receiving. 
 
 This is taught in the story of Sir Launfal's quest 
 for the Holy Grail. He set out in his gilded mail 
 to seek in all climes for the lost cup. Long he 
 journeyed, but in vain. He came back an old, bent 
 man, yet with chastened spirit, and at his own gate 
 found a leper, with whom he shared his last crust. 
 A voice " clearer than silence " spoke and said to 
 him : — 
 
 " Lo, it is I, be not afraid; 
 In many climes, without avail, 
 Thou hast spent thy life for the Holy Grail; 
 Behold, it is here, — this cup which thou 
 Didst fill at the streamlet for me but now; 
 This crust is my body broken for thee, 
 This water his blood that died on the tree; 
 The Holy Supper is kept, indeed, 
 In whatso we share with another's need; 
 Not what we give, but what we share, — 
 For the gift without the giver is bare ; 
 Who gives himself with his alms, feeds three, — 
 Himself, his hungering neighbor, and me." 
 
 (357) 
 
December 23. 
 
 Peter said, Silver a?id gold have I none ; but what 
 I have, that give I thee. — Acts iii. 6. 
 
 IN a story a good man says, " It's very hard to 
 know how to help- people when you can't send 
 them blankets, or coals, or Christmas dinners." 
 With many people this is very true. They know 
 not how to help others save in such ways. Yet the 
 needs which these material things satisfy are the 
 smallest needs of human lives. There are better 
 ways of helping, — with sympathy, hope, cheer, 
 courage, inspiration, comfort. These are the bless- 
 ings which most people need far more than they 
 need blankets or coals or Christmas dinners. 
 
 So far as we know, Jesus gave no money. He 
 did not have it to give. Yet there never was in 
 this world another such dispenser of true alms as 
 he was. He gave encouragement, instruction, love. 
 He told people of higher things. 
 
 None of us are too poor to give help in the same 
 way. We may not have silver and gold to bestow, 
 but out of a warm heart we can give coins of love 
 which will mean far more than money. We should 
 always keep a gentle heart, and then we can be a 
 blessing to many. 
 
 " Who are the blest? 
 
 They who have kept their sympathies awake, 
 
 And scattered joy for more than custom's sake — 
 
 Steadfast and tender in the hour of need, 
 
 Gentle in thought, benevolent in deed; 
 
 Whose looks have power to make dissension cease — 
 
 Whose smiles are pleasant, and whose words are peace." 
 
 (35s) 
 
December 24. 
 
 I bring you good tidings of g?-eat joy, which shall be 
 to all the people. — St. Luke ii. 10. 
 
 IF we are sitting in peace and joy, our hearts filled 
 with sweet Christmas thoughts, we should re- 
 member those whose homes will be dark and sad 
 to-morrow, when all over the land the bells will be 
 ringing. Perhaps we can do little to give them 
 comfort ; but we can pray for them, and thus call 
 down blessings upon them. For, after all, the best 
 way to send blessings to people is through God. 
 He has thousands of messengers, and he can aiways 
 send the things of his love where we can send a 
 kindly wish. Here is a beautiful prayer for Christ- 
 mas Eve in which every Christian heart may join. 
 
 " O Lord, there sit apart in lonely places, 
 
 On this, the gladdest night of all the year, 
 Some stricken ones with sad and weary faces 
 
 To whom the thought of Christmas brings no cheer. 
 For these, O Father, our petition hear, 
 And send the pitying Christ-child very near. 
 
 And there be tempted souls this night, still waging 
 Such desperate warfare with all evil powers; 
 
 Anthems of peace, while the dead strife is raging, 
 Sound but a mockery through their midnight hours; 
 
 For these, O Father, our petition hear, 
 
 And send thy tempted, sinless Christ-child very near. 
 
 Lord, some sit by lonely hearthstones, sobbing, 
 Who feel this night all earthly love denied, 
 
 Who hear but dirges in the loud bells' throbbing 
 For loved ones lost who blessed last Christmastide; 
 
 For these, O Father, our petition hear, 
 
 And send the loving Christ-child very near." 
 
 (359) 
 
December 25. % 
 
 They offered unto him gifts, gold and frankincense 
 a?id myrrh. — St. Matthew ii. n. 
 
 THEY were not content merely to worship the 
 King, showing him homage in word or in 
 posture ; but they also laid their gifts at his feet. 
 It is not enough for us to sing our songs of praise 
 to Christ, to bow before him in reverent worship, 
 and to speak our heart's homage in words. We 
 should bring our gifts too, the pledges of our love, 
 to lay at his feet. 
 
 There is a great deal of mere sentiment in the 
 consecration of many people. It is sentiment only ; 
 and when there is call for gifts or sacrifices, or for 
 real services, the sentiment instantly vanishes. 
 People sing missionary hymns with great warmth, 
 and when the collection-plate comes to them they 
 sing on but allow the plate to pass by. They make 
 prayers that God would send laborers into his vine- 
 yard, but they do not themselves respond to God's 
 call for laborers and errand-runners. We need to 
 learn the lesson that our singing and praying can 
 never go beyond our living. 
 
 Not only did these magi bring gifts, but they 
 brought rich and costly gifts ; we should bring our 
 best, — our gold, frankincense, and myrrh, the ala- 
 baster box of our heart's deepest love, and the best 
 of all our life and service. Too often we give Christ 
 only what is left over after we have taken all we 
 desire for self-indulgence, or for the promotion of 
 our own ambitions. We should always let him 
 have the best, (^60) 
 
December 26. 
 
 Then shall he send forth the angels, and shall gather 
 together his elect . . . from the uttermost pari of the 
 earth. — St. Mark xiii. 27. 
 
 THERE is no danger that in the last day any 
 one will be overlooked or forgotten who has 
 been a true follower of Christ. The obscurest 
 Christian, hidden away in the lowliest or most 
 neglected spot, will not be missed by the angels 
 when they come to gather in Christ's little ones. 
 On nearly every battle-field where the slain are 
 buried, there are graves marked by the sad word 
 " Unknown." But if among these there are those 
 who belonged to Christ, the angels will not fail to 
 find them and bring them. 
 
 A ship went down on the British coast, and all 
 on board perished. None of the bodies of those 
 who had been lost were found, save the little body 
 of an infant that was washed ashore among the 
 wreckage. The kindly people of the place who 
 picked it up buried the body, and having no clew 
 to its name, put on the little stone simply, " God 
 knows." When the angels come they will know 
 whose body it is, and will not overlook it. 
 
 There is only one thing about which we need to 
 concern ourselves, — that we are indeed of those 
 who have accepted Christ and have been faithful 
 to him in this life. It will not matter in that day 
 whether we have been rich or poor, famous among 
 men or unknown; the determining element will be, 
 whether or not we have belonged to Christ 
 
 (3 6 *) 
 
December 27. 
 
 That they all may be one ; even as thou, Father, art 
 in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us : that 
 the world may believe that thou didst send me, — St. 
 John xvii. 21. 
 
 A WRITER tells of a Scotch village with only 
 one street, all the people on one side being 
 of one sect, and all on the other side of an oppos- 
 ing sect. The minister of one of the churches was 
 very ill. As death drew nigh, the light of peace 
 shone into his soul, and made clear to him truths 
 which before had been obscure. 
 
 One day he said to a friend, " The street which I 
 am now walking on has nae sides, and if power 
 were given me I would preach purity of life mair 
 and purity of doctrine less than I did." 
 
 " Are you not a little heretical at your journey's 
 end?" said the friend. "I know not" was the 
 reply ; " names have not the same terror for me 
 they once had. Since I was laid here alone, I have 
 heard the whisperings of the still, small voice, tell- 
 ing me that the footfalls of faith and their wrang- 
 lings will not be heard in the Lord's kingdom 
 which I am nearing." 
 
 The nearer we get to God, and the more of the spirit 
 of Christ there is in us, the less will we, too, think of 
 the things that divide, and the more of the things that 
 bind us together. When we get home we shall see 
 how trivial were the things that divided us here, oft- 
 times keeping us far apart, and what possibilities of 
 fellowship we missed as we journeyed heavenward. 
 
 (362) 
 
December 28. 
 
 Sleep o?i now, and take your rest : it is enough ; the 
 hour is come. — St. Mark xiv. 41. 
 
 TT 7E need to learn the importance of timeliness 
 VV in duty. There are many things which if 
 done to-day will prove untold blessings, but which 
 to-morrow it will not be worth while to do. It is 
 to-day the sick neighbor needs your visit, your help ; 
 to-morrow he may be well, or others shall have min- 
 istered to him, or he may be dead. It is to-day that 
 the tempted one needs your cheer ; to-morrow he 
 may be defeated, lying in the dust of shame. To- 
 morrow is a fatal word; countless thousands of 
 hopes have been wrecked on it. 
 
 " If you have gentle words and looks, my friends, 
 To spare for me — if you have tears to shed 
 That I have suffered — keep them not, I pray, 
 Untu I hear not, see not, being dead. 
 
 If you have flowers to give — fair lily buds, 
 Pink roses., daisies (meadow stars that be 
 
 Mine own dear namesakes), let them bloom and make 
 The air, while yet I breathe it, sweet for me. 
 
 For loving looks, thought fraught with tenderness, 
 And kindly tears, though they fall thick and fast, 
 
 And words of praise, alas ! can naught avail 
 To lift the shadows from a life that's past; 
 
 And rarest blossoms, what can they suffice, 
 
 Offered to one who can no longer gaze 
 Upon their beauty? Flowers on coffins laid 
 
 Impart no sweetness to departed days." 
 
 (363) 
 
December 29. 
 
 So teach 7 is to number our days, that we may get us 
 a?i heart of wisdom. — Psalm xc. 12. 
 
 THERE are several ways of numbering our 
 days. One way is merely to count them off 
 as we tear off the daily leaves of our calendar. 
 Each evening a man has one day less to live. But 
 that is not true numbering. Another way is merely 
 to count the days into the aggregate of life. A 
 man is one day older — but that is all. He is no 
 better. He has left no worthy record on the day's 
 page. The true numbering is that which fills the 
 days as they pass with records of good and beauti- 
 ful living, and with lines of growth in character. 
 
 Just now we are looking back over the story of a 
 closing year. What have we given the days to keep 
 for us ? What lessons of wisdom have we learned 
 from them, as one by one they have passed ? There 
 is little good in worrying over the failures of the 
 year, but we ought to learn from our past. He is 
 the wise man, not who makes no mistakes, but who 
 does not repeat his mistakes. 
 
 Are you rich in the years of bright gold 
 Yet untold? 
 Do they leisurely go, 
 Like a dream that is fair, 
 Or a prayer? 
 Oh, be wise; use them well ! You shall know 
 How the years, growing shorter, with good can increase, 
 And a life at the end be transfigured with peace. 
 
 Marianne Farningham. 
 
 (364) 
 
December 30. 
 
 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and to-day, yea 
 and for ever. — Hebrews xiii. 8. 
 
 WE leave many things behind us as we go on. 
 We can never go back again over the clos- 
 ing year. We never go over any life-path a second 
 time. We never pass a second time through any 
 experience. We have infancy once, childhood once, 
 youth once, manhood and womanhood once, old age 
 once, and we die once. We are forever leaving 
 things, places, conditions, and experiences behind 
 us. But through all these we have the same Christ, 
 unchanged, unchanging. 
 
 The old ark was carried forward into the new land 
 of promise, and still led the people. The Christ of 
 childhood and of youth remains the Christ of man- 
 hood and of old age. Whatever changes the years 
 bring to us, we must ever keep our eyes on the 
 living Christ. He will always be all we need. 
 There will never be a path which he cannot find for 
 us and show us. There will never be a dark valley 
 which he cannot light up for us. There will never be 
 a battle which he cannot fight for us. There will 
 never be an experience through which he cannot 
 safely take us. We are leaving the old year behind, 
 but we are not leaving Christ in the dead year. We 
 need not be afraid, therefore, to go forward, if we 
 go with him. We have not passed this new way 
 heretofore, and it is all strange to our inexperience ; 
 but Christ knows and he will guide us, and all will 
 be well if we put our hand in his. 
 
 (365) 
 
December 31. 
 
 Forgetting the things which a?-e behind, a?id stretch- 
 ing forward to the things which are before. — Phi- 
 lippians iii. 13. 
 
 THERE is a proper use of past experiences. We 
 should remember our past lost condition to 
 keep our hearts ever humble. We should remem- 
 ber the lessons learned from past experience so as 
 to profit by our mistakes. The true science of liv- 
 ing is not to make no mistakes, which is impossible, 
 but not to commit the same mistakes a second 
 time. 
 
 We should remember past mercies and blessings. 
 If we do, our past will shine down upon us like a sky- 
 full of stars. Such remembering of the past will 
 keep the gratitude ever fresh in our heart, and the 
 incense of praise ever burning on the altar. Such 
 a house of memory becomes a refuge to which we 
 may flee in trouble. When sorrows gather thickly ; 
 when trials come on like the waves of the sea ; 
 when the sun goes down and every star is quenched, 
 and there seems nothing bright in all the present — 
 then the memory of a past full of goodness, a past 
 in which God never once failed us, becomes a holy 
 refuge for us, a refuge gemmed and lighted by the 
 lamps of other and brighter days. Thus there are 
 right uses of the past. 
 
 But there is a sense in which we should altogether 
 forget our past. It is unwise to live looking back. 
 We should keep our eyes ever turned forward to 
 new hopes, new attainments, new achievements. 
 
 (366) 
 
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