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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 02:38:22 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 02:38:22 -0700 |
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diff --git a/28416-tei/28416-tei.tei b/28416-tei/28416-tei.tei new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6abb7ae --- /dev/null +++ b/28416-tei/28416-tei.tei @@ -0,0 +1,17267 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?> + +<!DOCTYPE TEI.2 SYSTEM "http://www.gutenberg.org/tei/marcello/0.4/dtd/pgtei.dtd" [ + +<!ENTITY u5 "http://www.tei-c.org/Lite/"> + +]> + +<TEI.2 lang="en"> +<teiHeader> + <fileDesc> + <titleStmt> + <title>Days of Heaven Upon Earth</title> + <author><name reg="Simpson, Rev. A. B.">Rev. A. B. Simpson</name></author> + </titleStmt> + <editionStmt> + <edition n="1">Edition 1</edition> + </editionStmt> + <publicationStmt> + <publisher>Project Gutenberg</publisher> + <date>March 27, 2009</date> + <idno type="etext-no">28416</idno> + <availability> + <p>This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and + with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it + away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg + License online at www.gutenberg.org/license</p> + </availability> + </publicationStmt> + <sourceDesc> + <bibl> + Created electronically. + </bibl> + </sourceDesc> + </fileDesc> + <encodingDesc> + </encodingDesc> + <profileDesc> + <langUsage> + <language id="en"></language> + <language id="el"></language> + <language id="la"></language> + </langUsage> + </profileDesc> + <revisionDesc> + <change> + <date value="2009-03-27">March 27, 2009</date> + <respStmt> + <name> + Produced by Robin Monks, Sea View Full Gospel Church Library + (http://seaviewministries.com), David King, and the Online + Distributed Proofreading Team at <http://www.pgdp.net/>. + </name> + </respStmt> + <item>Project Gutenberg TEI edition 1</item> + </change> + </revisionDesc> +</teiHeader> + +<pgExtensions> + <pgStyleSheet> + .boxed { x-class: boxed } + .shaded { x-class: shaded } + .rules { x-class: rules; rules: all } + .indent { margin-left: 2 } + .bold { font-weight: bold } + .italic { font-style: italic } + .smallcaps { font-variant: small-caps } + </pgStyleSheet> + + <pgCharMap formats="txt.iso-8859-1"> + <char id="U0x2014"> + <charName>mdash</charName> + <desc>EM DASH</desc> + <mapping>--</mapping> + </char> + <char id="U0x2003"> + <charName>emsp</charName> + <desc>EM SPACE</desc> + <mapping> </mapping> + </char> + <char id="U0x2026"> + <charName>hellip</charName> + <desc>HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS</desc> + <mapping>...</mapping> + </char> + </pgCharMap> +</pgExtensions> + +<text lang="en"> + <front> + <div> + <divGen type="pgheader" /> + </div> + <div> + <divGen type="encodingDesc" /> + </div> + + <div rend="page-break-before: always"> + <p rend="font-size: xx-large; text-align: center">Days of Heaven Upon Earth</p> + <p rend="font-size: large; text-align: center">A Year Book of Scripture Texts</p> + <p rend="font-size: large; text-align: center">And Living Truths</p> + <p rend="font-size: large; text-align: center">By</p> + <p rend="font-size: x-large; text-align: center">Rev. A. B. Simpson</p> + <p rend="text-align: center">Christian Alliance Pub. Co.</p> + <p rend="text-align: center">3611 Fourteenth Avenue,</p> + <p rend="text-align: center">Brooklyn, N. Y.</p> + <p rend="text-align: center">Copyright, December, 1897</p> + </div> + <div rend="page-break-before: always"> + <head>Contents</head> + <divGen type="toc" /> + </div> + + </front> +<body> + +<pb n='005'/><anchor id='Pg005'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>The Days Of Heaven</head> + +<lg> +<l>The days of heaven are peaceful days,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Still as yon glassy sea;</l> +<l>So calm, so still in God, our days,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>As the days of heaven would be.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l>The days of heaven are holy days,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>From sin forever free;</l> +<l>So cleansed and kept our days, O Lord,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>As the days of heaven would be.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l>The days of heaven are happy days.</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Sorrow they never see;</l> +<l>So full of gladness all our days,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>As the days of heaven would be.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l>The days of heaven are healthful days,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>They feed on life's fair tree;</l> +<l>So feeding on Thy strength, O Christ,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Our days as heaven may be.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l>Walk with us, Lord, thro' all the days,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>And let us walk with Thee;</l> +<l>Till as Thy will is done in heaven,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>On earth so shall it be.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='007'/><anchor id='Pg007'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>January 1.</head> + +<p> +<q>Redeeming the time</q> (Eph. v. 16). +</p> + +<p> +Two little words are found in the Greek +version here. They are translated +<q><foreign lang='el' rend='italic'>ton kairon</foreign></q> in the revised version, +<q>Buying up for yourselves the opportunity.</q> +The two words <foreign lang='el' rend='italic'>ton kairon</foreign> mean, literally, +the opportunity. +</p> + +<p> +They do not refer to time in general, but to a +special point of time, a juncture, a crisis, a +moment full of possibilities and quickly passing +by, which we must seize and make the +best of before it has passed away. +</p> + +<p> +It is intimated that there are not many such +moments of opportunity, because the days are +evil; like a barren desert, in which, here and +there, you find a flower, pluck it while you can; +like a business opportunity which comes a few +times in a life-time; buy it up while you have +the chance. Be spiritually alert; be not unwise, +but understanding what the will of God is. +<q>Walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, +buying up for yourselves the opportunity.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Sometimes it is a moment of time to be +saved; sometimes a soul to be led to Christ; +sometimes it is an occasion for love; sometimes +for patience: sometimes for victory over temptation +and sin. Let us redeem it. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='008'/><anchor id='Pg008'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>January 2.</head> + +<p> +<q>I will cause you to walk in My statutes</q> (Eze. xxxvi. +27). +</p> + +<p> +The highest spiritual condition is one +where life is spontaneous and flows +without effort, like the deep floods of +Ezekiel's river, where the struggles of +the swimmer ceased, and he was borne by the +current's resistless force. +</p> + +<p> +So God leads us into spiritual conditions and +habits which become the spontaneous impulses +of our being, and we live and move in the fulness +of the divine life. +</p> + +<p> +But these spiritual habits are not the outcome +of some transitory impulse, but are often +slowly acquired and established. They begin, +like every true habit, in a definite act of will, +and they are confirmed by the repetition of that +act until it becomes a habit. The first stages +always involve effort and choice. We have to +take a stand and hold it steadily, and after we +have done so a certain time, it becomes second +nature, and carries us by its own force. +</p> + +<p> +The Holy Spirit is willing to form such habits +in every direction of our Christian life, and +if we will but obey Him in the first steppings +of faith, we will soon become established in +the attitude of obedience, and duty will be delight. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='009'/><anchor id='Pg009'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>January 3.</head> + +<p> +<q>Watch and pray</q> (Matt. xxvi. 41). +</p> + +<p> +We need to watch for prayers as well +as for the answers to our prayers. +It needs as much wisdom to pray +rightly as it does faith to receive the +answers to our prayers. +</p> + +<p> +We met a friend the other day, who had been +in years of darkness because God had failed to +answer certain prayers, and the result had been +a state bordering on infidelity. +</p> + +<p> +A very few moments were sufficient to convince +this friend that these prayers had been +entirely unauthorized, and that God had never +promised to answer such prayers, and they +were for things which this friend should have +accomplished himself, in the exercise of ordinary +wisdom. +</p> + +<p> +The result was deliverance from a cloud of +unbelief which was almost wrecking a Christian +life. There are some things about which +we do not need to pray, as much as to take the +light which God has already given. +</p> + +<p> +Many persons are asking God to give them +peculiar signs, tokens and supernatural intimations +of His will. Our business is to use +the light He has given, and then He will give +whatever more we need. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='010'/><anchor id='Pg010'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>January 4.</head> + +<p> +<q>Blessed is the man that walketh not</q> (Ps. i. 1). +</p> + +<p> +Three things are notable about this +man: +</p> + +<p> +1. His company. <q>He walketh not +in the counsel of the ungodly, nor +standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in +the seat of the scornful.</q> +</p> + +<p> +2. His reading and thinking. <q>His delight +is in the law of the Lord, and in His law doth +he meditate day and night.</q> +</p> + +<p> +3. His fruitfulness. <q>And he shall be like +a tree planted by the rivers of water, that +bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf +also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth +shall prosper.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The river is the Holy Ghost; the planting, the +deep, abiding life in which, not occasionally, +but habitually, we absorb the Holy Spirit; and +the fruit is not occasional, but continual, and +appropriate to each changing season. +</p> + +<p> +His life is also prosperous, and his spirit +fresh, like the unfading leaf. Such a life must +be happy. Indeed, happiness is a matter of +spiritual conditions. Put a sunbeam in a cellar +and it must be bright. Put a nightingale in +the darkest midnight, and it must sing. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='011'/><anchor id='Pg011'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>January 5.</head> + +<p> +<q>I know him that he will do the law</q> (Gen. xviii. 19). +</p> + +<p> +God wants people that He can depend +upon. He could say of Abraham, <q>I +know him, that the Lord may bring +upon Abraham all that He hath spoken.</q> +God can be depended upon; He wants us +to be just as decided, as reliable, as stable. This +is just what faith means. God is looking for +men on whom He can put the weight of all His +love, and power, and faithful promises. When +God finds such a soul there is nothing He will +not do for him. God's engines are strong enough +to draw any weight we attach to them. Unfortunately +the cable which we fasten to the +engine is often too weak to hold the weight of +our prayer, therefore God is drilling us, disciplining +us, and training us to stability and +certainty in the life of faith. Let us learn our +lessons, and let us stand fast. +</p> + +<lg> +<l>God has His best things for the few</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Who dare to stand the test;</l> +<l>God has his second choice for those</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Who will not have His best.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l>Give me, O Lord, Thy highest choice,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Let others take the rest.</l> +<l>Their good things have no charm for me,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>For I have got Thy best.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='012'/><anchor id='Pg012'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>January 6.</head> + +<p> +<q>The body is not one member, but many</q> (I. Cor. xii. 14). +</p> + +<p> +We have a friend who has a phonograph +for his correspondence. It +consists of two parts. One is a +simple and wonderful apparatus, +whose sensitive cylinders receive the tones and +then give them out again, word for word, +through the hearing tube. The other part is a +common little box that stands under the table, +and does nothing but supply the power through +connecting wires. +</p> + +<p> +Now, the little box might insist upon being +the phonograph, and doing the talking; but if +it should, it would not only waste its own life +but destroy the life of its partner. +</p> + +<p> +Its sole business is to supply power to the +phonograph, while the latter is to do the talking. +So some of us are called to be voices to +speak for God to our fellow-men, others are +forces to sustain them, by our holy sympathy +and silent prayer. (Some of us are little dynamos +under the table, while others are phonographs that speak +aloud the messages of heaven.) +</p> + +<p> +Let each of us be true to our God-given +ministry, and when the day comes our work +will be weighed and the rewards distributed. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='013'/><anchor id='Pg013'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>January 7.</head> + +<p> +<q>Now unto Him that is able to keep you from stumbling</q> +(Jude 24). +</p> + +<p> +This is a most precious promise. The +revised translation is both accurate +and suggestive. It is not merely from +falling that He wants to keep us, but +from even the slightest stumbling. +</p> + +<p> +We are told of Abraham that he staggered +not at the promise. God wants us to walk so +steadily that there will not even be a quiver in +the line of His regiments as they face the foe. +It is the little stumblings of life that most discourage +and hinder us, and most of these +stumblings are over trifles. Satan would much +rather knock us down with a feather than with +an Armstrong gun. It is much more to his +honor and keen delight to defeat a child of +God by some flimsy trifle than by some great +temptation. +</p> + +<p> +Beloved, let us watch, in these days, against +the orange peels that trip us on our pathway, +the little foxes that destroy the vines, and the +dead flies that mar, sometimes, a whole vessel +of precious ointment. <q>Trifles make perfection,</q> +and as we get farther on, in our Christian +life, God will hold us much more closely +to obedience in things that seem insignificant. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='014'/><anchor id='Pg014'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>January 8.</head> + +<p> +<q>It is I, be not afraid</q> (Mark vi. 50). +</p> + +<p> +Someone tells of a little child with some +big story of sorrow upon its little heart, +flying to its mother's arms for comfort, +and intending to tell her the story of +its trouble; but as that mother presses it to +her bosom and pours out her love, it soon becomes +so occupied with her and the sweetness +of her affection that it forgets to tell its story, +and in a little while even the memory of the +trouble is forgotten. It has just been loved +away, and she has taken its place in the heart +of the little one. +</p> + +<p> +This is the way God comforts us Himself. +<q>It is I, be not afraid,</q> is His reassuring word. +The circumstances are not altered, but He +Himself comes in their place, and satisfies +every need of our being, and we forget all +things in His sweet presence, as He becomes +our all in all. +</p> + +<lg> +<l>I am breathing out my sorrow</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>On Thy kind and loving breast;</l> +<l>Breathing in Thy joy and comfort,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Breathing in Thy peace and rest.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l>I am breathing out my longings</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>In Thy listening, loving ear;</l> +<l>I am breathing in Thy answer,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Stilling every doubt and fear.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='015'/><anchor id='Pg015'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>January 9.</head> + +<p> +<q>Not as I will, but as Thou wilt</q> (Matt. xxvi. 39). +</p> + +<p> +<q>To will and do of His good pleasure</q> (Phil. ii. 13). +</p> + +<p> +There are two attitudes in which our +will should be given to God. +</p> + +<p> +First. We should have the surrendered +will. This is where we must all +begin, by yielding up to God our natural will, +and having Him possess it. +</p> + +<p> +But next, He wants us to have the victorious +will. As soon as He receives our will in +honest surrender, He wants to put His will +into it and make it stronger than ever for Him. +It is henceforth no longer our will, but His +will. And having yielded to His choice and +placed itself under His direction, He wants to +put into it all the strength and intensity of His +own great will and make us positive, forceful, +victorious and unmovable, even as Himself. +<q>Not My will, but Thine be done.</q> That is +the first step. <q>Father, I will that they whom +Thou hast given Me, be with Me.</q> That is +the second attitude. Both are divine; both are +right; both are necessary to our right living +and successful working for God. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='016'/><anchor id='Pg016'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>January 10.</head> + +<p> +<q>Charity doth not behave itself unseemly</q> (I. Cor. +xiii. 5). +</p> + +<p> +In the dress of a Hindu woman, her graceful +robe is fastened upon her person entirely +by means of a single knot. The +long strip of cloth is wound around her +person so as to fall in graceful folds like a made +garment, and the end is fastened by a little +knot, and the whole thing hangs by that single +fastening. If that were loosed the robe +would fall. And so in the spiritual life, our +habits of grace are likened unto garments; and +it is also true that the garment of love, which is +the beautiful adorning of the child of God, is +entirely fastened by little <emph>nots</emph>. +</p> + +<p> +If you will read with care the thirteenth +chapter of I. Corinthians, you will find that +most of the qualities of love are purely negative. +<q>Love envieth not, love vaunteth not +itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave herself +rudely, seeketh not her own, is not provoked, +thinketh no evil.</q> Here are <q><emph>nots</emph></q> enough +to hold on our spiritual wardrobe. Here are +reasons enough to explain the failure of so +many, and the reason why they walk naked, +or with rent garments, and others see their +shame. Let us look after the <emph>nots</emph>. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='017'/><anchor id='Pg017'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>January 11.</head> + +<p> +<q>Hold fast till I come</q> (Rev. ii. 25). +</p> + +<p> +The other day we asked a Hebrew friend +how it was that his countrymen were +so successful in acquiring wealth. +<q>Ah,</q> said he, <q>we do not make more +money than other people, but we keep more.</q> +Beloved, let us look out this day for spiritual +pickpockets and spiritual leakage. Let us <q>lose +nothing of what we have wrought, but receive +a full reward</q>; and, as each day comes and +goes, let us put away in the savings bank of +eternity its treasures of grace and victory, and +so be conscious from day to day that something +real and everlasting is being added to our +eternal fortune. +</p> + +<p> +It may be but a little, but if we only economize +all that God gives us, and pass it on to +His keeping, when the close shall come we +shall be amazed to see how much the accumulated +treasures of a well spent life have laid up +on high, and how much more He has added to +them by His glorious investment of the life +committed to His keeping. +</p> + +<p> +Oh, how the days are telling! Oh, how +precious these golden hours will seem sometime! +God help us to make the most of them now. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='018'/><anchor id='Pg018'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>January 12.</head> + +<p> +<q>Ask and it shall be given you</q> (Matt. vii. 7). +</p> + +<p> +We must receive, as well as ask. We +must take the place of believing, +and recognize ourselves as in it. A +friend was saying, <q>I want to get +into the will of God,</q> and this was the answer: +<q>Will you step into the will of God? And +now, are you in the will of God?</q> The question +aroused a thought that had not come before. +</p> + +<p> +The gentleman saw that he had been straining +after, but not receiving the blessing he +sought. +</p> + +<p> +Jesus has said, <q>Ask and ye shall receive.</q> +The very strain keeps back the blessing. The +intense tension of all your spiritual nature so +binds you that you are not open to the blessing +which God is waiting to give you. <q>Whosoever +will, let him take the water of life freely.</q> +</p> + +<lg> +<l>He tells me there is cleansing</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>From every secret sin,</l> +<l>And a great and full salvation</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>To keep the heart within.</l> +<l>And I take Him in His fulness,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>With all His glorious grace,</l> +<l>For He says it is mine by taking,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>And I take just what He says.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='019'/><anchor id='Pg019'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>January 13.</head> + +<p> +<q>Thou shalt be to him instead of God</q> (Ex. iv. 16). +</p> + +<p> +Such was God's promise to Moses, and +such the high character that Moses was +to assume toward Aaron, his brother. +May it not suggest a high and glorious +place that each of us may occupy toward all +whom we meet, instead of God? +</p> + +<p> +What a dignity and glory it would give our +lives, could we uniformly realize this high calling! +How it would lead us to act toward our +fellow-men! God can always be depended +upon. God is without variableness or shadow +of turning. God's word is unchangeable, and +we can trust Him without reserve or question. +Oh, that we might so live that men can trust +us, even as God! +</p> + +<p> +Again, God has no needs or wants to be supplied. +He is always giving. <q>Rich unto all +that call upon Him.</q> The glory of His nature +is love, unselfish love, and beneficence toward +all His creatures. The Divine life is a self-forgetting +life, a life that has nothing to do +but love and bless. +</p> + +<p> +Let us so live, representing our Master here, +while He represents us before the Throne on +high. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='020'/><anchor id='Pg020'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>January 14.</head> + +<p> +<q>Unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of +Christ</q> (Eph. iv. 13). +</p> + +<p> +God loves us so well that He will not +suffer us to take less than His highest +will. Some day we shall bless our +faithful teacher, who kept the standard +inflexibly rigid, and then gave us the +strength and grace to reach it, and would not +excuse us until we had accomplished all His +glorious will. +</p> + +<p> +Let us be inexorable with ourselves. Let us +mean exactly what God means, and have no +discounts upon His promises or commandments. +Let us keep the standard up, and never +rest until we reach it. <q>Let God be true and +every man a liar.</q> If we fail a hundred times +don't let us accommodate God's ideal to our +realization, but like the brave ensign who stood +in front of his company waving the banner, and +when the soldiers called him back he only +waved it higher, and cried, <q>Don't bring the +standard back to the regiment, but bring the +regiment up to the colors.</q> +</p> + +<lg> +<l>Forward, forward, leave the past behind thee,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Reaching forth unto the things before;</l> +<l>All the Land of Promise lies before thee,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>God has greater blessings yet in store.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='021'/><anchor id='Pg021'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>January 15.</head> + +<p> +<q>As ye have received Christ Jesus so walk in Him</q> +(Col. ii. 6). +</p> + +<p> +It is much easier to keep the fire burning +than to rekindle it after it has gone out. +Let us abide in Him. Let us not have to +remove the cinders and ashes from our +hearthstones every day and kindle a new flame; +but let us keep it burning and never let it expire. +Among the ancient Greeks the sacred +fire was never allowed to go out; so, in a higher +sense, let us keep the heavenly flame aglow +upon the altar of the heart. +</p> + +<p> +It takes very much less effort to maintain a +good habit than to form it. A true spiritual +habit once formed becomes a spontaneous tendency +of our being, and we grow into delightful +freedom in following it. <q>Let us not be +ever laying again the foundation of repentance +from dead works, but let us go on unto perfection; +and whereto we have already attained, +let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the +same things.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Every spiritual habit begins with difficulty +and effort and watchfulness, but if we will only +let it get thoroughly established, it will become +a channel along which currents of life will flow +with divine spontaneousness and freedom. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='022'/><anchor id='Pg022'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>January 16.</head> + +<p> +<q>Prove what is that good, and acceptable and perfect +will of God</q> (Rom. xii. 2). +</p> + +<p> +There are three conditions in which the +water in that engine may be. First, +the boiler may be full and the water +clean and clear; or, secondly, the boiler +may not only be full but the water may be +hot, very hot, hot enough to scald you, almost +boiling; thirdly, it may be just one degree +hotter and at the boiling point, giving +forth its vapor in clouds of steam, pressing +through the valves and driving the mighty piston +which turns the wheels and propels the +train of cars across the country. +</p> + +<p> +So there are three kinds of Christians. The +first we will call cold water Christians, or, perhaps +better, clean water Christians. +</p> + +<p> +Secondly, there are hot water Christians. +They are almost at the boiling point. +</p> + +<p> +One degree more, we come to the third class +of Christians, the boiling water Christians. +The difference is a very slight one; it simply +takes one reservation out, drops one <q>if,</q> +eliminates a single touch, and yet it is all the +difference in the world. That one degree +changes that engine into a motive power, not +now a thing to be looked at, but a thing to go. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='023'/><anchor id='Pg023'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>January 17.</head> + +<p> +<q>It is God which worketh in you</q> (Phil. ii. 13). +</p> + +<p> +God has not two ways for any of us; but +one; not two things for us to do which +we may choose between; but one best +and highest choice. It is a blessed +thing to find and fill the perfect will of God. +It is a blessed thing to have our life laid out +and our Christian work adjusted to God's plan. +Much strength is lost by working at a venture. +Much spiritual force is expended in wasted effort, +and scattered, indefinite and inconstant +attempts at doing good. There is spiritual +force and financial strength enough in the +hands and hearts of the consecrated Christians +of to-day to bring the coming of Christ, to bring +about the evangelization of the world in a generation, +if it were only wisely directed and +utilized according to God's plan. +</p> + +<p> +Christ has laid down a definite plan of work +for His Church, and He expects us to understand +it, and to work up to it; and as we catch +His thought, and obediently, loyally fulfil it, +we shall work to purpose, and please Him far +better than by our thoughtless, reckless, and +indiscriminate attempts to carry out our ideas, +and compel God to bless our work. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='024'/><anchor id='Pg024'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>January 18.</head> + +<p> +<q>That take and give for Me and thee</q> (Matt. xvii. 27). +</p> + +<p> +There is a beautiful touch of loving +thoughtfulness in the account of +Christ's miracle at Capernaum in providing +the tribute money. After the +reference to Peter's interview with the tax collector, +it is added, <q>When he came into the +house Jesus prevented him,</q> that is, anticipated +him, as the old Saxon word means, by +arranging for the need before Peter needed to +speak about it at all, and He sent Peter down +to the sea to find the piece of gold in the +mouth of the fish. +</p> + +<p> +So our dear Lord is always thinking in advance +of our needs, and He loves to save us +from embarrassment, and anticipate our anxieties +and cares by laying up His loving acts +and providing before the emergency comes. +Then with exquisite tenderness the Master +adds: <q>That take and give for Me and thee.</q> +He puts Himself first in the embarrassing need +and bears the heavy end of the burden for His +distressed and suffering child. He makes our +cares His cares, our sorrows His sorrows, our +shame His shame, and <q>He is able to be +touched with the feeling of our infirmities.</q> +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='025'/><anchor id='Pg025'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>January 19.</head> + +<p> +<q>Prove me now herewith</q> (Mal. iii. 10). +</p> + +<p> +We once heard a simple old colored +man say something that we have +never forgotten. <q>When God tests +You it is a good time for you to test +Him by putting His promises to the proof, and +claiming from Him just as much as your trials +have rendered necessary.</q> +</p> + +<p> +There are two ways of getting out of a trial. +One is to simply try to get rid of the trial, and +be thankful when it is over. The other is to +recognize the trial as a challenge from God to +claim a larger blessing than we have ever had, +and to hail it with delight as an opportunity +of obtaining a larger measure of Divine grace. +</p> + +<p> +Thus even the adversary becomes an auxiliary, +and the things that seem to be against us +turn out to be for the furtherance of our way. +Surely, this is to be more than conquerors +through Him who loved us. +</p> + +<lg> +<l>Blessed Rose of Sharon</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Breathe upon our heart,</l> +<l>Fill us with Thy fragrance,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Keep us as Thou art.</l> +<l>Then Thy life will make us</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Holy and complete;</l> +<l>In Thy grace triumphant,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>In Thy sweetness, sweet.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='026'/><anchor id='Pg026'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>January 20.</head> + +<p> +<q>Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of</q> (Luke +ix. 55). +</p> + +<p> +Some one has said that the most spiritual +people are the easiest to get along +with. When one has a little of the Holy +Ghost it is like <q>a little learning, a dangerous +thing</q>; but a full baptism of the Holy +Spirit, and a really disciplined, stablished and +tested spiritual life, makes one simple, tender, +tolerant, considerate of others, and like a little +child. +</p> + +<p> +James and John, in their early zeal, wanted +to call down fire from heaven on the Samaritans. +But John, the aged, allowed Demetrius +to exclude him from the church, and suffered +in Patmos for the kingdom and with the patience +of Jesus. And aged Paul was willing to +take back even Mark, whom he had refused as +a companion in his early ministry, and to acknowledge +that he was profitable to him for +the ministry. +</p> + +<lg> +<l>I want the love that cannot help but love;</l> +<l>Loving, like God, for very sake of love.</l> +<l>A spring so full that it must overflow,</l> +<l>A fountain flowing from the throne above.</l> +</lg> + +<p> +<q>Now abideth faith, hope, love; but the +greatest of these is love.</q> +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='027'/><anchor id='Pg027'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>January 21.</head> + +<p> +<q>Pray without ceasing</q> (I. Thess. v. 17). +</p> + +<p> +An important help in the life of prayer +is the habit of bringing everything to +God, moment by moment, as it comes +to us in life. This may be established +as a habit on the principle on which all habits +are formed, of repeated and constant attention, +moment by moment, until that which is at first +an act of will, becomes spontaneous and second +nature. +</p> + +<p> +If we will watch our lives we shall find that +God meets the things that we commit to Him +in prayer with special blessing, and often allows +the best things that we have not committed +to Him to be ineffectual, simply to remind +us of our dependence upon Him for +everything. It is very gracious and mindful of +Him thus gently to compel us to remember +Him and to hold us so close to Him that we +cannot get away even the length of a single +minute from His all-sustaining arm. <q>In everything +... let our requests be made +known unto God.</q> +</p> + +<lg> +<l>Let us bring our least petitions,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Like the incense beaten small,</l> +<l>All our cares, complaints, conditions</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Jesus loves to bear them all.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='028'/><anchor id='Pg028'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>January 22.</head> + +<p> +<q>His wife hath made herself ready</q> (Rev. xix. 7). +</p> + +<p> +There is danger in becoming morbid +even in preparing for the Lord's coming. +We remember a time in our life +when we had devoted ourselves to +spend a month in waiting upon the Lord for a +baptism of the Holy Ghost, and before the end +of the month, the Lord shook us out of our +seclusion and compelled us to go out and carry +His message to others; and as we went, He met +us in the service. +</p> + +<p> +There is a musty, monkish way of seeking +a blessing, and there is a wholesome, practical +holiness which finds us in the company of the +Lord Himself not only in the closet and on the +mountain-top of prayer, but among publicans +and sinners, and in the practical duties of +life. +</p> + +<p> +It seems to us that the practical preparation +for the Lord's coming consists, first, of a very +full entering into fellowship with Him in our +own spiritual life, and letting Him not only +cleanse us, but perfect us in all the finer +touches of the Spirit's deeper work, and then, +secondly, getting out of ourselves and living +for the help of others and the preparation of +the world for His appearing. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='029'/><anchor id='Pg029'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>January 23.</head> + +<p> +<q>I know a man in Christ</q> (II. Cor. xii. 2). +</p> + +<p> +It is a great deliverance to lose one's self. +There is no heavier millstone that one +can be compelled to carry than self-consciousness. +It is so easy to get introverted +and coiled round one's self in our spiritual +consciousness. There is nothing that is +so easy to fasten on as our misery; there is +nothing that is more apt to produce self-consciousness +than suffering, until it becomes almost +a settled habit to hold on to our burden, +and pray it unceasingly into the very face of +God, until our very prayer saturates us with +our own misery, instead of asking for power to +drop ourselves altogether, and leave ourselves +in His loving hands and know that we are +free, and then rise into the blessed liberty of +His higher thoughts and will, and His love and +care for others. +</p> + +<p> +The very act of letting go of ourselves really +lifts us into a higher plane, and relieves us from +the thing that is hurting. This habit of prayer +for others, and especially for the world, brings +its own recompense, and leaves upon our +hearts a blessing like the fertility which the +Nile deposits upon the soil of Egypt, as it +flows through to its distant goal. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='030'/><anchor id='Pg030'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>January 24.</head> + +<p> +<q>Freely ye have received, freely give</q> (Matt. x. 8). +</p> + +<p> +When God does anything marked +and special for our souls, or bodies, +He intends it as a sacred trust for +us to communicate to others. <q>Freely +ye have received, freely give.</q> +</p> + +<p> +It has pleased the Master in these closing +days of the dispensation to reveal Himself in +peculiar blessing to the hearts of His chosen +disciples in all parts of the Christian Church; +but this is intended to be communicated to a +still wider circle, and every one of us who has +been brought into these intimate relations with +God, becomes a trustee, or witness for these +higher truths to every one we can influence. +</p> + +<p> +If God has revealed Himself to us as our +Sanctifier, it is that we may help others to +know Him as a Sanctifier. +</p> + +<p> +If He has become our Healer, it is because +there are sick and suffering lives to whom we +can bring some blessing. +</p> + +<p> +In like manner, if the hope of the Lord's +coming has become precious to us, it would be +worse than ingratitude for us to hide our testimony +to this truth, and hold it only for our +own personal comfort. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='031'/><anchor id='Pg031'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>January 25.</head> + +<p> +<q>Hold fast that which is good</q> (I. Thess. v. 21). +</p> + +<p> +It is a great thing to be able to receive +new truth and blessing without sacrificing +the truths already proved, and abandoning +foundations already laid. +</p> + +<p> +Some persons are always laying the foundations, +and they present at last, the appearance +of a lot of abandoned sites and half constructed +buildings, and nothing is ever brought to completion. +</p> + +<p> +The fact that you are abandoning to-day for +some new truth the things that a year ago you +counted most precious and believed to be divinely +true, should be sufficient evidence that +you will probably a year from to-day abandon +your present convictions for the next new light +that comes to you. +</p> + +<p> +God is ever wanting to add to us, to develop +us, to enlarge us, to teach us more and more, +but it is ever in the line of things which He has +already taught us, and in which we have been +established. +</p> + +<p> +While we are to <q>prove all things,</q> let us +<q>hold fast that which is good,</q> and <q>whereto +we have already attained, let us walk by the +same rule, let us mind the same thing.</q> +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='032'/><anchor id='Pg032'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>January 26.</head> + +<p> +<q>I called him alone and blessed him</q> (Isa. li. 2). +</p> + +<p> +When we were in the East we noticed +the beautiful process of raising rice. +The rice is sown on a morass of mud +and water, ploughed up by great buffaloes, +and after a few weeks it springs up and +appears above the water with its beautiful pale +green shoots. The seed has been sown very +thickly and the plants are clustered together +in great numbers, so that you can pull up a +score at a single handful. But now comes the +process of transplanting. He first plants us +and lets us grow very close to some of His +children, and in great clusters in the nursery +or the hothouse, but when we reach a certain +stage we must be transplanted, or come to +nothing. He calls us out by His Spirit and +Providence into situations where we have to +lean directly on Him, where He puts upon us +a weight of responsibility and service so great +that we have an opportunity of developing and +are thrown upon the great resources of His grace. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Blessed is the man that trusteth in the +Lord, and whose hope the Lord is; for he shall +be like a tree planted by the waters and that +spreadeth out her roots by the rivers.</q> +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='033'/><anchor id='Pg033'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>January 27.</head> + +<p> +<q>This one thing I do</q> (Phil. iii. 13). +</p> + +<p> +One of Satan's favorite employees is +the switchman. He likes nothing +better than to side-track one of God's +express trains, sent on some blessed +mission and filled with the fire of a holy purpose. +</p> + +<p> +Something will come up in the pathway of +the earnest soul, to attract its attention and +occupy its strength and thought. Sometimes +it is a little irritation and provocation. Sometimes +it is some petty grievance we stop to pursue +or adjust. Sometimes it is somebody else's +business in which we become interested, +and which we feel bound to rectify, and +before we know, we are absorbed in a lot +of distracting cares and interests that quite +turn us aside from the great purpose of our +life. +</p> + +<p> +Perhaps we do not do much harm, but we +have missed our connection. We have got off +the main line. +</p> + +<p> +Let all these things alone. Let grievances +come and go, but press forward steadily and +irresistibly, crying, as you haste to the goal, +<q>This one thing I do.</q> +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='034'/><anchor id='Pg034'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>January 28.</head> + +<p> +<q>That my joy might remain in you, and that your joy +might be full</q> (John xv. 11). +</p> + +<p> +There is a joy that springs spontaneously +in the heart without external +or even rational cause. It is an +artesian fountain. It rejoices because +it cannot help it. It is the glory of God; it is +the heart of Christ, it is the joy divine of +which He says, <q>These things have I spoken +unto you that My joy might remain in you, and +that your joy might be full.</q> And your joy no +man taketh from you. He who possesses this +fountain is not discouraged by surrounding +circumstances, but is often surprised at the +deep, sweet gladness that comes without any +apparent cause, and even comes most strongly +when everything in our condition and circumstances +is fitted to fill us with sorrow and depression. +</p> + +<p> +It is the nightingale in the heart, which sings +at night, and sings because it is its nature to sing. +</p> + +<p> +It is the glorified and incorruptible joy which +belongs to heaven, and anticipates already the +everlasting song. Lord, give me Thy joy under +all circumstances this day, and let my full +heart overflow in blessing to others. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='035'/><anchor id='Pg035'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>January 29.</head> + +<p> +<q>Send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared</q> +(Neh. viii. 10). +</p> + +<p> +That was a fine picture in the days of +Nehemiah, when they were celebrating +their glorious Feast of Tabernacles. +<q>Neither be ye sorry; for the joy of +the Lord is your strength. Go your way, eat +the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions +to them for whom nothing is prepared.</q> +</p> + +<p> +How many there are on every side for whom +nothing is prepared! Let us find out some sad +and needy heart for whom there is no one else +to think or care. Let us pray for some one +that has none to pray for him. Let us be like +Him who, one Christmas Day, gave His life +and His all, and came to those who would not +appreciate His holy gift, but rejected His +blessed Babe, and murdered His only Son. +</p> + +<p> +Let us not be afraid to know something even +of the love that is unrequited and is thrown +away on the unworthy. That is the love of +Christ, and God has for such love a rich recompense. +</p> + +<p> +How Christ must almost weep over the selfishness +that meets Him from those for whom +He died. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='036'/><anchor id='Pg036'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>January 30.</head> + +<p> +<q>Cast down but not destroyed</q> (II. Cor. iv. 9). +</p> + +<p> +How did God bring about the miracle +of the Red Sea? By shutting His people +in on every side, so that there was +no way out but the divine way. The +Egyptians were behind them, the sea was in +front of them, the mountains were on every +side of them. There was no escape but from above. +</p> + +<p> +Some one has said that the devil can wall us +in, but he cannot roof us over. We can always +get out at the top. Our difficulties are but +God's challenges, and He makes them so hard, +often, that we must go under or get above them. +</p> + +<p> +In such an hour, if there is a divine element, +it brings out the highest possibilities of faith +and we are pushed by the very emergency into +God's best. +</p> + +<p> +Beloved, this is God's hour. If you will rise +to meet it you will get such a hold upon Him +that you will never be in extremities again, or +if you are, you will learn to call them not extremities, +but opportunities, and like Jacob, +you will go forth from that night at Peniel, no +longer Jacob, but victorious Israel. Let us +bring to Him our need and prove Him true. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='037'/><anchor id='Pg037'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>January 31.</head> + +<p> +<q>Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and +righteousness and sanctification and redemption</q> (I. Cor. +i. 30). +</p> + +<p> +More and more we are coming to see +the supreme importance of getting +the right conception of sanctification, +not as a blessing, but as a personal +union with the personal Saviour and the +indwelling Holy Spirit. Thousands of people +get stranded after they have embarked on the +great voyage of holiness. +</p> + +<p> +They find themselves failing and falling, and +are astonished and perplexed, and they conclude +that they must have been mistaken in +their experience, and so they make a new attempt +at the same thing and again fall, until +at last, worn out with the experiment, they +conclude that the experience is a delusion, or, +at least, that it was never intended for them, +and so they fall back into the old way, and +their last state is worse than their first. +</p> + +<p> +What people need to-day to satisfy their +deep hunger and to give them a permanent and +Divine experience is to know, not sanctification +as a state, but Christ as a living Person, +who is waiting to enter the heart that is willing +to receive Him. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='038'/><anchor id='Pg038'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>February 1.</head> + +<p> +<q>A well of water springing up</q> (John iv. 14). +</p> + +<p> +In the life overflowing in service for others, +we find the deep fountain of life +running over the spring and finding vent +in rivers of living water that go out to +bless and save the world around us. It is beautiful +to notice that as the blessing grows unselfish +it grows larger. The water in the heart is +only a well, but when reaching out to the needs +of others it is not only a river, but a delta of +many rivers overflowing in majestic blessing. +This overflowing love is connected with the +Person and work of the Holy Spirit which was +to be poured out upon the disciples after Jesus +was glorified. +</p> + +<p> +This is the true secret of power for service, +the heart filled and satisfied with Jesus, and so +baptized with the Holy Ghost that it is impelled +by the fulness of its joy and love to impart +to others what it has so abundantly received; +and yet each new ministry only makes +room for a new filling and a deeper receiving +of the life which grows by giving. +</p> + +<lg> +<l>Letting go is twice possessing,</l> +<l>Would you double every blessing,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 4'>Pass it on.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='039'/><anchor id='Pg039'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>February 2.</head> + +<p> +<q>And whosoever will be great among you, let him be +your minister. And whosoever will be chief among you, +let him be your servant</q> (Matt. xx. 26, 27). +</p> + +<p> +Slave is the literal meaning of the +word, <foreign lang='el' rend='italic'>doulos</foreign>. +</p> + +<p> +The first word used for service is +<foreign lang='el' rend='italic'>diakanos</foreign>, which means a minister to +others in any usual way or work: but the word +<foreign lang='el' rend='italic'>doulos</foreign> means a bond slave, and the Lord here +plainly teaches us that the highest service is +that of a bond slave. +</p> + +<p> +He Himself made Himself the servant of all, +and he who would come nearest to Him and +stand closest to Him at last, must likewise +learn the spirit of the ministry that has utterly +renounced selfish rights and claims forever. +</p> + +<p> +It is quite possible to be entirely loyal to +the Lord Jesus, and yet for Jesus' sake, a servant +ourselves, and under the authority of those +who are over us in the Lord. +</p> + +<p> +The <foreign lang='el' rend='italic'>doulos</foreign> spirit is the spirit of +self-renunciation and glad submission to proper authority, +service utterly disinterested, yielding our +own preferences and interests unreservedly +for the glory of the Master and the sake of our +brethren. Lord, clothe us with humility and +make us wholly Thine. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='040'/><anchor id='Pg040'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>February 3.</head> + +<p> +<q>He went out, not knowing whither He went</q> (Heb. +xi. 8). +</p> + +<p> +It is faith without sight. When we can +see, it is not faith but reasoning. In +crossing the Atlantic we observed this +very principle of faith. We saw no path +upon the sea nor sign of the shore. And yet +day by day we were marking our path upon the +chart as exactly as if there had followed us a +great chalk line upon the sea; and when we +came within twenty miles of land we knew +where we were as exactly as if we had seen it +all three thousand miles ahead. +</p> + +<p> +How had we measured and marked our +course? Day by day our captain had taken his +instruments, and looking up to the sky had +fixed his course by the sun. He was sailing by +the heavenly, not the earthly lights. So faith +looks up and sails on, by God's great Sun, not +seeing one shore line or earthly lighthouse or +path upon the way. Often its steps seem to +lead into utter uncertainty, and even darkness +and disaster. But He opens the way, and often +makes such midnight hours the very gates of +day. Let us go forth this day, not knowing +but trusting. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='041'/><anchor id='Pg041'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>February 4.</head> + +<p> +<q>Lo, I am with you alway</q> (Matt. xxviii. 20). +</p> + +<p> +This living Christ is not the person that +was, but the person that still is, your +living Lord. At Preston Pans, near +Edinburgh, I looked on the field where +in the olden days armies were engaged in contest. +In the crisis of the battle the chieftain +fell wounded. His men were about to shrink +away from the field when they saw their leader's +form go down; their strong hands held the +claymore with trembling grip, and they faltered +for a moment. Then the old chieftain rallied +strength enough to rise on his elbow and cry: +<q>I am not dead, my children, I am only watching +you—to see my clansmen do their duty.</q> +And so from the other side of Calvary He is +speaking; we cannot see Him, but He says, +<q>Lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of +the world</q>; and He puts it, <q>I am</q>—an uninterrupted +and continuous presence. Not <q>I +will be,</q> but the unbroken presence still is +with us forevermore. +</p> + +<lg> +<l>Soon the conflict shall be done,</l> +<l>Soon the battle shall be won;</l> +<l>Soon shall wave the victor's palm,</l> +<l>Soon shall sing the eternal Psalm;</l> +<l>Then our joyful song shall be,</l> +<l>I have overcome through Thee.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='042'/><anchor id='Pg042'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>February 5.</head> + +<p> +<q>Rest in the Lord</q> (Ps. xxxvii.). +</p> + +<p> +In the old creation the week began with +work and ended with Sabbath rest. The +resurrection week begins with the first +day—first rest, then labor. +</p> + +<p> +So we must first cease from our own works +as God did from His, and enter into His rest, +and then we will work, with rested hearts, His +works with effectual power. +</p> + +<p> +But why <q>labor to enter into rest</q>? See that +ship—how restfully she sails over the waters, +her sails swelling with the gale; and borne +without an effort! And yet, look at that man at +the helm. See how firmly he holds the rudder, +bearing against the wind, and holding her +steady to her position. Let him for a moment +relax his steady hold and the ship will fall +listlessly along the wind. The sails will flap, +the waves will toss the vessel at their will, and +all rest and power will have gone. It is the +fixed helm that brings the steadying power of +the wind. And so He has said, <q>Thou wilt +keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is +stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee.</q> +The steady will and stayed heart are ours. The +keeping is the Lord's. So let us labor to enter +and abide in His rest. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='043'/><anchor id='Pg043'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>February 6.</head> + +<p> +<q>Praying always for all saints</q> (Eph. vi. 18). +</p> + +<p> +One good counsel will suffice just now. +Stop praying so much for yourself; +begin to ask unselfish things, and see if +God won't give you faith. See how +much easier it will be to believe for another +than for your own petty self. Try the effect of +praying for the world, for definite things, for +difficult things, for glorious things, for things +that will honor Christ and save mankind, and +after you have received a few wonderful answers +to prayer in this direction, see if you +won't feel stronger to touch your own little +burden with a Divine faith, and then go back +again to the high place of unselfish prayer for +others. +</p> + +<p> +Have you ever learned the beautiful art of +letting God take care of you, and giving all +your thought and strength to pray for +others and for the kingdom of God? It +will relieve you of a thousand cares. It +will lift you up into a noble and lofty +sphere, and teach you to live and love like +God. Lord save us from our selfish prayers +and give us the faith that worketh by +love, and the heart of Christ for a perishing +world. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='044'/><anchor id='Pg044'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>February 7.</head> + +<p> +<q>Faithful in that which is least</q> (Luke xvi. 10). +</p> + +<p> +The man that missed his opportunity +and met the doom of the faithless servant +was not the man with five talents, +or the man with two, but the man +who had only one. The people who are in danger +of missing life's great meaning are the people +of ordinary capacity and opportunity, and +who say to themselves, <q>There is so little I can +do that I will not try to do anything.</q> One of +the finest windows in Europe was made from +the remnants an apprentice boy collected from +the cuttings of his master's great work. The +sweepings of the British mint are worth millions. +The little pivots on which the works of +your watch turn are so important that they are +actually made of jewels. And so God places a +solemn value and responsibility on the humble +workers, the people that try to hide behind +their insignificance the trifling opportunities +and the single talents; and our littleness will +not excuse us in the reckoning day. +</p> + +<lg> +<l><q rend='pre'>Talk not of talents, what hast thou to do?</q></l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Thou hast sufficient, whether five or two.</l> +<l>Talk not of talents; is thy duty done?</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'><q rend='post'>This brings the blessing whether ten or +one.</q></l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='045'/><anchor id='Pg045'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>February 8.</head> + +<p> +<q>We are not sufficient of ourselves to think anything +as of ourselves</q> (II. Cor. iii. 5). +</p> + +<p> +Insufficient, <q>All sufficient.</q> These +two words form the complement of each +other and together give the key to an +efficient Christian life. The discovery +and full conviction of our utter helplessness +is the constant condition of spiritual supply. +The aim of the Old Testament, therefore, is +ever to show man's failure; that of the New, +to reveal Christ's sufficiency. He has all things +for us, but we cannot receive them till we know +that we have nothing. +</p> + +<p> +The very essence, therefore, of Christian perfection +is the constant renunciation of our own +perfection, and the continual acceptance of +Christ's righteousness. And as we receive +deeper views of our nothingness and evil, it is +but a call to claim more of His rich grace. But +it is possible fully to know our insufficiency and +yet not take firmly hold of His <q>all things.</q> +This, too, must be done with a faith that will +not accept less than ALL. The prophet was +angry because the king of Israel had only smitten +thrice upon the ground. He should have +done it five or six times. He might have had +all. So let us meet His greatness and grace. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='046'/><anchor id='Pg046'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>February 9.</head> + +<p> +<q>None of these things move me</q> (Acts xx. 24). +</p> + +<p> +The best evidence of God's presence is +the devil's growl. So wrote good Mr. +Spurgeon once in <q>The Sword and +the Trowel,</q> and that little sentence +has helped many a tried and tired child Of God +to stand fast and even rejoice under the fiercest +attacks of the foe. +</p> + +<p> +We read in the book of Samuel that the moment +that David was crowned at Hebron, <q>All +the Philistines came up to seek David.</q> And +the moment we get anything from the Lord +worth contending for, then the devil comes to +seek us. +</p> + +<p> +When the enemy meets us at the threshold +of any great work for God let us accept it as +<q>a token of salvation,</q> and claim double blessing, +victory and power. Power is developed +by resistance. The cannon carries twice as far +because the exploding power has to find its +way through resistance. The way electricity +is produced in the power-house yonder is by +the sharp friction of the revolving wheels. +And so we shall find some day that even Satan +has been one of God's agencies of blessing. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='047'/><anchor id='Pg047'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>February 10.</head> + +<p> +<q>I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live</q> (Gal. +ii. 20). +</p> + +<p> +Christ life is in harmony with our nature. +A lady asked me the other day—a +thoughtful, intelligent woman +who was not a Christian, but who +had the deepest hunger for that which is right: +<q>How can this be so, and we not lose our individuality! +This will destroy our personality, +and it violates our responsibility as individuals.</q> +</p> + +<p> +I said: <q>Dear sister, your personality is only +half without Christ. Christ was made for you, +and you were made for Christ, and until you +meet you are not complete, and He needs you +as you need Him.</q> I said: <q>Suppose that gas-jet +should say, <q>If I take this fire in, the gas +will lose its individuality.</q> Oh, no; it is only +when the fire comes in that the gas fulfils its +very purpose of being. Suppose the snowflake +should say, <q>What shall I do? If I drop on the +ground I shall lose my individuality.</q> But it +falls and is absorbed by the soil, and the snowflakes +are seen by-and-by in the primroses and +daisies. Let us lose ourselves and rise to a +new life in Christ.</q> +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='048'/><anchor id='Pg048'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>February 11.</head> + +<p> +<q>Strengthened with all might unto all patience</q> (Col. +i. 11). +</p> + +<p> +The apostle prays for the Colossians, +that they may be <q>strengthened with all +might, according to His glorious power, +unto all patience and long-suffering +with joyfulness.</q> It is one thing to endure and +show the strain on every muscle of your face, +and seem to say with every wrinkle, <q>Why +does not somebody sympathize with me?</q> It +is another to endure the cross, <q>despising the +shame</q> for the joy set before us. +</p> + +<p> +There are some trees in the garden of the +Lord which <q>shall not see when heat cometh</q>; +and shall not be careful in the year of drought, +nor cease from yielding fruit. Let us set our +faces toward the sunrising and use the clouds +that come, to make rainbows. Not much +longer shall we have the glorious opportunity +to rejoice in tribulation, and learn patience. +In heaven we shall have nothing to teach long-suffering. +If we do not learn it here, we shall +be without our brightest crown forever, and +wish ourselves back for a little while, in the +very circumstances of which we are now trying +so hard to get rid. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='049'/><anchor id='Pg049'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>February 12.</head> + +<p> +<q>But seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness, +and all these things shall be added unto you</q> +(Matt. vi. 33). +</p> + +<p> +For every heart that is seeking anything +from the Lord this is a good watchword. +That very thing, or the desire +for it, may unconsciously separate you +from the Lord, or at least from the singleness +of your purpose unto Him. The thing we desire +may be a right thing, but we may desire it +in a distrusting and selfish spirit. Let us commit +it to Him, and not cease to believe for it, +but let us, at the same time, keep our purpose +fixed on His will and glory, and claim even His +promised blessings, not for themselves or ourselves, +but for Him. Then shall it be true, +<q>Delight thyself in the Lord, and He shall give +thee the desires of thine heart.</q> All other +things but Himself God will <q><emph>add</emph>.</q> But they +must be ever <emph>added</emph>, never <emph>first</emph>. +</p> + +<p> +Then shall we be able to believe for them +without doubt, when we claim them for Him +and not for ourselves. It is only when <q>we +are Christ's</q> that <q>all things are ours.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Lord, help me this day to seek Thee first, and +be more desirous to please Thee and have Thy +will than to possess any other blessing. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='050'/><anchor id='Pg050'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>February 13.</head> + +<p> +<q>Thy prayers are come up for a memorial before God</q> +(Acts x. 4). +</p> + +<p> +What a beautiful expression the angel +used to Cornelius, <q>Thy prayers +are come up for a memorial.</q> It +would almost seem as if supplications +of years had accumulated before the +Throne, and at last the answer broke in blessings +on the head of Cornelius, even as the accumulated +evaporation of months at last bursts +in floods of rain upon the parched ground. So +God is represented as treasuring the prayers +of His saints in vials; they are described as +sweet odors. They are placed like fragrant +flowers in the chambers of the King. And +kept in sweet remembrance before Him. +And later they are represented as poured +out upon the earth; and lo, there are voices +and thunderings and great providential movements +fulfilling God's purposes for His kingdom. +We are called <q>the Lord's remembrancers,</q> +and are commanded to give Him +no rest, day nor night, but crowd the +heavens with our petitions and in due time +the answer will come with its accumulated +blessings. +</p> + +<p> +No breath of true prayer is lost. The longer +it waits, the larger it becomes. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='051'/><anchor id='Pg051'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>February 14.</head> + +<p> +<q>He shall baptize you with fire</q> (Matt. iii. 11). +</p> + +<p> +Fire is strangely intense and intrinsic. +It goes into the very substance of +things. It somehow blends with every +particle of the thing it touches. +</p> + +<p> +There are the severe trials that come to +minds more sensitive, to the minds that have +more points of contact with what hurts; so +that the higher the nature the higher the joy, +and the greater the avenues of pain that come. +</p> + +<p> +And then there are deeper trials that come +as we pass into the hands of God, as we pass +from the physical and intellectual into the spiritual +nature. +</p> + +<p> +When they first come, we shrink back from +their unnatural and fearful breath, and we say: +<q>Oh, this cannot be from the hand of a loving +Father! This cannot be necessary to me.</q> +</p> + +<p> +And then come the pains and sufferings from +God's own hand, when He sits as a refiner and +purifier of silver, when He lets it burn, until it +seems that we must be burned to ashes, and +we are, indeed, at last burned to ashes. +</p> + +<p> +But we must get the victory through faith. +The moment you cease to fear it, that moment +it ceases to harm you. He says, <q>The flames +shall not kindle upon you.</q> +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='052'/><anchor id='Pg052'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>February 15.</head> + +<p> +<q>Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus</q> (II. +Tim. ii. 1). +</p> + +<p> +How to enjoy this day. This will never +come by trying to be happy and yet we +are responsible for the conditions of +real joy. +</p> + +<p> +1. Be right with God; for <q>Gladness is sown +for the upright in heart.</q> <q>It is His joy that +remains in us that makes our joy to be full.</q> +</p> + +<p> +2. Forget yourself and live for others; for +<q>It is more blessed to give than to receive.</q> +</p> + +<p> +3. When you cannot rejoice in feelings, circumstances +and states, <q>rejoice in the Lord,</q> +and <q>count it all joy, when ye fall into divers +temptations.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Finally, obey the Lord and be faithful to +your trust; and again and again will His blessed +Spirit whisper to your heart, <q>Well done, +good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of +thy Lord.</q> +</p> + +<lg> +<l><q rend='pre'>Not enjoyment and not sorrow</q></l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Is our destined end or way,</l> +<l>But to act that each to-morrow</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Finds us farther than to-day.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l><q rend='pre'>Let us then be up and doing</q></l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>With a heart for any fate,</l> +<l>Still achieving, still pursuing,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'><q rend='post'>Learn to labor and to wait.</q></l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='053'/><anchor id='Pg053'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>February 16.</head> + +<p> +<q>We will give ourselves continually to prayer</q> (Acts +vi. 4). +</p> + +<p> +In the consecrated believer the Holy +Spirit is pre-eminently a Spirit of prayer. +If our whole being is committed to +Him, and our thoughts are at His bidding, +He will occupy every moment in communion +and we shall bring every thing to Him +as it comes, and pray it out in our spiritual consciousness +before we act it out in our lives. +We shall, therefore, find ourselves taking up +the burdens of life and praying them out in a +wordless prayer which we ourselves often cannot +understand, but which is simply the unfolding +of His thought and will within us, and +which will be followed by the unfolding of +His providence concerning us. +</p> + +<p> +Want of faithfulness and obedience to the +faintest whisper of His will will often hinder +some blessing which He meant for us until after +a while we may get so dull and negligent +that He will not be able to trust us with His +whispers and we shall thus stumble on in the +darkness and miss His highest thoughts. +</p> + +<p> +Lord, teach us to pray in the Spirit, to pray +without ceasing and to lose nothing of Thy +will. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='054'/><anchor id='Pg054'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>February 17.</head> + +<p> +<q>Your life is hid</q> (Col. iii. 3). +</p> + +<p> +Some Christians loom up in larger proportion +than is becoming. They can +tell, and others can tell, how many +souls they bring to Christ. Their labor +seems to crystallize and become its own memorial. +Others again seem to blend so wholly +with other workers that their own individuality +can scarcely be traced. And yet, after all, this +is the most Christ-like ministry of all, for the +Master Himself does not even appear in the +work of the church except as her hidden Life +and ascended Head, and even the Holy Spirit +is lost in the vessels that He uses. The vine +does not bear the fruit, and even the sap is unseen +in its ceaseless flow, and it is the little +branches which bear all the clusters and seem +to have all the honor of the vintage. And so +the nearer we come to Christ the more we are +willing to be lost sight of in our fruit, and let +others be more prominent, while we are the +glad and willing witnesses of our testimony +and hold up their hands by the silent ministry +of love and prayer. Lord, let me be like the +veiled seraphim before the throne, who cover +their faces and their feet, and hide themselves +and their service while they fly to obey Thee. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='055'/><anchor id='Pg055'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>February 18.</head> + +<p> +<q>Christ in you</q> (Col. i. 27). +</p> + +<p> +How great the difference between the old +and the new way of deliverance! One +touch of Christ is worth a lifetime of +struggling. A sufferer in one of our +hospitals was in danger of losing his sight +from a small piece of broken needle that had +entered his eye. +</p> + +<p> +Operation after operation had only irritated +it, and driven the foreign substance farther still +into the delicate nerves of the sensitive organ. +At length a skilful young physician thought of +a new expedient. He came one day without +lancet and probes, and holding in his hand a +small but powerful magnet, which he kept before +the wounded eye, as close as it could +bear. Immediately the piece of steel began +to move toward the powerful attraction, and +soon flew up to meet it and left the suffering +eye completely relieved, without an effort or a +laceration. It was as simple as it was wonderful. +By a single touch of power the organ was +saved and a dangerous trouble completely +cured. +</p> + +<p> +It is thus that God delivers us, by the simple +attraction of Christ's life and power. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='056'/><anchor id='Pg056'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>February 19.</head> + +<p> +<q>As much as in me is I am ready</q> (Rom. i. 15). +</p> + +<p> +Be earnest. Intense earnestness, a whole +heart for Christ, the passion sign of +the cross, the enthusiasm of our whole +being for our Master and humanity—this +is what the Lord expects, this is what His +cross deserves, this is what the world needs, +this is what the age has a right to look for. +Everything around us is intensely alive. Life +is earnest, death is earnest, sin is earnest, men +are earnest, business is earnest, knowledge is +earnest, the age is earnest; God forgive us if +we alone are trifling in the white heat of this +crisis time. Oh, for the baptism of fire! Oh, +for the living coal upon the burning lips of +love! Oh, for men God-possessed and self-surrendered +grasping God's great idea and +pressing forward <q>for the mark of the prize of +the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.</q> +</p> + +<lg> +<l>All the world for Jesus</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>My prayer shall be,</l> +<l>And my watchword ever,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Himself for me.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l>All the world for Jesus,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Lord, quickly come,</l> +<l>Bring Thy promised kingdom,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>And take us home.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='057'/><anchor id='Pg057'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>February 20.</head> + +<p> +<q>Fear thou not, for I am with thee</q> (Isa. xli. 10). +</p> + +<p> +Satan is always trying to weaken our +faith by fear. He is a great metaphysician +and knows the paralyzing effect +of fear, that it is the great enemy of +faith, and that faith is the great secret of help. +If he can get us fearing he will stop our trusting +and hinder the very blessing we need. Job +found the peril of fear and gives us the sorrowful +testimony, <q>I feared a fear and it came +upon me.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Fear is born of Satan, and if we would only +take time to think a moment we would see that +everything Satan says is founded upon a falsehood. +He is the father of lies. Even his fears +are falsehoods and his terrors ought rather be +to us encouragements. +</p> + +<p> +When Satan tells you, therefore, that some +ill is going to come, you may quietly look in +his face and tell him he is a liar, that instead of +ill, goodness and mercy shall follow you all +the days of your life, and then turn to your +blessed Lord and say, <q>What time I am afraid, +I will trust in Thee.</q> Every fear is distrust +and trust is the remedy for fear. <q>What time +I am afraid I will <emph>trust</emph> in thee.</q> +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='058'/><anchor id='Pg058'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>February 21.</head> + +<p> +<q>Be not dismayed, for I am thy God</q> (Isa. xli. 10). +</p> + +<p> +How tenderly God is always comforting +our fears! How sweetly He says in +Isaiah xli. 10, <q>Fear not; for I am with +thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy +God: I will uphold thee with the right hand of +My righteousness.</q> And yet again with still +tenderer thoughtfulness, <q>I, the Lord thy God, +will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, +Fear not, I will help thee.</q> Not only does He +say it once, but He keeps holding our right +hand and repeating such promises. +</p> + +<p> +The blessed Lord has condensed it all into +one sweet monogram of eternal comfort in His +message to the disciples on the sea of Galilee, +<q>It is I; be not afraid.</q> He does not say, <q>It +is over,</q> or <q>It is morning,</q> or <q>It is fine +weather,</q> or <q>It is smooth water,</q> but He +says, <q>It is I, be not afraid.</q> He is the antidote +to fear; He is the remedy for trouble; He is +the substance and the sum of deliverance. +Therefore, we should rise above fear. Let us +keep our eyes fastened upon Him; let us abide +continually in Him; let us be content with +Him; let us cling closely to Him and cry, <q>We +will not fear though the earth be removed, +though the mountains be carried into the midst +of the sea.</q> +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='059'/><anchor id='Pg059'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>February 22.</head> + +<p> +<q>He that hath entered into His rest hath ceased from +his own works even as God did from His</q> (Heb. iv. 10). +</p> + +<p> +What a rest it would be to many of +us if we could but exchange burdens +with Christ, and so utterly and forever +transfer to Him all our cares +and needs that we would not feel henceforth +responsible for our burdens, but know that He +has undertaken all the care, and that our faith +is simply to carry His burdens, and that He +prays, labors, and suffers only for us and our +interests. This is what He truly invites us to +do. <q>Come unto Me,</q> He says, <q>all ye that labor +and are heavy-laden and I will rest you,</q> +and then He adds, <q>Take My yoke upon you, +and learn of Me.</q> He takes our yoke and we +take His and we find it a thousand times easier +to carry one of His burdens than to carry our +own. How much more delightful it is to spend +an hour in supplication for another than five +minutes in pleading for ourselves. Are we not +weary of carrying our wretched loads? +</p> + +<lg> +<l>'Twas for this His mercy sought you,</l> +<l>And to all His fulness brought you,</l> +<l>By the precious blood that bought you,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 4'>Pass it on.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='060'/><anchor id='Pg060'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>February 23.</head> + +<p> +<q>For me to live is Christ and to die is gain</q> (Phil. +i. 21). +</p> + +<p> +The secret of a sound body is a sound +heart, and the prayer of the Holy +Ghost for us is, that we <q>may be in +health and prosper even as our soul +prospers.</q> +</p> + +<p> +We find Paul in the Epistles to the Philippians +expressing a sublime and holy indifference +to the question of life or death. Indeed +he is in a real strait, whether he would prefer +<q>to depart and be with Christ,</q> or to remain +still in the flesh. +</p> + +<p> +The former would indeed be his sweetest +preference, but the latter would be at the same +time a joyful service. His only object in wanting +to live is to be a blessing. <q>To abide in the +flesh is more needful to you.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Having reached this state of heart, it is beautiful +to notice how quickly he rises to the victorious +faith necessary to claim perfect +strength and health. Because it is more needful +to you that I abide in the flesh, he adds, <q>I +know that I shall continue with you all, for +your furtherance and joy of faith.</q> Lord, help +me to-day to <q>count not my life dear unto myself +that I may finish my course with joy and +the ministry that I have received of Jesus.</q> +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='061'/><anchor id='Pg061'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>February 24.</head> + +<p> +<q>Sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not +under the law, but under grace</q> (Rom. vi. 14). +</p> + +<p> +The secret of Moses' failures was this: +<q>The law made nothing perfect, but the +bringing in of a better hope did.</q> And +this was why his life work also came +short of full realization. He saw but entered +not the Promised Land. The founder of the +law had to be its victim, and his life and death +might demonstrate the inability of the law to +lead any man into the Promised Land. The +very fact, that it was for so slight a fault that +Moses lost his inheritance, makes all the more +emphatic the solemn sentence of the law. +<q>Cursed is every one that continueth not in +all things that are written in the Book of the +Law to do them.</q> +</p> + +<p> +But to the glory of the grace of God we can +add that what the law could not do for Moses +the Gospel did; and he who could not pass +over the Jordan under the old dispensation +is seen on the very heights of Hermon +with the Son of Man, sharing His +Transfiguration glory, and talking of that +death on Calvary to which be owed his glorious +destiny. +</p> + +<p> +That grace we have inherited under the Gospel +of Jesus Christ. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='062'/><anchor id='Pg062'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>February 25.</head> + +<p> +<q>I am the vine, ye are the branches</q> (John xv. 5). +</p> + +<p> +How can I take Christ as my Sanctifier, +or Healer? is a question that we are +constantly asked. It is necessary first +of all that we get into the posture of +faith. This has to be done by a definite and +voluntary act, and then maintained by a uniform +habit. It is just the same as the planting +of a tree. You must put it in the soil by a definite +act, and then you must let it stay put and +remain settled in the ground until the little +roots have time to fix themselves and begin to +draw the sustenance from the soil. There are +two stages, the definite planting and then the +habitual absorbing of moisture and nourishment +from the ground. The root fibers must +rest until they reach out their spongy pores +and drink in the nutriment of the earth. After +the habit is established, then by a certain uniform +law, the plant draws its life from the +ground without an effort, and it is just as natural +for it to grow as it is for us to breathe. +</p> + +<p> +Lord, help me this day to abide in Thee, and +to grow into the habit of drawing all my life +from Thine so that it shall be true for me, <q>In +Him I live and move and have my being.</q> +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='063'/><anchor id='Pg063'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>February 26.</head> + +<p> +<q>Make you perfect in every good work</q> (Heb. xiii. 21). +</p> + +<p> +In that beautiful prayer at the close of the +Epistle to the Hebrews, <q>Now the God +of peace, that brought again from the +dead, our Lord Jesus Christ, that great +Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of +the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in +every good work to do His will,</q> the phrase, +<q>make you perfect in every good work,</q> literally +means, it is said, <q>adjust you in every good +work.</q> It is a great thing to be adjusted, adjusted +to our surroundings and circumstances +rather than trying to have them adjusted to us, +adjusted to the people we are thrown with, adjusted +to the work God has for us, and not trying +to get God to help us to do our work; +adjusted to do the very will and plan of God +for us in our whole life. This is the secret of +rest, power and freedom in our life-work. +</p> + +<lg> +<l><q rend='pre'>Oh, fill me with Thy fulness, Lord.</q></l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Until my very heart o'erflow</l> +<l>In kindling thought and glowing word,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Thy love to tell, Thy praise to show.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l>Oh, use me, Lord, use even me,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Just as Thou wilt, and when, and where;</l> +<l>Until Thy blessed face I see,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'><q rend='post'>Thy rest, Thy joy, Thy glory share.</q></l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='064'/><anchor id='Pg064'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>February 27.</head> + +<p> +<q>Stablish, strengthen, settle you</q> (I. Peter v. 10). +</p> + +<p> +In taking Christ in any new relationship, +we must first have sufficient intellectual +light to satisfy our mind that we are entitled +to stand in this relationship. The +shadow of a question here will wreck our confidence. +Then, having seen this, we must make +the venture, the committal, the choice, and take +the place just as definitely as the tree is planted +in the soil, or the bride gives herself away at +the marriage altar. It must be once for all, +without reserve, without recall. +</p> + +<p> +Then there is a season of establishing, settling +and testing, during which we must stay +put until the new relationship gets so fixed as +to become a permanent habit. It is just the +same as when the surgeon sets the broken arm. +He puts it in splints to keep it from vibration. +So God has His spiritual splints that He wants +to put upon His children and keep them quiet +and unmoved until they pass the first stage of +faith. +</p> + +<p> +It is not always easy work for us, <q>but the +God of all grace who hath called you unto His +eternal glory by Christ Jesus after you have +suffered awhile, stablish, strengthen, settle +you.</q> +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='065'/><anchor id='Pg065'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>February 28.</head> + +<p> +<q>Count it all joy</q> (James i. 2). +</p> + +<p> +We do not always feel joyful, but we +are to count it all joy. The word +<q>reckon</q> is one of the key-words of +Scripture. It is the same word used +about our being dead. We do not feel dead. +We are painfully conscious of something that +would gladly return to life. But we are to +treat ourselves as dead, and neither fear nor +obey the old nature. +</p> + +<p> +So we are to reckon the thing that comes as +a blessing. We are determined to rejoice, to +say, <q>My heart is fixed, O God, I will sing and +give praise.</q> This rejoicing, by faith, will +soon become a habit, and will ever bring speedily +the spirit of gladness and the spontaneous +overflow of praise. +</p> + +<p> +Then, <q>although the fig-tree may wither and +no fruit appear in the vines, the labor of the +olive fail and the fields yield no increase, the +herd be cut off from the stall, and the cattle +from the field, yet we will rejoice in the Lord, +and joy in the God of our salvation.</q> +</p> + +<lg> +<l><q rend='pre'>Peace, perfect peace, with sorrows surging round,</q></l> +<l>On Jesus' bosom naught but calm is found;</l> +<l>Peace, perfect peace, our future all unknown,</l> +<l><q rend='post'>Jesus we know, and He is on the throne.</q></l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='066'/><anchor id='Pg066'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>March 1.</head> + +<p> +<q>Wait on the Lord</q> (Ps. xxvii. 14). +</p> + +<p> +How often this is said in the Bible, how +little understood! It is what the old +monk calls the <q>practice of the presence +of God.</q> It is the habit of prayer. It +is the continued communion that not only asks, +but receives. People often ask us to pray for +them and we have to say, <q>Why, God has answered +our prayer for you, and you must now +take the answer. It is awaiting you, and you +must take it by waiting on the Lord.</q> +</p> + +<p> +This it is that renews the strength, until we +mount up with wings as eagles, run and are +not weary, walk and are not faint. Our hearts +are too vast to take in His fulness at a single +breath. We must live in the atmosphere of +His presence till we absorb His very life. This +is the secret of spiritual depth and rest, of +power and fulness, of love and prayer, of +hope and holy usefulness. <q>Wait, I say, on +the Lord.</q> +</p> + +<lg> +<l>I am waiting in communion at the blessed mercy seat,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>I am waiting, sweetly waiting, on the Lord;</l> +<l>I am drinking, of His fulness; I am sitting at His feet;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>I am hearkening to the whispers of His word.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='067'/><anchor id='Pg067'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>March 2.</head> + +<p> +<q>That good thing which was committed unto thee keep +by the Holy Ghost</q> (II. Tim. i. 14). +</p> + +<p> +God gives to us a power within which +will hold our hearts in victory and +purity. <q>That good thing which was +committed unto thee, keep by the Holy +Ghost which dwelleth in us.</q> It is the Holy +Ghost; and when any thought or suggestion of +evil arises in our breast, the quick conscience +can instantly call upon the Holy Ghost to drive +it out, and He will expel it at the command of +faith or prayer, and keep us as pure as we are +willing to be kept. But when the will surrenders +and consents to evil, the Holy Ghost will +not expel it. God, then, requires us to stand in +holy vigilance, and He will do exceeding abundantly +for us as we hold fast that which is +good, and He will also be in us a spirit of vigilance, +showing us the evil and enabling us to +detect it, and to bring it to Him for expulsion +and destruction. +</p> + +<p> +<q>O Spirit of Jesus fill us until we shall have +room only for Thee!</q> +</p> + +<lg> +<l>O, come as the heart-searching fire,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>O, come as the sin-cleansing flood;</l> +<l>Consume us with holy desire,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>And fill with the fulness of God.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='068'/><anchor id='Pg068'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>March 3.</head> + +<p> +<q>Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be +joyous but grievous; nevertheless afterward</q> (Heb. +xii. 11). +</p> + +<p> +God seems to love to work by paradoxes +and contraries. In the transformations +of grace, the bitter is the base +of the sweet, night is the mother of +day, and death is the gate of life. +</p> + +<p> +Many people are wanting power. Now, how +is power produced? The other day we passed +the great works where the trolley engines are +supplied with electricity. We heard the hum +and roar of countless wheels, and we asked our +friend, <q>How do they make the power?</q> +<q>Why,</q> he said, <q>just by the revolution of +those wheels and the friction they produce. +The rubbing creates the electric current.</q> +</p> + +<p> +It is very simple, and a trifling experiment +will prove it to any one. +</p> + +<p> +And so when God wants to bring more power +into your life, He brings more pressure. He +is generating spiritual force by hard rubbing. +Some of us don't like it. Some of us don't understand, +and we try to run away from the +pressure, instead of getting the power and using +it to rise above the painful cause. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='069'/><anchor id='Pg069'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>March 4.</head> + +<p> +<q>They were all filled with the Holy Ghost</q> (Acts ii. 4). +</p> + +<p> +Blessed secret of spiritual purity, victory +and joy, of physical life and healing, +and all power for service. Filled +with the Spirit there is no room for +self or sin, for fret or care. Filled with the +Spirit we repel the elements of disease that are +in the air as the red-hot iron repels the water +that touches it. Filled with the Spirit we are +always ready for service, and Satan turns away +when he finds the Holy Ghost enrobing us in +His garments of holy flame. Not half-filled, +but filled with the Spirit is the place of victory +and power. +</p> + +<p> +This is not only a privilege; it is a command, +and He who gave it will enable us to fulfill it +if we bring it to Him with an empty, honest, +trusting heart, and claim our privilege in the +name of Jesus and for the glory of God. +</p> + +<lg> +<l>Holy Ghost, I bid Thee welcome;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Come and be my Holy Guest;</l> +<l>Heavenly Dove within my bosom,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Make Thy home and build Thy nest;</l> +<l>Lead me on to all Thy fulness,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Bring me to Thy Promised Rest,</l> +<l>Holy Ghost, I bid Thee welcome,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Come and be my Holy Guest.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='070'/><anchor id='Pg070'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>March 5.</head> + +<p> +<q>I have overcome the world</q> (John xvi. 33). +</p> + +<p> +Christ has overcome for us every one +of our four terrible foes—Sin, Sickness, +Sorrow, Satan. He has borne +our Sin, and we may lay all, even +down to our sinfulness itself, on Him. <q>I have +overcome for thee.</q> He has borne our sickness, +and we may detach ourselves from our +old infirmities and rise into His glorious life +and strength. He has borne our sorrows, and +we must not even carry a care, but rejoice +evermore, and even glory in tribulations also. +And He has conquered Satan for us, too, and +left him nailed to the cross, spoiled and dishonored +and but a shadow of himself. And +now we have but to claim His full atonement +and assert our victory, and so <q>overcome him +by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our +testimony.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Beloved, are we overcoming sin? Are we +overcoming sickness? Are we overcoming +sorrow? Are we overcoming Satan? +</p> + +<lg> +<l>Fear not, though the strife be long;</l> +<l>Faint not, though the foe be strong;</l> +<l>Trust thy glorious Captain's power;</l> +<l>Watch with Him one little hour,</l> +<l>Hear Him calling, <q rend='pre'>Follow me.</q></l> +<l><q>I have overcome for thee.</q></l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='071'/><anchor id='Pg071'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>March 6.</head> + +<p> +<q>Lean not unto thine own understanding</q> (Prov. +iii. 5). +</p> + +<p> +Faith is hindered by reliance upon human +wisdom, whether our own or the +wisdom of others. The devil's first +bait to Eve was an offer of wisdom, and +for this she sold her faith. <q>Ye shall be as +gods,</q> he said, <q>knowing good and evil,</q> and +from the hour she began to know she ceased to +trust. It was the spies that lost the Land of +Promise to Israel of old. It was their foolish +proposition to search out the land, and find out +by investigation whether God had told the +truth or not, that led to the awful outbreak of +unbelief that shut the doors of Canaan to a +whole generation. It is very significant that +the names of these spies are nearly all suggestive +of human wisdom, greatness and fame. +</p> + +<p> +So in the days of Christ, it was the bondage +of the Jews to the traditions of their fathers +and the opinions of men, that kept them back +from receiving Him. <q>How can ye believe,</q> +He asked, <q>which receive honor from men, and +seek not that which cometh from God only?</q> +</p> + +<p> +Let us trust Him with all our heart and lean +not to our own understanding. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='072'/><anchor id='Pg072'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>March 7.</head> + +<p> +<q>It is more blessed to give than to receive</q> (Acts xx. +35). +</p> + +<p> +How shall we know the difference between +the earthly and the heavenly +love? The one terminates on ourselves +and is partly ourself seeking its own +gratification. The other reaches out to God +and others, and finds its joy in glorifying Him +and blessing them. Love is unselfishness, and +the love that is not unselfish is not divine. +How much do we pray for others, and how +much for ourselves? What is the center of our +being? Ourselves, or our Lord and His people +and work? The Lord help us to know more +fully the meaning of that great truth, <q>It is +more blessed to give than to receive.</q> <q>He +that saveth his life shall lose it, and he that +loseth his life for My sake and the Gospel, shall +keep it unto life eternal.</q> +</p> + +<lg> +<l>Have you found some precious treasure,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Pass it on.</l> +<l>Have You found some holy pleasure,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Pass it on.</l> +<l>Giving out is twice possessing,</l> +<l>Love will double every blessing,</l> +<l>On to higher service pressing,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Pass it on.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='073'/><anchor id='Pg073'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>March 8.</head> + +<p> +<q>Pray Ye therefore</q> (Luke x. 2). +</p> + +<p> +Prayer is the mighty engine that is to +move the missionary work. <q>Pray ye +therefore the Lord of the harvest that +He will send forth laborers into His +harvest.</q> +</p> + +<p> +We are asking God to touch the hearts of +men every day by the Holy Ghost, so that they +shall be compelled to go abroad and preach +the Gospel. We are asking Him to wake them +up at night with the solemn conviction that the +heathen are perishing, and that their blood will +be upon their souls, and God is answering the +prayer by sending persons to us every day who +<q>feel that the King's business requireth haste.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Beloved, pray, pray, pray; and as the incense +rises to the heavens, <q>there will be silence in +heaven</q> by the space of more than half an +hour, and the coals of fire will be emptied out +upon the earth, and the coming of the Lord +will begin to draw nearer. Pray till the Lord +of the harvest shall thrust forth laborers into +His harvest. +</p> + +<lg> +<l>Send the coals of heavenly fire,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>From the altar of the skies;</l> +<l>Fill our hearts with strong desire,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Till our pray'rs like incense rise.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='074'/><anchor id='Pg074'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>March 9.</head> + +<p> +<q>How ye ought to walk and please God</q> (I. Thess. iv. 1). +</p> + +<p> +How many dear Christians are in the +place that the Lord has appointed +them, and yet the devil is harassing +their lives with a vague sense of not +quite pleasing the Lord. Could they just settle +down in the place that God has assigned +them and fill it sweetly and lovingly for Him +there would be more joy in their hearts and +more power in their lives. God wants us all in +various places, and the secret of accomplishing +the most for Him is to recognize our places +from Him and our service in it as pleasing +Him. In the great factory and machine there +is a place for the smallest screw and rivet as +well as the great driving wheel and piston, and +so God has His little screws whose business is +simply to stay where He puts them and to believe +that He wants them there and is making +the most of their lives in the little spaces that +they fill for Him. +</p> + +<lg> +<l>There is something all can do,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Tho' you're neither wise nor strong;</l> +<l>You can be a helper true,</l> +<l>You can stand when friends are few,</l> +<l>Some lone heart has need of you,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>You can help along.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='075'/><anchor id='Pg075'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>March 10.</head> + +<p> +<q>The peace of God which passeth all understanding +shall keep your hearts and minds</q> (Phil. iv. 7). +</p> + +<p> +It is not peace with God, but the peace of +God. <q>The peace that passes all understanding</q> +is the very breath of God +in the soul. He alone is able to keep it, +and He can so keep it that <q>nothing shall offend +us.</q> Beloved, are you there? +</p> + +<p> +God's rest did not come till after His work +was over, and ours will not. We begin our +Christian life by working, trying and struggling +in the energy of the flesh to save ourselves. +At last, when we are able to cease from +our own work, God comes in with His blessed +rest, and works His own Divine works in us. +</p> + +<lg> +<l>Oh! have you heard the glorious word</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Of hope and holy cheer;</l> +<l>From heav'n above its tones of love</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Are lingering on my ear;</l> +<l>The blessed Comforter has come,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>And Christ will soon be here.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l>Oh, hearts that sigh there's succor nigh,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>The Comforter is near;</l> +<l>He comes to bring us to our King,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>And fit us to appear.</l> +<l>I'm glad the Comforter has come,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>And Christ will soon be here.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='076'/><anchor id='Pg076'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>March 11.</head> + +<p> +<q>But ye are a chosen generation, a peculiar people</q> (I. Peter ii. 9). +</p> + +<p> +We have been thinking lately very +much of the strange way in which +God is calling a people out of a +people already called. The word +<foreign lang='el' rend='italic'>ecclesia</foreign>, or church, means called out, but God +is calling out a still more select body from the +church to be His bride—the specially prepared +ones for His coming. +</p> + +<p> +We see a fine type of this in the story of +Gideon. When first he sounded the trumpet of +Abiezer there resorted to him more than thirty +thousand men; but these had to be picked, so a +first test was applied, appealing to their courage, +and all but ten thousand went back; but +there must be an election out of the election, +and so a second test was applied, appealing to +their prudence, caution and singleness of purpose, +and all but three hundred were refused; +and, with this little picked band, he raised the +standard against the Midianites, and through +the power of God won his glorious victory. So, +again, in our days, the Master is choosing His +three hundred, and by them He will yet win +the world for Himself. Let us be sure that we +belong to the <q>out and out</q> people. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='077'/><anchor id='Pg077'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>March 12.</head> + +<p> +<q>They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way</q> +(Ps. cvii. 4). +</p> + +<p> +All who fight the Lord's battles must +be content to die to all the favorable +opinions of men and all the flattery +of human praise. You cannot make +an exception in favor of the good opinions of +the children of God. It is very easy for the +insidious adversary to make this also all appeal +to the flesh. It is all right when God +sends us the approval of our fellow men, but +we must never make it a motive in our life, +but be content with the <q>solitary way</q> and +the lonely <q>wilderness.</q> +</p> + +<p> +All such motives are poison and a taking +away from you of the strength with which you +are to give glory to God. It is not the fact +that all that see the face of the Lord do see +each other. +</p> + +<p> +The man of God must walk alone with God. +He must be contented that the Lord knoweth that +God knows. It is such a relief to the natural +man within us to fall back upon human +countenances and human thoughts and sympathy, +that we often deceive ourselves and think +it <q>brotherly love,</q> when we are just resting +in the earthly sympathy of some fellow worm! +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='078'/><anchor id='Pg078'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>March 13.</head> + +<p> +<q>Keep yourselves in the love of God</q> (Jude 21). +</p> + +<p> +Some time ago, we were enjoying a surpassingly +beautiful sunset. The western +skies seemed like a great archipelago +of golden islands, the masses in the +distance rising up into vast mountains of glory. +The hue of the sky was so gorgeous that it +seemed to reflect itself upon the whole atmosphere, +as we looked back from the west to the +eastern horizon. The whole earth was radiant +with glory. The fields had changed to strange, +red richness, and the earth seemed bathed with +the dews of heaven. +</p> + +<p> +And so it is, when the love of God shines +through all our celestial sky, it covers everything +below, and life becomes radiant with its +light. Things that were hard become easy. +Things that were sharp become sweet. Labor +loses its burden, and sorrow becomes silver-lined +with hope and gladness. +</p> + +<p> +There are two ways of living in His love. +One is constant trust, and the other is +constant obedience, and His own Word +gives the message for both. <q>If ye keep My +commandments ye shall live in My love, +even as I keep My Father's, and live in His +love.</q> +</p> + + +</div> + +<pb n='079'/><anchor id='Pg079'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>March 14.</head> + +<p> +<q>We are His workmanship</q> (Eph. ii. 10). +</p> + +<p> +Christ sends us to serve Him, not in +our own strength, but in His resources +and might. <q>We are His workmanship, +created in Christ Jesus unto +good works, which God hath prepared that we +should walk in them.</q> We do not have to prepare +them; but to wear them as garments, +made to order for every occasion of our life. +</p> + +<p> +We must receive them by faith and go forth +in His work, believing that He is with us, and +in us, as our all sufficiency for wisdom, faith, +love, prayer, power, and every grace and gift +that our work requires. In this work of faith +we shall have to feel weak and helpless, and +even have little consciousness of power. But +if we believe and go forward, He will be the +power and send the fruits. +</p> + +<p> +The most useful services we render are those +which, like the sweet fruits of the wilderness, +spring from hours of barrenness. <q>I will bring +her into the wilderness and I will give her +vineyards from thence.</q> Let us learn to work +by faith as well as walk by faith, then we shall +receive even the end of our faith, the salvation +of precious souls, and our lives will bear fruit +which shall be manifest throughout all eternity. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='080'/><anchor id='Pg080'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>March 15.</head> + +<p> +<q>Continue ye in My love</q> (John xv. 9). +</p> + +<p> +Many atmospheres there are in which +we may live. Some people live in an +atmosphere of thought. Their faces +are thoughtful, minds intellectual. +They live in their ideas, their conceptions of +truth, their tastes, and esthetic nature. Some +people, again, live in their animal nature, in the +lusts of the flesh and eye, the coarse, low atmosphere +of a sensuous life, or something +worse. Some, again, live in a world of duty. +The predominating feature of their life is conscience, +and it carries with it a certain shadowy +fear that takes away the simple freedom +and gladness of life, but there is a rectitude, +and uprightness, a strictness of purpose, and of +conduct which cannot be gainsaid or questioned. +</p> + +<p> +But Christ bids us live in an atmosphere of +love. <q>As My Father has loved Me, so have I +loved you; continue ye in My love.</q> In the +original it is, <q>Live in My love.</q> Love is the +atmosphere that He would have us ever live in, +that is, believing that He ever loves us, and +claiming His sweet approval and tender regard. +This is a life of love. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='081'/><anchor id='Pg081'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>March 16.</head> + +<p> +<q>The Lord will give grace and glory</q> (Ps. lxxxiv. 11). +</p> + +<p> +The Lord will give grace and glory. +This word <emph>glory</emph> is very difficult to +translate, define and explain; but there +is something in the spiritual consciousness +of the quickened Christian that interprets +it. It is the overflow of grace; it is +the wine of life; it is the foretaste of heaven; it +is a flash from the Throne and an inspiration +from the heart of God which we may have +and in which we may live. <q>The glory which +Thou hast given Me I have given them,</q> the +Master prayed for us. Let us take it and live +in it. David used to say, <q>Wake up my glory.</q> +Ask God to wake up your glory and enable you +to mount up with wings as eagles, to dwell on +high and sit with Christ in the heavenly places. +</p> + +<lg> +<l>Mounting up with wings as eagles,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Waiting on the Lord we rise,</l> +<l>Strength exchanging, life renewing,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>How our spirit heavenward flies.</l> +<l>Then our springing feet returning,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Tread the pathway of the saint,</l> +<l>We shall run and not be weary,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>We shall walk and never faint.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='082'/><anchor id='Pg082'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>March 17.</head> + +<p> +<q>He hath remembered His covenant forever</q> (Ps. cv. 8). +</p> + +<p> +So long as you struggle under law, that is +by your own effort, sin shall have dominion +over you: but the moment you +step from under the shadow of Sinai, +throw yourself upon the simple grace of Christ +and His free and absolute gift of righteousness, +and take Him to be to you what He has pledged +Himself to be, your righteousness of thought +and feeling, and to keep you in spite of everything, +that ever can be against you, in His perfect +will and peace, the struggle is practically +over. Beloved, do you really know and believe +that this is the very promise of the Gospel, +the very essence of the new covenant, that +Christ pledges Himself to put His law in your +heart, and to cause you to walk in His statutes, +and to keep His judgments and do them? Do +you know that this is the oath which He sware +unto Abraham, that He would grant unto us. +<q>That we being delivered from the hands of our +enemies, and from all that hate us, might serve +Him without fear, in righteousness and holiness +before Him all the days of our life.</q> He +has sworn to do this for you, and He is faithful, +that promised. Trust Him ever. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='083'/><anchor id='Pg083'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>March 18.</head> + +<p> +<q>Neither shall any plague come near thy dwelling</q> +(Ps. xci. 10). +</p> + +<p> +We know what it is to be fireproof, to +be waterproof: but it is a greater +thing to be proof against sin. It is +possible to be so filled with the Spirit +and presence of Jesus that all the shafts of the +enemy glance off our heavenly armor; that all +the burrs and thistles which grow on the wayside +fail to stick to our heavenly robes; that all +the noxious vapors of the pit disappear before +the warm breath of the Holy Ghost, and we +walk with a charmed life even through the valley +of the shadow of death. The red hot iron +repels the water that touches it, and the fingers +that would trifle with it: and, if we are on +fire with the Holy Ghost, Satan will keep +his fingers off us, and the cold water that he +pours over us will roll off and leave us +unharmed: <q>for He that was begotten of God +keepeth us, and that wicked one toucheth us +not.</q> +</p> + +<p> +It is said that before going into a malarious +region, it is well to fortify the system with +nourishing food. So we should be fed and +filled by the life of Christ in such a way that +the evil does not really touch our life. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='084'/><anchor id='Pg084'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>March 19.</head> + +<p> +<q>Launch out into the deep</q> (Luke v. 4). +</p> + +<p> +Many difficulties and perplexities in +connection with our Christian life +might be best settled by a simple and +bold decision of our will to go forward +with the light we have and leave the +speculations and theories that we cannot decide +for further settlement. What we need is to +act, and to act with the best light we have, and +as we step out into the present duty and full +obedience, many things will be made plain +which it is no use waiting to decide. +</p> + +<p> +Beloved, cut the Gordian knot, like Alexander, +with the sword of decision. Launch out +into the deep with a bold plunge, and Christ +will settle for you all the questions that you are +now debating, and more probably show you +their insignificance, and let you see that the +only way to settle them is to overleap them. +They are Satan's petty snares to waste your +time and keep you halting when you should be +marching on. +</p> + +<lg> +<l>The mercy of God is an ocean divine,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>A boundless and fathomless flood;</l> +<l>Launch out in the deep, cut away the shore line,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>And be lost in the fulness of God.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='085'/><anchor id='Pg085'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>March 20.</head> + +<p> +<q>They which receive abundance of grace and the gift +of righteousness shall reign in life</q> (Rom. v. 17). +</p> + +<p> +Precious souls sometimes fight tremendous +battles in order to attain to +righteousness in trying places. Perhaps +the heart has become wrong in some +matter where temptation has been allowed to +overcome, or at least to turn it aside from its +singleness unto God; and the conflict is a terrible +one as it seeks to adjust itself and be right +with God, and finds itself baffled by its own +spiritual foes, and its own helplessness, perplexity +and perversity. How dark and dreary +the struggle, and how helpless and ineffectual +it often seems at such times! It is almost sure +to strive in the spirit of the law, and the result +always is, and must ever be, condemnation and +failure. Every disobedience is met by a blow +of wrath, and discouragement, and it well nigh +sinks to despair. Oh, if the tempted and struggling +one could only understand or remember +what perhaps he has learned before, that Christ +is our righteousness, and that it is not by law +but by grace alone, <q>For sin shall not have dominion +over you, for ye are not under the law, +but under grace.</q> That is the secret of the +whole battle. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='086'/><anchor id='Pg086'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>March 21.</head> + +<p> +<q>Casting all your care upon Him</q> (I. Peter v. 7). +</p> + +<p> +Some things there are that God will not +tolerate in us. We must leave them. +Nehemiah would not talk with Sanballat +about his charges and fears, but +simply refused to have anything to do with the +matter—even to go into the temple and pray +about it. How very few things we really have +to do with in life. If we would only drop all +the needless things and simply do the things +that absolutely touch and require our attention +from morning till night, we would find what a +small slender thread life was; but we string +upon it a thousand imaginary beads that never +come, and burden ourselves with cares and +flurries that if we had trusted more, would +never have needed to preoccupy our attention. +Wise indeed was the testimony of the dear old +saint who said, in review of her past life, <q>I +have had a great many troubles in my life, especially +those that never came.</q> +</p> + +<lg> +<l>Trust and rest with heart abiding,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Like a birdling in its nest,</l> +<l>Underneath His feathers hiding,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Fold thy wings and trust and rest.</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 4'>Trust and rest, trust and rest,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 4'>God is working for the best.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='087'/><anchor id='Pg087'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>March 22.</head> + +<p> +<q>Hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the +hope firm unto the end</q> (Heb. iii. 6). +</p> + +<p> +The attitude of faith is simple trust. It +is Elijah saying to Ahab, <q>There is a +sound of abundance of rain.</q> But then +there comes usually a deeper experience +in which the prayer is inwrought; it is +Elijah on the mount, with his face between his +knees, travailing, as it were, in birth for the +promised blessing. He has believed for it—and +now he must take. The first is Joash +shooting the arrow out of the windows, but the +second is Joash smiting on the ground and following +up his faith by perseverance and victorious +testing. +</p> + +<p> +It is in this latter place that many of us come +short. We ask much from God, and when God +proceeds to give it to us we are not found +equal to His expectation. We are made partakers +of Christ if we hold the beginning of +our confidence steadfast to the end, and trust +Him through it all. +</p> + +<lg> +<l>Fainting soldier of the Lord,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Hear His sweet inspiring word,</l> +<l><q rend='pre'>I have conquered all thy foes.</q></l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>I have suffered all thy woes;</l> +<l>Struggling soldier, trust in Me,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'><q rend='post'>I have overcome for thee.</q></l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='088'/><anchor id='Pg088'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>March 23.</head> + +<p> +<q>He is a new creature</q> (II. Cor. v. 17). +</p> + +<p> +Resurrected, not raised. There is so +much in this distinction. The teaching +of human philosophy is that we +are to raise humanity to a higher plane. +This is not the Gospel. On the contrary, the +teaching of the cross is that humanity must die +and sink out of sight and then be resurrected, +not raised. Resurrection is not improvement. +It is not elevation, but it is a new supernatural +life lifting us from nothingness into God and +making us partakers of the Divine nature. It +is a new creation. It is an infinite elevation +above the highest plane. Let us not take less +than resurrection life. +</p> + +<lg> +<l>I am crucified with Jesus,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>And the cross has set me free;</l> +<l>I have ris'n again with Jesus,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>And He lives and reigns in me.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l>This the story of the Master,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Through the cross He reached the throne,</l> +<l>And like Him our path to glory,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Ever leads through death alone.</l> +</lg> + +<p> +Lord, teach me the death-born life. Lord, +let me live in the power of Thy resurrection! +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='089'/><anchor id='Pg089'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>March 24.</head> + +<p> +<q>And again I say, rejoice</q> (Phil. iv. 4). +</p> + +<p> +It is a good thing to rejoice in the Lord. +Perhaps you found the first dose ineffectual. +Keep on with your medicine, +and when you cannot feel any joy, when +there is no spring, and no seeming comfort and +encouragement, still rejoice, and count it all +joy. Even when you fall into divers temptations, +reckon it joy, and delight, and God will +make your reckoning good. Do you suppose +your Father will let you carry the banner of +His victory and His gladness on to the front of +the battle, and then coolly stand back and see +you captured or beaten back by the enemy? +Never! the Holy Spirit will sustain you in your +bold advance, and fill your heart with gladness +and praise, and you will find your heart all exhilarated +and refreshed by the fulness of the +heart within. +</p> + +<p> +Lord, teach me to rejoice in Thee, and to +rejoice evermore. +</p> + +<lg> +<l>The joy of the Lord is the strength of His people.</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>The sunshine that scatters their sadness and gloom;</l> +<l>The fountain that bursts in the desert of sorrow,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>And sheds o'er the wilderness, gladness and bloom.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='090'/><anchor id='Pg090'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>March 25.</head> + +<p> +<q>The beauty of holiness</q> (Ps. xxix. 2). +</p> + +<p> +Some one remarked once that he did not +know more disagreeable people than +sanctified Christians. He probably +meant people that only profess sanctification. +There is an angular, hard, unlovely +type of Christian character that is not true holiness; +at least, not the highest type of it. It is +the skeleton without the flesh covering; it is +the naked rock without the vines and foliage +that cushion its rugged sides. Jesus was not +only virtuous and pure, but He was also beautiful +and full of the sweet attractiveness of love. +</p> + +<p> +We read of two kinds of graces: First, +<q>Whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things +are lovely and of good report.</q> There are a +thousand little graces in Christian life that we +cannot afford to ignore. In fact, the last stages +in any work of art are always the finishing +touches; and so let us not wonder if God shall +spend a great deal of time in teaching us the +little things that many might consider trifles. +</p> + +<p> +God would have His Bride without a spot or +even a wrinkle. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='091'/><anchor id='Pg091'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>March 26.</head> + +<p> +<q>Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith</q> (Heb. +xii. 2). +</p> + +<p> +Add to your faith—do not add to yourself. +This is where we make the mistake. +We must not only enter by +faith, but we must advance by faith +each step of the way. At every new stage we +shall find ourselves as incompetent and unequal +for the pressure as before, and we must take the +grace and the victory simply by faith. Is it +courage? We shall find ourselves lacking in +the needed courage; we must claim it by faith. +Is it love? Our own love will be inadequate; +but we must take His love, and we shall find it +given. Is it faith itself? We must have the +faith of God, and Christ in us will be the spirit +of faith, as well as the blessing that faith +claims. So our whole life from beginning to +end, is but Christ in us—in the exceeding riches +of His grace; and our everlasting song will be: +Not I; but Christ who liveth in me. +</p> + +<lg> +<l>'Tis so sweet to walk with Jesus,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Step by step and day by day;</l> +<l>Stepping in His very footprints,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Walking with Him all the way.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='092'/><anchor id='Pg092'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>March 27.</head> + +<p> +<q>What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee</q> (Ps. lvi. 3). +</p> + +<p> +We shall never forget a remark Mr. +George Mueller once made in answer +to a gentleman who asked him the +best way to have strong faith. <q>The +only way,</q> replied the patriarch of faith, <q>to +learn strong faith is to endure great trials. I +have learned my faith by standing firm amid +severe testings.</q> This is very true. The time +to trust is when all else fails. Dear one, if you +scarcely realize the value of your present opportunity, +if you are passing through great afflictions, +you are in the very soul of the strongest +faith, and if you will only let go, He will +teach you in these hours the mightiest hold +upon this throne which you can ever know. +<q>Be not afraid, only believe</q>; and if you are +afraid, just look up and say, <q>What time I am +afraid, I will trust in Thee,</q> and you will yet +thank God for the school of sorrow which was +to you the school of faith. +</p> + +<lg> +<l>O brother, give heed to the warning,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>And obey His voice to-day.</l> +<l>The Spirit to thee is calling,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>O do not grieve Him away.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='093'/><anchor id='Pg093'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>March 28.</head> + +<p> +<q>The fruit of the Spirit is all goodness</q> (Gal. v. 22). +</p> + +<p> +Goodness is a fruit of the Spirit. +Goodness is just <q>Godness.</q> It is to +be like God. And God-like goodness +has special reference to the active +benevolence of God. The apostle gives us the +difference between goodness and righteousness +in this passage in Romans, <q>Scarcely for a +righteous man would one die, yet peradventure +for a good man some would even dare to die.</q> +The righteous man is the man of stiff, inflexible +uprightness; but he may be as hard as a +granite mountain side. The good man is that +mountain side all covered with velvet moss and +flowers, and flowing with cascades and springs. +Goodness respects <q>whatsoever things are +lovely.</q> It is kindness, affectionateness, benevolence, +sympathy, rejoicing with them that +do rejoice, and weeping with them that weep. +Lord, fill us with Thyself, and let us be God-men +and good men, and so represent Thy goodness. +</p> + +<lg> +<l>There are lonely hearts to cherish,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>While the days are going by;</l> +<l>There are weary souls who perish,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>While the days are going by.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='094'/><anchor id='Pg094'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>March 29.</head> + +<p> +<q>He will keep the feet of His saints</q> (I. Sam. ii. 9). +</p> + +<p> +Perils as well as privileges attend the +higher Christian life. The nearer we +come to God, the thicker the hosts of +darkness in heavenly places. The safe +place lies in obedience to God's Word, singleness +of heart, and holy vigilance. +</p> + +<p> +When Christians speak of standing in a place +where they do not need to watch, they are in +great danger. Let us walk in sweet and holy +confidence, and yet with holy, humble watchfulness, +and <q>He will keep the feet of His +saints.</q> And <q>now unto Him who is able to +keep us from stumbling, and present us faultless +before the presence of His glory, to the +only wise God, our Saviour, be glory, and majesty, +dominion and power, both now and forever. +Amen.</q> +</p> + +<lg> +<l>What to do we often wonder,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>As we seek some watchword true,</l> +<l>Lo, the answer God has given,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>What would Jesus do?</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l>When the shafts of fierce temptation,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>With their fiery darts pursue,</l> +<l>This will be your heavenly armor,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>What would Jesus do?</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='095'/><anchor id='Pg095'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>March 30.</head> + +<p> +<q>I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and +be in health even as thy soul prospereth</q> (III. John 2). +</p> + +<p> +In the way of righteousness is life and in +the pathway thereof is no death. That +is the secret of healing. Be right with +God. Keep so. Live in the consciousness +of it, and nothing can hurt you. Off from +the breastplate of righteousness will glance all +of the fiery darts of the devil, and faith be +stronger for every fierce assault. How true it +is, <q>Who is he that shall harm you if ye be followers +of that which is good?</q> And how true +also, <q>Holding faith and a good conscience, +which some having put away, concerning faith, +have made shipwreck.</q> +</p> + +<p> +And yet again, <q>If thou wilt diligently hearken +to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt +keep all His statutes and commandments, I +will put none of these diseases upon thee that I +have brought upon the Egyptians; for I am the +Lord that healeth thee.</q> +</p> + +<lg> +<l>There's a question God is asking</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Every conscience in His sight,</l> +<l>Let it search thine inmost being,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Is it right with God, all right?</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='096'/><anchor id='Pg096'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>March 31.</head> + +<p> +<q>What things soever ye desire when ye pray, believe +that ye receive them and ye shall have them</q> (Mark xi. +24). +</p> + +<p> +Faith is not working up by will power +a sort of certainty that something is +coming to pass, but it is seeing as an +actual fact that God has said that this +thing shall come to pass, and that it is true, +and then rejoicing to know that it is true, +and just resting and entering into it because +God has said it. Faith turns the promise into a +prophecy. While it is merely a promise it is +contingent upon our co-operation; it may or +may not be. But when faith claims it, it becomes +a prophecy and we go forth feeling that +it is something that must be done because God +cannot lie. +</p> + +<p> +Faith is the answer from the throne saying, +<q>It is done.</q> Faith is the echo of God's voice. +Let us catch it from on high. Let us repeat it, +and go out to triumph in its glorious power. +</p> + +<lg> +<l>Hear the answer from the throne,</l> +<l>Claim the promise, doubting one,</l> +<l>God hath spoken, <q>It is done.</q></l> +<l>Faith hath answered, <q>It is done</q>;</l> +<l>Prayer is over, praise begun,</l> +<l>Hallelujah! It is done.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='097'/><anchor id='Pg097'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>April 1.</head> + +<p> +<q>Vessels of mercy which he had afore prepared unto +glory</q> (Rom. ix. 23). +</p> + +<p> +Our Father is fitting us for eternity. A +vessel fitted for the kitchen will find +itself in the kitchen. A vessel for the +art gallery or the reception room will +generally find itself there at last. +</p> + +<p> +What are you getting fitted for? To be a +slop-pail to hold all the stuff that people pour +into your ears, or a vase to hold sweet fragrance +and flowers for the King's palace and a +harp of many strings that sounds the melodies +and harmonies of His love and praise? Each +one of us is going to his own place. Let us +get fitted now. +</p> + +<lg> +<l>The days of heaven are Christly days,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>The Light of Heaven is He;</l> +<l>So walking at His side, our days</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>As the days of heaven would be.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l>The days of heaven are endless days—</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Days of eternity;</l> +<l>So may our lives and works endure</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>While the days of heaven shall be.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l>Walk with us, Lord, through all the days,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>And let us walk with Thee;</l> +<l>'Til as Thy will is done in heaven,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>On earth so shall it be.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='098'/><anchor id='Pg098'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>April 2.</head> + +<p> +<q>He shall dwell on high</q> (Isa. xxxiii. 16). +</p> + +<p> +It is easier for a consecrated Christian to +live an out and out life for God than to +live a mixed life. A soul redeemed and +sanctified by Christ is too large for the +shoals and sands of a selfish, worldly, sinful +life. The great steamship, St. Paul, could sail +in deep water without an effort, but she could +make no progress in the shallow pool, or on +the Long Branch sands; the smallest tugboat +is worth a dozen of her there; but out in mid-ocean +she could distance them in an hour. +</p> + +<p> +Beloved, your life is too large, too glorious, +too divine for the small place that you are +trying to live in. Your purpose is too petty; +arise and dwell on high in the resurrection life +of Jesus, and the inspiring hope of His blessed +coming. +</p> + +<lg> +<l>Rise with thy risen Lord,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Ascend with Christ above,</l> +<l>And in the heavenlies walk with Him,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Whom seeing not, you love.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l>Walk as a heavenly race,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Princes of royal blood;</l> +<l>Walk as the children of the light,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>The sons and heirs of God.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='099'/><anchor id='Pg099'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>April 3.</head> + +<p> +<q>My expectation is from Him</q> (Ps. lxii. 5). +</p> + +<p> +When we believe for a blessing, we +must take the attitude of faith, and +begin to act and pray as if we had +our blessing. We must treat God as +if He had given us our request. We must lean +our weight over upon Him for the thing that +we have claimed, and just take it for granted +that He gives it, and is going to continue to +give it. This is the attitude of trust. When +the wife is married, she at once falls into a new +attitude, and acts in accordance with the fact, +and so when we take Christ as a Saviour, as a +Sanctifier, as a Healer, or as a Deliverer, He +expects us to fall into the attitude of recognizing +Him in the capacity that we have claimed, +and expect Him to be to us all that we have +trusted Him for. +</p> + +<lg> +<l>You may bring Him ev'ry care and burden,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>You may tell Him ev'ry need in pray'r,</l> +<l>You may trust Him for the darkest moment,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>He is caring, wherefore need you care?</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l>Faith can never reach its consummation,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>'Til the victor's thankful song we raise:</l> +<l>In the glorious city of salvation,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>God has told us all the gates are praise.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='100'/><anchor id='Pg100'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>April 4.</head> + +<p> +<q>Resist the devil and he will flee</q> (James iv. 7). +</p> + +<p> +Resist the devil, and he will flee from +you. This is a promise, and God will +keep it to us. If we resist the adversary, +He will compel him to flee, and +will give us the victory. We can, at all times, +fearlessly stand up in defiance, in resistance to +the enemy, and claim the protection of our +heavenly King just as a citizen would claim +the protection of the government against an +outrage or injustice on the part of violent +men. At the same time we are not to stand +on the adversary's ground anywhere by any +attitude or disobedience, or we give him a terrible +power over us, which, while God will restrain +in great mercy and kindness, He will not +fully remove until we get fully on holy +ground. Therefore, we must be armed with +the breastplate of righteousness, as well as the +shield of faith, if we would successfully resist +the prince of darkness and the principalities in +heavenly places. +</p> + +<lg> +<l>Your full redemption rights</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>With holy boldness claim,</l> +<l>And to the utmost fulness prove</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>The power of Jesus' name.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='101'/><anchor id='Pg101'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>April 5.</head> + +<p> +<q>Many shall be purified and made white and tried</q> +(Dan. xii. 10). +</p> + +<p> +This is the promise for the Lord's coming. +It is more than purity. It is to be +made white, lustrous, or bright. To +be purified is to have the sin burned +out; to be made white is to have the glory of +the Lord burned in. The one is cleansing, the +other is illumination and glorification. The +Lord has both for us, but in order for us to +have both, we must be put into the fire to be +tried, and to be led into difficult and peculiar +places where Christ shall be more to us because +of the very extremity of the situation. +We are approaching these days. Indeed, they +are already around us, and they are the precursors +of the Lord's coming. +</p> + +<p> +Blessed is he that keepeth his garments lest +he walk naked. +</p> + +<lg> +<l>There are voices in the air, filling men with hope and fear;</l> +<l>There are signals everywhere that the end is drawing near,</l> +<l>There are warnings to prepare, for the King will soon be here;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>O it must be the coming of the Lord!</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='102'/><anchor id='Pg102'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>April 6.</head> + +<p> +<q>As we have many members in one body, so we being +many are one body in Christ</q> (Rom. xii. 4, 5). +</p> + +<p> +Sometimes our communion with +God is cut off, or interrupted because +of something wrong with a brother, or +some lack of unity in the body of +Christ. We try to get at the Lord, but we cannot, +because we are separated from some member +of the Lord's body, or because there is +not the freedom of His love flowing through +every organic part. It does not need a blow +upon the head to paralyze the brain; a blow +upon some nerve may do it; or a wound in +some artery at the extremities may be fatal to +the heart. Therefore we must stand right with +all His children, and meet in the body of Christ +in the sweetest, fullest fellowship, if we would +keep our perfect communion with Christ Himself. +Sometimes we will find that an altered attitude +to one Christian will bring us into +the flood-tides of the Holy Ghost. It +seems impossible to have faith without +love, or to have Christ alone without the fulness +of fellowship with all His dear saints; +and if one member suffer, all suffer together, +and if one rejoice, all are blessed in common. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='103'/><anchor id='Pg103'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>April 7.</head> + +<p> +<q>In Him we live and move</q> (Acts xvii. 28). +</p> + +<p> +The hand of Gehazi, and even the staff +of Elisha could not heal the lifeless +boy. It needed the living touch of the +prophet's own divinely quickened +flesh to infuse vitality into the cold clay. Lip to +lip, hand to hand, heart to heart, he must touch +the child ere life could thrill his pulseless veins. +</p> + +<p> +We must come into personal contact with +the risen Saviour, and have His very life quicken +our mortal flesh before we can know the +fulness and reality of His healing. This is the +most frequent cause of failure. People are +often trusting to something that has been done +to them, to something that they have done, or +something that they have believed intellectually; +but their spirit has not felt its way to the +heart of Christ, and they have not drawn His +love into their being by the hunger and thirst +of love and faith, and so they are not quickened. +The greatest need of our souls and bodies +is to know Jesus personally, to touch Him +constantly, to abide in Him continually. +</p> + +<p> +May we this day lay aside all things that +could hinder our near approach to Him, and +walk hand in hand, heart to heart, with Jesus. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='104'/><anchor id='Pg104'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>April 8.</head> + +<p> +<q>A merry heart doeth good like a medicine</q> (Prov. +xvii. 22). +</p> + +<p> +King Solomon left among his wise +sayings a prescription for sick and sad +hearts, and it is one that we can safely +take. <q>A merry heart doeth good like +a medicine.</q> Joy is the great restorer and +healer. Gladness of spirit will bring health to +the bones and vitality to the nerves when all +other tonics fail, and all other sedatives cease +to quiet. Sick one, begin to rejoice in the +Lord, and your bones will flourish like an herb, +and your cheeks will glow with the bloom of +health and freshness. Worry, fear, distrust, +care, are all poison drops; joy is balm and healing; +and if you will but rejoice, God will give +power. He has commanded you to be glad and +rejoice; and He never fails to sustain His children +in keeping His commandments. Rejoice +in the Lord always, He says; which means no +matter how sad, how tempted, how sick, how +suffering you are, rejoice in the Lord just +where you are, and begin this moment. +</p> + +<lg> +<l>The joy of the Lord is the strength of our body,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>The gladness of Jesus, the balm for our pain,</l> +<l>His life and His fulness, our fountain of healing,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>His joy, our elixir for body and brain.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='105'/><anchor id='Pg105'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>April 9.</head> + +<p> +<q>I do always those things that please Him</q> (John +viii. 29). +</p> + +<p> +It is a good thing to keep short accounts +with God. We were very much struck +some years ago with an interpretation of +this verse: <q>So every one of us shall +give an account of himself to God.</q> The +thought conveyed to our mind was, that of +accounting to God every day of our lives, so +that our accounts were settled daily, and for us +judgment was passed, as we lay down on our +pillows every night. +</p> + +<p> +This is surely the true way to live. It is the +secret of great peace, and it will be a delightful +comfort when life is closing, or the Master +coming, to know that our account is settled, +and our judgment over, and for us there is only +waiting the glad <q>Well done, good and faithful +servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.</q> +</p> + +<lg> +<l>Step by step I'll walk with Jesus,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Just a moment at a time,</l> +<l>Heights I have not wings to soar to,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Step by step my feet can climb.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l>Jesus, keep me closer—closer,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Step by step and day by day</l> +<l>Stepping in Thy very foot-prints,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Walking with Thee all the way.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='106'/><anchor id='Pg106'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>April 10.</head> + +<p> +<q>Hold fast the confidence</q> (Heb. iii. 6). +</p> + +<p> +Seldom have we seen a sadder wreck +of even the highest, noblest Christian +character than when the enemy has +succeeded in undermining the simple +trust of a child of God, and got him into self-accusing +and condemnation. It is a fearful +place when the soul allows Satan to take the +throne and act as God, sitting in judgment on +its every thought and act; and keeping it in +the darkness of ceaseless condemnation. Well +indeed has the apostle told us to hold firmly +the shield of faith! +</p> + +<p> +This is Satan's objective point in all his attacks +upon you, to destroy your trust. If he +can get you to lose your simple confidence in +God, he knows that he will soon have you at his +feet. +</p> + +<p> +It is enough to wreck both the reason and +the life for the soul that has known the sweetness +of His love to lose its perfect trust in God. +<q>Beloved, hold fast your confidence and the rejoicing +of your hope firm unto the end.</q> +</p> + +<lg> +<l>Fear not to take your place</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>With Jesus on the throne,</l> +<l>And bid the powers of earth and hell,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>His sovereign sceptre own.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='107'/><anchor id='Pg107'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>April 11.</head> + +<p> +<q>Commit thy way unto the Lord</q> (Ps. xxxvii. 5). +</p> + +<p> +Seldom have we heard a better definition +of faith than was given once in +one of our meetings by a dear old colored +woman, as she answered the question +of a young man how to take the Lord for +needed help. +</p> + +<p> +In her characteristic way, pointing her finger +toward him, she said with great emphasis: +<q>You've just got to believe that He's done it, +and it's done.</q> The great danger with most of +us is, that after we ask Him to do it, we do not +believe that it's done, but we keep on helping +Him, and getting others to help Him; superintending +God and waiting to see how He is going +to do it. +</p> + +<p> +Faith adds its amen to God's yea, and then +takes its hands off, and leaves God to finish +His work. Its language is, <q>Commit thy way +unto the Lord, trust also in Him; and He +worketh.</q> +</p> + +<lg> +<l>Lord, I give up the struggle,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>To Thee commit my way,</l> +<l>I trust Thy word forever,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>And settle it all to-day.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='108'/><anchor id='Pg108'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>April 12.</head> + +<p> +<q>They were as it were, complainers</q> (Num. xi. 1). +</p> + +<p> +There is a very remarkable phrase in +the book of Numbers, in the account +of the murmuring of the children of +Israel in the wilderness. It reads like +this: <q>When the people, as it were, murmured.</q> +Like most marginal readings it +is better than the text, and a great world +of suggestive truth lies back of that little sentence. +</p> + +<p> +In the distance we may see many a vivid +picture rise before our imagination of people +who do not dare to sin openly and unequivocally, +but manage to do it <q>as it were</q> only. +They do not lie straight, but they evade or +equivocate, or imply enough falsehood to escape +a real conviction of conscience. They do +not openly accuse God of unkindness or unfaithfulness, +but they strike at Him through +somebody else. They find fault with circumstances +and people and things that God has +permitted to come into their lives, and, <q>As it +were,</q> murmur. They do not perhaps go any +farther. They feel like doing it if they dared +to <q>charge God foolishly.</q> +</p> + +<p> +These things were written for our warning. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='109'/><anchor id='Pg109'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>April 13.</head> + +<p> +<q>Rejoice evermore</q> (I. Thess. v. 16). +</p> + +<p> +Do not lose your joy whatever else you +lose. Keep the spirit of spring. <q>Rejoice +evermore,</q> and <q>Again I say, +rejoice.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The loss of Canaan began in the spirit of +murmurings, <q>When the people, as it were, +murmured, it displeased the Lord.</q> The first +break in their fellowship, the first falter in +their advance, came when they began to doubt, +and grieve, and fret. +</p> + +<p> +Oh, keep the heart from the perforations of +depression, discouragement, distrust and +gloom, for Satan cannot crush a rejoicing and +praiseful soul. +</p> + +<p> +Look out for the beginning of sin. Don't +let the first touch of evil be harbored. It is the +first step that loses all. Oh, to keep so encased +in the Holy Ghost and in the very life of +Jesus that the evil cannot reach us! +</p> + +<p> +The little fly on the inside of the window-pane +may be attacked by the little bird on the +outside, and it may seem to him that he is lost, +but the crystal pane between keeps him safely +from all danger as certainly as if it were a +mighty wall of iron. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='110'/><anchor id='Pg110'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>April 14.</head> + +<p> +<q>I if I be lifted up from the earth will draw all men +unto Me</q> (John xii. 32). +</p> + +<p> +A true and pure Christian life attracts +the world. There are hundreds of men +and women who find no inducements +whatever in the lives of ordinary +Christians to interest them in practical religion, +but who are won at once by a true and victorious +example. We believe that more men of +the world step at a bound right into a life of +entire consecration than into the intermediate +state which is usually presented to them at the +first stage. +</p> + +<p> +In an audience once there was a man who +for half a century or more had lived without +Christ, and who was a very prominent citizen, +a man in public life, of irreproachable character, +lofty intellect, and a most winning spirit +and manners, but utterly out of sympathy with +the Christian life. +</p> + +<p> +At the close of a service for the promotion +of deeper spiritual life he rose to ask the prayers +of the congregation, and before the end +of the week he was himself a true and acknowledged +follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. +He said, as he went home that night, <q>If that +is the religion of Jesus Christ, I want it.</q> +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='111'/><anchor id='Pg111'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>April 15.</head> + +<p> +<q>Rooted and grounded in love</q> (Eph. iii. 17). +</p> + +<p> +There is a very singular shrub, which +grows abundantly in the west, and is to +be found in all parts of Texas. It is +no less than the <q>mosquito tree.</q> It +is a very slim, and willowy looking shrub, and +would seem to be of little use for any industrial +purposes; but is has extraordinary roots growing +like great timbers underground, and possessing +such qualities of endurance in all situations +that it is used and very highly valued +for good pavements. The city of San Antonio is +said to be paved with these roots. It reminds +one of those Christians who make little show +externally, but their growth is chiefly underground—out +of sight, in the depth of God. +These are the men and women that God uses +for the foundation of things, and for the pavements +of that city of God which will stand +when all earthly things have crumbled into ruin +and dissolved into oblivion. +</p> + +<lg> +<l>Deeper, deeper let the living waters flow;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Blessed Holy Spirit! River of Salvation!</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 6'>All Thy fulness let me know.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='112'/><anchor id='Pg112'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>April 16.</head> + +<p> +<q>Quit you like men</q> (I. Cor. xvi. 13). +</p> + +<p> +Be brave. Cowards always get hurt. +Brave men generally come out unharmed. +Jeremiah was a hero. He +shrank from nothing. He faced his +king and countrymen with dauntless bravery, +and the result was he suffered no harm, but +came through the siege of Jerusalem without a +hair being injured. Zedekiah, the cowardly +king, was always afraid to obey God and be +true, and the result was that he at last met the +most cruel punishment that was ever inflicted +on human heart. +</p> + +<p> +The men and women that stand from the +beginning true to their convictions have the +fewest tests. When God gives to you a good +trial, if you can stand the strain, He is not +always repeating it. When Abraham offered +up his son Isaac at Mount Moriah, it was a +final testing for the rest of his life. Do not let +Satan see that you are afraid of him, for he +will pursue to the death if he thinks that he +has a chance of getting you. +</p> + +<lg> +<l>Be true, be true,</l> +<l>Whether friends be false or few,</l> +<l>Whatsoe'er betide, ever at His side,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Let Him always find you true.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='113'/><anchor id='Pg113'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>April 17.</head> + +<p> +<q>He that ruleth his spirit is better than he that taketh a +city</q> (Prov. xvi. 32). +</p> + +<p> +Temperance is true self-government. +It involves the grace of self-denial and +the spirit of a sound mind. It is that +poise of spirit that holds us quiet, self-possessed, +recollected, deliberate, and subject +ever to the voice of God and the conviction of +duty in every step we take. Many persons have +not that poise and recollected spirit. They are +drifting at the impulse of their own impressions, +moods, the influence of others, or the +circumstances around them. No desire should +ever control us. No purpose, however right, +should have such mastery over us that we are +not perfectly free. The pure affection may be +an inordinate affection. Our work itself may +be a selfish passion. That thing that we began +to do because it was God's will, we may cling +to and persist in ultimately, because it is our +own will. Lord, give us the spirit ever controlled +by Thy Spirit and will, and the eye +that looks to Thee every moment as the eyes +of a servant to the hands of her mistress. So +shall Thy service be our perfect freedom, and +our subjection divinest liberty. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='114'/><anchor id='Pg114'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>April 18.</head> + +<p> +<q>They shall mount up with wings</q> (Isa. xl. 31). +</p> + +<p> +<q>They shall mount up with wings as +eagles,</q> is God's preliminary; for the +next promise is, <q>They shall run and +not be weary, and they shall walk and +not faint.</q> Hours of holy exultation are necessary +for hours of patient plodding, waiting +and working. Nature has its springs, and so +has grace. +</p> + +<p> +Let us rejoice in the Lord evermore, and +again we say, rejoice. And let us take Him +to be our continual joy, whose heart is a fountain +of blessedness, and who is anointed with +the oil of gladness above His fellows. We must +not be disappointed if the tides are not always +equally high. Even at low tide the ocean is +just as full. Human nature could not stand +perpetual excitement, even of a happy kind, +and God often rests in His love. Let us live +as self-unconsciously as possible, filling up +each moment with faithful service, and trusting +Him to stir the springs at His will, and as we +go on in faithful service we shall hear, again +and again, His glad whisper: <q>Well done, good +and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of +thy Lord.</q> +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='115'/><anchor id='Pg115'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>April 19.</head> + +<p> +<q>Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him</q> (Ps. +xxxvii. 7). +</p> + +<p> +It is a very suggestive thought that it is +in the Gospel of Mark, which is the Gospel +of service, we hear the Master saying +to His disciples, <q>Come ye apart into a +desert place, and rest awhile.</q> God wants rested +workers. There is an energy that may be tireless +and ceaseless, and yet still as the ocean's +depth, with the peace of God, which passes all +understanding. The two deepest secrets of +rest are, first, to be in harmony with the +will of God, and, secondly, to trust. <q>Great +peace have they that love Thy law,</q> expresses +the first. <q>Thou will keep him in perfect peace +whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he +trusteth in Thee,</q> describes the second. There +is a good deal in learning to <q>stay.</q> Sometimes +we forget that it literally means to +stop. It is a great blessing even to stop +all thought, and this is frequently the only +way to answer the devil's whirlwind of irritating +questions and thoughts, to be absolutely +still and refuse to even think, and meet +his evil voice with a simple and everlasting +<q>No!</q> If we will be still God will give us +peace. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='116'/><anchor id='Pg116'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>April 20.</head> + +<p> +<q>There they dwelt with the King for His work</q> (I. +Chron. iv. 23). +</p> + +<p> +It is easy for water to run down from the +upper springs, but it requires a divine +impulse to flow up from the valley in the +nether springs. There is nothing that +tells more of Christ than to see a Christian rejoicing +and cheerful in the humdrum and routine +of commonplace work, like the sailors that +stand on the dock loading the vessel and singing +as they swing their loads, keeping time +with the spirit of praise to the footsteps and +movements of labor and duty. No one has a +sweeter or higher ministry for Christ than a +business man or a serving woman who can +carry the light of heaven in their faces all day +long. Like the sea fowl that can plunge beneath +the briny tide with its beautiful and +spotless plumage, and come forth without one +drop adhering to its burnished breast and +glowing wings because of the subtle oil upon +the plumage that keeps the water from sticking, +so, thank God, we too may be so anointed +with the Holy Ghost that sin, sorrow and defilement +will not adhere to us, but we shall +pass through every sea as the ship passes +through the waves, in, but above the floods +around us. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='117'/><anchor id='Pg117'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>April 21.</head> + +<p> +<q>The anointing which ye have received</q> (I. John ii. 27). +</p> + +<p> +This is the secret of the deeper life, but +<q>That ye may be rooted and grounded +in love,</q> is the substance of it, and the +sweetness of it. The fulness of the +divine love in the heart will make everything +easy. It is very easy to do things that we love +to do, and it is very easy to trust one whom +we love, and the more we realize their love the +more we will trust them for it. It is the source +of healing. The tide of love flowing through +our bodies will strangely strengthen our very +frame, and the love of our Lord will become a +continual spring of youth and freshness in our +physical being. The secret of love is very +simple. It is to take the heart of Jesus for our +love and claim its love for every need of life, +whether it be toward God or toward others. +It is very sweet to think of persons in this way, +<q>I will take the heart of Jesus toward them, to +let me love them as He loves them.</q> Then we +can love even the unworthy in some measure, +if we shall see them in the light of His love +and hope, as they shall be, and not as they now +are, unworthy of our love. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='118'/><anchor id='Pg118'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>April 22.</head> + +<p> +<q>Christ is the head</q> (Eph. v. 23). +</p> + +<p> +Often we want people to pray for us +and help us, but always defeat our object +when we look too much to them +and lean upon them. The true secret +of union is for both to look upon God, and in +the act of looking past themselves to Him they +are unconsciously united. The sailor was +right when he saw the little boy fall overboard +and waited a minute before he plunged to his +rescue. When the distracted mother asked +him in agony why he had waited so long, he +sensibly replied: <q>I knew that if I went in +before he would clutch and drag me down. I +waited until his struggles were over, and then +I was able to help him when he did not grasp +me too strongly.</q> +</p> + +<p> +When people grasp us too strongly, either +with their love or with their dependence, we +are intuitively conscious that they are not +looking to God, and we become paralyzed in +our efforts to help them. United prayer, therefore, +requires that the one for whom we pray +be looking away from us to the Lord Jesus +Christ, and we together look to Him alone. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='119'/><anchor id='Pg119'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>April 23.</head> + +<p> +<q>An high priest touched with the feeling of our infirmities</q> +(Heb. iv. 15). +</p> + +<p> +Some time ago we were talking with a +greatly suffering sister about healing, +who was much burdened physically +and desirous of being able to trust the +Lord for deliverance. After a little conversation +we prayed with her, committing her case +to the Lord for absolute trust and deliverance +as she was prepared to claim. As soon as we +closed our prayer she grasped our hand, and +asked us to unite with her in the burden that +was most upon her heart, and then, without a +word of reference to her own healing, or the +burden under which she was being crushed to +death, she burst into such a prayer for a poor +orphan boy, of whom she had just heard that +day, as we have never heard surpassed for +sympathy and love, imploring God to help him +and save him, and sobbing in spasmodic agony +of love many times during her prayer, and +then she ceased without even referring to her +own need. We were deeply touched by the +spectacle of love, and we thought how the +Father's heart must be touched for her own +need. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='120'/><anchor id='Pg120'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>April 24.</head> + +<p> +<q>Fret not thyself in any wise</q> (Ps. xxxvii. 8). +</p> + +<p> +A life was lost in Israel because a pair +of human hands were laid unbidden +upon the ark of God. They were +placed upon it with the best intent to +steady it when trembling and shaking as the +oxen drew it along the rough way, but they +touched God's work presumptuously, and they +fell paralyzed and lifeless. Much of the life of +faith consists in letting things alone. If we +wholly trust an interest to God we can keep +our hands off it, and He will guard it for us +better than we can help Him. <q>Rest in the +Lord and wait patiently for Him. Fret not +thyself in any wise because of him that prospereth +in the way, because of the man that +bringeth wicked devices to pass.</q> Things may +seem to be going all wrong, but He knows as +well as we; and He will arise in the right +moment if we are really trusting Him so fully +as to let Him work in His own way and time. +There is nothing so masterly as inactivity in +some things, and there is nothing so hurtful as +restless working, for God has undertaken to +work His sovereign will. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='121'/><anchor id='Pg121'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>April 25.</head> + +<p> +<q>The very God of Peace sanctify you wholly</q> (I. +Thess. v. 23). +</p> + +<p> +A great tidal wave is bearing up the +stranded ship, until she floats above +the bar without a straining timber or +struggling seaman, instead of the ineffectual +and toilsome efforts of the struggling +crew and the strain of the engines, which had +tried in vain to move her an inch until that heavenly +impulse lifted her by its own attraction. +</p> + +<p> +It is God's great law of gravitation lifting +up, by the warm sunbeams, the mighty iceberg +which a million men could not raise a single +inch, but melts away before the rays and the +warmth of the sunshine, and rises in clouds of +evaporation to meet its embrace until that cold +and heavy mass is floating in fleecy clouds of +glory in the blue ocean of the sky. +</p> + +<p> +How easy all this! How mighty! How +simple! How divine! Beloved, have you +come into the divine way of holiness! If you +have, how your heart must swell with gratitude! +If you have not, do you not long for +it, and will you not unite in the prayer of the +text that the very God of peace will sanctify +you wholly? +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='122'/><anchor id='Pg122'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>April 26.</head> + +<p> +<q>Strangers and pilgrims</q> (Heb. xi. 13). +</p> + +<p> +If you have ever tried to plough a straight +furrow in the country—we are sorry for +the man that does not know how to +plough and more sorry for the man that +is too proud to want to know—you have found +it necessary to have two stakes in a line and to +drive your horses by these stakes. If you have +only one stake before you, you will have no +steadying point for your vision, but you can +wiggle about without knowing it and make +your furrows as crooked as a serpent's coil; +but if you have two stakes and ever keep them +in line, you cannot deviate an inch from a +straight line, and your furrow will be an arrow +speeding to its course. +</p> + +<p> +This has been a great lesson to us in our +Christian life. If we would run a straight +course, we find that we must have two stakes, +the near and the distant. It is not enough to be +living in the present, but it is a great and +glorious thing to have a distant goal, a definite +object, a clear purpose before us for which +we are living, and unto which we are shaping +our present. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='123'/><anchor id='Pg123'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>April 27.</head> + +<p> +<q>The sweetness of the lips</q> (Prov. xvi. 21). +</p> + +<p> +Spiritual conditions are inseparably +connected with our physical life. The +flow of the divine life-currents may be +interrupted by a little clot of blood; +the vital current may leak out through a very +trifling wound. +</p> + +<p> +If you want to keep the health of Christ, +keep from all spiritual sores, from all heart +wounds and irritations. One hour of fretting +will wear out more vitality than a week of +work; and one minute of malignity, or rankling +jealousy or envy will hurt more than a +drink of poison. Sweetness of spirit and joyousness +of heart are essential to full health. +Quietness of spirit, gentleness, tranquility, +and the peace of God that passes all understanding, +are worth all the sleeping draughts +in the country. +</p> + +<p> +We do not wonder that some people have +poor health when we hear them talk for half +an hour. They have enough dislikes, prejudices, +doubts, and fears to exhaust the strongest +constitution. +</p> + +<p> +Beloved, if you would keep God's life and +strength, keep out the things that kill it; keep +it for Him, and for His work, and you will find +enough and to spare. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='124'/><anchor id='Pg124'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>April 28.</head> + +<p> +<q>For it is God which worketh in you</q> (Phil. ii. 13). +</p> + +<p> +Sanctification is the gift of the +Holy Ghost, the fruit of the Spirit, the +grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the prepared +inheritance of all who enter in, +the greatest obtainment of faith, not the attainment +of works. It is divine holiness, not human +self-improvement, nor perfection. It is +the inflow into man's being of the life and +purity of the infinite, eternal and Holy One, +bringing His own perfection and working out +His own will. How easy, how spontaneous, +how delightful this heavenly way of holiness! +Surely it is a <q>highway</q> and not the low way +of man's vain and fruitless mortification. +</p> + +<p> +It is God's great elevated railway, sweeping +over the heads of the struggling throngs +who toil along the lower pavement when they +might be borne along on His ascension pathway, +by His own almighty impulse. It is +God's great elevator carrying us up to the +higher chambers of His palace, without over-laborious +efforts, while others struggle up the +winding stairs and faint by the way. +</p> + +<p> +Let us to-day so fully take Him that He can +<q>cause us to walk in His statutes.</q> +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='125'/><anchor id='Pg125'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>April 29.</head> + +<p> +<q>Love never faileth</q> (I. Cor. xiii. 8). +</p> + +<p> +In our work for God it is a great thing to +find the key to men's hearts, and recognize +something good as a point of contact +for our spiritual influence. When +Jesus met the woman at Samaria He immediately +seized hold of the best things in her, and +by this He reached her heart, and drew from +her a willing confession of her salvation. A +Scotchman once said that his salvation was all +due to the fact that a good man (Lord Shaftsbury, +we believe) once put his arms around +him and said, <q>John, by the grace of God we +will make a man of you yet.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The old legend tells the story of a poor, dead +dog lying on the street in the midst of the +crowd, every one of whom was having something +to say, until Jesus came along, and immediately +began to admire its beautiful teeth. +He had something kind to say even of him. +</p> + +<lg> +<l>There is but One can live and love like this;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>The Christ-love from the living Christ must spring.</l> +<l>O! Jesus! come and live Thy life in me,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>And all Thy heaven of love and blessing bring.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='126'/><anchor id='Pg126'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>April 30.</head> + +<p> +<q>Love believeth all things</q> (I. Cor. xiii. 7). +</p> + +<p> +Beautiful is the expression in the +Book of Isaiah which reflects with exceeding +sweetness the love of our dear +Lord. He said, <q>They are My people, +children that will not lie; so He was their Saviour.</q> +They did lie, but He would not believe +it. At least He speaks as if He would +not believe it in the greatness of His love, because +they were His people. He has not seen +iniquity in Jacob nor perversity in Israel. +There is plenty of it to see, and the devil sees +it all, and a good many people are only too glad +to see it; but the dear Father will not see it. +He covers it with His love and the precious +blood of His dear atoning Son. Such a wonderful +love ought surely to make us gentler to +others, and more anxious to cause our Father +less need to hide His loving eyes from our imperfections +and faults. +</p> + +<p> +If we have the mind and heart of Christ, +we shall clothe even the world with those +graces which faith can claim for them, and +try our best to count them as if they were +real, and by love and prayer we shall at +length make them real. <q>Love believeth all +things.</q> +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='127'/><anchor id='Pg127'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>May 1.</head> + +<p> +<q>The fruit of the Spirit is gentleness</q> (Gal. v. 22). +</p> + +<p> +Nature's harshness has melted away +and she is now beaming with the +smile of spring, and everything +around us whispers of the gentleness +of God. This beautiful fruit is in lovely harmony +with the gentle month of which it is the +keynote. May the Holy Spirit lead us, beloved, +these days, into His sweetness, quietness, +and gentleness, subduing every coarse, rude, +harsh, and unholy habit, and making us like +Him, of whom it is said, <q>He shall not strive, +nor cry, nor cause His voice to be heard in the +streets.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The man who is truly filled with Jesus will +always be a gentleman. The woman who is +baptized of the Holy Ghost, will have the instincts +of a perfect lady, although low born and +little bred in the schools of earthly refinement. +Beloved, let us receive and reflect the gentleness +of Christ, the spirit of the holy babe, until +the world will say of us, as the polished and infidel +Chesterfield once said of the saintly Fenelon, +<q>If I had remained in his house another +day, I should have had to become a Christian.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Lord, help us to-day, to so yield to the gentle +Dove-Spirit, that our lives shall be as His life. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='128'/><anchor id='Pg128'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>May 2.</head> + +<p> +<q>Always causeth us to triumph</q> (II. Cor. ii. 14). +</p> + +<p> +How these words help us. Think of +them when the people rasp you, when +the devil pricks you with his fiery +darts, when your sensitive, self-willed +spirit chafes or frets; let a gentle voice be +heard above the strife, whispering, <q>Keep +sweet, keep sweet!</q> And, if you will but heed +it quickly, you will be saved from a thousand +falls and kept in perfect peace. +</p> + +<p> +True, you cannot keep yourself sweet, but +God will keep you if He sees that it is your +fixed, determined purpose to be kept sweet, +and to refuse to fret or grudge or retaliate. +The trouble is, you rather enjoy a little irritation +and morbidness. You want to cherish the +little grudge, and sympathize with your hurt +feelings, and nurse your little grievance. +</p> + +<p> +Dear friends, God will give you all the love +you really want and honestly choose. You can +have your grievance or you can have the peace +that passeth all understanding; but you cannot +have both. +</p> + +<p> +There is a balm for a thousand heartaches, +and a heaven of peace and power in these two +little words—KEEP SWEET. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='129'/><anchor id='Pg129'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>May 3.</head> + +<p> +<q>My peace I give unto you</q> (John xiv. 27). +</p> + +<p> +Here lies the secret of abiding peace—God's +peace. We give ourselves to +God and the Holy Spirit takes possession +of our breast. It is indeed <q>Peace, +Peace.</q> But it is just then that the devil begins +to turn us away, and he does it through +our thoughts, diverting or distracting them as +occasion requires. This is the time to prove +the sincerity of our consecration and the singleness +of our heart. If we truly desire His +Presence more than all else, we will turn away +from every conflicting thought and look steadily +up to Jesus. But if we desire the gratification +of our impulse more than His Presence, +we will yield to the passionate word or the frivolous +thought or the sinful diversion, and when +we come back our Shepherd has gone, and we +wonder why our peace has departed. Failure +occurs often in some trifling thing, and the soul +failure has occurred in some trifling thing, +usually a thought or word, and the soul which +would not have feared to climb a mountain +has really stumbled over a straw. +</p> + +<p> +The real secret of perfect rest is to be jealously, +habitually occupied with Jesus. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='130'/><anchor id='Pg130'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>May 4.</head> + +<p> +<q>Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the +world</q> (I. John iv. 4). +</p> + +<p> +Satan loves to trip us over little things. +The reason of this is because it is generally +a greater victory for him, and +shows that he can upset us by a shaving +and knock us down with a straw. It is the +old boast of the Jebusite, when they told David +they could defend Jerusalem by a garrison +of the blind and lame. Most of us get on better +in our great struggles than we do in our +little ones. It was over a little apple that Adam +fell, but all the world was wrecked. Look out, +beloved, for the little stumbling blocks, and +do not let Satan laugh at you, and tell his myrmidons +how he tripped you over an orange +peel. And, too, when the devil wants to stop +some great blessing in our lives, he generally +throws some ugly shadow over it and makes it +look distasteful to us. How many of us have +been keeping back from truths, places and persons +in which God has reappeared, the greatest +blessing of our lives, and the devil has succeeded +in keeping us away from them by some +false or foolish prejudice! +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='131'/><anchor id='Pg131'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>May 5.</head> + +<p> +<q>If ye then be risen</q> (Col. iii. 1). +</p> + +<p> +God is waiting this morning to mark the +opening hours for every ready and +willing heart with a touch of life and +power that will lift our lives to higher +pleasures and offer to our vision grander horizons +of hope and holy service. +</p> + +<p> +We shall not need to seek far to discover our +risen Lord. He was in advance even of the +earliest seeker that Easter morning, and He +will be waiting for us before the break of day +with His glad <q>All Hail,</q> if we have only eyes +to see and hearts to welcome and obey Him. +</p> + +<p> +What is His message to us this spring time? +<q>If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those +things which are above, where Christ sitteth +on the right hand of God. For ye are dead, +and your life is hid with Christ in God.</q> +</p> + +<p> +It is not risen with Christ, but <emph>resurrected</emph>. +It is not rising a little higher in the old life, +but it is rising from the dead. The resurrection +will mean no more than the death has +meant. Only so far as we are really dead shall +we live with Him. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='132'/><anchor id='Pg132'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>May 6.</head> + +<p> +<q>Reckon ye also yourselves to be alive unto God</q> +(Rom. vi. 11). +</p> + +<p> +Death is but for a moment. Life is +forevermore. Live, then, ye children +of the resurrection, on His glorious +life, more and more abundantly, and +the fulness of your life will repel the intrusion +of self and sin, and overcome evil with good, +and your existence will be, not the dreary repression +of your own struggling, but the +springing tide of Christ's spontaneous overcoming +life. +</p> + +<p> +Once in a religious meeting a dear brother +gave us a most exhilarating talk on the risen +life. Then another brother got up and talked +for a long time on the necessity of self-crucifixion. +A cold sweat fell over us all, and we +could scarcely understand why. But after he +had got through, a good sister clarified the +whole situation by saying, that <q>Pastor S. had +taken us all out of the grave by his address, +and then Pastor P. has put us back again.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Don't go back into the grave again after you +have got out, but live like Him, who <q>liveth +and was dead, and lo! He is alive forevermore, +and has the keys of hell and of death.</q> Keep +out of the tomb, and keep the door locked, and +the keys in His risen hands. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='133'/><anchor id='Pg133'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>May 7.</head> + +<p> +<q>I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you</q> +(Gal. iv. 19). +</p> + +<p> +It is a blessed moment when we are born +again and a new heart is created in us +after the image of God. It is a more +blessed moment when in this new heart +Christ Himself is born and the Christmas time +is reproduced in us as we, in some real sense, +become incarnations of the living Christ. This +is the deepest and holiest meaning of Christianity. +It is expressed in Paul's prayer for +the Galatians. <q>My little children, for whom I +travail in birth again till Christ be formed in +you.</q> +</p> + +<p> +There will yet be a more glorious era when +we, like Him, shall be transformed and transfigured +into His glory, and in the resurrection +shall be, in spirit, soul and body, even as +He. +</p> + +<p> +Let us live, under the power of the inspiring +thought, incarnations of Christ; not living +our life, but the Christ-life, and showing forth +the excellencies, not of ourselves, but of Him +who hath called us <q>out of darkness into His +marvelous light</q>; so our life shall be to all +the re-living in our position of the Christ +life, as He would have lived it, had He been +here. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='134'/><anchor id='Pg134'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>May 8.</head> + +<p> +<q>Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die</q> +(John xii. 24). +</p> + +<p> +Death and resurrection are the central +ideas of nature and Christianity. We +see them in the transformation of the +chrysalis, in the buried seed bursting +into the bud and blossom of the spring, in the +transformation of the winding sheet of winter +to the many tinted robes of spring. We see it +all through the Bible in the symbol of circumcision, +with its significance of death and life, +in the passage of the Red Sea and the Jordan +leading out and leading in, and in the Cross of +Calvary and the open grave of the Easter +morning. We see it in every deep spiritual life. +Every true life is death-born, and the deeper +the dying the truer the living. We doubt not +the months that have been passing have shown +us all many a place where there ought to be a +grave, and many a lingering shred of the natural +and sinful which we would gladly lay +down in a bottomless grave. God help us to +pass the irrevocable sentence of death and to +let the Holy Ghost, the great undertaker, make +the interment eternal. Then our life shall be +ever budding and blossoming and shedding +fragrance over all. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='135'/><anchor id='Pg135'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>May 9.</head> + +<p> +<q>All hail</q> (Matt. xxviii. 9). +</p> + +<p> +It was a stirring greeting which the Lord +of Life spake to His first disciples on +the morning of the resurrection. It is a +bright and radiant word which in His +name we would speak to His beloved children +at the commencement of another day. It +means a good deal more than appears on the +surface. It is really a prayer for our health, +but which none but those who believe in the +healing of the body can fully understand. A +thoughtful friend suggested once that the +word <q>hail</q> really means health, and it is just +the old Saxon form of the word. We all know +that a hale person is a healthy person. Our +Lord's message, therefore, was substantially +that greeting which from time immemorial we +give to one another when we meet. <q>How is +your health?</q> <q>How are you?</q> or, better +still, <q>I wish you health.</q> Christ's wish is +tantamount to a promise and command. It +is very similar to the Apostle John's benediction +to his dear friend Gaius, and we +would re-echo it to our beloved friends +according to the fulness of the Master's +will. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='136'/><anchor id='Pg136'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>May 10.</head> + +<p> +<q>I am alive forevermore</q> (Rev. i. 18). +</p> + +<p> +Here is the message of the Christ of the +cross and the still more glorious and +precious Christ of the resurrection. It +is beautiful and inspiring to note the +touch of light and glory with which these simple +words invest the cross. It is not said +I am He that was dead and liveth, but <q>I +am He that liveth and was dead, but am alive +forevermore.</q> Life is mentioned before the +death. There are two ways of looking at the +cross. One is from the death side and the +other from the life side. One is the Ecce +Homo and the other is the glorified Jesus with +only the marks of the nails and the spear. It +is thus we are to look at the cross. We are +not to carry about with us the mould of the +sepulchre, but the glory of the resurrection. It +is not the Ecce Homo, but the Living Christ. +And so our crucifixion is to be so complete that +it shall be lost in our resurrection and we shall +even forget our sorrow and carry with us the +light and glory of the eternal morning. So let +us live the death-born life, ever new and full +of a life that can never die, because it is <q>dead +and alive forevermore.</q> +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='137'/><anchor id='Pg137'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>May 11.</head> + +<p> +<q>Whosoever will save his life shall lose it</q> (Luke +ix. 24). +</p> + +<p> +First and foremost Christ teaches resurrection +and life. The power of +Christianity is life. It brings us not +merely law, duty, example, with high +and holy teaching and admonition. It brings +us the power to follow the higher ideal and the +life that spontaneously does the things commanded. +But it is not only life, but resurrection +life. +</p> + +<p> +And it begins with a real crisis, a definite +transaction, a point of time as clear as the +morning dawn. It is not an everlasting dying +and an eternal struggle to live. But it is all +expressed in a tense that denotes definiteness, +fixedness and finished action. We actually +died at a certain point and as actually began to +live the resurrection life. +</p> + +<p> +Let us reckon ourselves to be dead indeed +unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus +Christ. +</p> + +<lg> +<l>And death is only the pathway and portal,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>To the life that shall die nevermore;</l> +<l>And the cross leadeth up to the crown everlasting,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>The Jordan to Canaan's bright shore.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='138'/><anchor id='Pg138'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>May 12.</head> + +<p> +<q>Tell me where Thou makest Thy flock to rest at +noon</q> (Song of Solomon i. 7). +</p> + +<p> +Beloved, do you not long for God's +quiet, the inner chambers, the shadow +of the Almighty, the secret of His +presence? Your life has been, perhaps, +all driving and doing, or perhaps straining, +struggling, longing and not obtaining. +Oh, for rest! to lie down upon His bosom and +know that you have all in Him, that every +question is answered, every doubt settled, every +interest safe, every prayer answered, every desire +satisfied. Lift up the cry, <q>Tell me, O Thou +whom my soul loveth, where Thou feedest, +where Thou makest Thy flock to rest at noon</q>! +</p> + +<p> +Blessed be His name! He has this for us, +His exclusive love—a love which each individual +somehow feels is all for himself, in which +he can lie alone upon His breast and have a +place which none other can dispute; and yet +His heart is so great that He can hold a thousand +millions just as near, and each heart seem +to possess Him just as exclusively for his own, +even as the thousand little pools of water upon +the beach can reflect the sun, and each little +pool seems to have the whole sun embosomed +in its beautiful depths. And Christ can teach +us this secret of His inmost love. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='139'/><anchor id='Pg139'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>May 13.</head> + +<p> +<q>Abide in Me</q> (John xv. 4). +</p> + +<p> +Christianity may mean nothing +more than a religious system. Christian +life may mean nothing more than +an earnest and honest attempt to follow +and imitate Christ. +</p> + +<p> +Christ life is more than these, and expresses +our actual union with the Lord Jesus Christ, +and He is undoubtedly in us as the life and +source of all our experience and work. +</p> + +<p> +This conception of the highest Christian life +is at once simpler and sublimer than any other. +We do not teach in these pages, that the purpose +of Christ's redemption is to restore us to +Adamic perfection, for if we had it we should +lose it to-morrow; but rather to unite us with +the Second Adam, and lift us up to a higher +plane than our first parents ever knew. +</p> + +<p> +This is the only thing that can reconcile the +warring elements of diverse schools of teaching +with respect to Christian life. +</p> + +<p> +The Spirit of God will lead us to have no +controversy respecting mere theories, but simply +hold to the person and life of Jesus Christ +Himself, and the privilege of being united to +Him, and living in constant dependence upon +His keeping power and grace. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='140'/><anchor id='Pg140'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>May 14.</head> + +<p> +<q>But God</q> (Luke xii. 20). +</p> + +<p> +What else do we really need? What +else is He trying to make us understand? +The religion of the Bible is +wholly supernatural. The one resource +of faith has always been the living God, +and Him alone. The children of Israel were +utterly dependent upon Jehovah as they +marched through the wilderness, and the one +reason their foes feared them and hastened to +submit themselves was that they recognized +among them the shout of a King, and the presence +of One compared with whom all their +strength was vain. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Wherein,</q> asked Moses, <q>shall we be separated +from all other peoples of the earth, except +it be in this that Thou goest before us.</q> +</p> + +<p> +A church relying on human wisdom, wealth +or resources, ceases to be the body of Christ +and becomes an earthly society. When we +dare to depend entirely upon God and without +doubt, the humblest and feeblest agencies will +become <q>mighty through God, to the pulling +down of strongholds.</q> May the Holy Spirit +give to us at all times, His own conception of +these two great words, <q>But God.</q> +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='141'/><anchor id='Pg141'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>May 15.</head> + +<p> +<q>I press toward the mark</q> (Phil. iii. 14). +</p> + +<p> +We have thought much about what we +have received. Let us think of the +things we have not received, of some +of the vessels that have not yet been +filled, of some of the places in our life that the +Holy Ghost has not yet possessed for God, +and signalized by His glory and His presence. +</p> + +<p> +Shall the coming months be marked by a +diligent, heart-searching application of <q>the +rest of the oil,</q> to the yet unoccupied possibilities +of our life and service? +</p> + +<p> +Have we known His fulness of grace in our +spiritual life? Have we tasted a little of His +glory? Have we believed His promise for the +mind, the soul, the spirit? Have we known +all His possibilities for the body? Have we +tested Him in His power to control the events +of providence, and to move the hearts of men +and nations? Has He opened to us the treasure-house +of God, and met our financial needs +as He might? Have we even begun to understand +the ministry of prayer, as God would +have us exercise it? God give us <q>the rest of +the oil</q>! +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='142'/><anchor id='Pg142'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>May 16.</head> + +<p> +<q>It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps</q> +(Jer. x. 23). +</p> + +<p> +United to Jesus Christ as your Redeemer, +you are accepted in the Beloved. +He does not merely take my +place as a man and settle my debts. +He does that and more. He comes to give a +perfect ideal of what a man should be. He is +the model man, not for us to copy, for that +would only bring discouragement and utter +failure; but He will come and copy Himself in +us. If Christ lives in me, I am another Christ. +I am not like Him, but I have the same mind. +The very Christ is in me. This is the foundation +of Christian holiness and Divine healing. +Christ is developing a perfect life within us. +Some say man can never be perfect. <q>It is not +in man that walketh to direct his steps.</q> We +are all a lot of failures. This is true, but we +should go further. We must take God's provision +for our failure and rise above it through +His grace. We must take Jesus as a substitute +for our miserable self. We must give up the +good as well as the bad and take Him instead. +It is hard for us to learn that the very good +must go, but we must have Divine impulses +instead of even our best attainments. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='143'/><anchor id='Pg143'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>May 17.</head> + +<p> +<q>To him that overcometh, will I give</q> (Rev. ii. 17). +</p> + +<p> +A precious secret of Christian life is +to have Jesus dwelling within the heart +and conquering things that we never +could overcome. It is the only secret +of power in your life and mine, beloved. Men +cannot understand it, nor will the world believe +it; but it is true, that God will come to dwell +within us, and be the power, and the purity, +and the victory, and the joy of our life. It is +no longer now, <q>What is the best that I can +do?</q> but the question is, <q>What is the best +that Christ can do?</q> It enables us to say, with +Paul, in that beautiful passage in Philippians, +<q>I know both how to be abased, and I know +how to abound, everywhere and in all things, I +am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, +both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all +things through Christ, which strengtheneth me.</q> +</p> + +<p> +With this knowledge I go forth to meet my +testings, and the secret stands me good. It +keeps me pure and sweet, as I could never keep +myself. Christ has met the adversary and +defeated him for me. Thanks be unto God +who giveth us the victory through Jesus +Christ. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='144'/><anchor id='Pg144'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>May 18.</head> + +<p> +<q>For ye are dead</q> (Col. iii. 3). +</p> + +<p> +Now, this definite, absolute and final +putting off of ourselves in an act of +death, is something we cannot do ourselves. +It is not self-mortifying, but +it is dying with Christ. There is nothing can +do it but the Cross of Christ and the Spirit of +God. The church is full of half dead people +who have been trying, like poor Nero, to slay +themselves for years, and have not had the +courage to strike the fatal blow. Oh, if they +would just put themselves at Jesus' feet, and +let Him do it, there would be accomplishment +and rest. On that cross He has provided for +our death as well as our life, and our part is +just to let His death be applied to our nature +just as it has been to our old sins, and then +leave it with Him, think no more about it, and +count it dead, not recognizing it any longer as +ourselves, but another, refusing to listen or +fear it, to be identified with it, or even try to +cleanse it, but counting it utterly in His hands, +and dead to us forever, and for all our new life +depending on Him at every breath, as a babe +just born depends upon its mother's life. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='145'/><anchor id='Pg145'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>May 19.</head> + +<p> +<q>He purgeth it that it may bring forth more fruit</q> +(John xv. 2). +</p> + +<p> +Recently we passed a garden. The +gardener had just finished his pruning, +and the wounds of the knife and saw +were just beginning to heal, while the +warm April sun was gently nourishing the +stricken plant into fresh life and energy. We +thought as we looked at that plant how cruel +it would be to begin next week and cut it +down. Now, the gardener's business is to +revive and nourish it into life. Its business is +not to die, but to live. So, we thought, it is +with the discipline of the soul. It, too, has its +dying hour; but it must not be always dying: +Rather reckon ourselves to be dead indeed unto +sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ +our Lord. Death is but a moment. Live, then, +ye children of the resurrection, on His glorious +life more and more abundantly, and the fulness +of your life will repel the intrusion of self +and sin, and overcome evil with good, and your +existence will be, not the dreary repression of +your own struggling, but the springing tide of +Christ's spontaneous overcoming and everlasting +life. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='146'/><anchor id='Pg146'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>May 20.</head> + +<p> +<q>Ye are not your own</q> (I. Cor. vi. 19). +</p> + +<p> +What a privilege that we may consecrate +ourselves. What a mercy that +God will take us worthless worms. +What rest and comfort lie hidden +in those words, <q>Not my own.</q> Not responsible +for my salvation, not burdened by my +cares, not obliged to live for my interests, but +altogether His; redeemed, owned, saved, loved, +kept in the strong, unchanging arms of His +everlasting love. Oh, the rest from sin and self +and cankering care which true consecration +brings! To be able to give Him our poor weak +life, with its awful possibilities and its utter +helplessness, and know that He will accept it, +and take a joy and pride in making out of it +the utmost possibilities of blessing, power and +usefulness; to give all, and find in so doing +we have gained all; to be so yielded to Him in +entire self surrender, that He is bound to care +for us as for Himself. We are putting ourselves +in the hands of a loving Father, +more solicitous for our good than we can +be and only wanting us to be fully submitted +to Him that He may be more free to bless +us. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='147'/><anchor id='Pg147'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>May 21.</head> + +<p> +<q>We will come unto Him and make our abode +with Him</q> (John xiv. 23). +</p> + +<p> +The Bible has always held out two great +promises respecting Christ. First, I +will come to you; and, second, I will +come into you. For four thousand +years the world looked forward to the fulfilment +of the first. The other is the secret which +Paul says has been hid from ages and generations, +but is now made manifest to His saints, +which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. This +is just as great a revelation of God as the incarnation +of Jesus, for it makes you like Christ, as +free from sin as He is. If Christ is in you, +what will be the consequences? Why, He +will put you aside entirely. The I in you will +go. You will say, <q>Not I, but Christ.</q> Christ +undertakes your battles for you. Christ becomes +purity and grace and strength in you. +You do not try to attain unto these things, but +you know you have obtained them in Him. It +is glorious rest with the Master. Jesus does +not say, <q>Now we must bring forth fruit, we +must pray much, we must do this or that.</q> +There is no constraint about it, except that we +must abide in Him. That is the center of all +joy and help. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='148'/><anchor id='Pg148'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>May 22.</head> + +<p> +<q>Fight the good fight of faith</q> (I. Tim. vi. 12). +</p> + +<p> +Oh, beloved, how must God feel about +us after He has given us His heart's +blood, put so many advantages in our +way, expended upon us so much grace +and care, if we should disappoint Him. It +makes the spirit cry, <q>Who is sufficient for +these things?</q> Evermore I can see before me +the time when you and I shall stand on yonder +shore and look back upon the years that have +been, these few short years of time. Oh, may +we cast ourselves at Jesus' feet and say: <q>Many +a time have we faltered; many a hard fight +has come, but Thou hast kept me and held me, +thanks to God, who has given me the victory +through the Lord Jesus Christ.</q> From the +battlefields of the Peninsula, a little band of +veterans came forth, and they gave each a medal +with the names of all their battles on one +side, and on the other side this little sentence, +<q>I was there.</q> Oh, when that hour shall come, +may it be a glad, glad thought to look +back over the trials and sacrifices of these +days and remember, <q>I was there, and by the +help of God and the grace of Jesus, I am +here.</q> +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='149'/><anchor id='Pg149'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>May 23.</head> + +<p> +<q>The fulness of the blessing of the Gospel of Christ</q> +(Rom. xv. 29). +</p> + +<p> +Many Christians fail to see these +blessings as they are centered in Him. +They want to get the blessing of salvation, +but that is not the Christ. They +want to get the blessing of His grace to help, +but that is not Him. They want to get answered +prayer from Him to work for Him. +You might have all that and not have the +blessing of Christ Himself. A great many +people are attached rather to the system of +doctrine. They say, <q>Yes, I have got the truth; +I am orthodox.</q> That is not the Christ. It +may be the cold statue in the fountain with the +water passing from the cold hands and lips, but +no life there. A great many other people want +to get the blessing of joy, but it is not the blessing +of Christ personally. A great many people +are more attached to their church and pastor, +or to dear Christians friends, but that is not the +Christ. The blessing that will alone fill your +heart when all else fails is the loving heart of +Jesus united to you, the fountain of all your +blessings and the unfailing one when they all +wither and are exhausted—Jesus Christ Himself. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='150'/><anchor id='Pg150'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>May 24.</head> + +<p> +<q>Where is the way where light dwelleth</q> (Job +xxxviii. 19). +</p> + +<p> +Jewels, in themselves, are valueless, +unless they are brought in contact with +light. If they are put in certain positions +they will reflect the beauty of the +sun. There is no beauty in them otherwise. +The diamond that is back in its dark gallery or +down in the deep mine, displays no beauty +whatever. What is it but a piece of charcoal, +a bit of common carbon, unless it becomes a +medium for reflecting light? And so it is also +with the other precious gems. Their varied +tints are nothing without light. If they are +many-sided, they reflect more light, and display +more beauty. If you put paste beside a diamond +there is no brilliancy in it. In its crude +state it does not reflect light at all. So we are +in a crude state and are of no use at all until +God comes and shines upon us. The light that +is in a diamond is not its own possession; it is +the beauty of the sun. What beauty is there +in the child of God? Only the beauty of +Jesus. We are His peculiar people, chosen +to show forth His excellencies who hath +called us out of darkness into His marvelous +light. Let its reflect to-day His light and +love. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='151'/><anchor id='Pg151'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>May 25.</head> + +<p> +<q>That I may know Him</q> (Phil. iii. 10). +</p> + +<p> +Better to know Jesus Himself than +to know the truth about Him for the +deep things of God as they are revealed +by the Holy Ghost. It was +Paul's great desire, <q>That I may know Him,</q> +not about Him, not the mysteries of the wonderful +world, of the deeper and higher teachings +of God, but to enter into the Holy of +Holies, where Christ is, where the Shekinah is +shining and making the place glorious with +the holiness of God, and then to enter into the +secret of the Lord Himself. It was what Jacob +strove for at Peniel, when he pleaded with +God, <q>Tell me Thy name.</q> He has told us +His name, giving us <q>the light of the knowledge +of the glory of God in the face of Jesus +Christ.</q> That is the secret. It is the Lord +Himself, and nothing else; it is acquaintance +with God; it is knowing Jesus Christ as we +know no one else; it is being able to say, not +only <q>I believe Him,</q> but <q>I know Him</q>; not +about Him, but I know Him. That is the secret +above all others that God wants us to +have; it is His provision for glory and power, +and it is given freely to the single-hearted +seeker. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='152'/><anchor id='Pg152'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>May 26.</head> + +<p> +<q>Be careful for nothing; but in everything by +prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your +requests be made known unto God</q> (Phil. iv. 6). +</p> + +<p> +Commit means to hand over, to trust +wholly to another. So, if we give our +trials to Him, He will carry them. If +we walk in righteousness He will +carry us through. <q>Humble yourselves, therefore, +under the mighty hand of God that He +may exalt you in due time.</q> There are two +hands there—God's hand pressing us down, +humbling us, and then God's hand lifting us +up. Cast all your care on Him, then His hand +will lift you up, exalt you in due time. There +are two cares in this verse—your care and His +care. They are different in the original. One +means anxious care, the other means Almighty +care. Cast your anxious care on Him and take +His Almighty care instead. Make no account +of trouble any more, but believe He is able to +sustain you through it. The government is on +His shoulder. Believe that, if you trust and +obey Him, and meet His will, He will look after +your interests. Simply exchange burdens. +Take His yoke upon you, and let Him care for +you. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='153'/><anchor id='Pg153'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>May 27.</head> + +<p> +<q>The government shall be upon His shoulder</q> +(Isa. ix. 6). +</p> + +<p> +You cannot make the heart restful by +stopping its beating. Belladonna will +do that, but that is not rest. Let the +breath of life come—God's life and +strength—and there will be sweet rest. Home +ties and family affection will not bring it. Deliverance +from trouble will not bring it. Many +a tried heart has said: <q>If this great trouble +was only gone, I should have rest.</q> But as +soon as one goes another comes. The poor, +wounded deer on the mountain side, thinks if +he could only bathe in the old mountain stream +he would have rest. But the arrow is in its +flesh and there is no rest for it till the wound +is healed. It is as sore in the mountain lake +as on the plain. We shall never have God's +rest and peace in the heart till we have given +everything up to Christ—even our work—and +believe He has taken it all, and we have only +to keep still and trust. It is necessary to walk +in holy obedience and let Him have the government +on His shoulder. Paul said this: <q>This +one thing I do.</q> There is one narrow path for +us all—Christ's will and work for us. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='154'/><anchor id='Pg154'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>May 28.</head> + +<p> +<q>He humbled Himself</q> (Phil. ii. 8). +</p> + +<p> +One of the hardest things for a lofty +and superior nature is to be under authority, +to renounce his own will, and +to take a place of subjection. But +Christ took upon Him the form of a servant, +gave up His independence, His right to please +Himself, His liberty of choice, and after having +from eternal ages known only to command, +gave Himself up only to obey. I have seen occasionally +the man who was once a wealthy +employer a clerk in the same store. It was not +an easy or graceful position, I assure you. But +Jesus was such a perfect servant that His +Father said: <q>Behold, My Servant in whom +My soul delighteth.</q> All His life His watchword +was, <q>The Son of Man came to minister.</q> +<q>I am among you as He that doth serve.</q> <q>I +can do nothing of Myself.</q> <q>Not My will, but +Thine, be done.</q> Have you, beloved, learned +the servant's place? +</p> + +<p> +And once more, <q>He became obedient unto +death, even the death of the cross.</q> His life +was all a dying, and at last He gave all up +to death, and also shame, the death of crucifixion. +This last was the consummation of +His love. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='155'/><anchor id='Pg155'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>May 29.</head> + +<p> +<q>The body is for the Lord and the Lord for the +body</q> (I. Cor. vi. 13). +</p> + +<p> +Now, just as it was Christ Himself who +justified us, and Christ Himself who +was made unto us sanctification, so it +is only by personal union with Him +that we can receive this physical life and redemption. +It is, indeed, not a touch of power +upon our body which restores and then leaves +it to the mere resources of natural strength and +life for the future; but it is the vital and actual +union of our mortal body with the risen body +of our Lord Jesus Christ, so that His own very +life comes into our frame and He is Himself +made unto us strength, health and full physical +redemption. +</p> + +<p> +He is alive forevermore and condescends to +live in these houses of clay. They who thus receive +Him may know Him as none ever can +who exclude Him from the bodies which He +has made for Himself. This is one of the deep +and precious mysteries of the Gospel. <q>The +body is for the Lord, and the Lord for the +body.</q> <q>Know ye not that your body is the +temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, and +ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a +price; therefore, glorify God in your body, +which is God's.</q> (R. V.) +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='156'/><anchor id='Pg156'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>May 30.</head> + +<p> +<q>I will put My Spirit within you</q> (Ez. xxxvi. 27). +</p> + +<p> +<q>I will put My Spirit within you, and I +will cause you to walk in My statutes, +and ye shall keep My judgments.</q> <q>I +will put My fear in your hearts, and ye +shall not turn away from Me.</q> Oh, friend, +would not that be blessed, would not that be +such a rest for you, all worn out with this strife +in your own strength? Do you not want a +strong man to conquer the strong man of self +and sin? Do you not want a leader? Do you +not want God Himself to be with you, to be +your occupant? Do you not want rest? Are +you not conscious of this need? Oh, this sense +of being beaten back, longing, wanting, but +not accomplishing. That is what He comes to +do; <q>Ye shall receive power after that the +Holy Ghost has come upon you.</q> Better than +that, <q>Ye shall receive the power of the Holy +Ghost coming upon you.</q> That is the true version, +and really it is immensely different from +the other. You shall not receive power yourself, +so that people shall say: <q>How much +power that man has. You shall not have any +power whatever, but you shall receive the +power of the Holy Ghost coming upon you, +He having the power, that is all.</q> +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='157'/><anchor id='Pg157'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>May 31.</head> + +<p> +<q>Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this +little child</q> (Matt. xviii. 4). +</p> + +<p> +You will never get a humble heart until +it is born from above, from the heart +of Christ. For man has lost his own +humanity and alas, too often has a +demon heart. God wants us, as Christians, to +be simple, human, approachable and childlike. +The Christians that we know and love best, and +that are nearest to the Lord, are the most simple. +Whenever we grow stilted we are only fit +for a picture gallery, and we are only good on +a pedestal; but, if we are going to live among +men and love and save them, we must be approachable +and human. All stiffness is but +another form of self-consciousness. Ask Christ +for a human heart, for a smile that will be as +natural as your little child's in your presence. +Oh, how much Christ did by little touches! +He never would have got at the woman of +Samaria if He had come to her as the prophet. +He sat down, a tired man, and said: +<q>Give me a drink of water.</q> And so, all +through His life, it was His simple humanness +and love that led Him to others, +and led them to Him and to His great salvation. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='158'/><anchor id='Pg158'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>June 1.</head> + +<p> +<q>That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled +in us</q> (Rom. viii. 4). +</p> + +<p> +Beloved friends, do you know the +mistake some of you are making? +Some of you say: <q>It is not possible +for me to be good; no man ever was +perfect, and it is no use for me to try.</q> That is +the mistake many of you are making. I agree +with the first sentence, <q>No man ever was perfect</q>; +but I don't agree with the second, <q>There +is no use trying.</q> There is a divine righteousness +that we may have. I don't mean merely +that which pardons your sins—I believe that, +too—but I mean far more; I mean that which +comes into your soul and unites itself with the +fibers of your being; I mean Christ; your life, +your purity, making you feel as Christ feels; +think as Christ thinks, love as Christ loves, +hate as Christ hates, and be <q>partakers of the +divine nature.</q> That is God's righteousness; +<q>that the righteousness of the law might be fulfiled +in us,</q> not by us, but in us; not our hands +and feet merely, but our very instincts, our +very desires, our very nature springing up in +harmony with His own. Have you got Him, +dear friends? He will come and fulfil all right +things in you if to-day you will open your +heart. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='159'/><anchor id='Pg159'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>June 2.</head> + +<p> +<q>As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the +Lord so walk ye in Him</q> (Col. ii. 6). +</p> + +<p> +Here is the very core of spiritual life. It +is not a subjective state so much as a +life in the heart. Christ for us is the +ground of our salvation and the source +of our justification; Christ in us of our sanctification. +When this becomes real, <q>Ye are +dead</q>; your own condition, states and resources +are no longer counted upon any more +than a dead man's, but <q>your life is hid with +Christ in God.</q> It is not even always manifest +to you. It is hid and so wrapped up and enfolded +in Him that only as you abide in Him +does it appear and abide. Nay, <q>Christ who is +your life,</q> must Himself ever maintain it, and +be made unto you of God all you need. Therefore, +Christian life is not to come to Christ to +save you, and then go on and work out your +sanctification yourself, but <q>as ye have received +Christ Jesus, the Lord, so to walk in Him,</q> +just as dependent and as simply trusting as +for your pardon and salvation. +</p> + +<lg> +<l>Ah friends, how much it would ease our tasks</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>For the day that's just begun,</l> +<l>To live our life a step at a time</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>And our moments one by one.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='160'/><anchor id='Pg160'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>June 3.</head> + +<p> +<q>Ye shall receive the power of the Holy Ghost</q> +(Acts i. 8). +</p> + +<p> +There is power for us if we have the +Holy Ghost. God wants us to speak +to men so that they will feel it, so that +they will never forget it. God means +every Christian to be effective, to count in the +actual records and results of Christian work. +Dear friends, God sent you here to be a power +yourself. There is not one of you but is an +essential wheel of the machinery, and can accomplish +all that God calls you to. I solemnly +believe that there is not a thing that God expects +of man but that God will give the man +power to do. There is not a claim God makes +on you or me but God will stand up to, and +will give what He commands. I believe when +Christ Jesus lived and died and sent down the +Holy Ghost, He sent resources for all our need, +and that there is no place for failure in Christian +life if we will take God's resources. Jesus, +the ascended One, and the Holy Ghost, the indwelling +energy, life and efficiency of God, +are sufficient for all possible emergencies. Do +you believe this? If you believe it, let Him +into your heart, without reserve and allow Him +to control and work through you to-day by His +power. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='161'/><anchor id='Pg161'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>June 4.</head> + +<p> +<q>Looking unto Jesus</q> (Heb. xii. 2). +</p> + +<p> +There must be a constant looking unto +Jesus, or, as the German Bible gives it, +an off-looking upon Jesus; that is, +looking off from the evil, refusing to +see it, not letting the mind dwell upon it for a +second. We should have mental eyelashes as +well as physical ones, which can be used like +shields, and let no evil thing in; or, like a +stockade camp in the woods, which repels the +first assault of the enemy. This is the use of +the fringes to our eyes, and so it should be with +the soul. Many do not seem to know that they +have spiritual eyes. They go through the +world as if somebody had cut off their eyelashes, +and they stare away on the good and +evil alike. The devil comes along with his +evil pictures and bids them look. We cannot +look upon evil without being defiled. Sometimes, +in going down the street, the sight of +some of the pictures on the way will cast their +filth upon the soul so that we shall feel the need +of being bathed in Jesus' blood for hours for +cleansing. There has been no consent unto sin, +but the sight of it has defiled. There is no +help for it but in the resolute, steady, inner +view of Christ. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='162'/><anchor id='Pg162'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>June 5.</head> + +<p> +<q>My heart is fixed, O God</q> (Ps. lvii. 7). +</p> + +<p> +We do not always feel joyful, but we +are always to count it joy. This +word <emph>reckon</emph> is one of the keywords +of Scripture. It is the same word +used about our being dead. We are painfully +conscious of something which would gladly +return to life. But we are to treat ourselves +as dead, and neither fear nor obey the old nature. +So we are to reckon the thing that comes +a blessing; we are determined to rejoice, to +say, <q>My heart is fixed, Lord; I will sing and +give praises.</q> This rejoicing by faith will +soon become a habit, and will ever bring +speedily the spirit of gladness and the spontaneous +overflow of praise. +</p> + +<p> +Then, although the fig tree may wither and +no fruit appear in the vines, the labor of the +olive fail, and the field yield no increase, the +herd be cut off from the stall, and the cattle +from the field, yet will we rejoice in the Lord +and joy in the God of our salvation. +</p> + +<lg> +<l>Though the everlasting mountains</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>And the earth itself remove,</l> +<l>Naught can change His loving kindness</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Or His everlasting love.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='163'/><anchor id='Pg163'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>June 6.</head> + +<p> +<q>He emptied Himself</q> (Phil. ii. 8, R. V.). +</p> + +<p> +The first step to the righteousness of +the kingdom is <q>poor in spirit.</q> Then +the next is a little deeper, <q>they that +mourn.</q> Because now you must get +plastic, you must get broken, you must get like +the metal in the fire, which the Master can +mould; and so, it is not enough to see your unrighteousness, +but deeply to feel it, deeply to +regret it, deeply to mourn over it, to own it +not a little thing that sin has come into your +life. And so God leads a soul unto His righteousness. +He usually leads it through some +testings and trials. This generally comes after +conversion. I do not think it necessary for a +soul to have deep and great suffering before it +is saved. I think He will put it into the fire +when He knows it is saved; when it realizes +it is accepted; when it is not afraid of the discipline; +when it is not the hand of wrath, but the +hand of love. Oh, then, God, takes you down +and makes you poor in spirit, and makes you +mourn until you get to the third step, which is +to be meek, broken, yielded, submissive, willing, +surrendered, and laid low at His feet, crying: +<q>What wilt Thou have me to do?</q> +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='164'/><anchor id='Pg164'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>June 7.</head> + +<p> +<q>When ye go; ye shall not go empty</q> (Ex. iii. 21). +</p> + +<p> +When we are really emptied He +would have us filled with Himself +and the Holy Spirit. It is very precious +to be conscious of nothing +good in ourselves; but, oh, are we also conscious +of His great goodness? We may be +ready to admit our own disability, but are we +as ready to admit His ability? There are many +Christians who can say, <q>We are not sufficient +of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves</q>; +but the number I fear is very small +who can say, <q>Our sufficiency is of God.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Are you sure that He is able to provide every +want in you, or do you feel that you must supply +it yourself? Are you believing that God +does now supply every lack in your heart and +your life, so that all stumbling is taken +away, and you are endowed with power for His +service, as Elisha took the empty vessels and +filled them before they were set aside to be +used? Our Saviour, at Cana, ordered the +water-pots to be filled to the brim. Then the +water was made into wine, but not until the +vessels were full. God wants His children to +have always a full heart. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='165'/><anchor id='Pg165'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>June 8.</head> + +<p> +<q>Bread corn is bruised</q> (Isa. xxviii. 28). +</p> + +<p> +The farmer does not gather timothy and +blue grass, and break it with a heavy +machine. But he takes great pains +with the wheat. So God takes great +pains with those who are to be of much use to +Him. There is a nature in them that needs +this discipline. Don't wonder if the bread +corn is treated with the wise, discriminating +care that will fit it for food. He knows the +way He is taking, and there is infinite tenderness +in the oversight He gives. He is watching +the furnace you are in lest the heat should +be too intense. He wants it great enough to +purify, and then it is withdrawn. He knoweth +our frame. He will not let any temptation +take us but such as is common to man, and He +will with the temptation also make a way to +escape, that we may be able to bear it. Do you +believe in this disciplining love of the Husbandman, +and are you trusting Him with the +leading and government of your life? Oh, that +you would cease to envy or be disturbed by the +people around you! Some day you will be +glad for the training and blessing they have +brought you. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='166'/><anchor id='Pg166'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>June 9.</head> + +<p> +<q>Ye are the light of the world</q> (Matt. v. 14). +</p> + +<p> +We are called the lights of the world, +light-bearers, reflectors, candle-sticks, +lamps. We are to be kindled +ourselves, and then we will burn and +give light to others. We are the only light the +world has. The Lord might come down Himself +and give light to the world, but He has +chosen differently. He wants to send it +through us, and if we don't give it the world +will not have it. We should be giving light all +the time to our neighbors. God does not put +a meteor in the sky to tell us when to shine. +We are to be giving light all the time wherever +we are, at home, or in the social circle, or in +our place in the church. We should feel always +we may never have another opportunity +for it, and so we should always be burning and +shining for Him. Let our lamps be trimmed +and burning and full of the oil of the Spirit. +Above all, let us be a steady light to the lost +ones. +</p> + +<lg> +<l>Let me dwell in Timnath Serah,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Where the sun forever shines,</l> +<l>Where the night and darkness come not,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>And the day no more declines.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='167'/><anchor id='Pg167'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>June 10.</head> + +<p> +<q>Your heavenly Father knoweth ye have need</q> +(Matt. vi. 32). +</p> + +<p> +Christ makes no less of our trust for +temporal things than He does for +spiritual things. He places a good +deal of emphasis upon it. Why? Simply +because it is harder to trust God for them. +In spiritual matters we can fool ourselves, and +think that we are trusting when we are not; +but we cannot do so about rent and food, and +the needs of our body. They must come or +our faith fails. It is easy to say that we trust +Him in things that are a long way off, but there +can be no trifling about it in things where the +faith must bring practical answers. It is easy +to have faith for our needs, and to trust Him +when the sun is shining. But let some things +arise which irritate and rasp and fret us, and +we soon find whether we have real trust or not. +And so the things of everyday life are tests of +our real faith in God, and He often puts us +where we have to trust for tangible matters—for +money and rent, and food and clothes. If +you are not trusting here wholly, when you +are placed in such tests you will break down. +Are you trusting God for everything through +the six ordinary days of the week? +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='168'/><anchor id='Pg168'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>June 11.</head> + +<p> +<q>Thou hast the dew of thy youth</q> (Ps. cx. 3). +</p> + +<p> +Oh, that you might get such a view of +Him as would make it impossible for +little things ever to fret you again! +The petty cares and silly trifles that +have troubled you so much ought rather to fill +you with wonder that you can think so much +about them. Oh, if you had the dew of His +youth you should go forth as the morning and +fulfil the promise of a glorious day! What a +difference it has made in life since we have +seen it was possible to do this! How easy it +seems now when the little troubles come, to +draw a little closer to Christ, to drink in a little +more of that fountain of life, to get a little +nearer to that loving heart, and to draw in +great draughts of refreshing and strength from +it. How clear it makes the brain for work! +Coming to Him thus, heavy and dull and tired, +how rested you become and able to spring +forth ready for work. How inspiring to think +that our living Head never grows weary. He +is as fresh as He ever was; He is a glorious +conqueror; He is ever the victorious +Christ. Let Him take you to-day, and He will +cause you to see in Him the invincible +Leader! +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='169'/><anchor id='Pg169'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>June 12.</head> + +<p> +<q>We would see Jesus</q> (John xii. 21). +</p> + +<p> +Glory to Him for all the things laid +up for us in the days to come. Glory +to Him for all the visions of service in +the future; the opportunities of doing +good that are far away as well as close at +hand. Our Saviour was able to despise the +cross for the joy that was before Him. Let us +look up to Him, and rise up to Him till we get +on high and are able to look out from the +mount of vision over all the land of far distances. +There shall not a single thing come +to us in all the future in which we may not be +able to see the King in His beauty. Let us be +very sure that we do not see anything else. +Our pupils will become impressed as they look +at this vision, so that they will not be able to +reflect anything else. My little child came to +me once and said: <q>Papa, look at that golden +sign across the street a good while; now look +at that brick wall and tell me what you see.</q> +<q>Why, I see the golden sign on the brick wall.</q> +And he laughed merrily over it. So, if we +look a long time upon Jesus we cannot look at +anything else without seeing a reflection of +Him. Everything which we behold will become +a part of Him. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='170'/><anchor id='Pg170'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>June 13.</head> + +<p> +<q>The sweetness of the lips increaseth learning</q> +(Prov. xvi. 21). +</p> + +<p> +Life is very largely made up of words. +They are not so emphatic, perhaps, as +deeds. Deeds are more deliberate expressions +of thought. One of the most +remarkable authors of the New Testament has +said, <q>If any man offend not in word, the same +is a perfect man.</q> It is very often a test of +victory in Christian life. Our triumph in this +often depends on what we say, or what we do +not say. It is said by James of the tongue, <q>It +is set on fire of hell.</q> The true Christian, +therefore, is righteous in his ways and upright +in his words. His deeds appeal to men; but in +speech he is looking up, for God is listening. +His words are sent upward and recorded for +the judgment. I believe that this is an actual +fact, and I can almost fancy that the skies +above, which seem so transparent, the beautiful +blue ether over our heads, is like a waxen tablet +with a finely sensitive surface, and receives +an impression of every word we speak, and that +then these tablets are hardened and preserved +for the eternal judgment. So we should speak, +dear friends, with our eyes ever upward, never +forgetting that we shall some day meet the +words that we have spoken. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='171'/><anchor id='Pg171'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>June 14.</head> + +<p> +<q>The secret of the Lord is with them that fear +Him</q> (Ps. xxv. 14). +</p> + +<p> +There are secrets of Providence which +God's dear children may learn. His +dealing with them often seems, to the +outward eye, dark and terrible. Faith +looks deeper and says, <q>This is God's secret. +You look only on the outside; I can look deeper +and see the hidden meaning.</q> Sometimes diamonds +are done up in rough packages, so that +their value cannot be seen. When the tabernacle +was built in the wilderness there was +nothing rich in its outside appearance. The +costly things were all within, and its outward +covering of rough badger skin gave no hint of +the valuable things which it contained. God +may send you, dear friends, some costly packages. +Do not worry if they are done up in +rough wrappings. You may be sure there are +treasures of love, and kindness and wisdom +hidden within. Do not be so foolish as +to throw away a nugget of gold because +there is some quartz in it. If we take +what He sends, and trust Him for the +goodness in it, even in the dark, we shall +learn the meaning of the secrets of His providence. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='172'/><anchor id='Pg172'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>June 15.</head> + +<p> +<q>Grow up into Him in all things</q> (Eph. iv. 15). +</p> + +<p> +Harvest is a time of ripeness. Then +the fruit and grain are fully developed, +both in size and weight. Time +has tempered the acid of the green +fruit. It has been mellowed and softened by +the rains and the heat of summer. The sun +has tinted it into rich colors, and at last it is +ready and ripe to fall into the hand. So Christian +life ought to be. There are many things +in life that need to be mellowed and ripened. +Many Christians have orchards full of fruit, +but they are all green and sharp to the taste. +There is a great deal in them that is good, but +it is incomplete, and very sharp and sour. Perhaps +something goes wrong in your domestic +life, and you get flurried and cross and lose +your confidence in God, and then, of course, +your Christian joy. These things produce regret +and all kinds of misery. There are many +things day after day you are sorry for. You +know you are not ripe and mellow and you cannot +become so by trying. You cannot bring +the sweetness in. It must be wrought out from +within. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='173'/><anchor id='Pg173'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>June 16.</head> + +<p> +<q>Ye cannot serve God and Mammon</q> (Matt. vi. 24). +</p> + +<p> +He does not say ye cannot very well +serve God and mammon, but ye cannot +serve two masters at all. Ye shall be +sure to end by serving one. The man +who thinks he is serving God a little is deceived; +he is not serving God. God will not have +his service. The devil will monopolize him +before he gets through. A divided heart loses +both worlds. Saul tried it. Balaam tried it. +Judas tried it, and they all made a desperate +failure. Mary had but one choice. Paul said: +<q>This one thing I do.</q> <q>For me to live is +Christ.</q> Of such a life God says: <q>Because he +hath set his love upon Me therefore will I +deliver him. I will set him on high because he +hath known My name.</q> God takes a peculiar +pride in showing His love to the heart that +wholly chooses Him. Heaven and earth will +fade away before its trust can be disappointed. +Have we chosen Him only and given Him all +our heart? +</p> + +<lg> +<l>Say is it all for Jesus,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>As you so often sing?</l> +<l>Is He your Royal Master?</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Is He your heart's dear King?</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='174'/><anchor id='Pg174'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>June 17.</head> + +<p> +<q>The glory of the Lord shall be thy reward</q> (Isa. +lviii. 8). +</p> + +<p> +He comes by our side as our helper; nay, +more. He comes to dwell within us; to +be the life in our blood, the fire in our +thought, the faith within us, both in +inception and consummation. Thus He becomes +not only the recompense of the victor, +but the resources of the victory. He is the +Captain and the Overcomer in our lives. If we +have caught any help that has relieved us of a +troubled morning, it has been of Him. He lifts +our eyes up unto Himself and delivers us from +apathy, from discontent and from fears. He is +always the helper in this heavenly competition, +and will be the great reward in all the ages to +come. If our life is hidden with Him we shall +have to go through the same trials that He +went through, but we shall not find them too +hard. If once we take Him fully as the +strength of our life, and our all in all, we shall +be able to lay aside all the hindering things +that press upon us day by day. +</p> + +<lg> +<l>I have overcome, overcome,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Overcome for thee,</l> +<l>Thou shalt overcome, overcome,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Overcome thro' Me.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='175'/><anchor id='Pg175'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>June 18.</head> + +<p> +<q>I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come +down</q> (Neh. vi. 3). +</p> + +<p> +When work is pressing there are many +little things that will come and seem +to need attention. Then it is a very +blessed thing to be quiet and still, +and work on, and trust the little things with +God. He answers such trust in a wonderful +way. If the soul has no time to fret and worry +and harbor care, it has learned the secret of +faith in God. A desperate desire to get some +difficulty right takes the eye off of God and +His glory. Some dear ones have been so anxious +to get well, and have spent so much time +in trying to claim it, that they have lost their +spiritual blessing. God sometimes has to teach +such souls that there must be a willingness to +be sick before they are so thoroughly yielded +as to receive His fullest blessing. +</p> + +<p> +The enemy often keeps at this work. Sanballat +came four times to Nehemiah and received +always the same answer. It is best to +stick to a good answer. How many fears we +have stopped to fight which have proved to be +nothing at last. Nehemiah recognized that +fear was sin, and did not dare to yield to it. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='176'/><anchor id='Pg176'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>June 19.</head> + +<p> +<q>Who hath first given to Him, and it shall be +recompensed unto him again</q> (Rom. xi. 35). +</p> + +<p> +The Christian women of the world have +it in their power, by a very little sacrifice, +to add millions to the treasury of +the Lord. Beloved sisters, have you +found the joy of sacrifice for Jesus? Have you +given up something that you might give it to +Him? Are you giving your substance to Jesus? +He will take it, and He will give you a +thousandfold more. I should rather be connected +with a work founded on great sacrifice +than on enormous endowments. The reason +God loved the place where His ancient temple +rose in majesty was because there Abraham +offered his son and David his treasure. The +reason redemption is so dear to the Father and +the heavenly world is because its foundation-stone +is the Cross of Calvary. And the Christian +life that is dearest to the heart of God, and +will rise to the highest glory and usefulness, is +the one whose foundation principle is sacrifice +and self-renunciation. This is why the Master +teaches us to give, because giving means loving, +and love is but another name for life. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='177'/><anchor id='Pg177'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>June 20.</head> + +<p> +<q>Let every man abide in the same calling wherein +he was called</q> (I. Cor. vii. 20). +</p> + +<p> +O ye who complain about your calling +or fret about the changes and trials of +life, how do you know but that these +very changes are the divine methods +by which God's purposes of blessing and usefulness +concerning you be fulfilled? Had +Aquila not been compelled to leave Rome and +break up his home and business, he would +probably have never met with Paul, and been +called to the knowledge and service of Christ +through this providential meeting. Had he not +been a working man, and pursuing his ordinary +avocation he would not have been brought into +contact with the apostle. It was in the line of +their calling, their common duties, and the +providential changes of their life that God +called them. And so He meets us. Do not +try hard to run away from it, but, as the +apostle has so finely put it, <q>Let every +man abide in the same calling wherein he is +called, let him therein abide with God.</q> +Make the most of your incidental opportunities. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='178'/><anchor id='Pg178'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>June 21.</head> + +<p> +<q>God hath set some in the church ... helps</q> (I. +Cor. xii. 28). +</p> + +<p> +In the apostle's lists of officers in the +church the <q>helps</q> are mentioned before +the <q>governments.</q> By the ministry +of prayer, by the ministry of giving, +by the ministry of encouragement, by the shining +face and mute pressure of the hand, and a +little word of cheer, and by the countless ways +in which we can help, or at least can keep from +hindering, we can all find still the footprints of +Aquila and Priscilla, if we want to follow them. +It is a great grace to be able to rejoice in another's +work and pour our lives, like affluent +rivers, into great streams. But God knows +whence every drop has come, and in the greater +day of recompense many of the helps shall +have the chief reward. Beloved, are you helping? +Are you helping your pastor, your brother, +your husband, your mother, your fellow-worker, +and when the harvest comes shall he +that soweth and he that reapeth rejoice together? +</p> + +<lg> +<l>You can help by holy prayer,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Helpful love and joyful song,</l> +<l>O, the burdens you may bear,</l> +<l>O, the sorrows you may share,</l> +<l>O, the crowns you yet may wear,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>If you help along.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='179'/><anchor id='Pg179'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>June 22.</head> + +<p> +<q>This is that bread which came down from heaven</q> +(John vi. 58). +</p> + +<p> +We had the sentence of death in ourselves +that we should not trust in +ourselves, but in God which raiseth +the dead; who delivereth us from +so great a death, who doth deliver; in whom +we trust that He will yet deliver us. This was +the supernatural secret of Paul's life; he drew +continually in his body from the strength of +Christ, his Risen Head. The body which rose +from Joseph's tomb was to him a physical reality +and the inexhaustible fountain of his vital +forces. More than any other he has imparted +to us the secret of His strength; <q>We are members +of His body, of His flesh and of His +bones</q>; <q>The Lord is for the body and the +body is for the Lord.</q> Marvelous truth! Divine +Elixir of Life and Fountain of Perpetual +Youth! Earnest of the Resurrection! Fulfilment +of the ancient psalms and songs of +faith! <q>The Lord is the strength of my life, of +whom shall I be afraid? My flesh and my heart +faint and fail, but God is the strength of my +heart and my portion forever.</q> Beloved, have +we learned this secret, and are we living the +life of the Incarnate One in our flesh? +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='180'/><anchor id='Pg180'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>June 23.</head> + +<p> +<q>Now we are the sons of God, and it doth not yet +appear what we shall be</q> (I. John iii. 2). +</p> + +<p> +We are the sons of God. We are not +merely called and even legally declared, +but actually are sons of God +by receiving the life and nature of +God; and so we are the very brethren of our +Lord; not only in His human nature, but still +more in His divine relationship. <q>Therefore, +He is not ashamed to call us brethren.</q> He +gives us that which entitles us to that right, +and makes us worthy of it. He does not introduce +us into a position for which we are uneducated +and unfitted, but He gives us a nature +worthy of our glorious standing; and as He +shall look upon us in our complete and glorious +exaltation reflecting His own likeness and shining +in His Father's glory, He shall have no +cause to be ashamed of us. Even now He is +pleased to acknowledge us before the universe +and call us brethren in the sight of all earth +and heaven. Oh, how this dignifies the humblest +saint of God! How little we need mind +the misunderstanding of the world if He <q>is not +ashamed to call us brethren.</q> +</p> + +<p> +So let us go out to-day to represent His royal +family. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='181'/><anchor id='Pg181'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>June 24.</head> + +<p> +<q>I will clothe thee with change of raiment</q> (Zech. +iii. 4). +</p> + +<p> +For Paul every exercise of the Christian +life was simply the grace of Jesus +Christ imparted to him and lived out +by him, so that holiness was to put on +the Lord Jesus and all the robes of His perfect +righteousness which he loves to describe so +often in his beautiful epistles. <q>Put on therefore, +as the elect of God, holy and beloved,</q> +he says to the Colossians, <q>bowels of mercies, +kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long +suffering</q>; and, <q>above all these things, put on +love which is the bond of perfectness.</q> None +of these things are regarded as intrinsic qualities +in us, but as imparted graces from the +hand of Jesus. And even in the later years of +his life, and after the mature experience of a +quarter of a century we find him exclaiming, +<q>I count all things but loss for the excellency +of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord; +for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, +and count them but refuse, that I might win +Christ and be found in Him.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Lord, enable us to-day to go out, clothed in +Thy robes of perfect rightness and with our +hearts in adjustment with Thy perfect love. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='182'/><anchor id='Pg182'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>June 25.</head> + +<p> +<q>Who leadeth us in triumph</q> (II. Cor. ii. 14). +</p> + +<p> +Every victor must first be a self-conqueror. +But the method of Joshua's +victory was the uplifted arm of Moses +on the Mount. As he held up his +hands Joshua prevailed, as he lowered them +Amalek prevailed. It was to be a battle of +faith and not of human strength, and the banner +that was to wave over the discomfited foe, +<q>Jehovah-nissi.</q> This, too, is the secret of our +spiritual triumph. <q>If we are led of the Spirit +we shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh.</q> <q>Sin +shall not have dominion over you, for ye are +not under the law but under grace.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Have we thus begun the battle and in the +strength of Christ planted our feet on our own +necks, and thus victorious over the enemy in +the citadel of the heart been set at liberty for +the battle of the Lord and the service of others? +It was the lack of this that hindered the life +of Saul and it has wrecked many a promising +career. One enemy in the heart is stronger +than ten thousand in the field. May the Lord +lead us all into Joshua's first triumph, and show +us the secret of self-crucifixion through the +greater Joshua, who alone can lead us on to +holiness and victory! +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='183'/><anchor id='Pg183'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>June 26.</head> + +<p> +<q>When He saw the multitudes He was moved</q> +(Matt. ix. 36). +</p> + +<p> +He is able to be <q>touched with the feeling +of our infirmities.</q> The word +<q>touched</q> expresses a great deal. It +means that our troubles are His troubles, +and that in all our afflictions He is afflicted. +It is not a sympathy of sentiment, but a +sympathy of suffering. +</p> + +<p> +There is much help in this for the tired +heart. It is the foundation of His Priesthood, +and God meant that it should be to us a source +of unceasing consolation. Let us realize, more +fully, our oneness with our Great High Priest, +and cast all our burdens on His great heart of +love. If we know what it is to ache in every +nerve with the responsive pain of our suffering +child, we can form some idea of how our sorrows +touch His heart, and thrill His exalted +frame. As the mother feels her babe's pain, +as the heart of friendship echoes every cry from +another's woe, so in heaven, our exalted Saviour, +even amid the raptures of that happy +world, is suffering in His Spirit and even in +His flesh with all His children bear. <q>Seeing +then we have such a great high Priest, let us +come boldly to the throne of grace,</q> and let us +come to our great High Priest. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='184'/><anchor id='Pg184'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>June 27.</head> + +<p> +<q>Be filled with the Spirit</q> (Eph. v. 18). +</p> + +<p> +Some of the effects of being filled with +the Spirit are: +</p> + +<p> +1. Holiness of heart and life. This +is not the perfection of the human +nature, but the holiness of the divine nature +dwelling within. +</p> + +<p> +2. Fulness of joy so that the heart is constantly +radiant. This does not depend on circumstances, +but fills the spirit with holy laughter +in the midst of the most trying surroundings. +</p> + +<p> +3. Fulness of wisdom, light and knowledge, +causing us to see things as He sees them. +</p> + +<p> +4. An elevation, improvement and quickening +of the mind by an ability to receive the fulfilment +of the promise, <q>We have the mind of +Christ.</q> +</p> + +<p> +5. An equal quickening of the physical life. +The body was made for the Holy Ghost, as well +as the mind and soul. +</p> + +<p> +6. An ability to pray the prayer of the Holy +Ghost. If He is in us there will be a strange +accordance with God's working in the world +around us. There is a divine harmony between +the Spirit and Providence. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='185'/><anchor id='Pg185'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>June 28.</head> + +<p> +<q>Leaning upon her beloved</q> (Songs of Solomon +viii. 5). +</p> + +<p> +Shall you make the claim most practical +and real and lean like John your +full weight on the Lord's breast? That +is the way He would have us prove +our love. <q>If you love me lean hard,</q> said +a heathen woman to her missionary, as she +was timidly leaning her tired body upon her +stalwart breast. She felt slighted by the timorous +reserve, and asked the confidence that +would lay all its weight upon the one she +trusted. And He says to us, <q>Casting all your +care upon Him for He careth for you.</q> He +would have us prove our love by a perfect trust +that makes no reserve. He is able to carry all +our care, to manage all our interests, to satisfy +all our needs. Let us go forth leaning on His +breast and feeding on His life. For John not +only leaned but also fed. It was at supper that +he leaned. This is the secret of feeding on +Him, to rest upon His bosom. This is the need +of the fevered heart of man. Let us cry to +Him, <q>Tell me whom my soul loveth, where +thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to +rest at noon.</q> +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='186'/><anchor id='Pg186'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>June 29.</head> + +<p> +<q>He dwelleth with you and shall be in you</q> (John +xiv. 17). +</p> + +<p> +Do not fail to mark these two stages in +Christian life. The one is the Spirit's +work in us, the other is the Spirit's +personal coming to abide within us. +All true Christians know the first, but few, it is +to be feared, understand and receive the second. +There is a great difference between my +building a house and my going to reside in that +house and make it my home. And there is a +great difference between the Holy Spirit's work +in regenerating a soul—the building of a house, +and His coming to reside, abide and control in +our innermost spirit and our whole life and +being. +</p> + +<p> +Have we received Him Himself not as our +Guest, but as the Owner, Proprietor and Keeper +of the temple He has built to be <q>an habitation +of God through the Spirit</q>? +</p> + +<lg> +<l>This is my wonderful story,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Christ to my heart has come,</l> +<l>Jesus the King of glory,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Finds in my heart a home.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l>I am so glad I received Him,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Jesus, my heart's dear King,</l> +<l>I, who so often have grieved Him,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>All to His feet would bring.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='187'/><anchor id='Pg187'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>June 30.</head> + +<p> +<q>Therefore, choose</q> (Deut. xxx. 19). +</p> + +<p> +Men are choosing every day the spiritual +or earthly. And as we choose +we are taking our place unconsciously +with the friends of Christ, or the +world. It is not merely what ye say, it is what +we prefer. +</p> + +<p> +When Solomon made his great choice at +Gibeon, God said to him, <q>Because this was in +thine heart to ask wisdom, therefore will I give +it unto thee, and all else besides that thou didst +not choose.</q> It was not merely that he said +it because it was right to say, and would please +God if he said it. But it was the thing his heart +preferred, and God saw it in his heart and gave +it to him with all besides that he had not chosen. +What are we choosing, beloved? It is our +choice that settles our destiny. It is not how +we feel, but how we purpose. Have we chosen +the good part? Have we said, <q>Whatever +else I am or have, let me be God's child, let +me have His favor and blessing, let me please +Him?</q> Or have we said, <q>I must have this +thing, and then I will see about religion.</q> Alas, +God has seen what was in thine heart, and perhaps +He has already said, <q>They have their reward.</q> +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='188'/><anchor id='Pg188'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>July 1.</head> + +<p> +<q>After that ye have suffered awhile</q> (I. Peter v. 10). +</p> + +<p> +Beloved, are we learning love in the +school of suffering? Are our hearts +being mellowed and deepened by the +summer heat of trial until the fruit of +the Spirit, <q>which is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, +gentleness, meekness, temperance, +faith, is ripening for the harvest of His coming, +and our sufferings are easily borne for His +sake</q>? Oh, this is the school of love, and makes +Him unutterably more dear to our hearts and +us to His. And thus only can we ever learn with +Him the heavenly charity which <q>suffers long, +and is kind.</q> +</p> + +<p> +We see the very first and the very last feature +of the face of love, as delineated in St. +Paul's portrait (I. Cor. xiii.), are marks of pain +and patient suffering, <q>suffers long,</q> <q>endureth +all things.</q> So let us learn thus in the +school of love to suffer and be kind, to endure +all things. +</p> + +<p> +Surely it will not be hard to love through +all when it is the heart of Jesus within us which +will love and continue to love to the very end. +</p> + +<lg> +<l>I want the love that suffers and is kind,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>That envies not nor vaunts its pride or fame,</l> +<l>Is not puffed up, does no discourteous act,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Is not provoked, nor seeks its own to claim.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='189'/><anchor id='Pg189'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>July 2.</head> + +<p> +<q>And hath raised us up together</q> (Eph. ii. 6). +</p> + +<p> +Ascension is more than resurrection. +Much is said of it in the New Testament. +Christ riseth above all things. +We see Him in the very act of ascending +as we do not in the actual resurrection, +as, with hands and lips engaged in blessing, +He gently parts from their side, so simply, +so unostentatiously, with so little imposing +ceremony as to make heaven so near to our +common life that we can just whisper through. +And we, too, must ascend, even here. <q>If ye +then be risen with Christ, seek those things +that are above.</q> We must learn to live on +the heaven side and look at things from above. +How it overcomes sin, defies Satan, dissolves +perplexities, lifts us above trials, separates us +from the world and conquers the fear of death +to contemplate all things as God sees them, as +Christ beholds them, as we shall one day look +back upon them from His glory, and as if we +were now really <q>Seated with Him,</q> as indeed +we are, <q>in the heavenly places.</q> Let us arise +with His resurrection and in fellowship with +His glorious ascension learn henceforth to live +above. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='190'/><anchor id='Pg190'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>July 3.</head> + +<p> +<q>Look from the top</q> (Song of Solomon iv. 8). +</p> + +<p> +Yes, our perplexities would become plain +if we kept on a spiritual elevation. How +often when the traveler quite loses his +way he can soon find it again from +some tree top or some hill top where all the +winding paths he has gone spread behind him, +and the whole homeward road opens before. +So, from the heights of prayer and faith, we too +can see the plain path, and know that we are +going home. +</p> + +<p> +There is no other way in which we can gain +the victory over the world. We must get +above it. We must see it from the side of our +great reward. Then it looks like earthly objects +after we have gazed upon the sun for a +while. We are blind to them. When the +Italian fruit-seller finds that he is heir to a +ducal palace you cannot tempt him any more +with the paltry profits of his trade or the company +of his old associates. He is above it all. +They who know the hope of their calling and +the riches of the glory of their inheritance can +well despise the world. It is the poor starving +ones who go hungering for the husks of earth. +We are born from above and have a longing to +go home. Let us go forth to-day with our +hearts on the homestretch. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='191'/><anchor id='Pg191'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>July 4.</head> + +<p> +<q>Whosoever abideth in Him sinneth not</q> (I. John +iii. 6). +</p> + +<p> +In sanctification what becomes of the old +nature? Many people are somewhat unduly +concerned to know if it can be +killed outright, and seem to desire a sort +of certificate of its death and burial. It is +enough to know that it is without and Christ +is within. It may show itself again, and even +knock at the door and plead for admittance, +but it is forever outside while we abide in Him. +Should we step out of Him and into sin we +might find the old corpse in the ghastly cemetery, +and its foul aroma might yet revive and +embrace us once more. But he that abideth +in Him sinneth not and cannot sin while he so +abides. +</p> + +<p> +Therefore let us abide and let us not be anxious +to escape the hold of eternal vigilance and +ceaseless abiding. Our paths are made and the +strength to pursue them; let us walk in them. +God has provided for us a full sanctification. +Is it strange that He should demand it of us, +and require us to be holy, even as He is holy, +seeing He has given us His own holiness. So +let us put on our beautiful garments and prepare +to walk in white with Him. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='192'/><anchor id='Pg192'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>July 5.</head> + +<p> +<q>A garden enclosed</q> (Song of Solomon iv. 12). +</p> + +<p> +The figure here is a garden enclosed, not +a wilderness. The garden soil is a cultivated +soil, very different from the +roadside or the wilderness. The idea +of a garden is culture. The ground has to be +prepared, to be broken up by ploughing, to be +mellowed by harrowing, all the stones removed, +the roots of all natural growth dug up, +for the good things we are seeking are not natural +growths and will not grow in our soil. +We all start on the old basis and try to improve +the old nature, but that is not God's way. His +way is to get self out of the way entirely, and +let Him create anew out of nothing, so that all +shall be of Him; and we must find Jesus the +Alpha and Omega. +</p> + +<p> +The thing you want to learn here is to die. +There can be no real life till self dies, and +don't try to die yourself, but ask God to slay +you, and He will make a thorough work of it. +</p> + +<lg> +<l>This the secret nature hideth,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Summer dies and lives again,</l> +<l>Spring from winter's grave ariseth,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Harvest grows from buried grain.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='193'/><anchor id='Pg193'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>July 6.</head> + +<p> +<q>I am my beloved's</q> (Song of Solomon vii. 10). +</p> + +<p> +If you want power you must compress. It +is the shutting in of the steam that +moves the engine. The amount of powder +on a flat surface that sends a ball to +its destination when shut up in a gun only +makes a flash. If you want to carry the electric +current you must be insulated. Stand a +man on a glass platform and turn a battery on +him and he will be filled with electricity. Let +him step off the glass, and the moment he +touches earth he loses power. +</p> + +<p> +We must be inclosed by His everlasting Covenant. +That holds us and keeps us from falling. +He will be a wall of fire round about us. +He comes Himself and envelops us round +about with the old Shekinah glory, and will be +the glory in the midst. He wants us inclosed—by +a distinct act of consecration dedicated +wholly to Him. Are you inclosed by His +fences, His commandments, His promises, His +covenant? Is your heart really and only for +the Lord? +</p> + +<p> +If not, come to Him now and let Him separate +you from all the things that take your +life, and let Him separate you unto Himself, +the Life Giver. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='194'/><anchor id='Pg194'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>July 7.</head> + +<p> +<q>And the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle</q> +(Ex. xl. 35). +</p> + +<p> +In the last chapter of Exodus we read all +the Lord commanded Moses to do, and +that as he fulfilled these commands the +glory of the Lord descended and filled +the tabernacle till there was no room for +Moses, and from that time the pillar of cloud +overshadowed them, their guide, their protection. +And so we have been building as the +Lord Himself commanded, and now the temple +is to be handed over to Him to be possessed +and filled. He will so fill you, if you will let +Him that yourself and everything else will be +taken out of the way, the glory of the Lord will +fill the temple, encompassing, lifting up, guiding, +keeping; and from this time your moon +shall not withdraw its light, nor your sun go +down. +</p> + +<p> +Do you want power? You have God for it. +Do you want holiness? You have God for it; +and so of everything. And God is bending +down from His throne to-day to lift you up to +your true place in Him. From this time may +the cloud of His glory so surround and fill us +that we shall be lost sight of forever. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='195'/><anchor id='Pg195'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>July 8.</head> + +<p> +<q>Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect +by the flesh</q> (Gal. iii. 3). +</p> + +<p> +Grace literally means that which we +do not have to earn. It has two great +senses always; it comes for nothing +and it comes when we are helpless; it +doesn't merely help the man that helps himself—that +is not the Gospel; the Gospel is that +God helps the man who can't help himself. +And then there is another thing; God helps the +man to help himself, for everything the man +does comes from God. Grace is given to the +man who is so weak and helpless he cannot +take the first step. That is the meaning of +grace—a little of the meaning of it; we can +never know the fulness it has. Now, this river +is as free as it is full, but you know some people +have an idea when they get a little farther +on they have got to pay an admission, and reserved +seats are very high, and they shrink +back from the higher blessings of the Gospel; +ordinary Christians scarcely dare to claim +them. If I understand the meaning of this, +God has not put the higher blessings apart for +a separate class who somehow are nearer to +Him. God is no respecter of persons. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='196'/><anchor id='Pg196'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>July 9.</head> + +<p> +<q>Cast thy burden on the Lord</q> (Ps. lv. 22). +</p> + +<p> +Dear friends, sometimes we bring a +burden to God, and we have such a +groaning over it, and we seem to think +God has a dreadful time, too, but in +reality it does not burden Him at all. God says: +It is a light thing for Me to do this for you. +Your load, though heavy for you, is not heavy +for Him. Christ carries the whole on one +shoulder, not two shoulders. The government +of the world is upon His shoulder. He is not +struggling and groaning with it. His mighty +arm is able to carry all your burdens. There +is power in Christ for our sanctification. He +is able to sanctify you. Yes, yes, the Lord can +sanctify, the Lord can heal, the Lord can do +anything. You must have faith in God. If +you come to this river this morning, it will take +you as your Niagara would take a little boat, +and just bear you down—to a precipice? Oh, +no, but to the bosom of love and blessing forever. +</p> + +<lg> +<l>Oft there comes a wondrous message,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>When my hopes are growing dim,</l> +<l>I can hear it thro' the darkness</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Like some sweet and far-off hymn.</l> +<l>Nothing is too hard for Jesus,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>No man can work like Him.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='197'/><anchor id='Pg197'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>July 10.</head> + +<p> +<q>That we might know the things that are freely +given to us of God</q> (I. Cor. ii. 12). +</p> + +<p> +The highest blessings of the Gospel are +just as free as the lowest; and when +you have served Him ten years you +cannot sit down and say, <q>I have got +an experience now and I count on that.</q> How +often we do that; we say, <q>Now I know I am +saved, I feel it.</q> And so we are building a +different foundation—we are building on something +in ourselves. Always take grace as +something you don't deserve, something that is +freely bestowed. The long, deep, boundless +river is free; it is as free at the mouth as it is +at the little stream, and free all the way along, +and anybody can come and drink, and anybody +can come and bathe in its boundless waters. +Are you going to believe it? +</p> + +<p> +God has given us His Holy Spirit that we +may <q>know the things that are freely given of +us of God.</q> It is a hard thing for the poor +child to look in through the window and see a +fire, and the happy family sitting around the +table when it is starving. What is the good of +knowing that there is warmth, and love, and +light, if it is not free? God has freely given all +the goodness of His grace and love. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='198'/><anchor id='Pg198'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>July 11.</head> + +<p> +<q>For it is God which worketh in you</q> (Phil. ii. 13). +</p> + +<p> +A day with Jesus. Let us seek its plan +and direction from Him. Let us take +His highest thought and will for us in +it. Let us look to Him for our desires, +ideals, expectations in it. Then shall it +bring to us exceeding abundantly above all that +we can ask or think. Let Him be our Guide +and Way. Let us not so much be thinking +even of His plan and way as of Him as the +Personal Guide of every moment, on whom we +constantly depend to lead our every step. +</p> + +<p> +Let Him also be the sufficiency and strength +of all the day. Let us never forget the secret: +<q>I can do all things through Christ who +strengtheneth me.</q> Let us have Jesus Christ +Himself in us to do the works, and let us every +moment fall back on Him, both to will and do +in us of His good pleasure. Let our holiness +be <q>the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus.</q> +Let our health be the <q>life of Jesus manifest in +our mortal flesh.</q> Let our faith be <q>the faith +of the Son of God who loved us.</q> Let our +peace and joy be His peace and joy. And let +our service be not our works, but the grace of +Christ within us. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='199'/><anchor id='Pg199'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>July 12.</head> + +<p> +<q>When ye pray, believe that ye receive</q> (Mark xi. 24). +</p> + +<p> +Consecration is entered by an act +of faith. You are to take the gift from +God, believe you have, and confess +that you have it. Step out on it firmly, +and let the devil know you have it as well as the +Lord. When once you say to Him boldly, +<q>I am Thine,</q> He answers back from the +heavenly heights, <q>Thou art Mine,</q> and the +echoes go ringing down through all your life, +<q>Mine! Thine!</q> If you dare confess Christ +as your Saviour and Sanctifier He has bound +Himself to make it a reality, but you must +stand behind His mighty Word. It is the essence +of testimony to tell of what Jesus has +promised to become to you. It is right to +have glorious words of thanksgiving, but +these are not exactly testimony. God would +have us put our seal on the promises, and +lift up our hands and acknowledge them as +ours. +</p> + +<p> +Then you are to ignore the old life and reckon +it no longer yours if it should come up +again. Every time it appears say, <q>This is +from the under world. I am sitting in the +heavenly places with Christ.</q> +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='200'/><anchor id='Pg200'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>July 13.</head> + +<p> +<q>Even Christ pleased not Himself</q> (Rom. xv. 3). +</p> + +<p> +Let this be a day of self-forgetting ministry +for Christ and others. Let us not +once think of being ministered unto, +but say ever with Him: <q>I am among +you as He that doth serve.</q> Let us not drag +our burdens through the day, but drop all our +loads of care and be free to carry His yoke and +His burden. Let us make the happy exchange, +giving ours and taking His. Let the covenant +be: <q>Thou shalt abide for Me, I also for thee.</q> +So shall we lose our heaviest load—ourselves—and +so shall we find our highest joy, divine +love, the more blessed <q>to give</q> than <q>to receive.</q> +Let us do good to all men as we have +opportunity. Let us lose no opportunity of +blessing, and let us study ingenious ways of +service and usefulness. Especially let us seek +to win souls. +</p> + +<lg> +<l>The Days of Heaven are busy days,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>They serve continually,</l> +<l>So spent for Thee and Thine, our days,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>As the Days of Heaven would be.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l>The Days of Heaven are loving days,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>As one they all agree,</l> +<l>So linked in loving unity</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>May our days as Heaven be.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + + +<pb n='201'/><anchor id='Pg201'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>July 14.</head> + +<p> +<q>Men ought always to pray</q> (Luke xviii. 1). +</p> + +<p> +Let this be a day of prayer. Let us see +that our highest ministry and power is +to deal with God for men. Let us be +obedient to all the Holy Spirit's voices +of prayer in us. Let us count every pressure a +call to prayer. Let us cherish the spirit of unceasing +prayer and abiding communion. Let +us learn the meaning of the ministry of prayer. +Let us reach persons this day we cannot reach +in person; let us expect results that we have +never dared to claim before; let us count every +difficulty only a greater occasion for prayer, +and let us call on God, who will show us many +great and mighty things which we know not. +</p> + +<p> +And let it be a day of joy and praise. Let us +live in the promises of God and the outlook of +His deliverance and blessing. Let us never +dwell on the trial but always on the victory +just before. Let us not dwell in the tomb, +but in the garden of Joseph and the light of the +resurrection. Let us keep our faces toward +the sun rising. Arise, shine. Rejoice evermore. +In everything give thanks. Praise ye +the Lord. +</p> + +<p> + Lord, give us Thy joy in our hearts which +shall lift us to lift others, and fill us so we may +overflow to others. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='202'/><anchor id='Pg202'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>July 15.</head> + +<p> +<q>I am my Beloved's and my Beloved is mine</q> +(Song of Solomon vi. 3). +</p> + +<p> +If I am the Lord's then the Lord is mine. +If Christ owns me I own Him. And so +faith must reach out and claim its full +inheritance and begin to use its great resources. +Moment by moment we may now +take Him as our grace and strength, our faith +and love, our victory and joy, our all in all. +And as we thus claim Him we will find His +grace sufficient for us, and begin to learn that +giving all is just receiving all. Yes, consecration +is getting Him fully instead of our own +miserable life. There are, indeed, two sides of +it. There are two persons in the consecration. +One of them is the dear Lord Himself. <q>And +for their sakes,</q> He says, <q>I consecrate Myself +that they also might be consecrated through +the truth.</q> The moment we consecrate ourselves +to Him He consecrates Himself to us, +and henceforth, the whole strength of His life +and love and everlasting power is dedicated to +keep and complete our consecration, and to +make the very best and most of our consecrated +life. Who would not give himself to such a +Saviour? Surely we will to-day, first give ourselves +and then give Him each moment as it +comes, to be filled and used. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='203'/><anchor id='Pg203'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>July 16.</head> + +<p> +<q>As the hart panteth after the waterbrooks, so +panteth my soul after Thee, O God</q> (Ps. xlii. 1). +</p> + +<p> +First in order to a consecrated life +there must be a sense of need, the need +of purity, of power, and of a greater +nearness to the Lord. There often +comes in Christian life a second conviction. It +is not now a sense of guilt and God's wrath so +much as of the power and evil of inward sin, +and the unsatisfactoriness of the life the soul +is living. It usually comes from the deeper +revelation of God's truth, from more spiritual +teaching, from definite examples and testimonies +of this life in others, and often from an experience +of deep trial, conflict and temptation +in which the soul has found its attainments +and resources inadequate for the real issues +and needs of life. The first result is often a +deep discouragement and even despair, but the +valley of Achor is the door of hope, and the +seventh chapter of Romans with its bitter cry, +<q>O wretched man that I am,</q> is the gateway +to the eighth with its shout of triumph, <q>The +Spirit of life in Christ hath made me free from +the law of sin and death.</q> +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='204'/><anchor id='Pg204'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>July 17.</head> + +<p> +<q>By one offering He hath perfected forever them +that are sanctified</q> (Heb. x. 14). +</p> + +<p> +Are you missing what belongs to you? +He has promised to sanctify you. He +has promised sanctification for you +by coming to you Himself and being +made of God to you sanctification. Jesus is +my sanctification. Having Him I have obedience, +rest, patience and everything I need. He +is alive forevermore. If you have Him nothing +can be against you. Your temptations will not +be against you; your bad temper will not be +against you; your hard life, your circumstances, +even the devil himself will not be +against you. Every time he comes to attack +you, he will only root you deeper in Christ. +You will become a coward at the thought of +being alone; you will be thrown on Jesus every +time a trouble assails you. All things henceforth +will work together for good to your own +soul. Since God is for you nothing can be +against you. +</p> + +<lg> +<l>My heavenly Bridegroom sought me and called me one glad day,</l> +<l><q>Arise, my love, my fair one, arise and come away,</q></l> +<l>I listened to His pleading, I gave Him all my heart,</l> +<l>And we are one forever and nevermore shall part.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='205'/><anchor id='Pg205'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>July 18.</head> + +<p> +<q>Ye are complete in Him</q> (Col. ii. 10). +</p> + +<p> +In Him we are now complete. The perfect +pattern of the life of holy service +for which He has redeemed and called +us, is now in Him in heaven, even as the +architect's model is planned and prepared and +completed in his office. But now it must be +wrought into us and transferred to our earthly +life, and this is the Holy Spirit's work. He +takes the gifts and graces of Christ and brings +them into our life, as we need and receive them +day by day, just as the sections of the vessel +are reproduced in the distant Continent, and +thus we receive of His fulness, even grace for +grace, His grace for our grace, His supply for +our need, His strength for our strength, His +body for our body, His Spirit for our spirit, and +He just <q>made unto us of God wisdom, righteousness, +sanctification and redemption.</q> +</p> + +<p> +But it is much more than mere abstract help +and grace, much more even than the Holy +Spirit bringing us strength, and peace, and +purity. It is personal companionship with Jesus +Himself! +</p> + +<p> +Lord, help us receive from Thee to-day, that +grace in all trial that shall mean our perfecting +in Thee. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='206'/><anchor id='Pg206'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>July 19.</head> + +<p> +<q>Nevertheless, David took the castle of Zion</q> (I. +Chron. xi. 5). +</p> + +<p> +Many of you have so much fighting to +do because you do not have one +sharp, decisive battle to begin with. +It is far easier to have one great +battle than to keep on skirmishing all your life. +I know men who spend forty years fighting +what they call their besetting sin, and on which +they waste strength enough to evangelize the +world. +</p> + +<p> +Dear friends, does it pay to throw away your +lives? Have one battle, one victory and then +praise God. So they had rest from their enemies +round about. There is labor to enter in. +The height is steep. The way of the cross is +not an easy way. It is hard to enter in, but +having entered in there is perfect rest. May +God help us and give us His perfect rest. +</p> + +<lg> +<l>O come and leave thy sinful self forever</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Beneath the fountain of the Saviour's blood;</l> +<l>O come, and take Him as thy Sanctifier,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Come thou with us and we will do thee good.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l>Come to the land where all the foes are vanquished,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>And sorrow, sin, disease and death subdued;</l> +<l>O weary soul! by Satan bruised and baffled,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Come thou with us and we will do thee good.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='207'/><anchor id='Pg207'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>July 20.</head> + +<p> +<q>Forget also thine own</q> (Ps. xlv. 10). +</p> + +<p> +We, too, like the ancient Levites, must +be <q>consecrated every one upon our +son and upon our brother,</q> and <q>forget +our kindred and our father's +house</q> in every sense in which they could hinder +our full liberty and service for the Lord. +We, too, must let our business go if it stands +between us and the Lord, and in any case let it +henceforth be His business and His alone, pursued +for Him, controlled by Him, and its profits +wholly dedicated to Him, and used as He +shall direct. And, like James and John, you +must be willing to give up <q>the hired servants</q> +too. It will make a great difference in your way +of living. It will be a change to give up your +ease and luxury, your being waited upon and +indulged in every wish, and have to do your +own work, to give up the attentions of others, +to put with privations, and inconveniences, +and humiliations, but it will be easy to do it +with Him. He never owned a foot of land. +He never rode in a carriage. He never had a +hired servant. He lay down at last in a borrowed +grave. But He is rich enough now, and +so will you be some day if you can only be +willing to suffer and to wait. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='208'/><anchor id='Pg208'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>July 21.</head> + +<p> +<q>Look from the place where thou art</q> (Gen. xiii. 14). +</p> + +<p> +Let us now see the blessedness of faith. +Our own littleness and nothingness +sometimes becomes bondage. We are +so small in our own eyes we dare not +claim God's mighty promises. We say: <q>If I +could be sure I was in God's way I could +trust.</q> This is all wrong. Self-consciousness +is a great barrier to faith. Get your eyes on +Him and Him alone; not on your faith, but on +the Author of your faith; not a half look, but a +steadfast, prolonged look, with a true heart +and fixedness of purpose, that knows no faltering, +no parleying with the enemy without a +shadow of fear. When you get afraid you are +almost sure to fail. +</p> + +<p> +Travelers who have crossed the Alps know +how dangerous those mountain passes are, how +narrow the foothold, how deep the rocky ravines +and how necessary to safety it is that +you should look up continually; one downward +glance into the dizzy depths would be +fatal; and so if we would surmount the heights +of faith we must look up—look up. Get your +eyes off yourself, off surrounding circumstances, +off means, off gifts, to the Great Giver. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='209'/><anchor id='Pg209'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>July 22.</head> + +<p> +<q>He that ministereth let us wait on our ministering</q> +(Rom. xii. 7). +</p> + +<p> +Beloved, are you ministering to +Christ? Are you doing it with your +hands? Are you doing it with your +substance and with what you have? +Is He getting the best of what is most real +to you? Has He a place at your table? +And when He does not come to fill the +chair, is it free to His representative, His +poor and humble children? Your words and +wishes are cheap if they do not find expression +in your actual gifts. Even Mary did +not put Him off with the incense of her +heart, but laid her costliest gifts at His +feet. +</p> + +<p> +Ye busy women, who work so hard to dress +your children and furnish your houses and +tables, what have your hands earned for the +Master, what have you done or sacrificed for +Jesus? <q>Can you afford it?</q> was asked of a +noble woman, as she promised a costly offering +for the Master's work. <q>No,</q> was her noble +reply, <q>but I can sacrifice it.</q> Let us to-day +look around us and see, what we do and give +more to the loving Saviour, who gave up His +whole life for us. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='210'/><anchor id='Pg210'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>July 23.</head> + +<p> +<q>Bring them hither to Me</q> (Matt. xiv. 18). +</p> + +<p> +Why have ye not received all the fulness +of the Holy Spirit? And how +may we be anointed with <q>the rest +of the oil?</q> The greatest need is to +make room when God makes it. Look around +you at your situation. Are you not encompassed +with needs at this very moment, and +almost overwhelmed with difficulties, trials and +emergencies? These are all divinely provided +vessels for the Holy Spirit to fill, and if you +would but rightly understand their meaning, +they would become opportunities for receiving +new blessings and deliverances which you can +get in no other way. +</p> + +<p> +Bring these vessels to God. Hold them +steadily before Him in faith and prayer. Keep +still, and stop your own restless working until +He begins to work. Do nothing that He does +not Himself command you to do. Give Him +a chance to work, and He will surely do so, +and the very trials that threatened to overcome +you with discouragement and disaster, will become +God's opportunity for the revelation of +His grace and glory in your life, as you have +never known Him before. <q>Bring them (all +needs) to Me.</q> +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='211'/><anchor id='Pg211'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>July 24.</head> + +<p> +<q>The righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us</q> +(Rom. vii. 4). +</p> + +<p> +In our earlier experiences we know the +Holy Ghost only at a distance, in things +that happen in a providential direction, +or in the Word alone, but after awhile +we receive Him as an inward Guest, and He +dwells in our very midst, and He speaks to us +in the innermost chambers of our being. But +then the external working of His power does +not cease, but it only increases, and seems the +more glorious. The Power that dwells within +us works without us, answering prayer, healing +sickness, overruling providences, <q>Doing +exceeding abundantly above all that we ask +or think, according to the Power that worketh +in us.</q> +</p> + +<p> +There is a double presence of the Lord for +the consecrated believer. He is present in the +heart, and is mightily present in the events +of life. He is the Christ in us, the Christ +of all the days, with all power in heaven and +earth. +</p> + +<p> +And so the Holy Ghost is our wonder-worker, +our all sufficient God and Guardian, and He +is waiting in these days to work as mightily +in the affairs of men as in the days of Moses, +of Daniel and of Paul. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='212'/><anchor id='Pg212'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>July 25.</head> + +<p> +<q>He that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable +to God</q> (Rom. xiv. 18). +</p> + +<p> +God can only use us while we are right. +Satan cared far less for Peter's denial +of his Master than for the use he made +of it afterwards to destroy his faith. +So Jesus said to him: <q>I have prayed for +thee that thy faith fail not.</q> It was Peter's +faith he attacked, and so it is our faith +that Satan contests. <q>The trial of our faith +is much more precious than gold that perisheth.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Whatever else we let go let us hold steadfastly +to our trust. <q>Cast not away, therefore, +your confidence,</q> and <q>hold fast the rejoicing +of our hope firm unto the end.</q> And if you +would hold your trust, hold your sweetness, +your rightness of spirit, your obedience to +Christ, your victory in every way. +</p> + +<p> +Whatever comes, regard it as of less consequence, +than that you should triumph and stand +fast, and accepting every circumstance as God +is pleased to let occur, wave the banner of your +victory in the face of every foe, and go on, +shouting in His name, <q>Thanks be unto God +that always causeth us to triumph in Christ +Jesus.</q> +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='213'/><anchor id='Pg213'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>July 26.</head> + +<p> +<q>Now mine eye seeth Thee</q> (Job xlii. 5). +</p> + +<p> +We must recognize the true character +of our self-life and its real virulence +and vileness. We must consent +to its destruction, and we must take +it ourselves, as Abraham did Isaac, and lay it +at the feet of God in willing sacrifice. +</p> + +<p> +This is a hard work for the natural heart, but +the moment the will is yielded and the choice is +made, that death is past, the agony is over, and +we are astonished to find that the death is accomplished. +</p> + +<p> +Usually the crisis of life in such cases hangs +upon a single point. God does not need to +strike us in a hundred places to inflict a death +wound. There is one point that touches the +heart, and that is the point God usually strikes, +the dearest thing in our life, the decisive thing +in our plans, the citadel of the will, the center +of the heart, and when we yield there, there is +little left to yield anywhere else, and when we +refuse to yield at this point, a spirit of evasion +and compromise enters into all the rest of our +life. Lord, we take Thee to enable us to will +Thy will to be done in all things in our life +without and within. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='214'/><anchor id='Pg214'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>July 27.</head> + +<p> +<q>The building up of the body of Christ</q> (R. V., +Eph. iv. 13). +</p> + +<p> +God is preparing His heroes, and when +the opportunity comes He can fit them +into their place in a moment and the +world will wonder where they came +from. Let the Holy Ghost prepare you, dear +friend, by all the discipline of life; and when +the last finishing touch has been given to the +marble, it will be easy for God to put it on the +pedestal, and fit it into its niche. +</p> + +<p> +There is a day coming, when, like Othniel, +we, too, shall judge the nations, and rule and +reign with Christ on the millennial earth; but +ere that glorious day can be, we must let God +prepare us as He did Othniel at Kirjethsepher, +amid the trials of our present life, and +in the little victories, the significance of which, +perhaps, we little dream. At least, let us be +sure of this, that if the Holy Ghost has got an +Othniel ready, the Lord of heaven and earth +has a throne prepared for him. +</p> + +<lg> +<l>Is it for me to be used by His grace,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Helping His kingdom to bring,</l> +<l>Is it for me to inherit a place,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>E'en on the throne of my King?</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='215'/><anchor id='Pg215'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>July 28.</head> + +<p> +<q>Not my will, but Thine</q> (Luke xxii. 42). +</p> + +<p> +He who once suffered in Gethsemane will +be our strength and our victory, too. +We may fear, we may also sink, but +let us not be dismayed, and we shall +yet praise Him, and look back from a finished +course, and say, <q>Not one word hath failed of +all that the Lord hath spoken.</q> +</p> + +<p> +But in order to do this, we must, like Him, +meet the conflict, not with a defiant, but with a +submissive spirit. He had to say, <q>Not My +will, but Thine be done</q>; but in saying it, He +gained the very thing He surrendered. So the +submission of Gethsemane is not a blind and +dead submission of a heart that abandons all +its hope; but it is the free submission that bows +the head, in order to get double strength +through the faith and prayer. +</p> + +<p> +We let go, in order that we may take a firmer +hold. We give up, in order that we may more +fully receive. We lay our Isaac on Mount +Moriah, and we ask him back, no longer our +Isaac, but God's Isaac, and infinitely more secure, +because given back in the resurrection +life. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='216'/><anchor id='Pg216'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>July 29.</head> + +<p> +<q>My helpers in Christ Jesus</q> (Rom. xvi. 3). +</p> + +<p> +Christ's Church is overrun with captains. +She is in great need of a few +more privates. A few rivers run into +the sea, but a larger number run into +other rivers. We cannot all be pioneers, but +we can all be helpers, and no man is fitted to go +in the front until he has learned well how to go +second. +</p> + +<p> +A spirit of self-importance is fatal to all work +for Christ. The biggest enemy of true spiritual +power is spiritual self-consciousness. +Joshua must die before Jericho can fall. +</p> + +<p> +God often has to test His chosen servants by +putting them in a subordinate place before He +can bring them to the front. Joseph must +learn to serve in the kitchen and to suffer in +prison before he can rise to the throne, and as +soon as Joseph is ready for the throne, the +throne is always waiting for Joseph. God has +more places than accepted candidates. Let us +not be afraid to go into the training class, and +even take the lowest place, for we shall soon go +up, if we really deserve to. Lord, use me so +that Thou shalt be glorified and I shall be hid +from myself and others. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='217'/><anchor id='Pg217'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>July 30.</head> + +<p> +<q>If thou wilt diligently hearken unto the voice of +the Lord thy God and wilt keep all His statutes</q> +(Ex. xv. 26). +</p> + +<p> +Sometimes people fail because they +have not confidence in the Physician. +The very first requirement of this Doctor +is, that you trust Him, and trust +Him implicitly, so implicitly that you go forward +on His bare word, and act as if you had +received His healing the moment you claimed +His promise. But no one would expect to be +healed by an earthly doctor as soon as they +obeyed his directions. +</p> + +<p> +You must do what the Great Physician tells +you, if you expect Him to make you whole. +</p> + +<p> +You cannot expect to be healed if you are +living in sin, any more than you could expect +the best physician to cure you while you +lived in a malarial climate and inhaled poison +with every breath. So you must get up +into the pure air of trust and obedience +before Christ can make you whole. And then, +if you will trust Him, and attend to His directions, +you will find that there is balm in +Gilead, and that there is a Great Physician +there. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='218'/><anchor id='Pg218'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>July 31.</head> + +<p> +<q>We were troubled on every side</q> (II. Cor. vii. 5). +</p> + +<p> +Why should God have to lead us thus, +and allow the pressure to be so hard +and constant? +</p> + +<p> +Well, in the first place, it shows +His all-sufficient strength and grace much better +than if we were exempt from pressure and +trial. <q>The treasure is in earthen vessels, that +the excellency of the power may be of God, and +not of us.</q> +</p> + +<p> +It make us more conscious of our dependence +upon Him. God is constantly trying to +teach us our dependence, and to hold us absolutely +in His hand and hanging upon His care. +</p> + +<p> +This was the place where Jesus Himself +stood and where He wants us to stand, not +with a self-constituted strength, but with a +hand ever leaning upon His, and a trust that +dare not take one step alone. +</p> + +<p> +It teaches us trust. There is no way of +learning faith except by trial. It is God's +school of faith, and it is far better for us to +learn to trust God than to enjoy life. +</p> + +<p> +The lesson of faith, once learned, is an everlasting +acquisition and an eternal fortune +made; and without trust even riches will leave +us poor. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='219'/><anchor id='Pg219'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>August 1.</head> + +<p> +<q>For we must all appear before the judgment seat of +Christ; that every one may receive the things done in +his body, according to that he hath done</q> (II Cor. v. 10). +</p> + +<p> +It will not always be the day of toil and +trial. Some day, we shall hear our names +announced before the universe, and the +record read of things that we had long +forgotten. How our hearts will thrill, and +our heads will bow, as we shall hear our own +names called, and then the Master shall recount +the triumph and the services which we +had ourselves forgotten! And, perhaps, from +the ranks of the saved He shall call forward the +souls that we have won for Christ and the souls +that they in turn had won, and as we see the +issue of things that have, perhaps, seemed +but trifling at the time, we shall fall before +the throne, and say, <q>Not unto us, O +Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy name give +glory!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Beloved, the pages are going up every day, +for the record of our life. We are setting the +type ourselves, by every moment's action. +Hands unseen are stereotyping the plates, and +soon the record will be registered, and read before +the audience of the universe. and amid the +issues of eternity. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='220'/><anchor id='Pg220'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>August 2.</head> + +<p> +<q>Thy gentleness hath made me great</q> (Ps. xviii. 35). +</p> + +<p> +The blessed Comforter is gentle, tender, +and full of patience and love. How +gentle are God's dealings even with +sinners! How patient His forbearance! +How tender His discipline, with His own +erring children! How He led Jacob, Joseph, +Israel, David, Elijah, and all His ancient servants, +until they could truly say, <q>Thy gentleness +hath made me great.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The heart in which the Holy Spirit dwells +will always be characterized by gentleness, +lowliness, quietness, meekness, and forbearance. +The rude, sarcastic spirit, the brusque +manner, the sharp retort, the unkind cut—all +these belong to the flesh, but they have nothing +in common with the gentle teaching of the +Comforter. +</p> + +<p> +The Holy Dove shrinks from the noisy, tumultuous, +excited, and vindictive spirit, and +finds His home in the lowly breast of the +peaceful soul. <q>The fruit of the Spirit is gentleness, +meekness.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Lord, make me gentle. Hush my spirit. Refine +my manner. Let me have Christ in my bearing +and my very tones as well as in my heart. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='221'/><anchor id='Pg221'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>August 3.</head> + +<p> +<q>Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty +hand of God</q> (I. Peter v. 6). +</p> + +<p> +The pressure of hard places makes us +value life. Every time our life is given +back to us from such a trial, it is +like a new beginning, and we learn +better how much it is worth, and make more of +it for God and man. +</p> + +<p> +The pressure helps us to understand the +trials of others, and fits us to help and sympathize +with them. +</p> + +<p> +There is a shallow, superficial nature, that +gets hold of a theory or a promise lightly, +and talks very glibly about the distrust +of those who shrink from every trial; but +the man or woman who has suffered much +never does this, but is very tender and +gentle, and knows what suffering really +means. +</p> + +<p> +This is what Paul meant when he said, +<q>Death worketh in us, but life in you.</q> Trials +and hard places are needed to press us forward; +even as the furnace fires in the hold of that +mighty ship give the force that moves the +piston, drives the engine, and propels that +great vessel across the sea, in the face of the +winds and waves. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='222'/><anchor id='Pg222'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>August 4.</head> + +<p> +<q>Ye are not in the flesh but in the Spirit if so be +that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any +man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of His</q> +(Rom. viii. 9). +</p> + +<p> +A spiritual man is not so much a +man possessing a strong spiritual +character as a man filled with the +Holy Spirit. So the apostle said: <q>Ye +are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so +be that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The glory of the new creation, then, is not +only that it recreates the human spirit, but that +it fits it for the abode of God Himself, and +makes it dependent upon the sun, as the +child upon the mother. The highest spirituality, +therefore, is the most utter helplessness, +the most entire dependence and the most complete +possession of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, +the beautiful act of Christ in breathing +upon His disciples, and imparting to them +from His own lips the very Spirit that was already +in Him, expressed in the most vivid +manner the crowning glory of the new creation. +And when the Holy Spirit thus possesses +us, He fills every part of our being. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='223'/><anchor id='Pg223'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>August 5.</head> + +<p> +<q>If any man hear My voice and open the door I will +come into him and will sup with him and he with Me</q> +(Rev. iii. 20). +</p> + +<p> +Some of us are starving, and wondering +why the Holy Spirit does not fill +us. We have plenty coming in, but we +do not give it out. Give out the blessing +you have, start larger plans for service and +blessing, and you will soon find that the Holy +Ghost is before you, and He will <q>prevent you +with the blessings of goodness,</q> and give you +all that He can trust you to give away to +others. +</p> + +<p> +There is a beautiful fact in nature which has +its spiritual parallels. There is no music so +heavenly as an Aeolian harp, and the Aeolian +harp is nothing but a set of musical cords arranged +in harmony, and then left to be touched +by the unseen fingers of the wandering winds. +And as the breath of heaven floats over the +chords, it is said that notes almost divine float +out upon the air, as if a choir of angels were +wandering around and touching the strings. +</p> + +<p> +And so it is possible to keep our hearts so +open to the touch of the Holy Spirit that He +can play upon them at will, as we quietly wait +in the pathway of His service. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='224'/><anchor id='Pg224'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>August 6.</head> + +<p> +<q>As many as are led by the Spirit of God they +are the sons of God</q> (Rom. viii. 14). +</p> + +<p> +The blessed Holy Spirit is our Guide, +our Leader, and our Resting-place. +There are times when He presses us +forward into prayer, into service, into +suffering, into new experiences, new duties, +new claims of faith, and hope, and love, but +there are times when He arrests us in our activity, +and rests us under His overshadowing +wing, and quiets us in the secret place of the +Most High, teaching us some new lessons, +breathing into us some deeper strength or fulness, +and then leading us on again, at His bidding +alone. He is the true Guide of the saint, +and the true Leader of the Church, our wonderful +Counsellor, our unerring Friend; +and he who would deny the personal guidance +of the Holy Ghost in order that he +might honor the Word of God as our +only guide, must dishonor that other word +of promise, that His sheep shall know His +voice, and that His hearkening and obedient +children shall hear a voice behind +them saying, <q>This is the way, walk ye in +it.</q> +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='225'/><anchor id='Pg225'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>August 7.</head> + +<p> +<q>Knowing this that our old man is crucified</q> (Rom. +vi. 6). +</p> + +<p> +It is purely a matter of faith, and faith +and sight always differ, so that to your +senses it does not seem to be so, but +your faith must still reckon it so. This +is a very difficult attitude to hold, and only as +we thoroughly believe God can we thus reckon +upon His Word and His working, but as we do +so, faith will convert it into fact, and it will +be even so. +</p> + +<p> +These two words, <q>yield</q> and <q>reckon,</q> are +passwords into the resurrection life. They are +like the two edges of the <q>Sword of the Spirit</q> +through which we enter into crucifixion with +Christ. +</p> + +<p> +This act of surrender and this reckoning of +faith are recognized in the New Testament as +marking a very definite crisis in the spiritual +life. It does not mean that we are expected to +be going through a continual dying, but that +there should be one very definite act of dying, +and then a constant habit of reckoning ourselves +as dead, and meeting everything from +this standpoint. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Reckon yourselves dead indeed unto sin, +but alive unto God, through Jesus Christ.</q> +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='226'/><anchor id='Pg226'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>August 8.</head> + +<p> +<q>Be like the dove</q> (Jer. xlviii. 28). +</p> + +<p> +Harmless as a dove, is Christ's interpretation +of the beautiful emblem. +And so the Spirit of God is purity itself. +He cannot dwell in an unclean +heart. He cannot abide in the natural mind. +It was said of the anointing of old, <q>On man's +flesh it shall not be poured.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The purity which the Holy Spirit brings is +like the white and spotless little plant which +grows up out of the heap of manure, or the +black soil, without one grain of impurity adhering +to its crystalline surface, spotless as an +angel's wing. +</p> + +<p> +So the Holy Spirit gives a purity of heart +which gives its own protection, for it is essentially +unlike the evil things which grow +around it. It may be surrounded on every side +with evil, but it is uncontaminated and pure +because its very nature is essentially holy and +divine. Like the plumage of the dove, it cannot +be soiled, but comes forth from the miry +pool unstained and unsullied by the dark waters, +because it is protected by the oily covering +which sheds off every defilement and +makes it proof against the touch of every stain. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='227'/><anchor id='Pg227'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>August 9.</head> + +<p> +<q>He shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live +goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children +of Israel; transgressions and sins</q> (Lev. xvi. 21). +</p> + +<p> +As any evil comes up, and the consciousness +of any unholy thing +touches our inner senses, it is our +privilege at once to hand it over to the +Holy Ghost and to lay it upon Jesus, as something +already crucified with Him, and as of +old, in the case of the sin offering, it will be +carried without the camp and burned to ashes. +</p> + +<p> +There may be deep suffering, there may be +protracted pain, it may be intensely real; but +throughout all there will be a very sweet and +sacred sense of God's presence, and intense +purity in our whole spirit, and our separation +from the evil which is being consumed. Truly, +it will be borne without the camp, and even +without the smell of the flames upon our garments. +</p> + +<p> +It is so blessed to have the Holy Spirit slay +things. No swords but His can pass so perfectly +between us and the evil, so that it consumes +the sin without touching the spirit. +</p> + +<p> +Lord Jesus, my Sin Offering, I lay my sin, +my self, my whole nature, upon Thy Cross. +Consume me by Thy holy fire, and let me die +to all but Thee! +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='228'/><anchor id='Pg228'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>August 10.</head> + +<p> +<q>There is no spot in thee</q> (Song of Solomon iv. 7). +</p> + +<p> +The blessed Holy Spirit who possesses +the consecrated heart is intensely concerned +for our highest life, and watches +us with a sensitive, and even a +jealous love. Very beautiful is the true translation +of that ordinary passage in the Epistle +of James, <q>The Spirit that dwelleth in us loveth +us to jealousy.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The heart of the Holy Ghost is intensely +concerned in preserving us from every stain +and blemish, and bringing us into the very +highest possibilities of the will of God. +</p> + +<p> +The Heavenly Bridegroom would have His +Church not only free from every spot, but also +from <q>every wrinkle, or any such thing.</q> The +spot is the mark of sin, but the wrinkle is the +sign of weakness, age, and decay, and He +wants no such defacing touch upon the holy +features of His Beloved; and so the Holy +Ghost, who is the Executor of His will, and +the Divine Messenger whom He sends to call, +separate, and bring home His Bride, is jealously +concerned in fulfilling in us all the Master's +will. +</p> + +<p> +Lord, take from me every blemish and mark +of weakness and decay, and make me Thy spotless +Bride. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='229'/><anchor id='Pg229'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>August 11.</head> + +<p> +<q>All the land which thou seest</q> (Gen. xiii. 15). +</p> + +<p> +The actual provisions of His grace come +from the inner vision. +</p> + +<p> +He who puts the instinct in the +bosom of yonder bird to cross the continent +in search of summer sunshine in yonder +Southern clime is too good to deceive it, and +just as surely as He has put the instinct in its +breast, so has He also put the balmy breezes +and the vernal sunshine yonder to meet it when +it arrives. +</p> + +<p> +He who gave to Abraham the vision of the +Land of Promise, also said in infinite truth and +love: <q>All the land that thou seest will I give +thee.</q> He who breathes into our hearts the +heavenly hope, will not deceive or fail us when +we press forward to its realization. There is +nothing unfaithful in Him who has said: <q>If +it were not so, I would have told you,</q> and +we may know that He never will deceive +us nor fail us, but all that He reveals by +His Holy Spirit He will make our own, as +we press forward and enter into its realization. +</p> + +<p> +Lord, give me first the vision and then the +victory. Show me all my inheritance, and +then give it all to me in Christ Jesus. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='230'/><anchor id='Pg230'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>August 12.</head> + +<p> +<q>Not ourselves, but Christ Jesus</q> (II. Cor. iv. 5). +</p> + +<p> +Your Christian influence, your reputation +as a worker for God, and your +standing among your brethren, may be +an idol to which you must die, before +you can be free to live for Him alone. +</p> + +<p> +If you have ever noticed the type on a +printed page, you must have seen that the little +<q><hi rend='italic'>i</hi></q> has always a dot over it, and it is that dot +that elevates it above the other letters in the +line. +</p> + +<p> +Now, each us us is a little <hi rend='italic'>i</hi>, and over every +one of us there is a little dot of self-importance, +self-will, self-interest, self-confidence, self-complacency, +or something to which we cling +and for which we contend, which just as surely +reveals self-life as if it were a mountain of real +importance. +</p> + +<p> +This <hi rend='italic'>i</hi> is a rival of Jesus Christ, and the enemy +of the Holy Ghost, and of our peace and +life, and therefore God has decreed its death, +and the Holy Spirit, with His flaming sword +is waiting to destroy it, that we may be able +to enter through the gates and come to the +Tree of Life. Lord, crowd me out by Thy fulness +even as the glory of the Lord left no +room for Moses in the Tabernacle. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='231'/><anchor id='Pg231'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>August 13.</head> + +<p> +<q>Clouds and darkness are round about Him</q> (Ps. +xcvii. 2). +</p> + +<p> +The presence of clouds upon your sky, +and trials in your path, is the very +best evidence that you are following +the pillar of cloud, and walking in the +presence of God. They had to enter the cloud +before they could behold the glory of the transfiguration, +and a little later that same cloud +became the chariot to receive the ascending +Lord, and it is still waiting as the chariot that +will bring His glorious appearing. +</p> + +<p> +Still it is true that white <q>clouds and darkness +are round about His throne, mercy and +truth</q> are ever in their midst, and <q>shall go +before His face.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Perhaps the most beautiful and gracious use +of the cloud was to shelter them from the fiery +sun. Like a great umbrella, that majestic pillar +spread its canopy above the camp, and became +a shielding shadow from the burning +heat in the treeless desert. No one who has +never felt an Oriental sun can fully appreciate +how much this means—a shadow from the +heat. +</p> + +<p> +So the Holy Spirit comes between us and +the fiery, scorching rays of sorrow and temptation. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='232'/><anchor id='Pg232'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>August 14.</head> + +<p> +<q>Touch not Mine anointed, and do My prophets +no harm</q> (Ps. cv. 15). +</p> + +<p> +I would rather play with the forked +lightning, or take in my hands living +wires, with their fiery current, than +speak a reckless word against any servant +of Christ, or idly repeat the slanderous +darts which thousands of Christians are hurling +on others, to the hurt of their own souls +and bodies. +</p> + +<p> +You may often wonder, perhaps, why your +sickness is not healed, your spirit filled with +the joy of the Holy Ghost, or your life blessed +and prosperous. It may be that some dart +which you have flung with angry voice, or in +an idle hour of thoughtless gossip, is pursuing +you on its way, as it describes the circle which +always bring back to the source from which +it came every shaft of bitterness, and every +idle and evil word. +</p> + +<p> +Let us remember that when we persecute or +hurt the children of God, we are but persecuting +Him, and hurting ourselves far more. +</p> + +<p> +Lord, make me as sensitive to the feelings +and rights of others as I have often been to my +own, and let me live and love like Thee. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='233'/><anchor id='Pg233'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>August 15.</head> + +<p> +<q>He will guide you into all truth</q> (John xvi. 13). +</p> + +<p> +The Holy Ghost does not come to give +us extraordinary manifestations, but +to give its life and light, and the nearer +we come to Him, the more simple will +His illumination and leading be. He comes to +<q>guide us into all truth.</q> He comes to shed +light upon our own hearts, and to show us ourselves. +He comes to reveal Christ, to give, and +then to illumine, the Holy Scriptures, and to +make Divine realities vivid and clear to our +spiritual apprehension. He comes as a Spirit +of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of +Christ, to <q>enlighten the eyes of our understanding, +that we may know what is the hope +of His calling, and what the riches of the glory +of His inheritance in the saints, and what is +the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward +who believe, according to the working of +His mighty power.</q> +</p> + +<lg> +<l>Spirit of Power! with heavenly fire,</l> +<l>Our souls endue, our tongues inspire;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Stretch forth Thy mighty Hand,</l> +<l>Thy Pentecostal gifts restore,</l> +<l>The wonders of Thy power once more</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Display in every land.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='234'/><anchor id='Pg234'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>August 16.</head> + +<p> +<q>I am with you alway</q> (Matt. xxviii. 20). +</p> + +<p> +Oh, how it helps and comforts us in the +plod of life to know that we have +with us the Christ who spent the first +thirty years of His life in the carpenter +shop at Nazareth, swinging the hammer, +covered with sweat and grimy dust, physically +weary as we often are, and able to understand +all our experiences of drudgery and labor! and +One who still loves to share our common tasks +and equip us for our difficult undertakings of +hand and brain! +</p> + +<p> +Yes, humble sister, He will help you at the +washboard and the kitchen-sink as gladly as +at the hour of prayer. Yes, busy mechanic, +He will go with you and help you to swing the +hammer, or handle the saw, or hold the plow +in the toil of life, and you shall be a better +mechanic, a more skilled workman, and a more +successful man, because you take His wisdom +for the common affairs of life. There is no +place or time where He is not able and willing +to walk by our side, to work through our +hands and brains, and to unite Himself in loving +and all-sufficient partnership with all our +needs and tasks and trials, and prove our all-sufficiency +for all things. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='235'/><anchor id='Pg235'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>August 17.</head> + +<p> +<q>Speak ye unto the Rock</q> (Num. xx. 8). +</p> + +<p> +The Holy Ghost is very sensitive, as +love always is. You can conquer a +wild beast by blows and chains, but +you cannot conquer a woman's heart +that way, or win the love of a sensitive nature; +that must be wooed by the delicate touches of +trust and affection. So the Holy Ghost has +to be taken by a faith as delicate and sensitive +as the gentle heart with whom it is coming in +touch. One thought of unbelief, one expression +of impatient distrust or fear, will instantly +check the perfect freedom of His operations as +much as a breath of frost would wither the +petals of the most sensitive rose or lily. +</p> + +<p> +Speak to the Rock, do not strike it. Believe +in the Holy Ghost and treat Him with the +tenderest confidence and the most unwavering +trust, and He will meet you with instant response +and confidence. +</p> + +<p> +Beloved, have you come to the rock in Kadesh? +Have you opened all your being to the +fulness of the Spirit, and then, with the confidence +of the child to the mother, the bride to +the husband, the flower to the sunshine, have +you received by faith, and are you drinking of +His blessed life? +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='236'/><anchor id='Pg236'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>August 18.</head> + +<p> +<q>The three hundred blew the trumpets</q> (Judges +vii. 22). +</p> + +<p> +We little dream, sometimes, what a +hasty word, a thoughtless speech, +an imprudent act, or a confession of +unbelief and fear may do to hinder +our highest usefulness, or turn it aside from +some great opportunity which God has been +preparing for us. +</p> + +<p> +Although the Holy Ghost uses weak men, +He does not want them to be weak after He +chooses and calls them. Although He uses +the foolish things to confound the wise, He +does not want us to be foolish after He comes +to give us His wisdom and grace. He uses the +foolishness of preaching, but, not necessarily, +the foolishness of preachers. Like the electric +current, which can supply the strength of a +thousand men, it is necessary that it should +have a proper conductor, and a very small +wire is better than a very big rope. +</p> + +<p> +God wants fit instruments for His power—wills +surrendered, hearts trusting, lives consistent, +and lips obedient to His will; and then +He can use the weakest weapons, and make +them mighty through God to the pulling down +of strongholds. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='237'/><anchor id='Pg237'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>August 19.</head> + +<p> +<q>Have faith in God</q> (Mark xi. 22). +</p> + +<p> +He requires of us a perfect faith, and +He tells us that if we believe and doubt +not, we shall have whatsoever we ask. +The faintest touch of unbelief will +neutralize our trust. +</p> + +<p> +But how shall we have such perfect faith? +Is it possible for human nature? Nay, but it +is possible to the Divine nature, it is possible +to the Christ within us. It is possible for God +to give it; and God does give it. But Christ is +the Author and Finisher of our faith, and He +bids us have the faith of God, and as we have +it through the imparting of the Spirit of Christ, +we believe even as He. +</p> + +<p> +We pray in His name, and in His very nature, +and we live by the faith of the Son of +God who loved us and gave Himself for us. +The love that He requires of us is not mere human +love, nor even the standard of love required +in the Old Testament, but something +far higher. The new commandment is, Love +one another, not as yourselves, but as I have +loved you. +</p> + +<p> +How shall such love be made possible? +Herein is our love made perfect, because as He +is so are we also in this world. Our love is +simply His love wrought in us, and imparted +to us through the Spirit. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='238'/><anchor id='Pg238'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>August 20.</head> + +<p> +<q>Herein is My Father glorified</q> (John xv. 8). +</p> + +<p> +The true way to glorify God is, for God +to show His glory through us, to shine +through us as empty vessels reflecting +His fulness of grace and power. +</p> + +<p> +The sun is glorified when he has a chance to +show his light through the crystal window, or +reflect it from the spotless mirror or the glassy +sea. +</p> + +<p> +There is nothing that glorifies God so much +as for a weak and helpless man or woman to be +able to triumph, through His strength, in +places where the highest human qualities will +fail us, and carry in Divine power through every +form of toil and suffering, a spirit naturally +weak, irresolute, selfish, and sinful, transformed +into sweetness, purity, power and standing +victorious amid circumstances from which its +natural qualities must utterly unfit it. A mind +not naturally wise or strong, directed by a Divine +wisdom, and carried along the line of a +great and mighty plan, and used to accomplish +stupendous results for God and man—this is +what glorifies God. +</p> + +<p> +So let me glorify my Lord this day and +adorn the doctrine of God in all things. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='239'/><anchor id='Pg239'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>August 21.</head> + +<p> +<q>The battle is not yours</q> (II. Chron. xx. 15). +</p> + +<p> +The thing is to count the battle God's. +<q>The battle is not yours, but God's.</q> +Ye shall not need to fight in this battle. +As long as we count the dangers +and responsibilities ours, we shall be distracted +with fear, but when we realize He is bound +to take care of us, as His property and His representatives, +we shall feel infinite relief and +security. +</p> + +<p> +If I send my servant on a long journey I +am responsible for his expenses and protection, +and if God sends me anywhere, He is responsible. +If we belong to God, and put our +life, our family, and our all in His hands, we +may know He will take care of us. +</p> + +<p> +If our body belongs to Him, it is His interest +to keep us well, just as much as it is for +the interest of the shepherd to have his sheep +well fed and well cared for, and a credit to him. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Thanks be unto God who always causeth +us to triumph.</q> +</p> + +<lg> +<l>Stand up, stand up for Jesus,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Stand in His strength alone;</l> +<l>The arm of flesh will fail you,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Ye dare not trust your own.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='240'/><anchor id='Pg240'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>August 22.</head> + +<p> +<q>I the Lord, the first and with the last</q> (Isa. xli. 4). +</p> + +<p> +Thousands of people get stranded +after they have embarked on the great +voyage of holiness, because they have +depended upon the experience rather +than on the Author of it. They had supposed +that they were thoroughly and permanently +delivered from all sin, and in the ecstacy of +their first experience they imagine that they +shall never again be tried and tempted as before, +and when they step out into the actual +facts of Christian life and find themselves failing +and falling, they are astonished and perplexed, +and they conclude that they must have +been mistaken in their experience, and so they +make a new attempt at the same thing, and +again fall, until at last, worn out, with the experiment, +they conclude that the experience is +a delusion, or, at least, that it was never intended +for them, and so they fall back into +the old way, and their last state is worse than +the first. +</p> + +<p> +What men and women need to-day is to +know, not sanctification as a state, but Christ +as a living Person. +</p> + +<p> +Lord Jesus, give me Thy heart, Thy faith, +Thy life, Thyself. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='241'/><anchor id='Pg241'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>August 23.</head> + +<p> +<q>Even as He is pure</q> (I. John iii. 3). +</p> + +<p> +God is now aiming to reproduce in us +the pattern which has already appeared +in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. +The Christian life is not an imitation +of Christ, but a direct new creation in Christ, +and the union with Christ is so complete +that He imparts His own nature to us and +lives His own life in us and then it is not an +imitation, but simply the outgrowth of the nature +implanted within. +</p> + +<p> +We live Christ-like because we have the +Christ-life. God is not satisfied with anything +less than perfection. He required that from +His Son. He requires it from us, and He does +not, in the process of grace, reduce the standard, +but He brings us up to it. He does not +let down the righteousness of the law, but He +requires of us a righteousness that far +exceeds the righteousness of the Scribes and +Pharisees, and then He imparts it to us. He +counts us righteous in sanctification, and He +says of the new creation, <q>He that doeth righteousness +is righteous even as He is righteous.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Lord, live out thy very life in me. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='242'/><anchor id='Pg242'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>August 24.</head> + +<p> +<q>Let your moderation be known unto all men</q> +(Phil. iv. 5). +</p> + +<p> +The very test of consecration is our willingness +not only to surrender the +things that are wrong, but to surrender +our rights, to be willing to be subject. +When God begins to subdue a soul, He often +requires us to yield the things that are of little +importance in themselves, and thus break +our neck and subdue our spirit. +</p> + +<p> +No Christian worker can ever be used of God +until the proud self-will is broken, and the +heart is ready to yield to God's every touch, no +matter through whom it may come. +</p> + +<p> +Many people want God to lead them in their +way and they will brook no authority or restraint. +They will give their money, but they +want to dictate how it shall be spent. They +will work as long as you let them please themselves, +but let any pressure come and you immediately +run up against, not the grace of resignation, +but a letter of resignation, withdrawing +from some important trust, and arousing +a whole community of criticising friends, +equally disposed to have their own opinions +and their own will about it. It is destructive +of all real power. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='243'/><anchor id='Pg243'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>August 25.</head> + +<p> +<q>And I will put My Spirit within you, and cause +you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My +judgments and do them</q> (Ezek. xxxvi. 27). +</p> + +<p> +This is a great deal more than a new +heart. This a heart filled with the +Holy Ghost, the Divine Spirit, the +power that causes us to walk in God's +commandments. +</p> + +<p> +This is the greatest crisis that comes to a +Christian's life, when into the spirit that was +renewed in conversion, God Himself comes to +dwell and make it His abiding place, and hold +it by His mighty power in holiness and righteousness. +</p> + +<p> +Now, after this occurs, one would suppose +that we would be lifted into a much more +hopeful and exuberant spirit, but the prophet +gives a very different picture. He says when +this comes to pass we shall loathe ourselves in +our own eyes. +</p> + +<p> +The revelation of God gives a profound +sense of our own nothingness and worthlessness, +and lays us on our face in the dust in self-abnegation. +</p> + +<p> +The incoming of the Holy Ghost displaces +self and disgraces self forever, and the highest +holiness is to walk in self-renunciation. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='244'/><anchor id='Pg244'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>August 26.</head> + +<p> +<q>Thine handmaid hath not anything in the house save +a pot of oil</q> (II. Kings iv. 2). +</p> + +<p> +He asked her, <q>What hast thou in the +house?</q> And she said, <q>Nothing but +a pot of oil.</q> But that pot of oil was +adequate for all her wants, if she had +only known how to use it. +</p> + +<p> +In truth it represented the Holy Spirit, and +the great lesson of the parable is that the Holy +Ghost is adequate for all our wants, if we only +know how to use Him. +</p> + +<p> +All that she needed was to get sufficient vessels +to hold the overflow, and then to pour out +until all were filled. +</p> + +<p> +And so the Holy Spirit is limited only by +our capacity to receive Him, and when God +wants us to have a larger fulness, He has to +make room for it by creating greater needs. +</p> + +<p> +God sends us new vessels to be filled with +His Holy Spirit in the needs that come to us, +and the trials that meet us. These are +God's opportunities for God to give us more +of Himself, and as we meet them He comes +to us in larger fulness for each new necessity. +</p> + +<p> +Lord, help me to see Thee in all my trying +situations and to make them vessels to hold +more of Thy grace. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='245'/><anchor id='Pg245'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>August 27.</head> + +<p> +<q>Take no thought for your life</q> (Matt. vi. 25). +</p> + +<p> +Still the Lord is using the things that +are despised. The very names of Nazarene +and Christian were once epithets +of contempt. No man can have God's +highest thought and be popular with his immediate +generation. The most abused men are +often most used. +</p> + +<p> +There are far greater calamities than to be +unpopular and misunderstood. There are far +worse things than to be found in the minority. +Many of God's greatest blessings are lying behind +the devil's scarecrows of prejudice and +misrepresentation. The Holy Ghost is not +ashamed to use unpopular people. And if He +uses them, what need they care for men? +</p> + +<p> +Oh, let us but have His recognition and +man's notice will count for little, and He will +give us all we need of human help and praise. +Let us only seek His will, His glory, His approval. +Let us go for Him on the hardest errands +and do the most menial tasks. Honor +enough that He uses us and sends us. Let us +not fear in this day to follow Him outside the +camp, bearing His reproach, and by-and-by +He will own our worthless name before the +myriads of earth and sky. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='246'/><anchor id='Pg246'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>August 28.</head> + +<p> +<q>According to the power that worketh in us</q> (Eph. +iii. 20). +</p> + +<p> +When we reach the place of union +with God, through the indwelling +of the Holy Ghost, we come into the +inheritance of external blessing and +enter upon the land of our possession. Then +our physical health and strength come to us +through the power of our interior life; then +the prayer is fulfilled, that we shall be in health +and prosper, as our soul prospereth. Then, +with the kingdom of God and His righteousness +within us, all things are added +unto us. +</p> + +<p> +God's external working always keeps pace +with the power that worketh in us. When +God is enthroned in a human soul, then the +devil and the world soon find it out. We +do not need to advertise our power. Jesus +could not be hid, and a soul filled with Divine +power and purity should become the center +of attraction to hungry hearts and suffering +lives. +</p> + +<p> +Let us receive Him and recognize Him in +His indwelling glory, and then will we appropriate +all that it means for our life in all its +fulness. Lord, give me the <q>hiding of Thy +power,</q> and let Christ be glorified in me. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='247'/><anchor id='Pg247'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>August 29.</head> + +<p> +<q>To obey is better than sacrifice</q> (I. Sam. xv. 22). +</p> + +<p> +Our healing is thus represented as a +special recompense for obedience. If, +therefore, we would please the Lord +and have the reward of those who +please Him, there is no service so acceptable +to Him as our praise. +</p> + +<p> +Let us ever meet Him with a glad and thankful +heart and He will reflect it back in the +health of our countenance and the buoyant +life and springing health, which is but the echo +of a joyful heart. +</p> + +<p> +Further, thankfulness is the best preparation +for faith. Trust grows spontaneously in +the praiseful heart. Thankfulness takes the +sunny side of the street and looks at the bright +side of God, and it is only thus that we can +ever trust Him. Unbelief looks at our troubles +and, of course, they seem like mountains, +and faith is discouraged by the prospect. A +thankful disposition will always find some +cause for cheer, and gloomy one will find a +cloud in the brightest sky and a fly in the sweetest +ointment. Let us cultivate a spirit of +cheerfulness, and we shall find so much in +God and in our lives to encourage us that we +shall have no room for doubt or fear. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='248'/><anchor id='Pg248'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>August 30.</head> + +<p> +<q>Happy are ye if ye do them</q> (John xiii. 17). +</p> + +<p> +You little know the rest that comes from +the yielded will, the surrendered +choice, the abandoned world, the meek +and lowly heart that lets the world go +by, and knows that it shall inherit the earth +which it has refused! You little know the relish +that it gives to the blessing to hunger and +thirst after righteousness, and to be filled +with a satisfaction that worldly delight cannot +afford, and then to rise to the higher blessedness +of the merciful, the forgiving, the +hearts that have learned that it is <q>more blessed +to give than to receive,</q> and the lives that +find that <q>letting go is twice possessing,</q> and +blessing others is to be doubly blessed! +</p> + +<p> +Nay, there is yet one jewel brighter than all +the rest in this crown of beatitudes. It is the +tear-drop crystallized into the diamond, the +blood-drop transfigured into the ruby of heaven's +eternal crown. It is the joy of suffering +with Jesus, and then forgetting all the sorrow +in the overflowing joy, until with the heavenly +Pascal we know not which to say first, and so +we say them both together, <q>Tears upon tears, +joy upon joy</q>. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='249'/><anchor id='Pg249'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>August 31.</head> + +<p> +<q>Lead me in the way everlasting</q> (Ps. cxxxix. 24). +</p> + +<p> +There is often apparently but little +difference in two distinct lives between +constant victory and frequent +victory. But that one little difference +constitutes a world of success or failure. The +one is the Divine, the other is the human; the +one is the everlasting way, the other the transient +and the imperfect. God wants to lead +us to the way everlasting, and to establish us +and make us immovable as He. We little +know the seriousness of the slightest surrender. +It is but the first step in a downward +progression, and God only knows where it +shall end. +</p> + +<p> +Let us be <q>not of them that draw back unto +perdition, but of them that believe unto the +saving our the soul.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Your victory to-day is but preparing the +way for a greater victory to-morrow, and your +surrender to-day is opening the door for a +more terrible defeat in the days to come. Let +us, therefore, whatever we have claimed from +our blessed Master, commit it to His keeping, +and take Him to establish us and hold us fast +in the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='250'/><anchor id='Pg250'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>September 1.</head> + +<p> +<q>Afterward that which is spiritual</q> (I. Cor. xv. 46). +</p> + +<p> +God has often to bring us not only into +the place of suffering, and the bed of +sickness and pain, but also into the +place where our righteousness breaks +down and our character falls to pieces, in order +to humble us in the dust and show us the need +of entire crucifixion to all our natural life. +Then, at the feet of Jesus we are ready to receive +Him, to abide in Him and depend upon +Him alone, and draw all our life and strength +each moment from Him, our Living Head. +</p> + +<p> +It was thus that Peter was saved by his very +fall, and had to die to Peter that he might live +more perfectly to Christ. +</p> + +<p> +Have we thus died, and have we thus renounced +the strength of our own self-confidence? +</p> + +<p> +We begin life with the natural, next we come +into the spiritual; but then, when we have +truly received the kingdom of God and His +righteousness, the natural is added to the spiritual, +and we are able to receive the gifts of +His providence and the blessings of life without +becoming centered in them or allowing +them to separate us from Him. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='251'/><anchor id='Pg251'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>September 2.</head> + +<p> +<q>Who hath despised the day of small things</q> (Zech. +iv. 10). +</p> + +<p> +The oak comes out of the acorn, the +eagle out of that little egg in the nest, +the harvest comes out of the seed; and +so the glory of the coming age is all +coming out of the Christ life now, even as the +majesty of His kingdom was all wrapped up +that night in the babe of Bethlehem. +</p> + +<p> +Oh, let us take Him for all our life. Let us +be united to His person and His risen body. +Let us know what it is to say, <q>The Lord is +for the body and the body is for the Lord</q>! +We are members of His body and His flesh +and His bones. +</p> + +<p> +He that gave that little infant, His own +blessed babe and His only begotten Son, on +that dark winter night to the arms of a cruel +and ungrateful world, will not refuse to give +Him in all His fulness to your heart if you +will but open your heart and give Him right of +way and full ownership and possession. Then +shall you know in your measure His quickening +life, even in this earthly life, and by-and-by +your hope shall reach its full fruition when +you shall sit with Him on His throne with +every fiber of your immortal being even as He. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='252'/><anchor id='Pg252'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>September 3.</head> + +<p> +<q>The God of Israel hath separated you</q> (Num. +xvi. 9). +</p> + +<p> +The little plant may grow out of a manure +heap, and be surrounded by filth, +and covered very often with the floating +dust that is borne upon the breeze, +but its white roots are separated from the unclean +soil, and its leaves and flowers have no +affinity with the dust that settles upon them; +and after a shower of summer rain they throw +off every particle of defilement, and look up, as +fresh and spotless as before, for their intrinsic +nature cannot have any part with these defiling +things. +</p> + +<p> +This is the separation which Christ requires +and which He gives. There is no merit in my +staying from the theater if I want to go. There +is no value in my abstaining from the foolish +novel or the intoxicating cup, if I am all the +time wishing I could have them. My heart +is there, and my soul is defiled by the desire +for evil things. It is not the world that +stains us, but the love of the world. The +true Levite is separated from the desire for +earthly things, and even if he could, he would +not have the forbidden pleasures which others +prize. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='253'/><anchor id='Pg253'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>September 4.</head> + +<p> +<q>Come ye yourselves apart</q> (Mark vi. 31). +</p> + +<p> +One of the greatest hindrances to spirituality +is the lack of waiting upon +God. You cannot go through twenty-four +hours with two or three breaths +of air, in the morning, as you sip your coffee. +But you must live in the atmosphere, and you +must breathe it all day long. Christians do +not wait upon God enough. It needs hours +and hours daily of spiritual communion with +the Holy Spirit to keep your vitality healthful +and full. Every moment should find you +breathing out yourself into Christ, and breathing +afresh His life, and love and power. +</p> + +<p> +God is waiting to send us the Holy Spirit. +He is longing to bless us. His one business is +to quicken and sustain our spiritual life. He +has nothing else to do with His infinite and +great resources. Let us receive Him. Let us +live in Him. Let us give to Him the joy of +knowing that His infinite grace has not been +bestowed in vain, but that we appreciate and +improve the blessings which He oft has so freely +bestowed. +</p> + +<p> +Lord, help me this day to dwell in Thee as +the flower in the sunshine, as the fish in the +sea, living in Thy love as the atmosphere and +element of my being. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='254'/><anchor id='Pg254'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>September 5.</head> + +<p> +<q>He breathed on them</q> (John xx. 22). +</p> + +<p> +The beautiful figure suggested by this +passage is full of simple instruction. +It is as easy to receive the Holy Ghost +as it is to breathe. It almost seems as +if the Lord had given them the very impression +of breathing, and had said, <q>Now, this is the +way to receive the Holy Ghost.</q> +</p> + +<p> +It is not necessary for you to go to a smallpox +hospital to have your lungs contaminated +with impure air. It is enough for you to keep +in your lungs the air you inhaled a minute ago +and it will kill you. All the pure elements +have been absorbed from it, and there is nothing +left but carbon and other deadly gases and +fluids. +</p> + +<p> +Therefore, if you are to be filled with the +Holy Spirit, you must first get emptied not +only of your old sinful life, but of your old spiritual +life. You must get a new breath every +moment, or you will die. God wants you to +empty out all your being into Him, and then +you will take Him in, without needing to try +too hard. A vacuum always gets filled, an +empty pair of lungs unavoidably breathes in +the pure air. If you are only in the true attitude, +there will be no trouble about receiving +the Holy Ghost. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='255'/><anchor id='Pg255'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>September 6.</head> + +<p> +<q>Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord</q> (Phil. iii. 1). +</p> + +<p> +There is no spiritual value in depression. +One bright and thankful look +at the cross is worth a thousand morbid, +self-condemning reflections. The +longer you look at evil the more it mesmerizes +and defiles you into its own likeness. Lay it +down at the cross, accept the cleansing blood, +reckon yourself dead to the thing that was +wrong, and then rise up and count yourself as +if you were another man and no longer the +same person; and then, identifying yourself +with the Lord Jesus, accept your standing in +Him and look in your Father's face as blameless +as Jesus. Then out of your every fault will +come some lesson of watchfulness or some secret +of victory which will enable you some day +to thank Him, even for your painful experience. +</p> + +<p> +But praise is a sacrifice, for <q>it is acceptable +to God.</q> It goes up to heaven sweeter than +the songs of angels, <q>a sweet smelling savor to +your Lord and King.</q> It should be unintermittent—<q>the +sacrifice of praise continually.</q> +One drop of poison will neutralize a whole cup +of wine, and make it a cup of death, and one +moment of gloom will defile a whole day of +sunshine and gladness. Let us <q>rejoice evermore.</q> +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='256'/><anchor id='Pg256'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>September 7.</head> + +<p> +<q>I will joy in the God of my salvation</q> (Hab. iii. 18). +</p> + +<p> +The secret of joy is not to wait until you +feel happy, but to rise, by an act of +faith, out of the depression which is +dragging you down, and begin to +praise God as an act of choice. This is the +meaning of such passages as these: <q>Rejoice +in the Lord alway, and again I say, rejoice</q>; +<q>I do rejoice; yes, and I will rejoice.</q> <q>Count +it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations.</q> +In all these cases there is an evident struggle +with sadness and then the triumphs of faith +and praise. +</p> + +<p> +Now, this is what is meant—in part, at least—by +the sacrifice of praise. A sacrifice is that +which costs us something. And when a man +or woman has some cherished grudge or wrong +and is harboring it, nursing it, dwelling on it, +rolling it as a sweet morsel under the tongue, +and quite determined to enjoy a miserable time +in selfish morbidness and grumbling, it costs us +no little sacrifice to throw off the morbid spell, +to refuse the suggestions of injury, neglect and +the remembrance of unkindness, to rise out of +the mood of self-commiseration in wholesome +and holy determination, and say, <q>I will rejoice +in the Lord</q>; I will <q>count it all joy.</q> +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='257'/><anchor id='Pg257'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>September 8.</head> + +<p> +<q>He that eateth Me, even He shall live by Me</q> +(John vi. 57). +</p> + +<p> +What the children of God need is not +merely a lot of teaching, but the +Living Bread. The best wheat is +not good food. It needs to be +ground and baked before it can be digested and +assimilated so as to nourish the system. The +purest and the highest truth cannot sanctify or +satisfy a living soul. +</p> + +<p> +He breathes the New Testament message +from His mouth with a kiss of love and a +breath of quickening power. It is as we abide +in Him, lying upon His bosom and drinking in +His very life that we are nourished, quickened, +comforted and healed. +</p> + +<p> +This is the secret of Divine healing. It is +not believing a doctrine, it is not performing +a ceremony, it is not wringing a petition from +the heavens by the logic of faith and the force +of your will; but it is the inbreathing of +the life of God; it is the living touch which +none can understand except those whose +senses are exercised to know the realities of +the world unseen. Often, therefore, a very +little truth will bring us much more help +and blessing than a great amount of instruction. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='258'/><anchor id='Pg258'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>September 9.</head> + +<p> +<q>All things are lawful for Me</q> (I. Cor. x. 23). +</p> + +<p> +I may be perfectly free myself to do +many things, the doing of which might +hurt my brother and wound his conscience, +and love will gladly surrender +the little indulgence, that she may save her +brother from temptation. There are many questions +which are easily settled by this principle. +</p> + +<p> +So there are many forms of recreation which, +in themselves might be harmless, and, under +certain circumstances, unobjectionable, but +they have become associated with worldliness +and godlessness, and have proved snares and +temptations to many a young heart and life; +and, therefore, the law of love would lead you +to avoid them, discountenance them, and in no +way give encouragement to others to participate +in them. +</p> + +<p> +It is just in these things that are not required +of us by absolute rules, but are the impulses +of a thoughtful love, that the highest +qualities of Christian character show themselves, +and the most delicate shades of Christian +love are manifested. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='259'/><anchor id='Pg259'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>September 10.</head> + +<p> +<q>Wherefore, receive ye one another as Christ also +received us, to the glory of God</q> (Rom. xv. 7). +</p> + +<p> +This is a sublime principle, and it will +give sublimity to life. It is stated elsewhere +in similar language, <q>Whatsoever +ye do in word or deed, do all in +the name of the Lord Jesus.</q> +</p> + +<p> +This is our high calling, to represent Christ, +and act in His behalf, and in His character and +spirit, under all circumstances and toward all +men. <q>What would Jesus do?</q> is a simple +question which will settle every difficulty, and +always settle it on the side of love. +</p> + +<p> +But we cannot answer this question rightly +without having Jesus Himself in our hearts. +We cannot <emph>act</emph> Christ. This is too grave a +matter for acting. We must <emph>have</emph> Christ, and +simply be natural and true to the life within +us, and that life will act itself out. +</p> + +<p> +Oh, how easy it is to love every one, and see +nothing but loveliness when our heart is filled +with Christ, and how every difficulty melts +away and every one we meet seems clothed +with the Spirit within us when we are filled +with the Holy Ghost! +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='260'/><anchor id='Pg260'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>September 11.</head> + +<p> +<q>Lo, I am with you all the days, even unto the end +of the age</q> (Matt. xxviii. 20). +</p> + +<p> +It is <q>all the days,</q> not <q>always.</q> He +comes to you each day with a new blessing. +Every morning, day by day, He +walks with us, with a love that never +tires and a blessing that never grows old. And +He is with us <q>all the days</q>; it is a ceaseless +abiding. There is no day so dark, so commonplace, +so uninteresting, but you find Him there. +Often, no doubt, He is unrecognized, as He +was on the way to Emmaus, until you realize +how your heart has been warmed, your love +stirred, your Bible so strangely vivified, and +every promise seems to speak to you with +heavenly reality and power. It is the Lord! +God grant that His living presence may be +made more real to us all henceforth, and whether +we have the consciousness and evidence, as +they had a few glorious times in those forty +days, or whether we go forth into the coming +days, as they did most of their days, to walk by +simple faith and in simple duty, let us know at +least that the fact is true forevermore, THAT +HE IS WITH US, a Presence all unseen, but +real, and ready if we needed Him any moment +to manifest Himself for our relief. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='261'/><anchor id='Pg261'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>September 12.</head> + +<p> +<q>The furnace for gold; but the Lord trieth the +hearts</q> (Prov. xvii. 3.) +</p> + +<p> +Remember that temptation is not sin +unless it be accompanied with the consent +of your will. There may seem to +be even the inclination, and yet the +real choice of your spirit is fixed immovably +against it, and God regards it simply as a solicitation +and credits you with an obedience all the +more pleasing to Him, because the temptation +was so strong. +</p> + +<p> +We little know how evil can find access to a +pure nature and seem to incorporate itself with +our thoughts and feelings, while at the same +time we resist and overcome it, and remain as +pure as the sea-fowl that emerges from the water +without a single drop remaining upon its +burnished wing, or as the harp string, which +may be struck by a rude or clumsy hand and +gives forth a discordant sound, not from any +defect of the harp, but because of the hand that +touches it. But let the Master hand play +upon it, and it is a chord of melody and a note +of exquisite delight. +</p> + +<p> +<q>In nothing terrified by your adversaries +which is to you an evident token of salvation +and that of God.</q> +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='262'/><anchor id='Pg262'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>September 13.</head> + +<p> +<q>Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which +is to try you</q> (I. Peter xii. 16). +</p> + +<p> +Most persons after a step of faith are +looking for sunny skies and unruffled +seas, and when they meet a +storm and tempest they are filled +with astonishment and perplexity. But this is +just what we must expect to meet if we have +received anything of the Lord. The best token +of His presence is the adversary's defiance, +and the more real our blessing, the more certainly +it will be challenged. It is a good thing +to go out looking for the worst, and if it comes +we are not surprised; while if our path be +smooth and our way be unopposed, it is all the +more delightful, because it comes as a glad +surprise. +</p> + +<p> +But let us quite understand what we mean +by temptation. You, especially, who have +stepped out with the assurance that you have +died to self and sin, may be greatly amazed to +find yourself assailed with a tempest of +thoughts and feelings that seem to come wholly +from within and you will be impelled to +say, <q>Why, I thought I was dead, but I seem to +be alive.</q> This, beloved, is the time to remember +that temptation, the instigation, is not sin, +but only of the evil one. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='263'/><anchor id='Pg263'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>September 14.</head> + +<p> +<q>For the Lord God will help me, therefore shall I not +be confounded; therefore, have I set my face like a +flint, and I know I shall not be ashamed</q> (Isa. l. 7). +</p> + +<p> +This is the language of trust and victory, +and it was through this faith, as +we are told in a passage in Hebrews, +that in His last agony, <q>Jesus, for the +joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, +despising the shame.</q> His life was a life of +faith, His death was a victory of faith, His +resurrection was a triumph of faith, His mediatorial +reign is all one long victory of faith, +<q>From henceforth expecting till all His enemies +be made His footstool.</q> +</p> + +<p> +And so, for us He has become the pattern +of faith, and in every situation of difficulty, +temptation and distress has gone before us +waving the banner of trust and triumph, and +bidding us to follow in His victorious footsteps. +</p> + +<p> +He is the great Pattern Believer. While we +must claim our salvation by faith, the Great +Forerunner also claimed the world's salvation +by the same faith. +</p> + +<p> +Let us therefore consider this glorious +Leader our perfect example, and as we follow +close behind Him, let us remember +where He has triumphed we may triumph, +too. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='264'/><anchor id='Pg264'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>September 15.</head> + +<p> +<q>Though it tarry, wait for it, for it will surely +come, and will not tarry</q> (Hab. ii. 3). +</p> + +<p> +Some things have their cycle in an hour +and some in a century; but His plans +shall complete their cycle whether long +or short. The tender annual which +blossoms for a season and dies, and the Columbian +aloe, which develops in a century, each is +true to its normal principle. Many of us desire +to pluck our fruit in June rather than wait +until October, and so, of course, it is sour and +immature; but God's purposes ripen slowly and +fully, and faith waits while it tarries, knowing +it will surely come and will not tarry too long. +</p> + +<p> +It is perfect rest to fully learn and wholly +trust this glorious promise. We may know +without a question that His purposes shall be +accomplished when we have fully committed +our ways to Him, and are walking in watchful +obedience to His every prompting. This faith +will give a calm and tranquil poise to the +spirit and save us from the restless fret and +trying to do too much ourselves. +</p> + +<lg> +<l>Wait, and every wrong will righten,</l> +<l>Wait, and every cloud will brighten,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 4'>If you only wait.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='265'/><anchor id='Pg265'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>September 16.</head> + +<p> +<q>I will never leave Thee nor forsake Thee</q> (Heb. +xiii. 5). +</p> + +<p> +It is most cheering thus to know that although +we err and bring upon ourselves +many troubles that might have been +easily averted, yet God does not forsake +even His mistaken child, but on his humble repentance +and supplication is ever really both to +pardon and deliver. Let us not give up our +faith because we have perhaps stepped out of +the path in which He would have led us. The +Israelites did not follow when He called them +into the Land of Promise, yet God did not +desert them; but during the forty years of +their wandering He walked by their side bearing +their backsliding with patient compassion, +and waiting to be gracious unto them when +another generation should have come. <q>In all +their afflictions He was afflicted, but the Angel +of His presence saved them; He bare them and +carried them all the days of old.</q> And so yet, +while our wanderings bring us many sorrows +and lose us many blessings, to the heart which +truly chooses His, He has graciously said: +<q>I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.</q> +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='266'/><anchor id='Pg266'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>September 17.</head> + +<p> +<q>Thy people shall be a freewill offering in the day +of Thy power</q> (Ps. cx. 3). +</p> + +<p> +This is what the term consecration +properly means. It is the voluntary +surrender or self-offering of the heart, +by the constraint of love to be the +Lord's. Its glad expression is, <q>I am my Beloved's.</q> +It must spring, of course, from faith. +There must be the full confidence that we are +safe in this abandonment, that we are not falling +over a precipice, or surrendering ourselves +to the hands of a judge, but that we are sinking +into a Father's arms and stepping into an +infinite inheritance. Oh, it is an infinite inheritance. +Oh, it is an infinite privilege to be permitted +thus to give ourselves up to One who +pledges Himself to make us all that we would +love to be, nay, all that His infinite wisdom, +power and love will delight to accomplish in +us. It is the clay yielding itself to the potter's +hands that it may be shaped into a vessel +of honor, and meet for the Master's use. +It is the poor street waif consenting to become +the child of a prince that he may be educated +and provided for, that he may be prepared +to inherit all the wealth of his guardian. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='267'/><anchor id='Pg267'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>September 18.</head> + +<p> +<q>We walk by faith, not by sight</q> (II. Cor. v. 7). +</p> + +<p> +There are heavenly notes which have +power to break down walls of adamant +and dissolve mountains of difficulty. +The song of Paul and Silas burst the +fetters of the Philippian gaol; the choir of Jehoshaphat +put to flight the armies of the Ammonites, +and the song of faith will disperse our +adversaries and lift our sinking hearts into +strength and victory. Beloved, is it the dark +hour with us? the winter of barrenness and +gloom? Oh, let us remember that it is God's +chosen time for the education of faith and that +He conceals beneath the surface, precious and +untold harvests of unthought-of fruit! It will +not be always winter, it will not be always +night, and when the morning comes and spring +spreads its verdant mantle over the barren +fields then we shall be glad that we did not disappoint +our Father in the hour of testing, but +that faith had already claimed and seen in the +distance the glad fruition which sight now beholds, +with a rapture even less than the vision +of naked faith. +</p> + +<p> +Lord, help me to believe when I cannot see, +and learn from my trials to trust Thee more. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='268'/><anchor id='Pg268'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>September 19.</head> + +<p> +<q>In due season we shall reap if we faint not</q> (Gal. vi. 9). +</p> + +<p> +If the least of us could only anticipate the +eternal issues that will probably spring +from the humblest services of faith, we +should only count our sacrifices and labors +unspeakable heritages of honor and opportunity, +and would cease to speak of trials +and sacrifices for God. +</p> + +<p> +The smallest grain of faith is a deathless and +incorruptible germ, which will yet plant the +heavens and cover the earth with harvests of +imperishable glory. Lift up your head, beloved, +the horizon is wider than the little circle +that you can see. We are living, we are +suffering, we are laboring, we are trusting, for +the ages yet to come. <q>Let us not be weary in +well doing for in due season we shall reap if we +faint not,</q> and with tears of transport we shall +cry some day, <q>Oh, how great is thy goodness +which Thou hast laid up for them that fear +Thee, which Thou hast wrought for them that +trust in Thee before the sons of men.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Help me to-day to live under the powers of +the world to come, and to live as a man in +heaven walking upon the earth. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='269'/><anchor id='Pg269'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>September 20.</head> + +<p> +<q>They shall not be ashamed that wait</q> (Isa. xlix. 23). +</p> + +<p> +Often He calls us aside from our work +for a season and bids us be still and +learn ere we go forth again to minister. +Especially is this so when there +has been some serious break, some sudden failure +and some radical defect in our work. There +is no time lost in such waiting hours. Fleeing +from his enemies the ancient knight found that +his horse needed to be reshod. Prudence +seemed to urge him without delay, but higher +wisdom taught him to halt a few minutes at the +blacksmith's forge by the way to have the shoe +replaced, and although he heard the feet of his +pursuers galloping hard behind, yet he waited +those minutes until his charger was refitted for +his flight, and then, leaping into his saddle just +as they appeared a hundred yards away, he +dashed away from them with the fleetness of +the wind, and knew that his halting had hastened +his escape. So often God bids us tarry +ere we go, and fully recover ourselves for the +next great stage of the journey and work. +</p> + +<p> +Lord, teach me to be still and know that +Thou art God and all this day to walk with God. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='270'/><anchor id='Pg270'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>September 21.</head> + +<p> +<q>Faint, yet pursuing</q> (Judges viii. 4). +</p> + +<p> +It is a great thing thus to learn to depend +upon God to work through our feeble resources, +and yet, while so depending, to +be absolutely faithful and diligent, and +not allow our trust to deteriorate into supineness +and indolence. We find no sloth or negligence +in Gideon, or his three hundred; though +they were weak and few, they were wholly +true, and everything in them ready for God to +use to the very last. <q>Faint yet pursuing</q> was +their watchword as they followed and finished +their glorious victory, and they rested not until +the last of their enemies were destroyed, and +even their false friends were punished for their +treachery and unfaithfulness. +</p> + +<p> +So God still calls the weakest instruments, +but when He chooses and enables them they +are no longer weak, but <q>mighty through +God,</q> and faithful through His grace to every +trust and opportunity; <q>trusting,</q> as Dr. Chalmers +used to say, <q>as though all depended upon +God, and working as though all depended upon +themselves.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Teach me, my blessed Master, to trust and +obey. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='271'/><anchor id='Pg271'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>September 22.</head> + +<p> +<q>We see not yet all things put under Him, but we +see Jesus</q> (Heb. ii. 8, 9). +</p> + +<p> +How true this is to us all! How many +things there are that seem to be +stronger than we are, but blessed be +His name! they are all in subjection +under Him, and we see Jesus crowned above +them all; and Jesus is our Head, our representative, +our other self, and where He is we shall +surely be. Therefore when we fail to see anything +that God has promised, and that we have +claimed in our experience, let us look up and +see it realized in Him, and claim it in Him +for ourselves. Our side is only half the circle, +the heaven side is already complete, and +the rainbow of which we see not the upper +half, shall one day be all around the +throne and take in the other hemisphere of +all our now unfinished life. By faith, then, +let us enter into all our inheritance. Let us +lift up our eyes to the north and to the +south, to the east and to the west, and hear +Him say, <q>All the land that thou seest will +I give thee.</q> Let us remember that the circle, +is complete, that the inheritance is unlimited, +and that all things are put under His +feet. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='272'/><anchor id='Pg272'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>September 23.</head> + +<p> +<q>I am the Lord that healeth thee</q> (Ex. xv. 26). +</p> + +<p> +It is very reasonable that God should expect +us to trust Him for our bodies as +well as our souls, for if our faith is not +practical enough to bring us temporal +relief, how can we be educated for real dependence +upon God for anything that involves serious +risk? It is all very well to talk about +trusting God for the distant and future prospect +of salvation after death! There is scarcely +a sinner in a Christian land that does not trust +to be saved some day, but there is no grasp in +faith like this. It is only when we come face +to face with positive issues and overwhelming +forces that we can prove the reality of Divine +power in a supernatural life. Hence as an education +to our very spirits as well as a gracious +provision for our temporal life, God has +trained His people from the beginning to recognize +Him as the supply of all their needs, and +to look to Him as the Physician of their bodies +and Father of their spirits. Beloved, have you +learned the meaning of Jehovah-rophi, and has +it changed your Marah of trial into an Elim of +blessing and praise? +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='273'/><anchor id='Pg273'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>September 24.</head> + +<p> +<q>He calleth things that are not as though they +were</q> (Rom. iv. 17). +</p> + +<p> +The Word of God creates what it commands. +When Christ says to any of us +<q>Now are ye clean through the word +which I have spoken unto you,</q> We +are clean. When He says <q>no condemnation</q> +there is none, though there has been a lifetime +of sin before. And when He says, <q>mighty +through God to the pulling down of strongholds,</q> +then the weak are strong. This is the +part of faith, to take God at His Word, and +then expect Him to make it real. A French +commander thanked a common soldier who +had saved his life and called him captain, although +he was but a private, but the man took +the commander at his word, accepted the new +name and was thereby constituted indeed a +captain. +</p> + +<p> +Shall we thus take God's creating word of +justification, sanctification, power and deliverance +and thus make real the mighty promise, +<q>He giveth power to the faint, and to them that +have no might He increaseth strength; for they +that wait on the Lord shall renew their +strength.</q> +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='274'/><anchor id='Pg274'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>September 25.</head> + +<p> +<q>The faith of the Son of God</q> (Gal. ii. 20). +</p> + +<p> +Let us learn the secret even of our faith. +It is the faith of Christ, springing in +our heart and trusting in our trials. +So shall we always sing, <q>The life that +I now live I live by the faith of the Son of +God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.</q> +Thus looking off unto Jesus, <q>the Author and +Finisher of our faith,</q> we shall find that instead +of struggling to reach the promises of God, we +shall lie down upon them in blessed repose and +be borne up by them with the faith which is +no more our own than the promises upon which +it rests. Each new need will find us leaning +afresh on Him for the grace to trust and to +overcome. +</p> + +<p> +Further we see here the true spirit of prayer. +It is the Spirit of Christ in us. <q>In the midst +of the church will I sing praises unto thee.</q> +Christ still sings these praises in the trusting +heart and lifts our prayers into songs of victory! +This is the true spirit of prayer, like +Paul and Silas in the prison at Philippi, turning +prayer into praise, night into day, the night +of sorrow into the morning of joy, and when +He is in us, the spirit of faith, He will also become +the spirit of praise. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='275'/><anchor id='Pg275'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>September 26.</head> + +<p> +<q>I will be with Him in trouble</q> (Ps. xci. 15). +</p> + +<p> +The question often comes, <q>Why didn't +He help me sooner!</q> It is not His +order. He must first adjust you to the +situation and cause you to learn your +lesson from it. His promise is, <q>I will be with +him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor +him.</q> He must be with you in the trouble +first until you grow quiet. Then He will take +you out of it. This will not come till you have +stopped being restless and fretful about it and +become calm and trustful. Then He will say, +<q>It is enough.</q> +</p> + +<p> +God uses trouble to teach His children precious +lessons. They are intended to educate +us. When their good work is done a glorious +recompense will come to us through them. +There is a sweet joy and opportunity in them. +He does not regard them as difficulties but as +opportunities. They have come to give +God a greater interest in you, and to show +how He can deliver you from them. We +cannot have a mercy worth praising God for +without difficulty. God is as deep, and +long, and high, as our little world of circumstances. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='276'/><anchor id='Pg276'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>September 27.</head> + +<p> +<q>The glorious liberty of the children of God</q> +(Rom. viii. 21). +</p> + +<p> +Are you above self and self-pleasing in +every way? Have you got above circumstances +so that you are not influenced +by them? Are you above sickness +and the evil forces around that would +drag down your physical life into the quicksands? +These forces are all around, and if +yielded to would quickly swamp us. God does +not destroy sickness, or its power to hurt, but +He lifts us above it. Are you above your feelings, +moods, emotions and states? Can you +sail immovable as the stars through all sorts +of weather? A harp will give out sweet music +or discordant sounds as different fingers touch +the strings. If the devil's hand is on your harp +strings what hideous sounds it will give. Let +the fingers of the Lord sweep it, and it will +breathe out celestial music. Are you lifted +above people, so that you are not bound by or +to any one except in the dear Lord, and are +you standing free in His glorious life? +</p> + +<lg> +<l><q rend='pre'>I am risen with Christ, I am dwelling above;</q></l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>I am walking with Jesus below,</l> +<l>I am shedding the light of His glory and love</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'><q rend='post'>Around me wherever I go.</q></l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='277'/><anchor id='Pg277'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>September 28.</head> + +<p> +<q>The trial of your faith being much more precious +than gold</q> (I. Peter i. 7). +</p> + +<p> +Our trials are great opportunities. Too +often we look on them as great obstacles. +It would be a heaven of rest +and an inspiration of unspeakable +power if each of us would henceforth recognize +every difficult situation as one of God's +chosen ways of proving to us His love and +power, and if instead of calculating upon defeat +we should begin to look around for the +messages of His glorious manifestations. Then +indeed would every cloud become a rainbow, +and every mountain a path of ascension and a +scene of transfiguration. If we will look upon +the past, many of us will find that the very +time our heavenly Father has chosen to do +the kindest things for us and give us the richest +blessings has been the time when we were +strained and shut in on every side. God's jewels +are often sent us in rough packages and by +dark liveried servants, but within we find the +very treasures of the King's palace and the +Bridegroom's Love. +</p> + +<lg> +<l>Fire of God, thy work begin,</l> +<l>Burn up the dross of self and sin;</l> +<l>Burn off my fetters, set me free,</l> +<l>And through the furnace walk with me.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='278'/><anchor id='Pg278'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>September 29.</head> + +<p> +<q>Call not thou common</q> (Acts x. 15). +</p> + +<p> +<q>There is nothing common of itself</q> (Rom. xiv. 14). +</p> + +<p> +We can bring Christ into common +things as fully as into what we call +religious services. Indeed, it is the +highest and hardest application of +Divine grace, to bring it down to the ordinary +matters of life, and therefore God is far more +honored in this than even in things that are +more specially sacred. +</p> + +<p> +Therefore, in the twelfth chapter of Romans, +which is the manual of practical consecration, +just after the passage that speaks of ministering +in sacred things, the apostle comes at once +to the common, social and secular affairs into +which we are to bring our consecration +principles. We read: <q>Be kindly affectioned +one to another with brotherly love; in honor +preferring one another; not slothful in +business; fervent in spirit; serving the +Lord.</q> +</p> + +<p> +God wants the Levites scattered all over the +cities of Israel. He wants your workshop, factory, +kitchen, nursery, editor's room and printing-office, +as much as your pulpit and closet. +He wants you to be just as holy at high noon +on Monday or Wednesday, as in the sanctuary +on Sabbath morning. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='279'/><anchor id='Pg279'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>September 30.</head> + +<p> +<q>In the secret places of the stairs</q> (Song of Solomon ii. 14). +</p> + +<p> +The dove is in the cleft of the rock—the +riven side of our Lord. There is comfort +and security there. It is also in +the secret places of the stairs. It loves +to build its nest in the high towers to which +men mount the winding stairs for hundreds of +feet above the ground. What a glorious vision +is there obtained of the surrounding scenery. +It is a picture of ascending life. To reach its +highest altitudes we must find the secret places +of the stairs. That is the only way to rise +above the natural plane. Our life should be +one of quiet mounting with occasional resting +places; but we should be mounting higher step +by step. Everybody does not find this way of +secret ascent. It is for God's chosen ones. The +world may think you are going down. You +may not have as much public work to do as +formerly. <q>Blessed are the poor in spirit.</q> +It is a secret, hidden life. We may be hardly +aware that we are growing, till some day a +test comes and we find we are established. +Have you got above the power of sin so that +Christ is keeping you from wilful disobedience? +Does it give you a shudder to know the consciousness +of sin? Are you lifted above the world? +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='280'/><anchor id='Pg280'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>October 1.</head> + +<p> +<q>That in the ages to come He might show the exceeding +riches of His grace</q> (Eph. ii. 7). +</p> + +<p> +Christ's great purpose for His people +is to train them up to know the +hope of their calling, and the riches of +the glory of their inheritance and what +the exceeding greatness of His power toward +us who believe. +</p> + +<p> +Let us prove, in all our varied walks of life, +and scenes of conflict, the fulness of His power +and grace and thus shall we know <q>In the ages +to come the exceeding riches of His grace in +His kindness to us in Jesus Christ.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Beloved, are you thus following your Teacher +in the school of faith, and finishing the education +which is by and by to fit you for <q>a far +more exceeding and eternal weight of glory</q>? +This is only the School of Faith. +</p> + +<p> +Little can we now dream what these lessons +will mean for us some day, when sitting with +Him on His throne and sharing with Him the +power of God and the government of the universe. +Let us be faithful scholars now and +soon with Him, we too, will have <q>endured the +cross despising the shame,</q> and shall <q>sit +down at the right hand of the throne of God.</q> +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='281'/><anchor id='Pg281'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>October 2.</head> + +<p> +<q>Moses gave not any inheritance; the Lord God +of Israel was their inheritance, as He said unto +them</q> (Josh. xiii. 33). +</p> + +<p> +This is very significant. God gave the +land to the other tribes but He gave +Himself to the Levites. There is such +a thing in Christian life as an inheritance +from the Lord, and there is such a thing +as having the Lord Himself for our inheritance. +</p> + +<p> +Some people get a sanctification from the +Lord which is of much value, but which is variable, +and often impermanent. Others have +learned the higher lesson of taking the Lord +Himself to be their keeper and their sanctity, +and abiding in Him they are kept above the +vicissitudes of their own states and feelings. +</p> + +<p> +Some get from the Lord large measures of +joy and blessing, and times of refreshing. +</p> + +<p> +Others, again, learn to take the Lord Himself +as their joy. +</p> + +<p> +Some people are content to have peace with +God, but others have taken <q>the peace of God +that passeth all understanding.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Some have faith <emph>in</emph> God, while others have +the faith <emph>of</emph> God. Some have many touches of +healing from God, others, again, have learned +to live in the very health of God Himself. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='282'/><anchor id='Pg282'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>October 3.</head> + +<p> +<q>The little foxes that spoil the vines</q> (Song of Solomon, +ii. 15). +</p> + +<p> +There are some things good, without +being perfect. You don't need to have +a whole regiment cannonading outside +your room to keep you awake. It is +quite enough that your little alarm clock rings +its little bell. It is not necessary to fret about +everything; it is quite enough if the devil gets +your mind rasped with one little worry, one +little thought which destroys your perfect +peace. It is like the polish on a mirror, or an +exquisite toilet table, one scratch will destroy +it; and the finer it is the smaller the scratch +that will deface it. And so your rest can be +destroyed by a very little thing. Perhaps you +have trusted in God about your future salvation; +but have you about your present business +or earthly cares, your money and your family? +</p> + +<p> +What is meant by the peace that passeth all +understanding? It does not mean a peace no +one can comprehend. It means a peace that +no amount of reasoning will bring. You cannot +get it by thinking. There may be perfect +bewilderment and perplexity all round the horizon, +but yet your heart can rest in perfect security +because He knows, He loves, He leads. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='283'/><anchor id='Pg283'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>October 4.</head> + +<p> +<q>Instead of the brier, the myrtle tree</q> (Isa. lv. 13). +</p> + +<p> +God's sweetest memorial is the transformed +thorn and the thistle blooming +with flowers of peace and sweetness, +where once grew recriminations. +</p> + +<p> +Beloved, God is waiting to make just such +memorials in your life, out of the things that +are hurting you most to-day. Take the grievances, +the separations, the strained friendships +and the broken ties which have been the sorrow +and heartbreak of your life, and let God heal +them, and give you grace to make you right +with all with whom you may be wrong, and +you will wonder at the joy and blessing that +will come out of the things that have caused +you nothing but regret and pain. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall +be called the children of God.</q> The everlasting +employment of our blessed Redeemer is to +reconcile the guilty and the estranged from +God, and the highest and most Christ-like work +that we can do is, to be like Him. +</p> + +<p> +Shall we go forth to dry the tears of a sorrowing +world, to heal the broken-hearted, to +bind up the wounds of human lives, and to +unite heart to heart, and earth to heaven? +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='284'/><anchor id='Pg284'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>October 5.</head> + +<p> +<q>He hath triumphed gloriously</q> (Ex. xv. 1). +</p> + +<p> +Beloved, God calls us to victory. +Have any of you given up the conflict, +have you surrendered? Have you +said, <q>This thing is too much</q>? Have +you said, <q>I can give up anything else but +this</q>? If you have, you are not in the land of +promise. God means you should accept every +difficult thing that comes in your life. He has +started with you, knowing every difficulty. +And if you dare to let Him, He will carry you +through not only to be conquerors, but <q>more +than conquerors.</q> Are you looking for all the +victory? +</p> + +<p> +God gives His children strength for the battle +and watches over them with a fond enthusiasm. +He longs to fold you to His arms and +say to you, <q>I have seen thy conflict, I have +watched thy trials, I have rejoiced in thy victory; +thou hast honored Me.</q> You know He +told Joshua at the beginning, <q>There shall not +any man be able to stand before thee all the +days of thy life; as I was with Moses, so shall +I be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake +thee.</q> And again, He says to us, <q>Fear thou +not, for I am with thee.</q> +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='285'/><anchor id='Pg285'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>October 6.</head> + +<p> +<q>Ephraim, he hath mixed himself</q> (Hos. vii. 8). +</p> + +<p> +It is a great thing to learn to take God +first, and then He can afford to give us +everything else, without the fear of its +hurting us. +</p> + +<p> +As long as you want anything very much, especially +more than you want God, it is an idol. +But when you become satisfied with God, +everything else so loses its charm that He can +give it to you without harm, and then you can +take just as much as you choose, and use it for +His glory. +</p> + +<p> +There is no harm whatever in having money, +houses, lands, friends and dearest children, if +you do not value these things for themselves. +</p> + +<p> +If you have been separated from them in +spirit, and become satisfied with God Himself, +then they will become to you channels to be +filled with God to bring Him nearer to you. +Then every little lamb around your household +will be a tender cord to bind you to the Shepherd's +heart. Then every affection will be a +little golden cup filled with the wine of His +love. Then every bank, stock and investment +will be but a channel through which you can +pour out His benevolence and extend His gifts. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='286'/><anchor id='Pg286'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>October 7.</head> + +<p> +<q>He opened not His mouth</q> (Isa. liii. 7). +</p> + +<p> +How much grace it requires to bear a +misunderstanding rightly, and to receive +an unkind judgment in holy +sweetness! Nothing tests a Christian +character more than to have some evil thing +said about him. This is the file that soon +proves whether we are electro-plate or solid +gold. If we could only know the blessings that +lie hidden in our lives, we would say, like David, +when Shimei cursed him, <q>Let him curse; +it may be the Lord will requite me good for +his cursing this day.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Some people get easily turned aside from the +grandeur of their life-work by pursuing their +own grievances and enemies, until their life +gets turned into one little petty whirl of warfare. +It is like a nest of hornets. You may +disperse the hornets, but you will probably +get terribly stung, and get nothing for +your pains, for even their honey is not worth +a search. +</p> + +<p> +God give us more of His Spirit, who, when +reviled, reviled not again; but committed Himself +to Him that judgeth righteously. +</p> + +<p> +Consider Him that endured such contradiction +of sinners against Himself. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='287'/><anchor id='Pg287'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>October 8.</head> + +<p> +<q>There failed not aught of any good thing which the +Lord had spoken</q> (Josh. xxi. 45). +</p> + +<p> +Some day, even you, trembling, faltering +one, shall stand upon those heights +and look back upon all you have passed +through, all you have narrowly escaped, +all the perils through which He guided +you, the stumblings through which He guarded +you, and the sins from which He saved you; +and you shall shout, with a meaning you cannot +understand now, <q>Salvation unto Him who sitteth +upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Some day He will sit down with us in that +glorious home, and we shall have all the ages +in which to understand the story of our lives. +And He will read over again this old marked +Bible with us, He will show us how He kept +all these promises, He will explain to us the +mysteries that we could not understand, He +will recall to our memory the things we have +long forgotten, He will go over again with us +the book of life, He will recall all the finished +story, and I am sure we will often cry: <q>Blessed +Christ! you have been so true, you have been +so good! Was there ever love like this?</q> And +then the great chorus will be repeated once +more—<q>There failed not aught of any good +thing that He hath spoken; all came to pass.</q> +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='288'/><anchor id='Pg288'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>October 9.</head> + +<p> +<q>Peace be unto you</q> (John xx. 19, 21). +</p> + +<p> +This is the type of His first appearing to +our hearts when He comes to bring us +His peace and to teach us to trust Him +and love Him. +</p> + +<p> +But there is a second peace which He has to +give. Jesus said unto them again, <q>Peace be +unto you.</q> There is a <q>peace,</q> and there is +an <q>again peace.</q> There is a peace with God, +and there is <q>the peace of God that passeth understanding.</q> +It is the deeper peace that we +need before we can serve Him or be used for +His glory. +</p> + +<p> +While we are burdened with our own cares, +He cannot give us His. While we are occupied +with ourselves, we cannot be at leisure to serve +Him. Our minds will be so filled with our own +anxieties that we would not be equal to the +trust which He requires of us, and so, before +He can entrust us with His work, He wants to +deliver us from every burden and anxiety. +</p> + +<lg> +<l><q rend='pre'>Peace, perfect peace, in this dark world of sin,</q></l> +<l>The blood of Jesus whispers peace within.</l> +<l>Peace, perfect peace, by thronging duties pressed,</l> +<l><q rend='post'>To do the will of Jesus, this is rest.</q></l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='289'/><anchor id='Pg289'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>October 10.</head> + +<p> +<q>If ye, through the Spirit, do mortify the deeds of +the body, ye shall live</q> (Rom. viii. 13). +</p> + +<p> +The Holy Spirit is the only one who can +kill us and keep us dead. Many Christians +try to do this disagreeable work +themselves, and they are going through +a continual crucifixion, but they can never accomplish +the work permanently. This is the +work of the Holy Spirit, and when you really +yield yourself to the death, it is delightful to +find how sweetly He can slay you. +</p> + +<p> +By the touch of the electric spark they tell +us life is extinguished almost without a quiver +of pain. But, however this may be in natural +things, we know the Holy Spirit can touch +with celestial fire the surrendered thing, and +slay it in a moment, after it is really yielded +up to the sentence of death. That is our business, +and it is God's business to execute that +sentence, and to keep it constantly operative. +</p> + +<p> +Don't let us live in the pain of perpetual and +ineffectual suicide, but reckoning ourselves +dead indeed, let us leave ourselves in the hands +of the blessed Holy Spirit, and He will slay +whatever rises in opposition to His will, and +keep us true to our heavenly reckoning, and +filled with His resurrection life. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='290'/><anchor id='Pg290'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>October 11.</head> + +<p> +<q>And He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what +is the mind of the Spirit, because He maketh intercession +for the saints according to the will of God</q> +(Rom. viii. 27). +</p> + +<p> +The Holy Spirit becomes to the consecrated +heart the Spirit of intercession. +We have two Advocates. We have an +Advocate with the Father, who prays +for us at God's right hand; but the Holy Spirit +is the Advocate within, who prays in us, inspiring +our petitions and presenting them, through +Christ, to God. +</p> + +<p> +We need this Advocate. We know not what +to pray for, and we know not how to pray as +we ought, but He breathes in the holy heart +the desires that we may not always understand, +the groanings which we could not utter. +</p> + +<p> +But God understands, and He, with a loving +Father's heart, is always searching our hearts +to find the Spirit's prayer, and to answer it. +He finds many a prayer there that we have not +discovered, and answers many a cry that we +never understood. And when we reach our +home and read the records of life, we shall better +know and appreciate the infinite love of +that Divine Friend, who has watched within +as the Spirit of prayer, and breathed out our +every need to the heart of God. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='291'/><anchor id='Pg291'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>October 12.</head> + +<p> +<q>The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath +made me free</q> (Rom. viii. 2). +</p> + +<p> +The life of Jesus Christ brought into our +heart by the Holy Spirit, operates +there as a new law of divine strength +and vitality, and counteracts, overcomes +and lifts us above the old law of sin and +death. +</p> + +<p> +Let us illustrate these two laws by a simple +comparison. Look at my hand. By the law of +gravitation it naturally falls upon the desk and +lies there, attracted downward by that natural +law which makes heavy bodies fall to the +earth. +</p> + +<p> +But there is a stronger law than the law of +gravitation—my own life and will. And so +through the operation of this higher law—the +law of vitality—I defy the law of gravitation, +and lift my hand and hold it above its former +resting-place, and move it at my will. The law +of vitality has made me free from the law of +gravitation. +</p> + +<p> +Precisely so the indwelling life of Christ Jesus, +operating with the power of a law, lifts +me above, and counteracts the power of sin in +my fallen nature. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='292'/><anchor id='Pg292'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>October 13.</head> + +<p> +<q>The carnal mind is enmity against God</q> (Rom. viii. 7). +</p> + +<p> +The flesh is incurably bad. <q>It is not +subject to the law of God, neither, indeed, +can be.</q> It never can be any +better. It is no use trying to improve +the flesh. You may educate it all you please. +You may train it by the most approved methods, +you may set before it the brightest examples, +you may pipe to it or mourn to it, treat it +with encouragement or severity; its nature will +always be incorrigibly the same. +</p> + +<p> +Like the wild hawk which the little child +captures in its infancy and tries to train in the +habits of the dove, before you are aware it will +fasten its cruel beak upon the gentle fingers +that would caress it, and show the old wild +spirit of fear and ferocity. It is a hawk by +nature, and it can never be made a dove. <q>For +the carnal mind is enmity against God. It is +not subject to the law of God, neither, indeed, +can be.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The only remedy for human nature is to destroy +it, and receive instead the divine nature. +God does not improve man. He crucifies the +natural life with Christ, and creates the new +man in Christ Jesus. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='293'/><anchor id='Pg293'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>October 14.</head> + +<p> +<q>Get thee, behind me, Satan</q> (Matt. xvi. 23). +</p> + +<p> +When your old self comes back, if you +listen to it, fear it, believe it, it will +have the same influence upon you as +if it were not dead; it will control +you and destroy you. But if you will ignore +it and say: <q>You are not I, but Satan trying +to make me believe that the old self is not +dead; I refuse you, I treat you as a demon +power outside of me, I detach myself from +you</q>; if you treat it as a wife would her divorced +husband, saying: <q>You are nothing to +me, you have no power over me, I have renounced +you, in the name of Jesus I bid you +hence,</q>—lo! the evil thing will disappear, the +shadow will vanish, the wand of faith will lay +the troubled spirit, and send it back to the +abyss, and you will find that Christ is there +instead, with His risen life, to back up your +confidence and seal your victory. +</p> + +<p> +Satan can stand anything better than neglect. +If you ignore him he gets disgusted and +disappears. Jesus used to turn His back upon +him and say, <q>Get thee behind Me, Satan.</q> So +let us refuse him, and we shall find that he will +be compelled to act according to our faith. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='294'/><anchor id='Pg294'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>October 15.</head> + +<p> +<q>Faith is the evidence of things not seen</q> (Heb. xi. 1). +</p> + +<p> +True faith drops its letter in the post-office +box, and lets it go. Distrust +holds on to a corner of it, and wonders +that the answer never comes. +</p> + +<p> +I have some letters in my desk that have +been written for weeks, but there was some +slight uncertainty about the address or the +contents, so they are yet unmailed. They +have not done either me or anybody else +any good yet. They will never accomplish +anything until I let them go out of my +hands and trust them to the postman and the +mail. +</p> + +<p> +This is the case with true faith. It hands +its case over to God, and then He works. +</p> + +<p> +That is a fine verse in the thirty-seventh +Psalm: <q>Commit thy way unto the Lord, trust +also in Him, and He worketh.</q> But He never +worketh until we commit. +</p> + +<p> +Faith is a receiving, or still better, a taking +of God's proffered gifts. We may believe, and +come, and commit, and rest, but we will not +fully realize all our blessing until we begin to +receive and come into the attitude of abiding and +taking. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='295'/><anchor id='Pg295'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>October 16.</head> + +<p> +<q>Whereas thou hast been forsaken and hated, I will +make thee a joy</q> (Isa. lx. 15). +</p> + +<p> +God loves to take the most lost of men, +and make them the most magnificent +memorials of His redeeming love and +power. He loves to take the victims +of Satan's hate, and the lives that have been +the most fearful examples of his power to destroy, +and to use them to illustrate and illuminate +the possibilities of Divine mercy and the +new creations of the Holy Spirit. +</p> + +<p> +He loves to take the things in our own lives +that have been the worst, the hardest and the +most hostile to God, and to transform them so +that we shall be the opposites of our former +selves. +</p> + +<p> +The sweetest spirits are made out of the +most stormy and self-willed, the mightiest faith +is created out of a wilderness of doubts and +fears, and the Divinest love is transformed out +of stony hearts of hate and selfishness. +</p> + +<p> +The grace of God is equal to the most uncongenial +temperaments, to the most unfavorable +circumstances; and its glory is to transform a +curse into blessing, and show to men and +angels of ages yet to come, that <q>where sin +abounded, there grace did much more abound.</q> +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='296'/><anchor id='Pg296'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>October 17.</head> + +<p> +<q>Abraham believed God</q> (Rom. iv. 3). +</p> + +<p> +Abraham's faith reposed on God +Himself. He knew the God he was +dealing with. It was a personal confidence +in one whom he could utterly +trust. +</p> + +<p> +The real secret of Abraham's whole life was +that he was the friend of God, and knew God +to be his great, good and faithful Friend, and, +taking Him at His word, he had stepped out +from all that he knew and loved, and gone forth +upon an unknown pathway with none but God. +</p> + +<p> +Beloved, are we trusting not only in the word +of God, but have we learned to lean our whole +weight upon Himself, the God of infinite love +and power, our covenant God and everlasting +Friend? +</p> + +<p> +We are told that Abraham glorified God by +this life of faith. The true way to glorify God +is to let the world see what He is, and what +He can do. God does not want us so much to +do things, as to let people see what He can do. +God is not looking for extraordinary characters +as His instruments, but He is looking for +humble instruments through whom He can be +honored throughout the ages. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='297'/><anchor id='Pg297'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>October 18.</head> + +<p> +<q>All things are naked and open unto the eyes of +Him with whom we have to do</q> (Heb. iv. 13). +</p> + +<p> +The literal translation of this phrase is, +all things are stripped and stunned. +This is the force of the Greek words. +The figure is that of an athlete in the +Coliseum who has fought his best in the arena, +and has at length fallen at the feet of his adversary, +disarmed and broken down in helplessness. +There he lies, unable to strike a blow, or +lift his arm. He is stripped and stunned, disarmed +and disabled, and there is nothing left +for him but to lie at the feet of his adversary +and throw up his arms for mercy. +</p> + +<p> +Now this is the position that God wants to +bring us to, where we shall cease our struggles +and our attempts at self-defence or self-improvement, +and throw ourselves helplessly +upon the mercy of God. This is the sinner's +only hope, and when he thus lies at the feet of +mercy, Jesus is ready to lift him up and give +him that free salvation which is waiting for all. +</p> + +<p> +This, too, is the greatest need of the Christian +seeking a deeper and higher life, to come +to a full realization of his nothingness and helplessness, +and to lie down, stripped and stunned +at the feet of Jesus. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='298'/><anchor id='Pg298'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>October 19.</head> + +<p> +<q>Denying ungodliness</q> (Titus ii. 12). +</p> + +<p> +Let us say, <q>No,</q> to the flesh, the world +and the love of self, and learn that +holy self-denial in which consists so +much of the life of obedience. Make +no provision for the flesh; give no recognition +to your lower life. Say <q>No</q> to everything +earthly and selfish. How very much of the life +of faith consists in simply denying ourselves. +</p> + +<p> +We begin with one great <q>Yes,</q> to God, and +then we conclude with an eternal <q>No,</q> to ourselves, +the world, the flesh and the devil. +</p> + +<p> +If you look at the ten commandments of the +Decalogue, you will find that nearly every one +of them is a <q>Thou shalt not.</q> If you read +the thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians, +with its beautiful picture of love, you will find +that most of the characteristics of love are in +the negative, what love <q>does not, thinks not, +says not, is not.</q> And so you will find that the +largest part of the life of consecration is really +saying, <q>No.</q> +</p> + +<lg> +<l>I am not my own,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>I belong to Him.</l> +<l>I am His alone,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>I belong to Him.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='299'/><anchor id='Pg299'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>October 20.</head> + +<p> +<q>Let us not be weary in well-doing</q> (Gal. vi. 9). +</p> + +<p> +If Paul could only know the consolation +and hope that he has ministered to the +countless generations who have marched +along the pathway from the cross to the +Kingdom above, he would be willing to go +through a thousand lives and a thousand +deaths such as he endured for the blessing that +has followed since his noble head rolled in the +dust by the Ostian gate of Rome. +</p> + +<p> +And if the least of us could only anticipate +the eternal issues that will probably spring +from the humblest services of faith, we should +only count our sacrifices and labors unspeakable +heritages of honor and opportunity, and +would cease to speak of trials and sacrifices +made for God. +</p> + +<p> +The smallest grain of faith is a deathless and +incorruptible germ, which will yet plant the +heavens and cover the earth with harvests of +imperishable glory. Lift up your head, beloved, +the horizon is wider than the little circle +that you can see. We are living, we are suffering, +we are laboring, we are trusting, for the +ages yet to come! +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='300'/><anchor id='Pg300'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>October 21.</head> + +<p> +<q>Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?</q> (Rom. viii. 35). +</p> + +<p> +And then comes the triumphant answer, +after all the possible obstacles and +enemies have been mentioned one by +one, <q>Nay, in all these things we are +more than conquerors, through Him that loved +us.</q> Our trials will be turned to helps; our enemies +will be taken prisoners and made to fight +our battles. Like the weights on yonder clock, +which keep it going, our very difficulties will +prove incentives to faith and prayer, and occasions +for God becoming more real to us. +</p> + +<p> +We shall get out of our troubles not only deliverance +but triumph, and in all these things +be even more than conquerors through Him +that loved us. +</p> + +<p> +Our security depends not upon our unchanging +love, but on the love of God in Christ +Jesus toward us. It is not the clinging arms +of the babe on the mother's breast that keep +it from falling, but the strong arms of the +mother about it which will never let it go. He +has loved us with an everlasting love, and +although all else may change, yet He will +never leave us nor forsake us. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='301'/><anchor id='Pg301'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>October 22.</head> + +<p> +<q>Touched with the feeling of our infirmities</q> (Heb. iv. 15). +</p> + +<p> +Some of us know a little what it is to be +thrilled with a sense of the sufferings +of others, and sometimes, the sins of +others, and sins that seem to saturate +us as they come in contact with us, and throw +over us an awful sense of sin and need. +</p> + +<p> +This is, perhaps, intended to give us some +faint conception of the sympathy that Jesus +felt when He had taken our sins, our sicknesses +and our sorrows. Let us not hesitate to lay +them on Him! It is far easier for Him to bear +them off us than to bear them with us. He +has already borne them for us, both in His +life and in His death. Let us roll the burden +upon Him, and let it roll away, and then, strong +in His strength, and rested in His life and love, +let us go forth to minister to others the sympathy +and help which He has so richly given us. +</p> + +<p> +The world is full of sorrow, and they that +have known its bitterness and healing are God's +ministers of consolation to a weeping world. +</p> + +<lg> +<l>O, the tears that flow around us,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Let us wipe them while we may;</l> +<l>Bring the broken hearts to Jesus,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>He will wipe their tears away.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='302'/><anchor id='Pg302'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>October 23.</head> + +<p> +<q>How long halt ye between two opinions?</q> (I. Kings xviii. 21). +</p> + +<p> +It is strange that people will not get over +the idea that a consecrated life is a difficult +one. A simple illustration will answer +this foolish impression. Suppose +a street car driver were to say, <q>It is much +easier to run with one wheel on the track and +the other off,</q> his line would soon be dropped +by the public, and they would prefer to walk. +Of course, it is ever so much easier to run with +both wheels on the track, and always on the +track, and it is much easier to follow Christ +fully than to follow with a half heart and halting +step. The prophet was right in his pungent +question, <q>How long halt ye between two +opinions?</q> The undecided man is a halting +man. The halting man is a lame man and a +miserable man, and the out-and-out Christian +is the admiration of men and angels, and a continual +joy to himself. +</p> + +<lg> +<l>Say, is it all for Jesus,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>As you so often sing;</l> +<l>Is He your Royal Master,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Is He your heart's true King?</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='303'/><anchor id='Pg303'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>October 24.</head> + +<p> +<q>First gave their ownselves to the Lord, and unto +us by the will of God</q> (II. Cor. viii. 5). +</p> + +<p> +It is essential, in order to be successful in +Christian work, that you shall be loyal +not only to God, but to the work with +which you are associated. The more +deeply one knows the Lord the easier it is to +get along with Him. +</p> + +<p> +Superficial Christians are apt to be crotchetty. +Mature Christians are so near the Lord +that they are not afraid of missing His guidance, +and not always trying to assert their loyalty +to Him and independence of others. +</p> + +<p> +The Corinthians, who had given themselves +first to the Lord, had no difficulty in giving +themselves to His Apostle by the will of God. +It is delightful to work with true hearts on +whom we can utterly depend. +</p> + +<p> +God give us the spirit of a sound mind and +the heart to <q>help along.</q> +</p> + +<lg> +<l>You can help by holy prayer,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Helpful love and joyful song;</l> +<l>O, the burdens you may bear;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>O, the sorrows you may share;</l> +<l>O, the crowns you may yet may wear,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>If you help along.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='304'/><anchor id='Pg304'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>October 25.</head> + +<p> +<q>Now it is high time to awake out of sleep. Let +us cast off the works of darkness and let us put on +the armor of light</q> (Rom. xiii. 11, 12). +</p> + +<p> +Let us wake out of sleep; let us be alert; +let us be alive to the great necessities +that really concern us. +</p> + +<p> +Let us put off the garments of the +night and the indulgences of the night; the +loose robes of pleasure and flowing garments +of repose; the festal pleasures of the hours of +darkness are not for the children of the day. +Let us cast off the works of darkness. +</p> + +<p> +Let us arm ourselves for the day. Before +we put on our clothes, let us put on our weapons, +for we are stepping out into a land of +enemies and a world of dangers; let us put on +the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of faith +and love, and the shield of faith, and stand +armed and vigilant as the dangers of the last +days gather around us. +</p> + +<p> +Let us put on the Lord Jesus Christ. This +is our robe of day. Not our own works or +righteousness, but the person and righteousness +of the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave us +His very life, and becomes to us our All-Sufficiency. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='305'/><anchor id='Pg305'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>October 26.</head> + +<p> +<q>Go out into the highways and compel them to +come in</q> (Luke xiv. 23). +</p> + +<p> +In the great parable in the fourteenth +chapter of Luke, giving an account of +the great supper an ancient lord prepared +for his friends and neighbors, and +to which, when they asked to be excused, he +invited the halt and the lame from the city +slums and the lepers from outside the gate, +there is a significant picture and object lesson +of the program of Christianity in this age. +</p> + +<p> +In the first place, it is obvious to every +thoughtful mind that the Master is beginning +to excuse the Gospel-hardened people of Christian +countries. It is getting constantly more +difficult to interest the unsaved of our own +land, especially those that have been accustomed +to hear the Gospel and the things of +Christ. They have asked to be excused from +the Gospel feast, and the Lord is excusing them. +</p> + +<p> +At the same time, two remarkable movements +indicated in the parable are becoming +more and more manifest in our time. One is +the Gospel for the slums and the neglected +classes at home; the other is the Gospel for the +heathen or the neglected classes abroad. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='306'/><anchor id='Pg306'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>October 27.</head> + +<p> +<q>Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh; is +there anything too hard for Me?</q> (Jer. xxxii. 27.) +</p> + +<p> +Cyrus, the King, was compelled to fulfil +the vision of Jeremiah, by making a +decree, the instant the prophecy had +foretold, declaring that Jehovah had +bidden him rebuild Jerusalem and invite her +captives to return to their native home. So +Jeremiah's faith was vindicated and Jehovah's +prophecy gloriously fulfilled, as faith ever will +be honored. Oh, for the faith, that in the dark +present and the darker future, shall dare to subscribe +the evidences and seal up the documents +if need be, for the time of waiting, and then +begin to testify to the certainty of its hope like +the prophet of Anathoth! +</p> + +<p> +The word Anathoth has a beautiful meaning, +<q>echoes.</q> So faith is the <q>echo</q> of God and +God always gives the <q>echo</q> to faith, as He +answers it back in glorious fulfilment. Oh, +let our faith echo also the brave claim of the +ancient prophet and take our full inheritance, +with his glorious shout, <q>Oh, Lord, Thou art +the God of all flesh, is there anything too hard +for the Lord?</q> and back like an echo will come +the heavenly answer to our heart, <q>I am the God +of all flesh, is there anything too hard for Me?</q> +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='307'/><anchor id='Pg307'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>October 28.</head> + +<p> +<q>Thou good servant, because thou hast been faithful +in a very little, have thou authority over ten +cities</q> (Luke xix. 17). +</p> + +<p> +It is not our success in service that counts, +but our fidelity. Caleb and Joshua were +faithful and God remembered it when +the day of visitation came. It was a +very difficult and unpopular position, and all of +us are called in the crisis of our lives to stand +alone and in this very matter of trusting God +for victory over sin and our full inheritance in +Christ we have all to be tested as they. +</p> + +<p> +Our brethren even in the church of God, +while admitting in the abstract the loveliness +and advantages of such an ideal life, tell us as +they told Israel that it is impracticable and impossible, +and many of us have to stand alone +for years witnessing to the power of Christ to +save His people to the uttermost and like Caleb +following Him wholly, if alone. But this is the +real victory of faith and the proof of our uncompromising +fidelity. +</p> + +<p> +Let us not therefore complain when we suffer +reproach for our testimony or stand alone for +God, but thank Him that He so honors us, +and so stand the test that He can afterwards +use us when the multitudes are glad to follow. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='308'/><anchor id='Pg308'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>October 29.</head> + +<p> +<q>Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, +He will give it you</q> (John xvi. 23). +</p> + +<p> +Two men go to the bank cashier, both +holding in their hands a piece of paper. +One is dressed in expensive style, and +presents a gloved and jeweled hand; +the other is a rough, unwashed workman. The +first is rejected with a polite sentence, and the +second receives a thousand dollars over the +counter. What is the difference? The one +presented a worthless name; the other handed +in a note endorsed by the president of the bank. +And so the most virtuous moralist will be +turned away from the gates of mercy, and the +vilest sinner welcomed in if he presents the +name of Jesus. +</p> + +<p> +What shall we give to infinite purity and +righteousness? Jesus! No other gift is worthy +for God to receive. And He has given Him to +us for this very end, to give back as our substitute +and satisfaction. And He has <q>testified</q> +of this gift what He has of no other, namely, +that in Him He is well pleased and all who receive +Him <q>are accepted in the Beloved.</q> Shall +we accept the testimony that God is satisfied +with His Son? Shall we be satisfied with +Him? +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='309'/><anchor id='Pg309'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>October 30.</head> + +<p> +<q>Dwell deep</q> (Jer. xlix. 8). +</p> + +<p> +God's presence blends with every other +thought and consciousness, flowing +sweetly and evenly through our business +plans, our social converse our +heart's affections, our manual toil, our entire +life, blending with all, consecrating all, and +conscious through all, like the fragrance of a +flower, or the presence of a friend consciously +near, and yet not hindering in the least the +most intense and constant preoccupation of the +hands and brain. How beautiful the established +habit of this unceasing communion and +dependence, amid and above all thoughts and +occupations! How lovely to see a dear old +saint folding away his books at night and humbly +saying, <q>Lord Jesus, things are still just +the same between us,</q> and the falling asleep +in His keeping. +</p> + +<p> +So let us be stayed upon Him. Let us grow +into Him with all the root and fibers of our being. +He will not get tired of our friendship. +He will not want to put us off sometimes. +Beautiful the words of the suffering saint: <q>He +never says good-bye.</q> He stays. So let us be +stayed on Him. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='310'/><anchor id='Pg310'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>October 31.</head> + +<p> +<q>My grace is sufficient for thee; for My strength is +made perfect in weakness</q> (II. Cor. xii. 9). +</p> + +<p> +God allowed the crisis to close around +Jacob on the night when he bowed at +Peniel in supplication to bring him to +the place where he could take hold of +God as he never would have done; and from +that narrow pass of peril Jacob came enlarged +in his faith and knowledge of God, and in the +power of a new and victorious life. He had to +compel David, by a long and painful discipline +of years, to learn the almighty power and +faithfulness of his God, and to grow up +into the established principles of faith and +godliness, which were indispensable for his +subsequent and glorious career as the king of +Israel. +</p> + +<p> +Nothing but the extremities in which Paul +was constantly placed could ever have taught +him, and taught the church through him, the +full meaning of the great promise he so learned +to claim, <q>My grace is sufficient for thee.</q> And +nothing but our trials and perils would ever +have led some of us to know Him as we do, to +trust Him as we have, and to draw from Him +the measures of grace which our very extremities +made indispensable. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='311'/><anchor id='Pg311'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>November 1.</head> + +<p> +<q>We will come unto him and make our abode with +him</q> (John xiv. 23). +</p> + +<p> +This idea of trying to get a holiness of +your own, and then have Christ reward +you for it, is not His teaching. +Oh, no; Christ is the holiness; He will +bring the holiness, and come and dwell in the +heart forever. +</p> + +<p> +When one of our millionaires purchases a +lot, with an old shanty on it, he does not fix up +the old shanty, but he gets a second-hand man, +if he will have it, to tear it down, and he puts +a mansion in its place. It is not fixing up the +house that you need, but to give Christ the vacant +lot, and He will excavate below our old +life and build a house where He will live forever. +</p> + +<p> +Now that is what we mean when we say that +Christ will be the preparation for the blessing, +and make way for His own approach. It is as +when a great Assyrian king used to set out on +a march. He did not command the people to +make a road, but he sent on his own men, and +they cut down the trees and filled the broken +places, and levelled the mountains. So He +will, if we will let Him, be the Coming King, +the Author and Finisher of our faith. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='312'/><anchor id='Pg312'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>November 2.</head> + +<p> +<q>Bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience +of Christ</q> (II. Cor. x. 5). +</p> + +<p> +If we would abide in Christ we must have +no confidence in self. Self-repression +must be ever the prime necessity of divine +fulness and efficiency. Now you +know how quickly you spring to the front +when any emergency arises. When something +in which you are interested comes up, you say +what you think under some sudden impulse, +and then perhaps you have weeks of taking +back your thought and taking the Lord's instead. +It is only when we get out of the way +of the Lord that He can use us. So, be out of +self, always suspending your will about everything +until you have looked at it and said: +<q>Lord, what is your will? What is your +thought about it?</q> +</p> + +<p> +Those who thus abide in Christ have the +habit of reserve and quiet; they are not rattling +and reckless talkers, they will not always have +an opinion about everything, and they will not +always know what they are going to do. There +will be a deferential holding back of judgment, +and walking softly with God. It is our headlong, +impulsive spirit that keeps us so constantly +from hearing and following the Lord. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='313'/><anchor id='Pg313'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>November 3.</head> + +<p> +<q>This is my Beloved, and this is my Friend</q> (Song +of Solomon v. 16). +</p> + +<p> +He is our Friend. <q>Which of you shall +have a friend at night?</q> This has +deep significance through the experience +of each one of us. Who has not +had a friend, and more of a friend in some respects +than even a father? +</p> + +<p> +There are some intimacies not born of human +blood that are the most intense and lasting +bonds of earthly love. One by one let us +count them over and recall each act and bond +of love, and think of all that we may trust +them for and all in which they stood by us, +and then as we concentrate the whole weight +of recollection and affection, let us put God +in that place of confidence and think He is +all that and infinitely more. +</p> + +<p> +Our Friend! The one who is personally interested +in us; who has set His heart upon us; +who has come near to us in the tender and delicate +intimacy of unspeakable fellowship; who +gave us such invaluable pledges and promises; +who has done so much for us, and who is ever +ready to take any trouble or go to any expense +to aid us—to Him we are coming in prayer, +our Heavenly Friend. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='314'/><anchor id='Pg314'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>November 4.</head> + +<p> +<q>Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings +as in obeying the voice of the Lord?</q> (I. Sam. xv. 22). +</p> + +<p> +Many a soul prays for sanctification, +but fails to enter into the blessing +because he does not intelligently +understand and believingly accept +God's appointed means by Jesus Christ and +the indwelling of the Spirit. Many a prayer +for the salvation of others is hindered because +the very friend takes the wrong course to bring +about the answer, and resorts to means which +are wholly fitted to defeat his worthy object. +</p> + +<p> +We know many a wife who is pleading for +her husband's soul, and hoping to win him by +avoiding anything that may offend him, and +yielding to all his worldly tastes in the vain +hope of attracting him to Christ. Far more +effective would be an attitude of fidelity to +God and fearless testimony to Him, such as +God could bless. +</p> + +<p> +Many a congregation wonders why it is so +poor and struggling. It may be found that its +financial methods are wholly unscriptural and +often unworthy of ordinary self-respect. +</p> + +<p> +When we ask God for any blessing, we must +allow Him to direct the steps which are to +bring the answer. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='315'/><anchor id='Pg315'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>November 5.</head> + +<p> +<q>I in them, and Thou in Me</q> (John xvii. 23). +</p> + +<p> +If we would be enlarged to the full measure +of God's purpose, let us endeavor to +realize something of our own capacities +for His filling. +</p> + +<p> +We little know the size of a human soul and +spirit. Never, until He renews, cleanses and +enters the heart can we have any adequate conception +of the possibilities of the being whom +God made in His very image, and whom He +now renews after the pattern of the Lord Jesus +Himself. +</p> + +<p> +We know, however, that God has made the +human soul to be His temple and abode, and +that He knows how to make the house that can +hold His infinite fulness. We know something +of this as all our nature quickens into spring +tide life at the coming of the Holy Spirit, and +as from time to time new baptisms awaken the +dormant powers and susceptibilities that we +did not know we possessed. +</p> + +<p> +Oh, let us give Him the right to make the +best of us, and, with wonder filled, we shall +some day behold the glorious temple which He +has reared, and shall say, <q>Lord, what is man +that Thou hast set Thine heart upon Him?</q> +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='316'/><anchor id='Pg316'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>November 6.</head> + +<p> +<q>Bless the Lord, O, my soul</q> (Ps. ciii. 1). +</p> + +<p> +Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all +that is within me be stirred up to +magnify His holy name. <q>Bless the +Lord, O my soul, and forget not all +His benefits; who forgiveth all thine iniquities; +who healeth all thy diseases; who redeemeth +thy life from destruction; who crowneth +thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; +who satisfieth thy mouth with good +things, so that thy youth is renewed like the +eagle's.</q> Who so well can sing this thanksgiving +song as we, rejoicing as most of us do, +we trust, in this full salvation, and praising +God for the glorious health of a risen Lord +and a continual youth? +</p> + +<p> +This psalm and its opening verses is in the +very center of the Scriptures by an exact count +of letters and verses. So let it stand in our +lives, as we look backward and forward and +upward in grateful thanksgiving as we sing +in its closing strains, <q>Bless the Lord, O my +soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy +name.</q> Lord, center my heart in Thee and +in the spirit of love and praise. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='317'/><anchor id='Pg317'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>November 7.</head> + +<p> +<q>I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, +I will uphold thee</q> (Isa. xli. 10). +</p> + +<p> +God has three ways of helping us: +First, He says, <q>I will strengthen +thee</q>; that is, I will make you a little +stronger yourself. And secondly, <q>I +will help thee</q>; that is, I will add My strength +to your strength, but you shall lead and I will +help you. But thirdly, when you are ready, <q>I +will uphold thee with the right hand of My +righteousness</q>; that is, I will lift you up bodily +and carry you altogether, and it will neither +be your strength or My help, but My complete +upholding. Hence it must be quite true, that +when we come to the end of our strength, we +come to the beginning of His, and that in Him +the weakest are the strongest, and the most +helpless the most helped. <q>He giveth power +to the faint,</q> but to <q>them that have no might</q> +at all <q>He gives more strength,</q> and His word +forever is, <q>My grace is sufficient for thee.</q> +The answer is a paradox of contradictions, and +yet the most practical truths, <q>Most gladly, +therefore, will I glory in my infirmities, that +the power of Christ may rest upon me; for +when I am weak, then am I strong.</q> +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='318'/><anchor id='Pg318'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>November 8.</head> + +<p> +<q>For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus +hath made me free</q> (Rom. viii. 2). +</p> + +<p> +There is a natural law of sin and sickness, +and if we just let ourselves go +and sink into the trend of circumstances +we shall go down and sink under +the power of the tempter. But there is another +law of spiritual life and of physical life +in Christ Jesus to which we can rise and +through which we can counterpoise and overcome +the other law that bears us down. But +to do this requires real spiritual energy and +fixed purpose and a settled posture and habit +of faith. It is just the same when we bind the +power in our factory. We must turn the belt +on and keep it on. The power is there, but we +must keep the connection and while we do so +the law of this higher power will work and all +the machinery will be in operation. There is +a spiritual law of choosing, believing, abiding +and holding steady in our walk with God which +is essential to the working of the Holy Ghost +either in our sanctification or healing. +</p> + +<lg> +<l>There is a word that saves the soul,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 8'><q>I will trust</q>;</l> +<l>It makes the sick and suffering whole.</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 8'><q>I will trust.</q></l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='319'/><anchor id='Pg319'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>November 9.</head> + +<p> +<q>Because I live ye shall live also</q> (John xiv. 19). +</p> + +<p> +After having become adjusted to our +Living Head and the source of our +life, now our business is to abide, absorb +and grow, leaning on His +strength, drinking in His life, feeding on Him +as the Living Bread, and drawing all of our resources +from Him in continual dependence and +communion. The Holy Spirit will be the great +Teacher and Minister in this blessed process. +He will take of the things of Christ and show +them unto us, and He will impart them through +all the channels and functions of our spiritual +organism. As we yield ourselves to Him +He will breathe His own prayer of communion, +drawing out our hearts in longings and hungerings, +which are the pledge of their own fulfilment, +calling us apart in silent and wordless +prayer and opening every pore, organ, sense and +sensibility of our spiritual being to take in His +life. As the lungs absorb the oxygen of the atmosphere, +as the senses breathe in the sweet +odors of the garden, so the heart instinctively +receives and rejoices in the affection and +fellowship of the beloved One by our side. +Thus we become like a tree planted by the rivers +of waters. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='320'/><anchor id='Pg320'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>November 10.</head> + +<p> +<q>But prayer was made without ceasing, of the +church unto God for him</q> (Acts xii. 5). +</p> + +<p> +But prayer is the link that connects us +with God. This is the bridge that +spans every gulf and bears us over +every abyss of danger or of need. +How significant the picture of the apostolic +church: Peter in prison, the Jews triumphant, +Herod supreme, the arena of martyrdom awaiting +the dawning of the morning to drink up +the apostle's blood,—everything else against it. +<q>But prayer was made unto God without ceasing.</q> +And what the sequel? The prison open,—the +apostle free,—the Jews baffled,—the +wicked king eaten of worms, a spectacle of +hideous retribution, and the Word of God +rolling on in greater victory. +</p> + +<p> +Do we know the power of our supernatural +weapon? Do we dare to use it with the authority +of a faith that commands as well as asks? +God baptize us with holy audacity and Divine +confidence. He is not wanting great men, but +He is wanting men that will dare to prove the +greatness of their God. +</p> + +<p> +But God! But prayer! +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='321'/><anchor id='Pg321'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>November 11.</head> + +<p> +<q>Reckon yourselves dead, indeed</q> (Rom. vi. 11). +</p> + +<p> +Our life from the dead is to be followed +up by the habit and attitude henceforth +which is the logical outcome of +all this. <q>Reckon yourselves <emph>dead indeed</emph>, +unto sin, but <emph>alive unto God</emph> through Jesus +Christ, and yield yourselves unto God,</q> not to +die over again every day, <q><emph>but, as those who are +alive from the dead</emph>, and your members as instruments +of righteousness unto God.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Further His resurrection life is given to fit +us for <q>the fellowship of His sufferings and +to be made conformable unto His death.</q> +</p> + +<p> +It is intended to enable us to toil and suffer +with rejoicing and victory. We <q>mount up +with wings as eagles,</q> that we may come back +to <q>run and not be weary, to walk and not +faint.</q> +</p> + +<p> +But let us not mistake the sufferings. They +do not mean <emph>our</emph> sufferings, but His. They are +not our struggles after holiness, our sicknesses +and pains, but those higher sufferings which, +with Him, we bear for others, and for a suffering +church and a dying world. May God help +us, henceforth, never to have another sorrow +for ourselves, and put us at leisure, in the power +of His resurrection, to bear His burdens and +drink His cup. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='322'/><anchor id='Pg322'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>November 12.</head> + +<p> +<q>The earnest of the Spirit in our hearts</q> (II. Cor. i. 22). +</p> + +<p> +Life in earnest. What a rare, what a +glorious spectacle! We see it in the +Son of God, we see it in His apostle, we +see it in every noble, consecrated and +truly successful life. Without it there may be +a thousand good things, but they lack the golden +thread that binds them all into a chain of +power and permanence. They are like a lot of +costly and beautiful beads on a broken string, +that fall into confusion, and are lost in the end +for want of the bond that alone could bind +them into a life of consistent and lasting power. +O for the baptism of fire! O for <q><hi rend='smallcaps'>the earnest, +the spirit</hi>!</q> O for lives that have but one +thing to do or care for! O for the depth and +everlasting strength of the heart of Christ within +our breast, to love, to sacrifice, to realize, +to persevere, to live and die like Him! +</p> + +<lg> +<l>We are going forth with a trust so sacred,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>And a truth so divine and deep,</l> +<l>With a message clear and a work so glorious,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>And a charge—such a charge—to keep.</l> +<l>Let it be your greatest joy, my brother,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>That the Lord can count on you;</l> +<l>And if all besides should fail and falter,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>To your trust be always true.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='323'/><anchor id='Pg323'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>November 13.</head> + +<p> +<q>Delight thyself in the Lord</q> (Ps. xxxvii. 4). +</p> + +<p> +Daniel's heart was filled with God's +love for His work and kingdom and +his prayers were the mightiest forces +of his time, through which God gave +to him the restoration of Israel to their own +land, and the acknowledgment by the rulers +of the world of the God of whom he testified +and for whom he lived. +</p> + +<p> +There is a beautiful promise in the thirty-seventh +Psalm, <q>Delight thyself in the Lord, +and He will give thee the desires of thine +heart,</q> which it is, perhaps, legitimate to translate, +that not only does it mean the fulfilment +of our desires, but even the inspiration of our +desires, the inbreathing of His thoughts into +us, so that our prayers shall be in accord with +His will and so shall bring back to us the unfailing +answer of His mighty providence. +</p> + +<lg> +<l>Teach me Thy thoughts, O God!</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Think Thou, Thyself, in me,</l> +<l>Then shall I only always think</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Thine own thoughts after Thee.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l>Teach me Thy thoughts, O God!</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Show me Thy plan divine:</l> +<l>Save me from all my plans and works,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>And lead me into Thine.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='324'/><anchor id='Pg324'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>November 14.</head> + +<p> +<q>The things which are seen are temporal</q> (II. Cor. iv. 18). +</p> + +<p> +How strong is the snare of the things +that are seen, and how necessary for +God to keep us in the things that are +unseen! If Peter is to walk on the +water, he must walk; if he is going to swim, he +must swim, but he cannot do both. If the bird +is going to fly it must keep away from the +fences and the trees, and trust to its buoyant +wings. But if it tries to keep within easy reach +of the ground, it will make poor work of flying. +</p> + +<p> +God had to bring Abraham to the end of his +own strength, and to let him see that in his own +body he could do nothing. He had to consider +his own body as good as dead, and then take +God for the whole work, and when he looked +away from himself, and trusted God alone, then +He became fully persuaded that what He had +promised, He was able also to perform. +</p> + +<p> +This is what God is teaching us, and He has +to keep away encouraging results until we +learn to trust without them, and then He loves +to make His word real in fact as well as faith. +</p> + +<p> +Let us look only to Him to-day to do all +things as He shall choose and in the way He +shall choose. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='325'/><anchor id='Pg325'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>November 15.</head> + +<p> +<q>Oh, man of desires</q> (margin) (Dan. x. 11). +</p> + +<p> +This was the divine character given to +Daniel of old. It is translated in our +version, <q>O man, greatly beloved.</q> +But it literally means <q>O man of desires!</q> +This is a necessary element in all spiritual +forces. It is one of the secrets of effectual +prayer, <q>What things soever ye desire, when +ye pray, believe that ye receive them.</q> The +element of strong desire gives momentum to +our purposes and prayers. Indifference is an +unwholesome condition; indolence and apathy +are offensive both to God and nature. +</p> + +<p> +And so in our spiritual life, God often has to +wake us up by the presence of trying circumstances, +and push us into new places of trust +by forces that we must subdue, or sink beneath +their power. There is no factor in prayer more +effectual than love. If we are intensely interested +in an object, or an individual, our petitions +become like living forces, and not only +convey their wants to God, but in some sense +convey God's help back to them. +</p> + +<p> +May God fill us to-day with the heart of +Christ that we may glow with the Divine fire +of holy desire. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='326'/><anchor id='Pg326'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>November 16.</head> + +<p> +<q>Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day</q> (Matt. xxv. 13). +</p> + +<p> +Jesus illustrates the unexpectedness of +His coming by the figure of a thief entering +a house when the master was not +there. Life, like the old Jewish night, +may be divided into three watches, youth, maturity, +old age. The summons to meet God +may come to us in either of these watches. A +writer tells us of his experience with a camping +party, of which he was a member, and +which, he tells us, always arranged to have +watches at night. <q>We became especially careful +after what I am about to narrate happened. +During the first night, from sunset to sunrise, +we had in turn carefully guarded our camp. +But when the next night came, so impressed +were we with the orderly character of the +neighborhood, that we concluded that no guard +was needed until bedtime. Within our main +tent the evening was spent in story-telling, +singing and general amusement. When the +hour to retire arrived, it was discovered that +our other tents had been robbed and everything +of value stolen. The work was done before +we thought a guard necessary.</q> It is +never too soon to begin watching against sin. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='327'/><anchor id='Pg327'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>November 17.</head> + +<p> +<q>The ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them</q> (Num. x. 33). +</p> + +<p> +God does give us impressions but not +that we should act on them as impressions. +If the impression be from God, +He will Himself give sufficient evidence +to establish it beyond the possibility of +a doubt. +</p> + +<p> +How beautifully we read, in the story of Jeremiah, +of the impression that came to him respecting +the purchase of the field of Anathoth, +but Jeremiah did not act upon this impression +until after the following day, when his uncle's +son came to him and brought him external +evidence by making a proposal for the purchase. +Then Jeremiah said: <q>I knew this was +the word of the Lord.</q> +</p> + +<p> +He waited until God seconded the impression +by a providence, and then he acted in full view +of the open facts, which could bring conviction +unto others as well as himself. +</p> + +<p> +God wants us to act according to His mind. +</p> + +<p> +We are not to ignore the Shepherd's personal +voice, but like Paul and his companions at +Troas, we are to listen to all the voices that +speak, and <q>gather</q> from all the circumstances, +as they did, the full mind of the Lord. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='328'/><anchor id='Pg328'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>November 18.</head> + +<p> +<q>And He that sat upon the throne said, It is done</q> (Rev. xxi. 5, 6). +</p> + +<p> +Great is the difference between action +and transaction. We may be constantly +acting without accomplishing anything, +but a transaction is action that +passes beyond the point of return, and becomes +a permanent committal. Salvation is a transaction +between the soul and Christ in which +the matter passes beyond recall. Sanctification +is a great transaction in which we are +utterly surrendered, irrevocably consecrated +and wholly committed to the Holy Ghost, and +then He comes and seals the transaction and +undertakes the work. Our covenant for our +Lord's healing should be just as explicit, definite +and irrevocable. And so of the covenants +to which God is leading His children from time +to time in regard to other matters of obedience +and service. God grant that during this hallowed +day many a consecrated life may be able +to say with new significance and permanence, +<q>'Tis done, the great transaction's done.</q> +</p> + +<lg> +<l>For the living Vine is Jesus,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>In whose fulness we may hide;</l> +<l>And find our life and fruitfulness</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>As we in Him abide.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='329'/><anchor id='Pg329'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>November 19.</head> + +<p> +<q>We would see Jesus</q> (John xii. 21). +</p> + +<p> +When any great blessing is awaiting +us, the devil is sure to try and make +it so disagreeable to us that we shall +miss it. It is a good thing to know +him as a liar, and remember, when he is trying +to prejudice us strongly against any cause, that +very likely the greatest blessing of our life lies +there. Spurgeon once said that the best evidence +that God was on our side is the devil's +growl, and we are generally pretty safe in following +a thing according to Satan's dislike for +it. Beloved, take care, lest in the very line +where your prejudices are setting you off from +God's people and God's truth, you are missing +the treasures of your life. Take the treasures +of heaven no matter how they come to you, +even if it be as earthly treasures generally +are, like the kernel inside the rough shell, or +the gem in the bosom of the hard rock. +</p> + +<lg> +<l>I have seen Jesus and my heart is dead to all beside,</l> +<l>I have seen Jesus, and my wants are all, in Him, supplied.</l> +<l>I have seen Jesus, and my heart, at last, is satisfied,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 8'>Since I've seen Jesus.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='330'/><anchor id='Pg330'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>November 20.</head> + +<p> +<q>The disciple whom Jesus loved leaned on His +breast</q> (John xxi. 20). +</p> + +<p> +An American gentleman once visited the +saintly Albert Bengel. He was very +desirous to hear him pray. So one +night he lingered at his door, hoping +to overhear his closing devotions. The rooms +were adjoining and the doors ajar. The good +man finished his studies, closed his books, knelt +down for a moment and simply said: <q>Dear +Lord Jesus, things are still the same between +us,</q> and then sweetly fell asleep. So close was +his communion with his Lord that labor did +not interrupt it, and prayer was not necessary +to renew it. It was a ceaseless, almost unconscious +presence, like the fragrance of the +summer garden, or the presence of some dear +one by our side whose presence we somehow +feel, even though the busy hours pass by and +not a word is exchanged. +</p> + +<lg> +<l><q rend='pre'>O blessed fellowship, divine,</q></l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>O joy, supremely sweet,</l> +<l>Companionship with Jesus here,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Makes life with joy replete;</l> +<l>O wondrous grace, O joy sublime,</l> +<l><q rend='post'>I've Jesus with me all the time.</q></l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='331'/><anchor id='Pg331'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>November 21.</head> + +<p> +<q>Consider the lilies how they grow</q> (Matt. vi. 28). +</p> + +<p> +It is said that a little fellow was found one +day by his mother, standing by a tall +sunflower, with his feet stuck in the +ground. When asked by her, <q>What in +the world are you doing there?</q> he naively answered, +<q>Why, I am trying to grow to be a +man.</q> +</p> + +<p> +His mother laughed heartily at the idea of +his getting planted in the ground in order to +grow, like the sunflower, and then, patting him +gently on the head, <q>Why, Harry, that is not +the way to grow. You can never grow bigger +by trying. Just come right in, and eat lots of +good food, and have plenty of play, and you +will soon grow to be a man without trying so +hard.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Well, Harry's mother was right. Mrs. H. +W. Smith never said a sweeter thing than when +she answered the question—<q>How do the lilies +grow?</q> by simply adding, <q>They grow without +trying.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Our sweetest spiritual life is the life of self-unconsciousness +through which we become so +united to Christ, and live continually on His +life, nourished, fed and constantly filled with +His Spirit and presence and all the fulness of +His imparted life. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='332'/><anchor id='Pg332'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>November 22.</head> + +<p> +<q>Cast the beam out of thine own eye</q> (Matt. vii. 5). +</p> + +<p> +Greater than the fault you condemn +and criticise is the sin of criticism and +condemnation. There is no place we +need such grace as in dealing with an +erring one. A lady once called on us on her +way to give an erring sister a piece of her mind. +We advised her to wait until she could love her +a little more. Only He who loved sinners well +enough to die for them can deal with the erring. +We never see all the heart. He does, and He +can convict without condemning, and reprove +without discouraging. Oh, for more of the +heart of Christ! Take care, brother, how you +speak of another's fault. Ere you know, you +may be in the same or deeper condemnation. +Very significantly does the Master say that the +man that sees a mote in his brother's eye, usually +has a rafter in his own eye! One of the +two unpardonable sins of the Bible is unforgiving +lovelessness. +</p> + +<lg> +<l><q rend='pre'>Give me a heart like Thine,</q></l> +<l>Give me a heart like Thine,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>By Thy wonderful power,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>By Thy grace every hour,</l> +<l><q rend='post'>Give me a heart like Thine.</q></l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='333'/><anchor id='Pg333'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>November 23.</head> + +<p> +<q>It is high time to awake out of sleep</q> (Rom. xiii. 11). +</p> + +<p> +One of the greatest enemies to faith is +indolence. It is much easier to lie and +suffer than to rise and overcome; much +easier to go to sleep on a snowbank +and never wake again, than to rouse +one's self and shake off the lethargy and overcome +the stupor. Faith is an energetic art; +prayer is intense labor; the effectual working +prayer of the righteous man availeth much. +</p> + +<p> +Satan tries to put us to sleep, as he did the +disciples in the garden; but let us not sleep as +do others, but let us wake and be sober, continuing +in prayer and watching therein with all +perseverance, stirring up ourselves to take hold +of His strength, <q>not slothful, but followers of +them, who, through patience, inherit the promise.</q> +It is the wind that carries the ship across +the waves; but the wind is powerless unless +the hand of the boatman is held firmly upon the +rudder, and that rudder is set hard against the +wind. In like manner we hold the rudder, God +fills the sails. It is not the rudder that carries +the ship; but it is the rudder which catches the +wind that carries the ship, so God keeps us in +perfect peace while we are stayed upon Him. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='334'/><anchor id='Pg334'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>November 24.</head> + +<p> +<q>I can do all things through Christ</q> (Phil. iv. 13). +</p> + +<p> +A dear sister said one day: <q>I have so +much work to do that I have not time +to get strength to do it by waiting on +the Lord.</q> Surely that was making +bricks without straw, and even if it was the +name of the Lord and the church, it was the +devil's bondage. God sends not His servants +on their own charges; but <q>He is able to make +all grace abound towards us, that we, always +having all sufficiency in all things, may abound +unto every good work.</q> The old story of the +chieftain, fleeing from his foes and almost overtaken, +but stopping in the midst of his flight to +get a shoe upon his horse that he might fly +more successfully is a true type and lesson for +Christian workers. +</p> + +<p> +The old Latin motto <foreign lang='la' rend='italic'>festina lente</foreign>, +<q>make haste slowly,</q> has a great lesson for us. The more +work we have to do, the more frequently we +have to drop our head upon our desk and wait +a little for heavenly aid and love, and then +press on with new strength. One hour baptized +in the love of the Holy Ghost is worth +ten battling against wind and tide without the +heavenly life. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='335'/><anchor id='Pg335'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>November 25.</head> + +<p> +<q>Judge nothing before the time, until the Lord +come</q> (I. Cor. iv. 5). +</p> + +<p> +Nothing will more effectually arrest +the working of the Spirit in the heart +than the spirit of criticism. At the end +of a meeting a young minister came +forward and told us of the great blessing he +had received that afternoon, and the baptism of +the Holy Spirit that had come into his heart +and being, setting him free from the bondage +of years. And then he added, <q>It all came +through your answer to that question, <q>Will a +criticizing spirit hinder the Holy Ghost from +filling the heart?</q></q> +</p> + +<p> +As the question was asked and answered, he +said, <q>I was sitting in the church criticizing a +good deal that was going on, objecting to this +thing and to that thing, finding fault with the +expressions, and praises and testimonies, and +feeling thoroughly unhappy. The Lord +brought the answer home to my heart and convicted +me of my sin, and there and then I laid it +down and began to see the good instead of the +evil. Blessing fell upon me and my soul was +filled with joy and praise, and I saw where my +error lay, that for years I had been trying to +see the truth with my head instead of my heart.</q> +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='336'/><anchor id='Pg336'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>November 26.</head> + +<p> +<q>He purgeth it that it may bring forth more fruit</q> (John xv. 2). +</p> + +<p> +One day we passed a garden. The gardener +had finished his pruning, and the +wounds of the knife and saw were beginning +to heal, while the warm April +sun was gently nourishing the stricken plant +into fresh life and energy. We thought as we +looked at that plant how cruel it would be to +begin next week and cut it down again. It +would bleed to death. Now, the gardener's +business is to revive and nourish into life. Its +business is not to die, but to live. So, we +thought, it is with the discipline of the soul. +It, too, has its dying hour; but it must not be +always dying. Rather reckon ourselves to be +dead indeed unto sin and alive unto God +through Jesus Christ our Lord Everlasting. +</p> + +<lg> +<l>Breathe Thine own breath through all my mortal frame,</l> +<l>Help me Thy resurrection life to claim,</l> +<l>Which, 'mid all changes, still abides the same,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>And lead me in the way Everlasting.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l>Give me the heavenly foretaste here, I pray;</l> +<l>Let faith foredate the everlasting day,</l> +<l>And walking in its glory all the way,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>O, lead me in the way Everlasting!</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='337'/><anchor id='Pg337'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>November 27.</head> + +<p> +<q>And the remnant of the oil ... shall pour +upon the head</q> (Lev. xiv. 18). +</p> + +<p> +In the account of the healing of the Hebrew +leper there is a beautiful picture +of the touching of his ears, hands and +feet, with the redeeming blood and the +consecrating oil, as a sign that his powers of +understanding, service, and conduct were set +apart to God, and divinely endued for the +Master's work and will. +</p> + +<p> +But after all this, we are significantly told +that <q>the rest of the oil</q> was to be poured upon +his head. +</p> + +<p> +The former anointing was from the oil in +the hand of the priest, but the latter was to be +from the log, or vessel of oil itself. It was to +be literally emptied over him, until he was +bathed with all its contents. +</p> + +<p> +It is a figure of the large and boundless baptism +of the Holy Ghost. It speaks of something +more even than the ordinary experiences +of the consecrated Christian. It tells of the +abundant and redundant supply which God +has for us out of His illimitable fulness. +</p> + +<p> +Have we received <q>the rest oil</q>? Are +we <emph>filled</emph> with the Spirit, and letting the overflow +bless others? +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='338'/><anchor id='Pg338'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>November 28.</head> + +<p> +<q>Without Me ye can do nothing</q> (John xv. 5). +</p> + +<p> +How much can I do for Christ? We are +accustomed to say.—As much as I +can. Have we ever thought we can +do more than we can? +</p> + +<p> +This thought was lately suggested by the remarks +of a Christian friend, who told how God +had laid it upon her heart to do something for +His cause which was beyond her power, and +when she dared to obey Him, He gave her the +assurance of His power and resources, and so +marvelously met her faith that she was enabled +to do more than she could otherwise, and +accomplish her heart's desire, and see a work +fulfilled to which her resources were unequal. +</p> + +<p> +The apostle says, <q>I can do all things +through Christ, who is my strength,</q> and yet +He says we are not able to think anything, as +of ourselves. +</p> + +<p> +Oh, blessed insufficiency! Oh, blessed All-Sufficiency! +Oh, blessed nothingness, which +brings us all things! Oh, blessed faith, whose +rich dowry is, <q>All things are possible to him +that believeth</q>! +</p> + +<lg> +<l>O to be found of Him in peace,</l> +<l>Spotless and free from blame.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='339'/><anchor id='Pg339'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>November 29.</head> + +<p> +<q>Could ye not watch with Me one hour?</q> (Matt. xxvi. 40.) +</p> + +<p> +A young lady whose parents had died +while she was an infant, had been +kindly cared for by a dear friend of +the family. Before she was old enough +to know him, he went to Europe. Regularly +he wrote to her through all his years of absence, +and never failed to send her money for +all her wants. Finally word came that during +a certain week he would return and visit her. +He did not fix the day or the hour. She received +several invitations to take pleasant trips +with her friends during that week. One of +these was of so pleasant a nature that she +could not resist accepting it. During her trip, +he came, inquired as to her absence, and left. +Returning she found this note: <q>My life has +been a struggle for you, might you not have +waited one week for me?</q> More she never +heard, and her life of plenty became one of +want. Jesus has not fixed the day or hour of +His return, but He has said, <q>Watch,</q> and +should He come to-day, would He find us absorbed +in thoughtless dissipation? May we be +found each day, in the expectant attitude of +those watching for a loved one. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='340'/><anchor id='Pg340'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>November 30.</head> + +<p> +<q>In lowliness of mind let each esteem other better +than themselves</q> (Phil. ii. 3). +</p> + +<p> +When the apostle speaks of <q>the deep +things of God,</q> he means more than +deep spiritual truth. There must be +something before this. There must +be a deep soil and a thorough foundation. +</p> + +<p> +Very much of our spiritual teaching fails, +because the people to whom we give it are so +shallow. Their deeper nature has never been +stirred. +</p> + +<p> +The beatitudes begin at the bottom of +things, the poor in spirit, the mourners, and +the hungry hearts. Suffering is essential to +profound spiritual life. We need not go to a +monastery or a leper hospital to find it. The +first real opportunity for unselfishness will +bring into your life the anguish of crucifixion, +unless you are born of some different race from +Adam's. +</p> + +<p> +It is because men and women have not faced +this that they know so little of suffering and +death. We must have deep convictions. Truth +must be to us a necessity, and principle a part +of our very being. Lord, make me poor in +spirit. Lord help me to be even as Thou wert +when on earth, always the lowest, and therefore +<q>highly exalted.</q> +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='341'/><anchor id='Pg341'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>December 1.</head> + +<p> +<q>As He is, so are we in this world</q> (I. John iv. 17). +</p> + +<p> +Jesus will come into the surrendered +heart and unite Himself with it, impart +to it His own life and being and become +anew from day to day, the supply +of its spiritual needs and the substitute for its +helplessness. +</p> + +<p> +Our part is simply to yield ourselves fully +recognizing our own worthlessness and then +take Jesus Himself to live in us and be, moment +by moment, our strength, purity and victory. +</p> + +<lg> +<l>One in His death on the tree,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>One as He rose from the dead;</l> +<l>I from the curse am as free</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>E'en as my glorious Head.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l>One in His merits I stand,</l> +<l>One as I Pray in His name,</l> +<l>All that His worth can demand</l> +<l>I may with confidence claim.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l>One on the Throne by His side,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>One in His Sonship divine,</l> +<l>One as the Bridegroom and Bride,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>One as the Branch and the Vine.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l>All that He has shall be mine,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>All that He is I shall be;</l> +<l>Robed in His glory divine,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>I shall be even as He.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='342'/><anchor id='Pg342'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>December 2.</head> + +<p> +<q>Looking diligently lest any man fail</q> (Heb. xii. 15). +</p> + +<p> +It is not losing all, but coming short we +are to fear. We may not lose our souls, +but we may lose something more precious +than life—His full approval, His +highest choice, and our incorruptible and star-gemmed +crown. It is the one degree more that +counts, and makes all the difference between +hot water—powerless in the boiler—and steam—all +alive with power, and bearing its precious +freight across the continent. +</p> + +<lg> +<l>I want, in this short life of mine,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>As much as can be pressed</l> +<l>Of service true for God and man,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Help me to be my best.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l>I want to stand when Christ appears</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>And hear my name confessed</l> +<l>Numbered among the hidden ones,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>His holiest and best.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l>I want, among the victor throng,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>To have my name confessed;</l> +<l>And hear my Master say at last,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Well done, you did your best.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l>Give me, O Lord, Thy highest choice;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Let others take the rest:</l> +<l>Their good things have no charm for me,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>For I have got Thy best.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='343'/><anchor id='Pg343'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>December 3.</head> + +<p> +Thy thoughts are very deep (Ps. xcii. 5). +</p> + +<p> +When a Roman soldier was told by +his guide that if he insisted on taking +a certain journey it would probably +be fatal he answered, <q>It is +necessary for me to go, it is not necessary for +me to live.</q> That was depth. When we are +convicted like that we shall come to something. +</p> + +<p> +The shallow nature lives in its impulses, its +impressions, its intuitions, its instincts, and +very largely in its surroundings. The profound +character looks beyond all these and +moves steadily on, sailing past all the storms +and clouds into the clear sunshine which is always +on the other side, and waiting for the +afterwards which always brings the reversion +of sorrow and seeming defeat and failure. +</p> + +<p> +When God has deepened us, then He can +give us His deeper truths, His profoundest secrets, +and His mightier trusts. +</p> + +<p> +Lord, lead me into the depths of Thy life +and save me from a shallow experience. +</p> + +<lg> +<l>On to broader fields of holy vision;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>On to loftier heights of faith and love;</l> +<l>Onward, upward, apprehending wholly,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>All for which He calls thee from above.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='344'/><anchor id='Pg344'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>December 4.</head> + +<p> +<q>From me is thy fruit found</q> (Hos. xiv. 8). +</p> + +<p> +Nothing keeps us from advancement +more than ruts and drifts, and wheel-tracks +into which our chariots roll and +then move on in the narrow line with +unchanging monotony, currents in life's stream +on which we are borne in the old direction until +the law of habit almost makes advance impossible. +The true remedy for this is to commence +at nothing; taking Christ afresh to be +the Alpha and Omega for a deeper, higher, +Divine experience, waiting even for His conception +of thought, desire, prayer, and afraid +lest our highest thought should be below His +great plan of wisdom and love. +</p> + +<lg> +<l>O Comforter gentle and tender,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>O holy and heavenly Dove,</l> +<l>We're yielding our heart in surrender,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>We're waiting Thy fulness to prove.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l>O come as the heart-searching fire,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>O come as the sin-cleansing flood;</l> +<l>Consume us with holy desire,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>And fill with the fulness of God.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l>Anoint us with gladness and healing;</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Baptize us with power from on high;</l> +<l>O come with filling and sealing</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>While low at the Thy footstool we lie.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='345'/><anchor id='Pg345'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>December 5.</head> + +<p> +<q>With a perfect heart to make David King</q> (I. +Chron. xii. 38). +</p> + +<p> +<q>What is the supreme purpose of our +life? They were all of one heart to +make David king.</q> Is this our purpose, +to prepare the Bride, to prepare +the world, to prepare His way? Does it dwarf +and dim all other ambitions, all other cares? +Does it fill and satisfy every capacity, every +power, every desire? Does it absorb every moment, +every energy, every resource? Does it +give direction and tone to every plan and work +of life? Does it decide for us the education of +our children, the investment of our means, the +friendships and associations of life, the whole +activity, interest and outlook of our being? +Are we in it, spirit, soul and body, all we are, +all we do, all we hope for—<hi rend='smallcaps'>of one heart to +make Jesus King</hi>? +</p> + +<lg> +<l>We're going forth united</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>With loyal heart and hand,</l> +<l>To bear His royal banner</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Aboard o'er every land.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l>From every tribe and nation</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>We'll haste His Bride to bring.</l> +<l>And Oh, with what glad welcome</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>We'll make our Jesus King.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='346'/><anchor id='Pg346'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>December 6.</head> + +<p> +<q>Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty +hand of God, that He may exalt you</q> (I. Peter v. 6). +</p> + +<p> +Opposition is essential to a true equilibrium +of forces. The centripetal +and centrifugal forces acting in opposition +to each other keep our planet in +her orbit. The one propelling, and the other +repelling, so act and react, that instead of +sweeping off into space in a pathway of desolation +and destruction, she pursues her even orbit +around her solar center. +</p> + +<p> +So God guides our lives. It is not enough +to have an impelling force—we need just as +much a repelling force, and so He holds us +back by the testing ordeals of life, by the +pressure of temptation and trial, by the things +that seem to be against us, but really are furthering +our way and stablishing our goings. +Let us thank Him for both, let us take the +weights as well as the wings, and thus divinely +impelled, let us press on with faith and patience +in our high and heavenly calling. +</p> + +<p> +Lord, help me to learn from all that comes +to me this day Thy highest will. +</p> + +<p> +Lord, help me to-day to sink under Thy +blessed hand, that Thou mayest have Thy way +and will with me. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='347'/><anchor id='Pg347'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>December 7.</head> + +<p> +<q>Abide with us; for it is toward evening</q> (Luke +xxiv. 29). +</p> + +<p> +In His last messages to the disciples in +the 14th and 15th chapters of John, the +Lord Jesus clearly teaches us that the +very essence of the highest holiness is, +<q>Abide in Me, and I in you, for without Me +ye can do nothing.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The very purpose of the Holy Ghost whom +He promised was to reveal Him, that at <q>that +day, ye shall know that I am in the Father, and +ye in Me, and I in you,</q> and the closing echo +of His intercessory prayer was embraced in +these three small but infinite words, <q>I in +them.</q> +</p> + +<lg> +<l>Is it for me to be cleansed by His power</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>From the pollution of sin?</l> +<l>Is it for me to be kept every hour</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>By His abiding within?</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l>Is it for me to be perfectly whole</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Thro' His anointing divine;</l> +<l>Claiming in body, and spirit, and soul,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>All of His fulness as mine?</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l>Wonderful promise so full and so free,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Wonderful Saviour, Oh, how can it be,</l> +<l>Cleansing and pardon and mercy for me?</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Yes, it's for me, for me.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='348'/><anchor id='Pg348'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>December 8.</head> + +<p> +<q>Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician +there?</q> (Jer. viii. 22). +</p> + +<p> +Divine healing is just divine life. It is +the headship of Christ over the body. +It is the life of Christ in the frame. +It is the union of our members with +the very body of Christ and the inflowing life +of Christ in our living members. It is as real +as His risen and glorified body. It is as reasonable +as the fact that He was raised from the +dead and is a living man with a true body and +a rational soul to-day, at God's right hand. +That living Christ belongs to us in all His attributes +and powers. We are members of His +body, His flesh and His bones, and if we can +only believe and receive it, we may live upon +the very life of the Son of God. +</p> + +<p> +Lord, help me to know the <q>Lord for the +body and the body for the Lord.</q> +</p> + +<lg> +<l>There is healing in the promise,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>There is healing in the blood,</l> +<l>There is strength for all our weakness</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>In the risen Son of God.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l>And the feeblest of His children,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>All His glorious life may share;</l> +<l>He has healing balm in Gilead,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>He's the Great Physician there.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='349'/><anchor id='Pg349'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>December 9.</head> + +<p> +<q>Launch out into the deep</q> (Luke v. 4). +</p> + +<p> +One of the special marks of the Holy +Ghost in the Apostolic Church was the +spirit Of boldness. One of the most +essential qualities of the faith that is +to attempt great things for God and expect +great things from God, is holy audacity. +Where we are dealing with a supernatural Being, +and taking from Him things that are humanly +impossible, it is easier to take much +than little; it is easier to stand in a place of +audacious trust than in a place of cautious, timid +clinging to the shore. Like wise seamen in +the life of faith, let us launch out into the deep, +and find that all things are possible with God, +and all things are possible unto him that believeth. +</p> + +<p> +Let us to-day attempt great things for God, +take His faith and believe for them and His +strength to accomplish them. +</p> + +<lg> +<l>The mercy of God is an ocean divine,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>A boundless and fathomless flood;</l> +<l>Launch out in the deep, cut away the shore-line,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>And be lost in the fulness of God.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l>Oh, let us launch out in this ocean so broad,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Where the floods of salvation o'erflow,</l> +<l>Oh, let us be lost in the mercy of God,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Till the depth of His fulness we know.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='350'/><anchor id='Pg350'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>December 10.</head> + +<p> +<q>According to the measure of the rule which God +hath distributed</q> (II. Cor. x. 13). +</p> + +<p> +According to thy faith be it unto +thee was Christ's great law of healing +and blessing in His earthly ministry. +This was what He meant when He +said, <q>With what measure ye mete it shall be +measured to you again.</q> These mighty measures +are limited by the the measures that we +bring. God deals out His heavenly treasures +to us in these glorious vessels, but each of us +must bring our drinking cup, and according to +its measure we shall be filled. +</p> + +<p> +But even the measure of our faith may be a +Divine one. Thank God, the little cup has become +enlarged through the grace of Jesus, until +from its bottom there flows a pipe into the +great ocean, and if that connection is kept open +we shall find that our cup is as large as the +ocean and never can be drained to the bottom. +For He has said to us, <q>Have the faith of God,</q> +and surely this is an illimitable measure. +</p> + +<lg> +<l>Let us claim the mighty promise,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Let us light the torches dim;</l> +<l>Let us join the glorious chorus,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Nothing is too hard for Him.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='351'/><anchor id='Pg351'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>December 11.</head> + +<p> +<q>I pray not for the world, but for them</q> (John +xvii. 9). +</p> + +<p> +How often we say we would like to get +some strong spirit to pray for us, and +feel so helped when we think they are +carrying us in their faith. But there +is One whose prayers never fail to be fulfilled +and who is more willing to give them to us +than any human friend. His one business at +God's right hand is to make intercession for +His people, and we are simply coming in the +line of His own appointment and His own definite +promise and provision, when we lay our +burdens upon Him and claim His advocacy +without doubt or fear. <q>Seeing then that we +have a great High Priest that is passed into the +heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us come +boldly to the throne of grace that we may find +help in time of need.</q> +</p> + +<lg> +<l>Like a golden censer glowing,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Filled with burning odors rare,</l> +<l>All my heart is upward flowing,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>In a cloud of ceaseless prayer.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l>O'er the heavenly altar bending,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Jesus interceding stands,</l> +<l>All our prayers to heaven ascending,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Reach the Father through His hands.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='352'/><anchor id='Pg352'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>December 12.</head> + +<p> +<q>To abide in the flesh is more needful for you, and +having this confidence, I know that I shall abide</q> +(Phil. i. 24, 25). +</p> + +<p> +One of the most blessed things about divine +healing is that the strength it +brings is holy strength, and finds its +natural and congenial outflow in holy +acts and exercises. +</p> + +<p> +Mere natural strength seeks its gratification +in natural pleasures and activities, but the +strength of Christ leads us to do as Christ +would do, and to seek our congenial employment +in His holy service. +</p> + +<p> +The life of Christ in a human body saves it +from a thousand temptations to self-indulgence +and sin, and not only gives us strength for +higher service, but also a desire for it, and puts +into it a zest and spring which gives it double +power. +</p> + +<p> +Lord, help us to-day to claim Thy life and +then give it for the help of others. +</p> + +<lg> +<l>Have you found the branch of healing?</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 4'>Pass it on.</l> +<l>Have you felt the Spirit's sealing,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 4'>Pass it on.</l> +<l>'Twas for this His mercy sought you,</l> +<l>And to all His fulness brought you,</l> +<l>By the precious blood that bought you,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 4'>Pass it on.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='353'/><anchor id='Pg353'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>December 13.</head> + +<p> +<q>He that abideth in Me and I in him the same +bringeth forth much fruit for apart from Me ye can +do nothing</q> (John xv. 5). +</p> + +<p> +So familiar are the vine and the branches, +it is not necessary to explain; only the +branches and the vine are one. The +vine does not say, I am the central +trunk running up and you are the little branches; +but I am the whole thing, and you are the +whole thing. He counts us partakers of His +nature. <q>Apart from Me ye can do nothing.</q> +The husband and the wife, and many more figures +contribute to this marvelous Christ teaching, +which has no parallel, no precedent in any +other teaching under the sun; that Christ is the +life of His people, and that we are absolutely +linked with and dependent upon Him. All +other systems teach how much man is and may +become. Christianity shows how a man must +lose all he is if he would come into full unity +with Christ in His life. +</p> + +<p> +Lord, help me this day to abide in Thee. +</p> + +<lg> +<l>Oh! what a wonderful place</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Jesus has given to me!</l> +<l>Saved by His glorious grace,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>I may be even as He.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='354'/><anchor id='Pg354'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>December 14.</head> + +<p> +<q>Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree</q> +(Isa. lv. 13). +</p> + +<p> +Difficulties and obstacles are +God's challenges to faith. When hindrances +confront us in the path of duty +we are to recognize them as vessels +for faith to fill with the fulness and all-sufficiency +of Jesus, and as we go forward, simply +and fully trusting Him, we may be tested, we +may have to wait and let patience have her +perfect work, but we shall surely find at last +the stone rolled away, and the Lord waiting +to render unto us double for our time of testing, +and fulfil the promise, <q>Instead of the +thorn shall come up the fir tree, instead of the +brier the myrtle tree, and it shall be to the +Lord for an everlasting sign that shall not be +cut off.</q> +</p> + +<lg> +<l>Oft there comes a wondrous message</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>When my hopes are growing dim;</l> +<l>I can hear it through the darkness,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Like some sweet and far-off hymn.</l> +<l>Nothing is too hard for Jesus,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>No man can work like Him.</l> +</lg> + +<lg> +<l>When my way is closed in darkness</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>And my foes are fierce and grim,</l> +<l>Still it sings above the conflict</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Like some glad, victorious hymn:</l> +<l>Nothing is too hard for Jesus,</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>No man can work like Him.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='355'/><anchor id='Pg355'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>December 15.</head> + +<p> +<q>When my heart is overwhelmed lead me to the +Rock that is higher than I</q> (Ps. lxi. 2). +</p> + +<p> +The end of self is the beginning of God. +<q>When the tale of bricks is doubled +then comes Moses.</q> That is the old +Hebrew way of putting it. <q>Man's +extremity is God's opportunity.</q> That is the +proverbial expression of it. <q>When my heart +is overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that is +higher than I.</q> That is David's way of expressing +it. <q>We have no might against this +company, neither know we what to do.</q> No +might, no light—<q>but our eyes are upon Thee,</q> +that was Jehoshaphat's experience of it. <q>Mine +eyes fail with looking upward. I am oppressed, +Lord, undertake for me.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>When I had great trouble I always went to +God and was wondrously carried through; but +in my little trials I used to try to manage them +myself, and often most signally failed.</q> So +Miss Havergal has expressed the experience of +many a Christian. God wants us <q>at our wit's +end,</q> and then He will show His wisdom, love +and power. How often we ask God to help, +and then begin to count up the human probabilities! +God's very blessings become a hindrance +to us if we look from Him to them. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='356'/><anchor id='Pg356'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>December 16.</head> + +<p> +<q>I will restore to you the years that the locust hath +eaten, the canker worm and the caterpillar and the +palmer worm, my great army, which I sent among you</q> +(Joel ii. 25). +</p> + +<p> +A friend said to me once: <q>I have got +to reap what I sowed, for God has +said: <q>Whatsoever a man soweth, that +shall he also reap.</q> Then why don't +you apply this in the spiritual world, and compel +the sinner to pay the penalty of his sins?</q> +</p> + +<p> +Christ has borne this penalty, and the same +Christ has borne the natural penalties, too, and +delivered us out of condemnation in every +sense. Physical sufferings come to us, but not +under the law of retribution, but only as a Divine +discipline. Every penalty has been fulfilled +by Christ and every law satisfied, and so +far as we can have risen with Him into the +plane of spiritual and eternal life, we are lifted +above the mere realm of law, and we enter into +the full effects of His complete satisfaction of +every claim against us. So it is true that even +the wreck that sin has brought upon our physical +and temporal life is removed by His great +atonement, and the promise is made real to us, +<q>I will restore to you the years that the locust +hath eaten.</q> +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='357'/><anchor id='Pg357'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>December 17.</head> + +<p> +<q>Be careful for nothing</q> (Phil. iv. 6). +</p> + +<p> +What is the way to lay your burden +down? <q>Take My yoke upon you, +and learn of Me; for I am meek and +and lowly of heart, and ye shall find +rest unto your souls.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>For My yoke is easy and My burden is +light.</q> That is the way to take His burden up. +You will find that His burden is always light. +Yours is a very heavy one. Happy day if you +have exchanged burdens and laid down your +loads at His blessed feet to take up His own +instead. God wants to rest His workers, and +He is too kind to put His burden on hearts +that are already bowed down with their own +weight of cares. +</p> + +<lg> +<l>Are you fearing, fretting or repining?</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>You can never know God's perfect peace.</l> +<l>On His bosom all your weight reclining.</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>All your anxious doubts and cares must cease.</l> +<l>Would you know the peace that God has given?</l> +<l>Would you find the very joy of heaven?</l> +<l>Be careful for nothing,</l> +<l>Be prayerful for everything,</l> +<l>Be thankful for anything,</l> +<l>And the peace of God that passeth understanding</l> +<l rend='margin-left: 2'>Shall keep your mind and heart.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='358'/><anchor id='Pg358'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>December 18.</head> + +<p> +<q>The faith of the Son of God</q> (Gal. ii. 20). +</p> + +<p> +Faith is hindered most of all by what +we call <q>our faith,</q> and fruitless struggles +to work out a faith which is but +a make-believe and a desperate trying +to trust God, which must ever come short of +His vast and glorious promises. The truth is +that the only faith that is equal to the stupendous +promises of God and the measureless needs +of our life, is <q>the faith of God</q> Himself, the +very trust which He will breathe into the heart +which intelligently expects Him as its power +to believe, as well as its power to love, obey, or +perform any other exercise of the new life. +</p> + +<p> +Blessed be His name! He has not given us +a chain which reaches within a single link of +our poor helpless heart, but that one last link +is fatal to all the chain. Nay, the last link, the +one that fastens on the human side is as Divine +as the link that binds the chain of promise in +the heavens. <q>Have the faith of God,</q> is His +great command. <q>I live by the faith of the +Son of God</q> is the victorious testimony of one +who had proved it true. +</p> + +<p> +Lord, teach me to have the faith of the Son +of God. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='359'/><anchor id='Pg359'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>December 19.</head> + +<p> +<q>God giveth grace unto the humble</q> (James iv. 6). +</p> + +<p> +One of the marks of highest worth is +deep lowliness. The shallow nature, +conscious of its weakness and insufficiency, +is always trying to advertise +itself and make sure of its being appreciated. +The strong nature, conscious of its strength, +is willing to wait and let its work be made +manifest in due time. Indeed, the truest natures +are so free from all self-consciousness +and self-consideration that their object is not +to be appreciated, understood or recompensed, +but to accomplish their true mission and fulfil +the real work of life. +</p> + +<p> +One of the most suggestive expressions used +respecting the Lord Jesus is given by the evangelist +John in the thirteenth chapter of His +Gospel, where we read, <q>Jesus, knowing that +He came from God, and went to God, riseth +from supper and began to wash the disciples' +feet.</q> It was because He knew His high dignity +and His high destiny that He could stoop +to the lowest place and that place could not +degrade Him. +</p> + +<p> +God give to us the Divine insignia of heavenly +rank, a bowed head, a meek and lowly spirit. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='360'/><anchor id='Pg360'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>December 20.</head> + +<p> +<q>That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ +to the Gentiles, ministering the Gospel of God</q> +(Rom. xv. 16). +</p> + +<p> +This is a very beautiful and practical +conception of missionary work. There +is a great difference in being consecrated +to our God. We may be consecrated +to our work and consecrated to our God. +We may be consecrated and fitted to do missionary +work, and utterly fail, if He should +call us to do something different. But when +we are consecrated to Him, we shall be ready +for anything He may require of us, and be +as well qualified to serve Him by the sick +bed of a brother, or even in the secular duties +of home, as in standing in the pulpit or leading +a soul to Christ. +</p> + +<p> +Paul's conception is holy work, or a special +sacrifice, and directly unto Christ, and Christ +alone; and he stood as one should stand at the +altar of incense, lifting up with holy hands the +Gentile nations unto God, and laying all his +work like fragrant incense before the throne, +pleased only with what would please his Master, +and stand the test of His inspection, and +the seal of His approval in that glorious day. +</p> + +<p> +This is the spirit of true service. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='361'/><anchor id='Pg361'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>December 21.</head> + +<p> +<q>Give us day by day our daily bread</q> (Luke xi. 3). +</p> + +<p> +It is very hard to live a lifetime at once, +or even a year, but it is delightfully easy +to live a day at a time. Day by day the +manna fell, so day by day we may live +upon the heavenly bread, and live out our life +for Him. Let us, breath by breath, moment +by moment, step by step, abide in Him, and, +just as we take care of the days, He will take +care of the years. +</p> + +<p> +God has given two precious promises for +the days. <q>As thy days so shall thy strength +be,</q> is His ancient covenant, and the literal +translation of our Master's parting words to +His disciples is, <q>Lo, I am with you all the +days, even unto the end of the age.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Like the little water spider that goes down +beneath the waters of the pool enclosed in a +bubble of air, and there builds its nest and +rears its young, and lives its little life in that +bright sphere down beneath the slimy pool, so +let us in this dark world shut ourselves in with +Christ in the little circle of each returning day, +and so abide in Him, breathing the air of heaven +and living in His love. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='362'/><anchor id='Pg362'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>December 22.</head> + +<p> +<q>My tongue also shall talk of Thy righteousness all +the day long</q> (Ps. lxxi. 24). +</p> + +<p> +It is a simple law of nature, that air always +comes in to fill a vacuum. You +can produce a draught at any time, by +heating the air until it ascends, and then +the cold air rushes in to supply its place. And +so we can always be filled with the Holy Spirit +by providing a vacuum. This breath is dependent +upon exhausting the previous breath +before you can inhale a fresh one. And so we +must empty our hearts of the last breath of the +Holy Spirit that we have received, for it becomes +exhausted the moment we have received +it, and we need a new supply, to prevent spiritual +asphyxia. +</p> + +<p> +We must learn the secret of breathing out, +as well as breathing in. Now, the breathing in +will continue if the other part is rightly done. +One of the best ways to make room for the +Holy Spirit is to recognize the needs that +come into the life as vacuums for Him to fill, +and we shall find plenty of needs all around +us to be filled, and as we pour out our lives in +holy service, He will pour His in—in full +measure. +</p> + +<lg> +<l>Jesus, empty me and fill me</l> +<l>With Thy fulness to the brim.</l> +</lg> + +</div> + +<pb n='363'/><anchor id='Pg363'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>December 23.</head> + +<p> +<q>Out of the spoils won in battles, did they dedicate +to maintain the house of the Lord</q> (I. Chron. xxvi. +27). +</p> + +<p> +Physical force is stored in the bowels +of the earth, in the coal mines, which +came from the fiery heat that burned +up great forests in ancient ages. And +so spiritual force is stored in the depths of our +being, through the very sufferings which we +cannot understand. Some day we shall find +that the deliverance we have won from these +trials were preparing us to become true <q>Great +Hearts</q> in life's Pilgrim's Progress, and to lead +our fellow pilgrims triumphantly through trial +to the city of the King. +</p> + +<p> +But let us never forget that the source of +helping other people must be victorious suffering. +The whining, murmuring pang never +does anybody any good. Paul did not carry a +cemetery with him, but a chorus choir of victorious +praise, and the harder the trial, the +more he trusted and rejoiced, shouting from +the very altar of sacrifice, <q>Yea, and if I be +offered upon the service and sacrifice of your +faith, I joy and rejoice with you all.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Lord, help me this day to draw strength from +all that comes to me. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='364'/><anchor id='Pg364'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>December 24.</head> + +<p> +<q>And seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek +them not; for behold I will bring evil upon all flesh, +saith the Lord; but thy life will I give unto thee for +a prey in all places whither thou goest</q> (Jer. xlv. 5). +</p> + +<p> +A promise given for hard places, and +a promise of safety and life in the +midst of tremendous pressure, a life +for a prey. +</p> + +<p> +It may well adjust itself to our own times, +which are growing harder as we near the end +of the age, and the tribulation times. +</p> + +<p> +What is the meaning of <q>a life for a prey</q>? +It means a life snatched out of the jaws of the +destroyer, as David snatched the lamb from the +lion. It means not a place of security, or of +removal from the noise of the battle, and the +presence of our foes, but it means a table in +the midst of our enemies, a shelter from the +storm, a fortress amid the foe, a life preserved +in the face of continual pressure, Paul's healing +when pressed out of measure so that he +despaired even of life, Paul's Divine help when +the thorn remained, but the power of Christ +rested upon him and the grace of Christ was +sufficient. +</p> + +<p> +Lord, give me my life for a prey, and in +the hardest places help me to-day to be victorious. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='365'/><anchor id='Pg365'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>December 25.</head> + +<p> +<q>I bring you glad tidings</q> (Luke ii. 10). +</p> + +<p> +A Christmas spirit should be a spirit +of humanity. Beside that beautiful +object lesson on the Manger, the Cradle, +and the lowly little child, what +Christian heart can ever wish to be proud? It +is a spirit of joy. It is right that these should +be glad tidings, for, <q>Behold, I bring you glad +tidings of great joy which shall be to all people.</q> +</p> + +<p> +It is a spirit of love. It should be the joy +that comes from giving joy to others. The +central fact of Christmas is the Christ who +loved us, and came to live among us and die +for us, and he or she has no right to share its +joys who is living for himself or herself alone. +</p> + +<p> +Love is always sacrificial, and so the Christmas +spirit will call us to a glad and full surrender, +first to God, and then the joyful sacrifice +of what we call our own for His glory and +the good of others. +</p> + +<p> +The Christmas spirit is a spirit of worship. +It finds the Magi at His feet with their gold +and frankincense and myrrh. Let it find us +there, too. +</p> + +<p> +The Christmas spirit is a spirit of missions. +Its glad tidings are for all people. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='366'/><anchor id='Pg366'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>December 26.</head> + +<p> +<q>The Spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy</q> +(James iv. 5). +</p> + +<p> +This beautiful passage has been unhappily +translated in our Revised Version: +<q>The Spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth +to envy.</q> It ought to be, <q>The Spirit +that dwelleth in us loveth us to jealousy.</q> It is +the figure of a love that suffers because of its +intense regard for the loved object. +</p> + +<p> +The Holy Ghost is so anxious to accomplish +in us and for us the highest will of God, and +to receive from us the truest love for Christ, +our Divine Husband, that He becomes jealous +when in any way we disappoint Him, or divide +His love with others. +</p> + +<p> +Therefore, it is said in the preceding passage, +<q>Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know +ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity +with God?</q> +</p> + +<p> +Oh, shall we grieve so kind a Friend? Shall +we disappoint so loving a Husband? Shall we +not meet the blessed Holy Spirit with the love +He brings us, and give in return our undivided +and unbounded affection? +</p> + +<p> +Was there ever a Bridegroom so loving seeking +our heart to gain? +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='367'/><anchor id='Pg367'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>December 27.</head> + +<p> +<q>He sent forth the dove which returned not again +unto him</q> (Gen. viii. 12). +</p> + +<p> +First, we have the dove going forth +from the ark, and finding no rest upon +the wild and drifting waste of sin and +judgment. This represents the Old +Testament period, perhaps, when the Holy +Ghost visited this sinful world, but could find +no resting-place, and went back to the bosom +of God. +</p> + +<p> +Next, we have the dove going forth and returning +with the olive leaf in her mouth, the +symbol and the pledge of peace and reconciliation, +the sign that judgment was passed and +peace was returning. Surely this may beautifully +represent the next stage of the Holy +Spirit's manifestation, as going forth in the +ministry and death of Jesus Christ, to proclaim +reconciliation to a sinful world. +</p> + +<p> +There is a third stage, when, at length, the +dove goes forth from the ark and returns no +more; but it makes the world its home, and +builds its nest amid the habitations of men. +This is the third and present stage of the Holy +Spirit's blessed work. Let us welcome the +Dove to a nest in our hearts. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='368'/><anchor id='Pg368'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>December 28.</head> + +<p> +<q>The Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them +that obey Him</q> (Acts v. 32). +</p> + +<p> +We can only know and prove the fulness +of the Spirit as we step out into +the larger purposes and plans of +Christ for the world. +</p> + +<p> +Perhaps the chief reason why the Holy Spirit +has been so limited in His work in the hearts +of Christians, is the shameful neglect of the +unsaved and unevangelized world by the great +majority of the professed followers of Christ. +There are millions of professing Christians—and, +perhaps, real Christians—in the world, +who have never given one real, earnest thought +to the evangelization of the heathen world. +</p> + +<p> +God will not give the Holy Spirit in His +fulness for the selfish enjoyment of any Christian. +His power is a great trust, which we +must use for the benefit of others and for the +evangelization of the lost and sinful world. +Not until the people of God awake to understand +His real purpose for the salvation of +men, will the Church ever know the fulness of +her Pentecost. God's promised power must +lie along the line of duty, and as we obey the +command, we shall receive His promise in his +fulness. +</p> + +<p> +Lord, help me to understand Thy plan. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='369'/><anchor id='Pg369'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>December 29.</head> + +<p> +<q>I have not shunned to declare unto you all the +counsel of God</q> (Acts xx. 27). +</p> + +<p> +It is probable that God lets every human +being, that crosses our path, meet us, in +order that we may have the opportunity +of leaving some blessing in his path, and +dropping into his heart and life some influence +that will draw him nearer to God. It would +be blessed, indeed, if we could meet every immortal +soul, at last, that we have ever touched +in the path of life, and truly say, <q>I am pure +from the blood of all men.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Beloved, is it so? The servant that works in +your household; the man that sat beside you +in the train; the laborer that wrought for you, +and, above all, the members of your household +and family, your fellow-laborer in the shop or +factory, have you done your best to lead them +to Christ? +</p> + +<p> +The early Christians regarded every situation +as an opportunity to witness for Christ. +Even when brought before kings and governors, +it never occurred to them that they were +to try to get free, but the Master's message to +them was, <q>It shall turn to you for a testimony.</q> +It was simply an occasion to preach +to kings and rulers, whom otherwise they +could not reach. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='370'/><anchor id='Pg370'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>December 30.</head> + +<p> +<q>That God would fulfil in you all the good pleasure +of His goodness, and the work of faith with power</q> +(II. Thess. i. 11). +</p> + +<p> +Our God is looking to-day for pattern +men, and when He gets a true sample, +it is very easy to reproduce it in a +thousand editions, and multiply it in +other lives without limitation. +</p> + +<p> +All the experiences of life come to us as +tests, and as we meet them, our loving Father +is watching with intense and jealous love, to +see us overcome, and if we fail He is deeply +disappointed, and our adversary is filled with +joy. +</p> + +<p> +We are a gazing-stock continually for angels +and principalities, and every step we take +is critical and decisive for something in our +eternal future. +</p> + +<p> +When Abraham went forth that morning to +Mount Moriah, it was an hour of solemn probation, +and when he came back he was one of +God's tested men, with the stamp of His eternal +approbation. God could say, <q>I know him, +that he will do judgment and justice, that the +Lord may bring upon Abraham all that He +hath spoken.</q> +</p> + +<p> +God is looking for such men to-day. Lord, +help me to be such an one. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='371'/><anchor id='Pg371'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>December 31.</head> + +<p> +<q>I pray not that Thou shouldst take them out of +the world, but that Thou shouldst keep them from +the evil</q> (John xvii. 15). +</p> + +<p> +He wants us here for some higher purpose +than mere existence. That purpose +is nothing else than to represent +Him to the world, to be the messengers +of His Gospel and His will to men, and by +our lives to exhibit to them the true life, and +teach them how to live it themselves. +</p> + +<p> +He is representing us yonder, and our one +business is to represent Him here. We are +just as truly sent into this world to represent +Him as if we had gone to China as the ambassador +of the American Government. +</p> + +<p> +While engaged in the secular affairs of life, +it is simply that we may represent Him there, +carry on His business, and have means to use +for His affairs. He came here from another +realm, and with a special message, and when +His work was done He was called to go home +to His Father's dwelling-place and His own. +</p> + +<p> +Lord, help me to worthily represent Thee. +</p> + +<lg> +<l>And carry music in our heart</l> +<l>Through busy street and wrangling mart;</l> +<l>Plying our daily task with busier feet,</l> +<l>Because our souls a heavenly strain repeat.</l> +</lg> + +</div> +</body> +<back rend="page-break-before: right"> + <div rend="page-break-before: right"> + <divGen type="pgfooter" /> + </div> +</back> +</text> +</TEI.2> |